Sky/Juliette | midday | streets
“I thought I saw her employer, and she may be with him,” Juliette was quick to explain. At closer inspection, the blond man had turned out to be a stranger, and the scholar was nowhere in sight. “Some people are being… very foolish recently,” she added, casting a sideways glance to yet another clump of angry protesters (who were, fortunately, ignoring the two simply dressed teens as unimportant).
Sky followed her gaze and shrugged, though fortunately he was able to stop himself from boasting about how he got them back by paying for the festival with their money instead of his sister’s. Pyr was the only person in the Fighter’s Guild who needed to know his secret hobby. (Well, and his mentor, but Sky liked to pretend that never happened. He shuddered to think about it.)
“Yeah, they’re idiots,” he recovered with instead. Then a thought occurred to him. Juliette didn’t seem to be the type, but then, there had to be some reason why Pyr liked her so much. Sky didn’t know her particularly well, and hey, maybe she had a secret love for pranking. So, he suggested with a smirk, “You wanna punish them?”
She surely ought to have said no. But she couldn’t deny a bit of curiosity, and she told herself she was preventing disaster by asking instead, “Punish them how, exactly?”
Sky was surprised and impressed. Maybe there was something to this girl, after all! “Well…” He still didn’t feel comfortable revealing his sticky fingers to her, but not all pranks had to involve klepto tendencies. After all, he had some firecrackers in his pocket that needed some use! “We could always give them a good scare.” He showed her a couple. “Throw these under their feet and watch them run or scatter or… you know. Just scream.”
“I think that is illegal,” she said after a moment of consideration (that she had considered it at all was testament to just how angry she had been over the attack on Ridley).
“It’s only illegal if you get caught.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “I do not think it works that way,” she said, in a tone of voice that clearly implied, are you actually stupid?
Ugh, really? Maybe Sky had misjudged her. He sure as hell hoped he hadn’t. “Oh, come on. Be adventurous! This isn’t going to actually hurt anyone.” He assumed, anyway. “And if we’re quick enough, we won’t get caught.”
“I think not,” she said. “I do not think you ought to do it, either.” She paused before suggesting, “Why don’t you help me find Ridley? Or Pyr.”
Sky made a face. She was no fun at all. He was beginning to question Pyr’s tastes. “Sure, fine, whatever,” he grumbled. Finding Pyr did seem like a good idea; he really wanted to plant these firecrackers now, but to do that he needed to ditch Juliette. Eh, he’d buy Pyr some takoyaki later to make up for it. But how to get rid of her?
“Uhhhhh… hey, I think I found Ridley! Over there!” He pointed over Juliette’s shoulder and, as soon as she turned, he sprinted to bury himself in the crowd.
And like a fool, Juliette turned to look, seeking a head of blonde hair. It took her a few precious moments to realize she’d been had -- and by the time she’d turned back, Sky was gone.
She huffed in annoyance, then promptly apologized to the passerby who’d given her a strange look. Giving a sideways glance to the protesters, she considered mentioning the firecrackers, but…
In the end, she left it alone. She would simply pretend she hadn’t heard the plan at all. (Illegal or not, she did not like these people.)
With a quieter sigh at herself (what was she thinking lately?) she set out on her search for the scholar once more.