-- YOU'RE GONNA GO FAR KID [Skye]

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

After spending a good portion of his Saturday morning lying around his bedroom playing video games, the mid-afternoon hanging out with friends at the mess hall, and successfully shirking homework until the following day, he finally decided that it was time to go to the library and finish that book he had been trying to get through for the past few weeks. He considered checking it out and making life simple but every time he halted, wondering what people would think of him wandering around with something like Macbeth. No one cared, probably, but fear of ridicule led to irrational paranoia.

So instead he decided that staying in the library was his best option. If anyone asked there were a handful of excuses he could use, though they were possibly the same ones applicable to checking out said book. Really, the boy made no sense. Of course with Adam an altercation could happen just about anywhere, the library no exception. As soon as he went to fetch Macbeth, another student accidentally ran into him, knocking the book out of his hands. He growled and got upset, lashing out at the poor girl who tried to apologize in a flurry of flailing. One of the assistants, who was lurking nearby, heard Adam and came to the girl's rescue, sending her off and standing there with a frown. "You need to calm down before I escort you out of here myself."

One would think that time spent in the library would be conducive to a quiet corner, a good book, and watching people go to and from the shelves to gather things for research or pleasure, but maybe that day wasn't particularly designated for such a time. Not while Adam stood in the aisle, the book clenched tightly at his side as he glared at the older guy standing in front of him. Age meant nothing to him; intimidation was not something he dealt with too often. Not with strangers, anyway. "So you're mad at me because someone else ran into me and I reacted? Why aren't they in trouble?" He tried work this in his favor, tried to play innocent, though in the back of his mind he knew it was futile. He understood that yelling and threatening to shove a book down a kid's throat was not permitted, but admitting to it would help things go over a lot smoother. The assistant looked incredibly flustered as he stood there, arms crossed. "You're disrupting everyone else around you," He explained, sharing a glare with the younger boy. "Why don't you learn to lower your voice."

That elicited a deep scowl, eyebrows tightly knit together. "Why don't you learn to back the fuck off before I plant my foot in your ass." The threat wasn't exactly empty; Adam was a fighter by nature and, although the other male was fully capable of surpassing the Fiery tenth grader in elemental strength and possibly physical strength too, he didn't back down. It was not in his nature to do so. However, he knew that this would be a horrible place to fight anyone; Adam was not interested in suspension or anything of the sort. So although he had the capability to act on his threat, he wouldn't do any such thing unless the other guy reacted first. Instead, he parted his lips to say something else sarcastic and rude when a familiar voice caught his attention from somewhere behind the man he was arguing with. Even the assistant looked frozen and unsure. Shit.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

Skye couldn't say that she was exactly happy to be back at the Academy, because truthfully she rather thought that saying school was some of the best years of her life would be stupid. They had been fun, sure -- some instances more than others -- but by the end of her eight years (eight whole years) at the Academy, things had started to drag on and on. The last place she had wanted to come back to was school -- but there she had been for a few weeks now, after a friend called and left what was possibly the weirdest message Skye had ever gotten on her phone. "Got offered a job in Winnipeg and I'm moving in two weeks. Look, the Academy really needs another library assistant since this was so short notice -- call me back and I'll recommend you and it'll be easy!" The thought of being around high schoolers all the time had made Skye want to refuse pointblank, but a few days later she'd called her friend, and then not a week after that she was walking into the new job. That had been just almost a month ago, and already Skye was pretty sure that all of her fellow part-timers hated her. Skye really just did not care enough -- it wasn't like she had done anything to them anyway. She just showed up when she was supposed to, helped out the occasional student, and then returned to what they probably considered brooding.

Some days were better than others, of course -- just like some of her co-workers were better than others. Today was one of those calmer days, and Skye was glad that she hadn't been bothered overly much. A tag around her neck was the only thing telling people she wasn't a student anymore -- it had been but a few months since she'd attended the Academy, too. After helping one of the kids track down a particular volume of an encyclopedia that some idiot had apparently left on the complete opposite side of the library (she hated these kids sometimes) she made her way back to her usual post in the library. It wouldn't be time to leave yet but she had just about an hour until she was done. Good. Even on her better days it was generally nice to get to leave and head back to her apartment and do something productive with her life -- helping high schoolers decipher the Dewey Decimal System wasn't what she'd had in mind after graduation. At least she had a job at all, Skye figured. She still worked for Patricia during the day but in the evening hours, a few nights a week, she could be found in the library. She'd spent enough time here as a student, that was for sure, but the place was so big that actually even now she was discovering new things about it.

