little more than kind // juliette

[riza hawkeye]

((Sorry for the delay!!))


There was a point in time where having a day off had been something of a dream. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but Riza did value the increase in free time she had been allotted lately. The country was finally calming down and true peace seemed to be on the horizon. It was about time their seemingly impossible dream began to seem like a very obtainable reality, which was part of why she didn't mind taking the day off. The other part was the lack of food in the small place she called home. Miss Hawkeye wasn't necessarily picky, but she did prefer fresh items for her meals, which brought her towards her current destination.

That morning, she'd dressed in a long skirt, a black turtleneck, and a light jacket. Taking advantage of the day off, she took the opportunity to leave her long hair down. She'd departed just before noon, having spent the morning tidying her home and writing a few letters. Riza had originally planned to go alone, but Black Hayate proved that the idea was rather impossible by circling her feet. Clipping on his leash, he proudly attempted to lead the way to the unknown destination. Upon reaching corners, he'd pause until she began to turn and then continue on. His leadership skills, though lacking, were rather commendable and the blonde woman couldn't help but smile.

Upon nearing the bakery, Riza noticed Hayate getting a bit antsy. She was well aware of his own adoration for fresh foods, but Riza didn't appreciate the 'rude' behavior and cleared her throat as a sign. As he straightened out and returned to his respectable nature, she figured it wouldn't hurt for him to come inside with her. The owner of the bakery had never seemed to have qualms with animals, not to mention he was at least a very well behaved one.

As she opened the door, the familiar bell made her smile. "Good afternoon, Mr. Blake-." Riza had to stop during her greeting, though, because the owner that she generally ran into was nowhere to be found. Instead, she spotted a younger girl with pigtails and a rather grumpy look to her. "My apologies, normally Mr. Blakeney is manning the front when I stop by. I'm just here to pick up my usual. He normally has it set aside for me every other week? It's for Captain Hawkeye." A this point, Black Hayate let out a small, excited bark, knowing his own hand-baked treats were in that order. She glared harshly at him, but knew it was pointless to do anything more.

[ele]

"I'm just going out for a bit to get some more ingredients," he'd told her, "and I'll be back before you know it." That's what Lukas had said to Juliet, and it had been almost an hour now, and there was no sign of him. Surely it didn't take that long to walk to the store and back? If he had taken the car like she'd suggested, he would have been back already, but no, he had decided to go walk like a common person. And he had left Juliet in charge of the bakery, something she loathed. What if someone saw her in such a place? They'd thinks she wanted to be there, and that would ruin her reputation for sure. But with a scowl she had obliged and was still standing in the same spot, arms folded, waiting for her eldest brother to return with his precious ingredients.

She had done pretty well so far, with no customers to speak of. But of course, that hadn't lasted, because now some woman had come in and- wait, what was that? What was that mongrel by her feet...? She'd brought in a dog! Yes, a dog, of all things, and Juliet could smell it from where she stood. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, thinking of how soft and stupid her brother was for allowing people to let animals into the bakery. Didn't he know they carried germs? She was surprised he got any customers at all at that rate, but then again, most people did tend to be rather stupid nowadays. She sighed irritably when the woman spoke to her, and waited a bit before replying.

"What, so you think that's my problem? As you can see, I'm not my brother. He's out doing some kind of an errand, or something." she said. She was in a rather cantankerous mood, to say the least. She didn't want to go and do her brother's work for him, but alas, it seemed she would have to, for this woman and her- Juliet narrowed her eyes- dog didn't seem like they were the type to just leave without whatever it was they wanted. That, and the woman was in the military, so Juliet didn't want to have anyone on her back about it. Oh, and there was also the fact that her brother was expecting her to do these things while he was gone, and she'd never hear the end of it from him if she didn't. "Oh, fine. I'll go and see if I can find it." she said finally, and left the room to go into the back storeroom.

After searching for a good five minutes or more through the neatly stacked orders, Juliet found the one labeled "HAWKEYE" and yanked it out of the stack, making the stack wobble precariously. She slammed the door behind her as she marched back out into the main room, and could have sworn she heard several things falling to the ground, but she didn't go back to check. She thrust the bag out in front of her at the woman and said, "This yours?" while refusing to meet her gaze.

[riza hawkeye]

The second the girl had let out the sigh, Riza knew she wouldn't like her. Even the words that came out of the girl's mouth were laced with insubordination and irritation. She took a breath, calming herself. The Blakeney boy she knew probably wouldn't like bullet holes or blood in his shop, so she let this one slide. Barely.

"From the looks of it, it would be your problem. Why else are you behind the counter?" She tried her best to keep out her own irritation and speak in a rather collected matter. Even from experience, she was aware it could be infuriating to get no reaction from an "opponent". Deep down, Riza was kind of hoping that would happen. If the girl poked at her enough, she wasn't going to hesitate to pull the trigger and spook her. Riza would happily pay for the repairs if it knocked some sense into the younger generation.

