Love at first sight? Naa, too easy.

That's when he saw her.

If this was anything to get rid of boredom, this was it. No, watching people wasn't normally Skoochy's definition of fun, but he really didn't have anything better to do until the rest of the guys came back. So he kept his eyes on her.

She couldn't have been any older than him, but her actions would have given off the impression that she was. The only people Skoochy had seen biting the corner of their lip while reading, were adults. Well that was because he didn't know a single kid who honestly found any enjoyment in a book.

Bangs covering her face, with a the rest of her hair in a bun. Occasionally she'd put those bangs out of her face so she could read better probably. He wasn't smitten or anything, but she was definitely one of the cuter girls he'd seen around these parts. She also seemed familiar couldn't of been one of them. No, her robes were too formal , and her skin was too pale and polished. Moon Peach skin, he heard it called by poets and common street men alike. The skin wasn't completely pale but it had enough rosiness in the correct areas. It worked for hair that dark. The only thing that did was tell Skoochy that she had a home, a good home at that.

So she wasn't one of them. Of course she wasn't. Besides, Skoochy would have remembered a face like that. She must have been someone attending the party or something. His focus, instead of going to her face, went down to what she was reading. The cover, as abused and old looking as he remembered a head mistress at one of his previous orphanages, didn't have any pictures or words. The only thing he could barely make out was the lettering on the spine. He saw a giant L, but that was pretty much it.

All of his person watching seemed to take more of his focus than he thought, for a few more faces joined him. "Well well look what we have here." Tack said, a smug look on his face. Leave it to the guy that Skoochy could barely tolerate to find him in a state like this.

"Why's she reading?" Pavo, as well as some of the other boys had joined him in hushed whispers.

"She don't look like one of us"

"She's not. I've seen her in a paper or something."

"Shaddup! She can probably hear us." Skoochy said, getting tired of the constant questions, as well as trying to keep them out of earshot. Unfortunately, that did nothing to stop the rest of the kids from hovering over the boxes. And to most of their surprises, the boxes came crashing down, leading to a bunch of kids spilling out like the marbles that they'd use for leisure and bets. "Stupid boxes!"

Immediately, the girl's book closed as she let out a surprised gasp. Surprised, but not afraid. Skoochy, for the first time, was getting a good look at the girl's face when she put her book back in some kind of pocket in her robe."What are you doing?" The surprise came out of her face as soon as she didn't get her answer. It was replaced with annoyance. "I said, what are you doing?" Her hands were crossed, that face not as cute now that she was angry.

"Mind your own business, hogmonkey." Tack shot back.

The girl raised a brow. Offended but more disgusted than sad read her face. "This is my business." None the less, she was standing her ground. Skoochy didn't know whether he liked the fact she had enough in her to think she could face off against one of them, or just annoyed that she thought she had some kind of authority over them. The latter thought eventually took off.

"Look, if you don't buzz off back into your little party, you'll be sorry." He said, wondering how well that would honestly work.

"And what do you plan to do?" It didn't.

Tack suddenly came forward. "Hey Skooch, want us to take care of this little elbow leech for ya?" He said, cracking knuckles. Did it seem extreme for someone to threaten a girl younger than them? Maybe to the normal folk, but these were not normal situations, particularly for the rest of them.

With a scoff, Skoochy handed Tack the sausages he confiscated earlier. "Na, I can take care of a prissy little panda lily all by myself. Y'all go." He said. They didn't ask questions. Most of them would have taken the girl on anyway, following the exact steps as Skoochy.

Now it was the two of them, alone in an alley. "I'm warning ya. You really don't want me to hurt a little girl like you." And here's where he should have stopped. "It's so funny when common folk try to act all tough, specially when they're priss littl What the-" Precisely why he should have stopped. A rather intense gush of wind knocked him right off of his feet and into a box. Skoochy was really starting to hate those damned things.

"Prissy. Adjective. In regards to a person or their mannerisms, fussily and excessively respectable. Or in a respect of clothes, over adorned with details such as ruffles and bows" She said, in a tone that was both mocking and pissed off. But that wasn't what caught Skoochy's attention. It was the fact that he knew it wasn't a windy night, and even so winds in Republic City were never that strong.

"Airbender" Now those were a rare sight. None the less, Skoochy wasn't exactly starstruck. "Looks like you want to do things the hard way." he said with a sigh as some of the ground from under him started coming up in mini-mountain figures. If it was a fight that she wanted, a fight she'd get.

Make them fight instead? Much better idea lol

Once again, Read, Review, and because I'm suckish with action scenes, be nice!