She'd made her way back and sneaked a glance at a large clock on the wall -- yes, just about an hour left -- when she suddenly heard a rather loud voice. For some reason this irritated her even though nobody else was around -- this was a library. Deciding that she'd better go and see what was happening, she sighed silently before walking over, movements quick and sharp. She didn't like to be sluggish when she was actually working, and she never liked to drag her feet and be lazy if she had to tell off some student for being too loud in the library. They probably all hated her at this point. She turned a corner and was actually almost a little bit surprised by what she saw. Why the heck was this kid always causing trouble with someone? She knew the type all too well, though -- a couple of her friends were pretty much the same, back in high school -- and she didn't even frown or hesitate to interrupt. It also helped that she knew this particular student, of course (and it was really weird saying that, now that she wasn't a student anymore). "What's the problem here?" she asked, not really wanting an answer, but she knew that the kid would probably give one anyway. Adam was like that. She didn't wait for an answer, but she'd asked the question mostly to get their attention, and she got what she wanted when the assistant standing there finally, slowly, turned to look at her, looking much more uncertain than he'd sounded a second ago.

Skye kind of liked to intimidate people, actually. Maybe that made her a bad person. She gestured over her shoulder with her hand. "I can handle this, Mitchell." He looked like he wanted to argue -- she seriously hated that guy -- but shuffled off after a second, apparently deciding that this was one he wouldn't win. (He was at least right about that one.) "Thank you," she called curtly after him, not caring if he answered or not, before she turned on the kid still standing there. "Why is it that there's always a scene everywhere you go?" she asked, wondering if he would be able to provide actual insight or not. She had a pretty good idea as to what the real answer was, actually, but she supposed that she'd try to let him explain first. "Rule number one of the library is 'be quiet'. And rule number two is 'don't threaten to shove library books into other people's orifices'." It had been a slow day, really. She just wanted to mess with the poor kid, but it was his own fault for causing trouble in her library... and now she couldn't believe that she'd just called it her library. It most certainly wasn't. Working here was clearly not good for her.

(wow sorry it turned out so long. o__o;; i've just never explained skye's ~getting her job~ here before, so. XD)

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

Adam had very few people in his life that he genuinely respected. It took a long while for people to reach that point, and more often than not they fell through about halfway to it. His mother was at the top of the list, and despite his attitude, he strove to be as obedient as possible. When it was just the two of them he felt like a different person simply because he held her in a different light than others and didn't have to hold up his usual attitude. Josh was another, at first more out of a quiet fear because the man was scary as fuck (not that he would admit to that aloud), but eventually he grew to like the guy. They were more alike than even Adam realized. Then...there was Skye. Not only did she save his ass upon their first meeting, but her personality allowed him to be who he was without feeling the urge to set everything on fire. She took his bull and didn't react the way he expected. In time, the kid came to respect her. Did she know this? No. Which was why this particular instance was difficult.

The first question was left open, Adam not even feeling the urge to respond. Instead he took delight in watching the attendant look uncertain and almost fearful at seeing Skye stand behind him. Serves him right, The kid thought to himself with a grumble. He was merely being petulant, mad that he got in trouble. Then she sent him away and instantly he met her gaze. The scowl he gave Mitchell was still present, though considerably less angry. "There isn't. I'm just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He argued, albeit a lot quieter, knowing that was a bold faced lie. "And you always happen to be around when it happens, somehow." He didn't mind making a scene, it was of no bother to him what-so-ever. Of course today it had to draw the attention of the one person he didn't expect. Dammit. Mentally he kicked himself for reacting the way he did in the library. The quietest place on campus. He was going to win genius of the year, for sure. "I couldn't help that she ran into me and knocked the book out of my hands. People need to learn to pay attention." The more he talked, the more ridiculous he felt. Had Mitchell stuck around he would've felt haughty and eager to argue, but this was Skye.