As she heard the small collapse, she half expected the girl to go fix it. When she didn't, her own anger fumed a bit. Even Hayate let out a small bark when he heard the door slam and things fall, unaware of the disaster that had been caused. Meeting her pup's gaze, her orderly instincts kicked in. "Shouldn't you go pick that up? I doubt your brother will appreciate the petty mess you've just made." Poke, don't fire. It was how she was going to make this situation work in her favor, or at least get the girl behind the counter really riled up.

Taking the bag from the girl's hands, she quickly inspected the contents. Almost on cue, Black Hayate began to bark away. In normal situations, she would've scolded him. However, it was just what she'd wanted him to do. "Aww, who's a good boy? Would you like a treat?" Just as she'd prompted the questions, the number of barks seemed to increase. She let it go on for a few moments before giving him the treat and quieting him down. Being the only one in the bakery, she had no shame in a bit of acting on their part.

"Ah, sorry, yes. This would be our bag. Though... I think I'll wait for him to get back to pay. After the mess you caused back there, I'd hate to be the one blamed for missing or destroyed money." It might have been a bit low, but Riza personally couldn't stand a child that seemed to think they owned the world. A little respect would end up going a long way, if she succeeded. As if for emphasis, Hayate let out another bark as she went to take the seat closest to the register and, in turn, the girl.

[ele]

This woman only pushed Juliet's buttons, and therefore she didn't like her one bit. She was able to ignore the first comment, but she only got more and more irritated as time went on, so it made it more and more difficult to ignore the rest of them.

Juliet could have sworn she felt her eye twitching a little bit at the woman's words- what had she called herself, something Hawkeye or other. What a stupid name. Juliet wouldn't have put it past the woman to have completely made up the name in order to make herself sound cooler. Or maybe it was one of those stupid nicknames the state alchemists were given. At this point, Juliet couldn't have cared less about the woman's name, but everything about the blonde in front of her had begun to antagonize her, so it was hard to even look past the smallest of details.

And then there was the dog. Who would dare bring a dog into the shop? Obviously Lukas had allowed the dog in the shop before, but honestly, Juliet was irritated that the mongrel was even allowed about anywhere! Didn't Lukas know anything about cleanliness at all? If he was going to own his own bakery he had better start learning.

Juliet rolled her eyes. Listening to this woman talk was painful in itself, but then having the woman openly antagonizing her was even worse. And on top of that, Hawk-talon or whatever her name was, was completely ignorant of anything that Juliet threw back at her! It was infuriating to say the very least of the situation as a whole.

"What are you, my mother? I don't have to clean up messes, that's not my problem and it's not my job. If he's not back soon I'll just call a servant to come do it for me, because this job-" she emphasized the word and glared at Riza as if it weren't just the job that was bothering her- "is really getting on every last one of my nerves."

And now the woman was insulting her, saying she couldn't handle a simple order? Just because Juliet chose not to didn't mean she was stupid. She could be smart and good at simple, stupid things if she chose to. She just chose otherwise, better for herself, unlike the other idiots around such as her brother who owned this place. "I'm pretty sure I can handle a simple transaction, but if you really think I'm that daft then go ahead and wait for him. You might wait a while though, so don't say I didn't warn you." were the girl's final words before storming over to the counter and sitting back in a chair behind it, and pretending that Riza was no longer there. Usually when she did this, people got the hint and left, but somehow something told her that this wouldn't be the case. How she wished it was.

[riza hawkeye]

Was it bad for Riza to be enjoying herself in the given situation? If she had no self control, she’d be laughing quite hard right now. It wasn’t that she personally enjoyed tormenting people, but she did enjoy knocking some sense into the ignorant girl. ”If I were your mother, you wouldn’t have that attitude for more than five minutes.” The memory of training Hayate made her chuckle. Her kids would be quite the little soldiers if she ever had a say in it, which was rather tempting. Either way, she still found a bit of thrill in educating the young girl. Well, maybe educating was a bit of a stretch…

”If this isn’t your job, why are you here? I assume your brother had left it in your hands because he trusted you to take care of it in his stead. Clearly he made a mistake, since you don’t appear remotely capable. ” Resting her elbow on the table, Riza crossed her legs and leaned back into the chair. This was actually a bit relaxing, venting by driving the girl insane. She half expected something from behind the counter to come flying at her, since the steam was practically showing. She considering making a remark at the servant comment, but figured she’d spare the girl that bit of humiliation.

A small chuckle did slip when the girl went and plopped into her seat. Was that a forfeit in the argument? No, Riza wouldn’t except such a simple win. She also wouldn’t allow the girl off the hook so easily. ”Oh, that’s alright. The quality of his company is well worth the wait.” The older boy was a delight to be around, and Riza very much enjoyed small talk with him when she wasn’t busy. She also found it rather comforting that just sitting here would probably irritate the Blakeney girl.

”So, Miss Blakeney, what is it you do with your free time? Anything exciting?” Her questions were a bit more friendly. At this point, she’d have to draw out more intel before successfully prodding the youngster any further. She hadn’t set a goal for the day, but now she knew what she wanted to do. Riza Hawkeye would sit in this quaint little bakery until she was able to knock some respect into the rich, snobby girl across the counter. She was even determined to use non-violent methods, but that would truly depend on the situation at hand.