It was a foolish plan. Absolutely, unequivocally reckless. They could easily get themselves hurt, or perhaps worse, scare the living daylights out of everyone else. And no matter if they actually accomplished it or not, they'd receive the scolding of a lifetime from their visiting wizard.
Which meant that it was utterly perfect.
Ruby peered cautiously around the edge of one of the tents lining the field, clutching the fabric to avoid losing her balance. The cart she had ridden on only hours before stood undisturbed, it's largely vulnerable cargo simply screaming for something troublesome to happen. As the young girl watched, Gandalf came striding around the corner of another tent, chuckling contentedly to himself. He gathered a bundle of small, oddly shaped cylindrical objects from the wagon with a satisfied hum before hurrying off again, leaving the remainder unguarded.
Meriadoc Brandybuck, one of Frodo's cousins, slid discreetly around the side of the cart. Once certain the wizard would not return any time soon, he tapped the tent's canvas, the force of the impact causing it to billow momentarily. Ruby emerged from her hiding place in a steady creep, followed closely by another relative of the Baggins' heir, Peregrin Took.
Struggling to contain giddy laughter, the trio shared an excited glance, then approached the wagon. The multitude of objects laid out before them were, as she'd been assured by Merry, fireworks. She wasn't certain what they wanted to do with them - she had merely been enlisted to help retrieve a few, and with the promise of complete innocency should the worst occur.
Nodding to himself, Merry crouched by the open lip of the cart, cupping his hands, "Quick!" he hissed.
With the assistance of the offered leg-up, Pippin leapt into the wagon and began rifling through the inactive pyrotechnics. A knot of anxiety twisted the pit of Ruby's stomach as she kept watch, leaning casually on the wagon in an effort to look inconspicuous. Her silver eyes scanned the gap between the tents, from which she could clearly hear the goings on of the party, and the occasional pops and bangs of Gandalf setting off his small displays to the wonderment of children.
Straightening, Pippin showed Merry a firework in an unspoken question, though the latter immediately shook his head in disapproval, "No, no! Big one; we want a big one!"
Ruby wasn't entirely sure if this was a good idea, but the boys hadn't been hesitant in their insistence that it was a harmless, if unexpected, shenanigan. They had reasoned that Gandalf was going to set most of them off at some point or another anyways. Why not do at least one themselves, just for a laugh?
If she was to be completely honest with herself, however, Ruby was perfectly fine with it. They were, after all and according to Merry and Pippin, magic fireworks. Made by a real wizard. You don't get the opportunity to set one of those off every day. It was all in good fun in her mind, hence why she had heartily agreed to assist the troublemakers who reminded her more and more of Sun and Neptune.
"Ruby!"
"Huh- gaaah!" The young girl squeaked indignantly as her cape was given a sharp tug, which nearly made her lose her balance. She turned as smoothly as she could to face Merry, who jerked his head toward the tents. Smirking, Ruby nodded and crept after him and Pippin, the latter cradling what looked to be a dragon-shaped tube under one arm.
As soon as they were certain that their escape had been successful, they huddled themselves against the fence line furthest from the main festivities. Once she had caught her breath and the adrenaline pounding through her veins had begun to ebb, Ruby snatched the firework from Pippin though no protest was voiced. Intrigued, she examined the rather simple object as best she could in the dim light.
It was large, reaching to about her waist in height, and indeed held the vague likeness of a dragon, its defining features crudely outlined in layers of flimsy parchment. A wooden stick extended from the bottom of the tube so that, Ruby assumed, it could be staked into the ground. A slightly shorter length of what appeared to be reinforced twine curled toward the ground.
"Uh, how… does this thing work?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in the general direction of her accompanying Hobbit duo. Merry and Pippin shot each other an alarmed look, as if they hadn't even thought of it. In truth, the boys had barely planned their little heist beyond actually grabbing a firework or two.
Merry carefully took the firework back, sticking the pole end under his armpit,
"We'll, um, figure that out! Don't you worry," the older Hobbit tried, and utterly failed, to sound reassuring. The young girl made a face, brows scrunching with her uncertainty.
"But I-"
"You better get going, Ruby. You know, before Frodo starts wondering where you've got off to," Pippin chimed in, gesturing down toward the party. Ruby glanced over her shoulder, recalling suddenly that she had upped and left without even bothering to tell her friend that she was going. It struck her then how awfully rude such a thing was, and while her concern for Merry and Pippin wasn't alleviated, it was somewhat overshadowed.