He snorted. "Even if they deserve it? Come on, don't tell me you've never threatened someone for pissing you off." The boy avoided the whole first portion of her sentence; yeah, he knew that the library was basically a giant sign that spelled out 'shut up and enjoy your books', but he hardly thought before speaking. It could definitely be considered a problem. After watching her for a minute, the boy glanced away from her and looked scolded, eyes focusing on the carpet near his feet. What was there to say now? She was clearly not happy with him, and oddly enough that bothered him. Anyone else would've gotten the middle finger. The scowl turned into a thoughtful frown, eyebrows still drawn together as he fought for something to say. He looked up long enough to scan the aisle before gripping the book tighter. He gave a grunt; his next words were going to be like chewing on razor blades. "...it won't happen again." Adam mumbled, just enough for her to hear. Was that some sort of attempt at an apology? Perhaps.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

Sometimes Skye felt a little bit guilty that she'd let half of her coworkers actually become scared of her, but most of the time she didn't care, and she certainly didn't care enough to bother trying to rectify the situation. Mitchell was one of the more annoying ones, though. She felt a little bit of satisfaction as he took off. "The wrong place at the wrong time?" she repeated, not even surprised by the way he answered her question. "Every time?" She hadn't expected much cooperation from him, actually -- most of the kids around here were really just idiots... which was hilarious because it was a library. This place was supposed to be for the intellectuals or something -- but, then again, Adam wasn't stupid. She pegged him as a pretty smart kid, actually -- but very mouthy. That was the annoying part. "I'm not following you, I promise." It was a joke and there was some sarcasm evident in her tone, but she kept her face fairly neutral. He was smart. He cuold figure this one out.

Was it really that bad for some fifteen-year-old Fire kid to get angry and start raging out of nowhere in the middle of the library? Well... the most surprising part was that Adam was dumb enough to do it in a library, really, but she wasn't even a little bit surprised that he'd gotten that angry over something that was so minor. It would have probably annoyed her too. Of course, she probably wouldn't have threatened to shove the book down the person's throat, mostly because she had no intention of going to prison at any point in her life. "They do, yes," she agreed instead of arguing with him. She hated people sometimes -- more frequently than she would let on when she was trying to be nice. "Though I imagine that if you couldn't stop her from running into you, then you weren't paying very much attention either." She could have been wrong, but she didnt't think she was. Adam was probably more predictable than he would admit. Deciding that it might be better to alleviate things just a little, she changed the topic, asking, "What are you reading, anyway?" She remembered his old reaction to her reaction to his reading Shakespeare. For some reason that incident stuck out in her mind and made her laugh a little bit, when she wasn't busy being highly confused by how high schoolers worked.

Though she had never explicitly done something like that, Skye wasn't able to deny that she'd uttered threats at some points in her life before. These instances weren't even close to being constant, but there were numerous cases that stood out in her mind. Many of them had been back in high school. Skye had been a little less... careful back then. "A few times, actually. A long time ago," she said, unsure why she felt the need to include that. "Probably when I was in Grade Ten, too." That was his age, right? She was pretty sure he'd been but just a tiny niner last year... or, well, the tiny part wasn't at all true, but a niner. She opened her mouth to continue, but she was silenced almost immediately before he even started talking. The expression on his face was bizarre. When he finally spoke, she actually showed her surprise, blinking. "Wait... That's good," she said, shaking off the random confusion. Well, that had been very unexpected. She wondered if he would have apologized (or rather, "apologized", since that wasn't a real one) had Mitchell still been here instead of her, and decided with some satisfaction and, almost, pride, that she had done that herself. "I don't care if you cause trouble elsewhere," she said, a little bit amused now, actually. "But not here while I'm working. I think I have to deal with enough when I'm here." Seriously, she hated most of the students at this point.

