A/N: Don't worry, I didn't abandon HJ. But the next chapter is kind of delicate – not in the least because our favourite couple is going to meet soon – so it's going to take a while. The rest of the year should be smooth sailing after the hiatus. (By the way, Ame's having technical difficulties on her side; but she's working on BD, too.)

Anyway, while you wait, I've decided to post these 'outtakes'. They're different from interludes in that they're not necessary to the story—they're just fun character-building oneshots that I probably wrote without editing. I'll probably post some AUs here (maybe even transfer 'Quicksilver').

Requests are very welcome, but for old readers of the original HJ, please avoid spoilers from where we are currently in the rewritten story.

This first chapter has no spoilers up to Chapter 8.

The First Day of Training (Julius)

"I don't want to go."

Julius sighed, mentally combing his mind for ways to get his sister out of bed. So far, he'd found four sure-fire ways: dousing her bed with dung, starving her out of there, calling their parents, or giving her candy. The first two options were the most reliable, he'd found; but one glance at their old clock told him he didn't have enough time or materials. He'd call their parents but, well, he'd seen signs that their patience with her has already been wearing thin—it's been a month, and she still had trouble speaking to people.

("You're a Capulet," their mother hissed at her last night before they went to bed. "Act like it, for Fyora's sake." She'd crawled into his bed and cried for four hours straight.)

As for giving her candy….er, he'd rather brave Master Vlade than to willingly give his sister that. He and his twin had both learned before that consuming anything sugary can have really, really, really bad consequences with them.

"Jules," he said, finally. "We have to go. Mother and Father had been training for us to do this our entire lives."

If anything, that just set her to quivering even more. "Mother said they didn't set us up with anyone that we used to know."

"They didn't," Julius confirmed. He'd snuck a look at the group list himself. "Well, there's a Medici," he conceded, "but it's Razor. You know, the wimpy one."

"That's not very nice," Juliet said, peeking from under her blanket.

Julius shrugged. "It's still true. And even if it isn't, there's probably better ways of getting what he wanted than throwing a tantrum that just about the entire Guild could hear."

She made herself smile. "Well, yeah." She shifted so that the blanket fell away from her face. Her feet nearly touched the floor. In his head, Julius celebrated. "But…at the core of it, he just didn't want to be a thief. There's nothing really wrong with that…right?" she asked.

Julius blinked. Where did she get that? She never questioned this before. "Er, of course not," he lied. His sister's face relaxed. At her fragile state, it was probably better to tell her what she wanted to hear; but then again, she needed to learn some of the truth, too. "But, Jules, you know there's an awful lot of pressure for us. I mean, we're Capulets. One of the most important families in the Thieves' Guild."

"Which means we must become thieves," she said in a monotone voice.

"Um…"

"It's okay, Julius. You don't have to lie."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Uh-huh." For a second, she had that wandering look in her face; the one that she had whenever she was thinking about…before. The one he wished he could erase from her head. "He said I didn't have to, once," she murmured.

Julius didn't have to ask who he was. "Mind games. Again."

"Maybe." She came back to herself, and smiled faintly. "Who else is in our group, if not our old allies?"

"Some girl called Kayley Halvard," he said, thinking back. The name rang no bells in his head, so she was probably just a newbie, and most likely easy to dominate. Since it was unusual for someone to join the Thieves' Guild at such a young age without her parents, he guessed she was either the kid of a person who recently became a member, or she got in with her sneakiness. Good. They could use an informer from time to time.

"And?"

He smirked, knowing this would catch her attention. "Hanso Laron."

She sat up. "Really?"

"Yeah." Ever since they've heard about the kid of Lizzy and Peter Laron, they've both been dying to know more about the child of two of the best thieves' in the Guild who'd been sheltered so much. Juliet had accepted he probably wouldn't be in their training group; they both knew that their parents would insist on placing them somewhere they can make useful (read: ruthless) connections. But then again, that was before. "We'll see who this guy really is."

She giggled. "Do you think it's true that he once dyed himself pink?"

"Nah," Julius scoffed. No self-respecting thief would do that. But he grinned. "We can always ask him later, though."

Juliet's smile faded. "We will be together, right?"

"Yup."

"And you'll stay with me the entire time?"

"Of course."

"Okay." Juliet took a deep breath and – with Julius watching hopefully – hopped right out of bed. Then she laughed. "I'm not going to fall, Julius," she said, conjuring up her smile again; weaker, this time, but it was still there. "It's only two feet high."

"You sure? You used to insist on me carrying you everywhere."

"On second thought, I could use a ride…."

"Never mind."

Juliet walked over to their small table and began to fix her hair, tying it up in a ponytail. Her eyes were focused on the small, chipped mirror. "Tell Mother not to hold breakfast for me. I think I'll have a word with Father, and he's bound to have some bread rolls and borovan lying around."

"And after that?" Julius prompted.

Juliet grabbed her coat from the hanger and slipped it on. "Then it's time for me to start acting like a Capulet."