With a hesitant nod that was rather subdued, Ruby pivoted on her heel and started across the grass, the warm lights and deafening din rising in intensity as she approached. Stopping a few feet away, Ruby bit her lip and whirled about to face the boys. "Merry!" She called. The two paused in their hushed conversation, and lifted their heads toward her, "I, uh… if you're gonna set that thingy off, do it outside, okay? And not… well, not near anyone."
Before they could offer a reply, she cast a wave over her shoulder, and jogged off to rejoin the festivities. Slowing as she neared the edge of the crowd, she took a moment to brush herself off and did her best to make it look as though she'd never left. A smile settled onto her lips, and she began to weave through the masses in the hopes of finding Frodo.
She was passing a washing tent when, off-balance on the uneven ground, her shoulder slammed into another's. The impact sent a startled jolt through Ruby, her Aura easily absorbing the trivial hit, and she hurriedly turned to apologize, but the Hobbit she had knocked into beat her to it,
"Oi! Watch where you're going!"
"Oh! S-sorry!"
"I should think-!" Upon seeing her proper, the woman halted all at once, and her eyes narrowed. She eyed Ruby for a few, brief seconds in silence before demanding, "What's one of you doing here?"
Ruby was taken aback by the question, and the rude tone in which it was posed. Giving a series of rapid blinks, she parroted slowly, "One of… me?"
"You're one of the Big Folk!"
Ruby was utterly confused. She thought everyone knew that already, and those who didn't didn't seem to have a problem with it. It wasn't something she could, or was trying to, hide. "Well, yeah, but I-"
"So, what are you doing here?!"
"I-"
"It's bad enough that meddlesome wizard decided to go and turn up. Your kind don't belong here!"
By this point, Ruby was becoming quite uncomfortable. Those in immediate proximity had stopped, and were watching the exchange; some with evident pity, and others nodding in agreement with the Hobbit woman. Ruby felt a hot blush rising to her cheeks, and her hands trembled in anxiety. Her eyes darted about the area, searching for Frodo, or Sam - someone she knew who could get her out of this.
Flustered, she made a final attempt at placating the woman, "I-I'm staying with Bilbo and Frodo Baggins."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she had never said them. The woman's fury hit its peak, and she squared her shoulders indignantly. She was still far shorter than Ruby, but her presence was intimidating, and the red-clad girl found herself cowering under the sour scowl she was given.
"Of course," the woman snapped bitterly. "Of course my husband's dear cousin would be the one to host a Human," she spat the word so harshly that Ruby winced.
Her irritation came to the fore, finally, and she clenched her fists in an attempt to stop the tremors that had crawled up her arms, "What's your problem? I said I was sorry." She stated. She's like Weiss, Ruby realized. The first time we met.
The glower that shadowed the elder woman's features would have sent anyone else six feet under. Much to her surprise, Ruby found herself returning the look with an equivalent of her own, brows knitting with her glare. The Hobbit opened her mouth, likely intent on directing another insult her way. At that moment, Ruby's attention was grabbed by someone taking her by the arm. Lividness fading from her expression, she gave a grateful hum as none other than Sam flashed her a reassuring smile,
"Miss Rose! There you are. Mr. Frodo's been looking for you everywhere," he announced, the brightness of his voice maybe a smidge too forced. He glanced over his shoulder, as if noticing the stalled party-goers for the first time. "Is something the matter?"
Ruby thought for a moment that the woman was going to protest but, much to her relief and with nothing more than a noise of pure disgust, she turned and stamped off into the crowd. Everyone began moving again, and Ruby felt her friend give her a gentle tug.
"Pay no mind to the Sackville-Bagginses, Miss Ruby," Sam said, leading her away and all the while keeping his hold, tight enough to be comforting and loose enough that she could shake him off if she wished. Ruby sighed, running her fingers through her hair, but didn't speak. She did not trust herself to speak a complete sentence without breaking into tears. So, instead, she took as deep a breath as she could, then let it out in staggered puffs - a calming technique Yang had taught her. She refused to cry in such a public setting; she wasn't sure if she would be able to handle the embarrassment.
Sam sat her down at a table by the dancing and presented her with a steaming plate of food. She felt his hand on her shoulder briefly, heard him tell her he would go find Frodo, and watched him disappear.
Ruby didn't have much of an appetite - ruined rather horribly by that Miss 'Sackville-Baggins' - but she found it in her to take a few bites of the homemade shepherd's pie Sam had gotten for her. It was delicious, and filled her with a cozy, satisfied warmth. Soon enough, the plate was empty, and she began to feel a bit better.
Eyes tracking the dancers, joyful laughter filling her ears, she gave a weary smile and waited to see the results of Merry and Pippin's little escapade.