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

The kid crossed his arms and kept an eyebrow cocked, trying to keep his attitude as they talked. It was hard when, despite his size, he felt small around Skye. Her presence was a lot larger than it used to be. When did that happen? "Every single time," He responded to confirm. That was another lie and inside the boy flinched. It was easy to see through, of that he was sure. She didn't seem to believe him. Who would? A blind person could see that he was just spouting out random excuses because he didn't want to admit he was wrong. Adam was never good at keeping a reign on his emotions, which was supposedly a problem. While a lot of the ego and attitude was something he put on for the hell of it, the temper was far from anything synthetic. "You sure about that?" He asked, using these small opportunities to slide past the original issue. "I know I have a pretty hefty female posse behind me so I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

He had given up legitimately flirting with her a long while back but hey, he was a guy and he was Adam. This stuff was of no surprise. He knew that she wasn't serious, and she probably knew that he wasn't either. He parted his lips to argue but nothing came out; fuck. she was right. Glancing down at the cover of the book gave them both enough time to clash. His eyes narrowed in anger with not only himself, but at the fact that he had nothing to say. Shocking, really. It was hard to silence Adam most of the time. In this bout of frustration he snapped, "None of your business," And regretted it only a few nanoseconds later. Why couldn't this be that Mitchell guy? It would be so much easier. Instead of apologizing he looked away again, looking as grumpy as ever.

"Yeah, right. You probably still do it. Maybe not the same way I do, but you can't be that innocent." Hell, Skye went out of her way to threaten those Water students who had taken to trying to beat him up. It wasn't the same in words but the threat still existed. This was a lot more difficult than he thought it would be. If the other guy had stayed the banter would have been effortless, but this was Skye. It was like being confronted with his mother, only younger and capable of electrocuting him. Scary. Adam grunted when she said 'good', not sure what else to say. "Okay," He said, glad that she wasn't going to knock him every time something went down. He liked to fight, argue, and be under everyone's skin. To an extent it was fun. There was an inward groan as the boy continued to avoid her gaze. She was just fishing for all of this now, wasn't she? She had to be. "Yes ma'am." The words were still a mumble of sorts. It was almost painful to submit to her but in the same token...Skye was one of the few who deserved respect. He glanced up at her quickly, gripping the book a little more. "I can leave if you want."

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

Skye didn't even answer at first, just blinked very slowly at him when he confirmed her words -- and he lied, of course. Was that even surprising? It probably shouldn't have been. She exhaled slowly out of her nose, considering her words for a moment before saying, "If you're going to lie, at least lie about better things." That was quite possibly one of the stupidest and most pointless lies she'd ever heard in her life. It wasn't like he was fooling anybody, but she didn't think that he'd been intending to, because that would be foolishly optimistic on his part. No, he was just being a stubborn teenager -- there were people of all ages like that, of course, so she probably shouldn't be generalizing. She didn't bother correcting the thought in her mind. "And don't bother lying to yourself." The poor attempt was almost painful to watch -- but at the same time almost amusing, because Adam was a thorn in her side half the time. Somehow, she actually kind of liked the kid, at least certainly more than she liked many of the other students, but she wasn't about to let him know that.

Her eyes narrowed a little bit at his next word, but her expression didn't otherwise change. She really shouldn't have let anything Adam did surprise her, and overall when she reflected on them, they never really did. That said, she was still somehow a little taken aback. He wasn't being serious -- she knew that -- but that was highly irritating. "You'll have to take my word for it, but I wouldn't expend that much effort into following you," she told him, careful not to let emphasis into any any of her words in particular, deciding that this would be safe to say without inviting further advances -- joking or not. The kid had nerve, though; she'd give him that much. Just as quickly as she had decided this, though, she was frowning at him when he snapped at her. It was more of a look that questioned what he thought he was doing, for heaven's sake, than anything else. "I didn't realize it was such confidential information," she said, her tone cordial but cold to show that she didn't appreciate the attitude. If she had a dime for every kid with bad attitude around here, Skye certainly wouldn't have to work part-time at the library. "You would have probably been better off telling me what it is and saying it's for homework again." She remembere one of the first (and only) conversations they'd had, ages ago. Somehow, many things had changed, but others -- like this attitude -- were very much the same.

She actually had to think about it when he said that she probably still did it, and she actually found herself without words for a long moment, though she didn't let any of her thoughts show on her face. Luckily, she had never been the type to just blurt out the first thing she thought -- pauses while she thought over words, choosing the right ones, weren't uncommon. "No, I guess that's true," she said finally, resisting the urge to smile for some reason. He was right -- considering the circumstances under which they met, Skye knew that there was no way she had managed to keep from intimidating or threatening others, especially a lot of these younger students. It was never needless like that, but hey -- she'd had enough loyalty left to her alliance that she wouldn't let them beat up some smaller kid on her own side. "I think I'm a bit more articulate about it, though." Their methods of operation were completely different. There was some quiet for a moment, during which she became distinctly aware of how quiet it was in the library without these kids shouting at each other about stupid things, and then finally she nodded when he spoke, though it left her a bit stunned. The "ma'am" in particular threw her off. You're getting old, Skye. She suppressed a sigh. "Just call me Skye," she told him, almost a command (because respect was nice, but that was unnecessary), but then she shook her head just a little. "And no, you don't have to leave. Just... keep it down. People are trying to do actual things in here."

(WOW LENGTH SORRY. skye has so many ~thoughts~.)

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

Adam shrugged and didn't look too bothered. "It has nothing to do with the importance or what it's about," He explained, eyebrow poised. "You should know me well enough to know how all of this works." He rolled his hand through the air for emphasis. He didn't even think there was a need to explain himself; if one person understood that this was not an attempt at trying to get past her with a lie, it was the woman herself. He was full of it, and he knew that to be a fact too. Most who stuck around long enough were well aware of who he was. It was a tactic to ruffle the feathers, to rub the fur the wrong way. He often times prided himself on being able to agitate others. Adam snorted. "I'm definitely not lying to myself. I never do." Which was, in fact, a half-lie. He sometimes puffed himself up in efforts to keep up his self esteem.

He chuckled, a bit amused despite how agitated he felt. The comment was meant as a joke anyway and was glad she didn't take some weird offense over it. Some people were far too sensitive for their own good. Instead of disputing the inevitable truth with some random, arrogant reply, he merely tugged his shoulders up against his cheeks and gave her a wry smile. No, Skye probably had far better things to do than sit around and ponder over his whereabouts. The smile didn't last long of course; it hardly ever did when he wasn't in the best of moods. Why was she so goddamn nosy? He didn't like it. And yet, at the same time, it made him feel good to know someone was interested in whatever he was doing at the time. Maybe she didn't care but the inquiry was...nice? Yeah, nice was a decent word. Not that he would ever share that with her. After mulling it over in his head, Adam gave her a wary glance and said, "It's Macbeth. And no, it isn't for homework. Hope you're satisfied." He looked pugnacious, prepared to come back at her if she said anything he deemed to be a cut at his book of interest. Why would she? He didn't know. The boy was already wired from the previous encounter with Mitchell and everything simply continued to roll from there. At least the boy gave her a real answer.

While they stood in silence a short moment, he watched her carefully. To some degree he was envious of her capability to stand there and think before she spoke; while she managed to choose the right words, Adam managed to piss off everyone in his path. He chose to do it for the most part, though sometimes things slipped. Skye had more control. Age did play a huge part in this too. He did give her a small but triumphant smile when she agreed with him; while her methods were probably far less obnoxious or obvious, they had to exist to some degree right? Those Waters looked pretty frightened. Adam scoffed and said, "Yeah, I guess so. We all have our ways of handling shit. I think my methods are pretty fun though." Loud, and unnecessary, but fun. The only issue he encountered with said methods were the fact that he never discerned from right and wrong places and times. "Okay," He replied again, short answers but nothing meant to be disrespectful. It was so hard to be who he normally would be, tough exterior aside. No one really understood that most of it was a ruse. He sighed in relief (though silently) before dropping his shoulders. "What are you doing? Can I just go with you? I can...always read the book later. I normally don't check it out I might as well." He looked like a dejected puppy at this point but appeared hopeful that she wouldn't turn him away.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

Skye was almost a little surprised at how well she actually did know Adam -- oh, not any personal details about him, sure, but she'd made a couple of assumptions on their first meeting based on other people she kenw. She really was surprised to find out how many of them had been right, but then again, the weirdest part of it was that she actually didn't mind the kid at all. He really did remind her of a bunch of her high school friends, and (perhaps for once) not in a really bad way. "Unfortunately," she said, nodding a little bit in acknowledgement. "But now you're not even trying." If there weren't moments when he lied to himself, Skye would be sorely mistaken. Everything he said seemed to be a lie to himself, though. She'd guess it was something that came with the overinflated ego.

She wasn't sure why she would be satisfied, or even more unlikely, unsatisfied, with his answer, but she inclined her head either way. "No need for attitude. I liked Macbeth," she said, having read it back in high school too -- though Skye had actually never been big on Shakespeare and the like. She hadn't been much of an English student, truthfully, mostly because she preferred to read on her own, but then again she could have probably done that at any point if she'd wanted to. Adam was doing it, after all, even if he was doing it in a stupidly convoluted way. "Have you read Hamlet? That was my favourite." It was like making small talk, except the topic was Shakespearean tragedies instead of the weather or sports teams or something. "Well, tragedy-wise. I always liked the comedies more." They were often a little easier to digest, but for some reason the tragedies were more popular when it came to the actual English curriculum, at least as far as Skye had seen in her time at the Academy.

She could only offer up a thin smile in response, though part of her wanted to cringe a little. Even so, she couldn't totally deny her own amusement. "They're probably pretty fun," she said, though the smile disappeared after a second. Would she want to go running around getting into scuffles every second of every day? No, she probably wouldn't, but Adam was probably a very different type. "Do you like ending up in detention all the time, too?" It was said fairly lightly, meant as a joke, but she wasn't sure if that carried over. Many people couldn't tell -- hopefully Adam could, though. These moments were often make-or-break for Skye when it came to the people around her.

It was looking good, at least, when he seemed to relent and just agree; if there was any spite or ridiculous attitude this time, she didn't notice it, and Skye liked to believe that she was a rather observant person. "Well, working. I'm done in probably around twenty minutes, though," she told him. The next question threw her off but she actually smiled a little, for whatever reason. Adam was an interesting character, that was for sure -- a cute kid when he wasn't saying stupid things and running headfirst into the proverbial wall. "You can if you want. Work probably won't be that interesting without more fights to break up, but... Here, I can check that out for you." Though she still didn't think there was need for him to hide whatever this masked passion for English was or something, she figured that it would be bordering on cruel to make the process more difficult for him than it needed to be. "Come on. I can't wait to get out of here, actually, I've been here for way too long." It had only been a couple of hours but it certainly felt like longer. Either way she led the way back to the counter, where she held out a hand for the book expectantly so that she could run it through the scanner. "Do you have your student card?" She'd probably need that first to sign it out for him, actually.

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

Adam merely gave her a glance and revealed a scowl, a rather consistent response to most portions of conversation he had with others. If it was not a scowl formed by a train of thought, it was because someone managed to make him angry or offend him. The two former possibilities were not all that hard to do, though offending him grew to be less and less of an issue. He was far too confident in himself to allow others to tear him down with one harsh word. Still, Adam found himself defensive over the stupidest things, like English. Maybe he would grow out of it? "Yeah, it's pretty decent," He replied, a faint flash of relief crossing his features. No snide remarks, no hits at his reading material or him. Trusting others never did come easily, even with something as silly as this. He wondered how many people actually knew anything about his life. He shook his head. "No, not yet. Some of these take a while to get through. His writing is so screwed up and I have to read some sentences several times to understand what's going on." As much as he loved Shakespeare and his work, he wished he could go back in time and tell the guy how haughty his writing was. Did he use big words to show off? Maybe.

"Which comedies do you like?" Adam asked, almost hesitantly. It was weird having a conversation about English and reading, to be perfectly honest. Skye had yet to poke fun at him though, so he was allowing the conversation to move forward a little to get a feel for talking about these sorts of things with her. He offered a small smile when she agreed about his thoughts on 'fun', then followed suit when her smile vanished. It was fun for him and that was all that mattered. He didn't mind fights or fighting; in fact, it was an excellent way to expel energy. "I don't mind it," The boy shrugged lightly. "It's just detention. I can bother people if I'm bored or I can do homework." Either way suited him pretty well. He didn't mind school at all, it was simply that he didn't hold a lot of respect for many people. Unfortunately several teachers ended up being in the 'many people' category.

Hands shoved in his pockets, he glanced away and gave a brief nod of understanding. For a moment he wondered why he even asked her. Of course she was busy! Stupid. Just as Adam prepared to emit a growl of irritation with himself, Skye offered to check his book out for him. "Okay," He stopped and chewed on the inside of his lip. "Thanks." There was a drag in his step as he followed behind her, offering a faint chuckle of amusement. "I couldn't handle working in here." Adam admitted, passing her a glance. It was too quiet. As much as he enjoyed a good book, working in the library could potentially be a form of torture for one who only enjoyed the silence for so long. He leaned against the counter and slid the book towards her. "Ah," Her request jogged his memory and with a bit of fumbling around his pockets, pulled out the I.D. card and set it on top of the book.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, well, when you're done with work we should go and grab food," He suggested weakly, not even making eye contact. "I'm starving." As much as Adam hated it, he knew he needed to talk to her on a more serious level. Just...not in here with everyone being capable of tuning into the conversation.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

She wasn't phased at all by the scowl. It was a pretty lousy attitude that he had, actually, but she was honestly way too used to it at this point to care, and besides that, he probably wanted the signs of irritation. It was probably just fun for him to push other people's buttons -- and okay, admittedly, she'd been a little irked in the past, but today was not the day to be dragging any of that back up when she was pretty sure she'd just had the closest thing to a victory she'd ever get with Adam. He wasn't even half-bad, really, after she'd gotten used to him. "I figured you wouldn't read something that you don't think is at least decent," she said pretty frankly, not trying to elicit any kind of annoyance. It was hard to tell what would set someone like him off, though. "A lot of older literature is like that," she agreed. "Older writing in general, actually. Or just any kind of art. But it made sense to the people back then, so we're just biased." There was no way not to be biased one way or the other for anything, however, so she wasn't overly concerne.

Although Skye really wasn't much of an English student, a couple of things had stuck out at her over the years. She had to say Adam had a leg up on her already, actually -- she'd never actively sought out more Shakespeare, of all things, to read in her spare time. "I think Merchant of Venice was my favourite," she told him after thinking on it for a second. "Much Ado About Nothing is pretty good too, actually. Original romantic comedy and everything." It wasn't like Skye thought romantic comedies were the best things ever, but when it was combined with Shakespearean language, it was definitely easier to get through and laugh at than, for instance, the long drawn-out mass death scenes of the tragedies. "Well, at least you're being productive. Sometimes." Bothering people wasn't particularly productive (though probably fun for him) but homework was, at least, something that was okay to do in detention. Hey, there was nothing fun to do in there anyway.

"No problem." It was a simple response to his thanks, but hey, it wasn't like she'd offered to climb a mountain for the kid or anything. This was part of her job, actually, when the actual librarians weren't around -- but at least he had manners. Skye wasn't the nicest person, but she liked to think that she at least had manners -- it was important to be polite, civil, cordial... even when she really disliked many of the people she came into contact with on a daily basis. She nodded her agreement and smiled a little. "It's not by choice, really," she admitted, not overly concerned, because she was actually relatively open about this fact. She was sure most of her co-workers knew by now. Few of them, she was sure, thought this was a dream job either. "I mean it is because nobody is forcing me to work here, but... I just needed another job." She wasn't sure why she needed to tell him this, but it was the kind of information she didn't mind sharing. Skye knew that her financial situation was far from ideal, however -- but she could afford rent and groceries and, if she budgeted well, would probably have a car sometime in the near future. Finally. Bussing everywhere wasn't at all fun.

She took the card and the book from him, ran them through, and stamped the due date in the card on the back before handing both back to him. "It's due back in two weeks, or you can renew it anytime," she told him because that was her job, but she was sure he already knew that. Maybe he didn't, though -- apparently he didn't sign books out very often, which was something else she should probably have been able to guess. Library books probably weren't conducive to that whole tough kid thing he was going for. "Me too," she said, realizing when she said it that wow, she really was hungry. Work wasn't necessarily difficult at all, but it was almost always draining in that sense. "Yeah, we can go get food," she said, noticing but not visibly acknowledging the sudden lackluster energy -- or the way he didn't meet her eyes. So weird. "Up in town? But... we'd probably need to take the bus." She was pretty sure he wasn't old enough to drive, and damn, her license had been sitting burning a hole in her wallet for literally years, without a car of her own. "Unless you have to be back at school later for curfew or something?" She didn't know whether or not he stayed in a dorm -- actually, she didn't know very much about his life at all, but she figured that made sense. They'd spoken all of about three times, maybe.

"We can almost leave now, actually, let me just grab my stuff," she said, leaving him there for a second to retreat into a door behind the counter. She returned after a bit, purse slung over her shoulder. A glance at the clock behind her told her that her shift had only just ended. "Good timing, actually, we can go now." She gestured to the exit, keen on leaving as soon as possible. The stuffiness of the library got to her after a while, honestly. Besides that, she was trying to diagnose his bizarre behaviour, but that wasn't the kind of thing she was about to tell him. No, no. That would be silly.

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

Adam logged Skye's suggestions to the back of his mind, nodding absently as she spoke. He liked reading--as much as he hated admitting it to others, for whatever reason--so any suggestions would be taken rather seriously if offered by people he cared about. The Thunder graduate seemed to know what she was talking about too, which helped. "I'll have to check them out." He nodded and offered a partial smile, nearly telling her how often he read. To anyone else that would be some random piece of info to toss into the conversation but Adam was not really one to blurt out things like that, as much as he blabbed. The more he thought on his keeping his love of English a secret, the more ridiculous it sounded, even to him. He would need to work on that. He snorted. "Sometimes? I'm productive all the time. It just looks like I'm not doing anything noteworthy." Which was, again, a fib. Adam liked to banter for the sake of bantering.

For once, the boy was not really able to come up with anything remotely useful or amusing to say. He was too busy trying to deal with the thoughts that ambled through his head, sorting them out silently. To a degree, he understood why Skye had managed to dominate him so quickly and without hardly a fight, but at the same time he had a feeling that there would come a time for explanation. Or would there be? She didn't ask about it. Adam allowed a frown to cross his features. "Growing up sucks," He pointed out the obvious with a scoff. "I'll need to get a job soon, I think. I guess the making money part won't be so bad." But after a while bills would come into existence, as well as a car and car insurance and a home and buying his own food. He felt as though he would hardly have time to enjoy life. Mostly suffering through it just to survive. That sounded pretty shitty. He was still a kid and had a childish mentality about some things so that could be part of it, though he witnessed his mom's life and didn't think his view was too far off base.

He nodded and took the book back, sliding it under his arm for the time being and placing the card back where it belonged. After a moment he placed the book into his back pack instead. Carrying it around wasn't all that necessary. The neutral expression on his face betrayed a smile when she agreed to food. "Cool," He replied calmly, rolling his shoulders. She actually agreed to go and eat with him, something he didn't expect. "I have a bus pass, so it's no big deal." Adam waved the card back and forth after fishing for it in his pocket. "And I do have curfew but it's not for a while yet. I'll make it back in time." He obviously did not care whether or not he was in his dorm at the appropriate time, though repercussions could be bad.

"Alright," Was about all he said on that, shoving his hands in his pockets as she wandered away to get her things. It felt so strange to be conversing with Skye without a smart ass reply or a dramatic eye roll, but at the same time he felt it would be good for him. He straightened up as she approached him, eyes shifting towards the clock as she glanced back. "Awesome, because I could eat a horse right now. Where are we gonna eat?" He looked over at her expectantly, eyebrow raised. The kid could put down food of any kind really, so any place she wanted to go was fair game for him. He wandered out of the library and towards the bus stop, not really in a rush but not dragging his feet like before. Adam felt his mind buzzing still. When they reached the inner portion of the Hollow, he stepped off the bus and looked around before up at Skye expectantly. The look on his face was almost that of a lost puppy awaiting the proper direction. "I don't take the bus a lot, not to this part of the city anyway. So...I guess you lead the way." Had she been anyone else that sentence would have been like biting down on a piece of tin foil, but hey...things changed. Then again, Adam didn't really change. He simply decided that Skye deserved to see what lay beneath that loud and argumentative exterior.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

It was nice that he seemed to actually take her suggestions seriously, though Skye wasn't about to actually admit that hey, she was no big Shakespeare afficionado or anything like that. Literature wasn't awful or anything, though -- she certainly read more now than she'd used to, back when she'd been in school and had been assigned things to read. Now she did whatever she felt like, though she'd yet to pick up anything Shakespearean just for fun. "They're good! You might have to read some of them later for classes, anyway," she pointed out, not overly concerned about this. That happened sometimes and it definitely wasn't bad. It was actually sometimes a little bit satisfying to know that she already had at least half a leg up on everyone else. "Of course you are," she said, not allowing the sarcasm to creep into her actual voice, but she knew that he knew it was there. Her tone was light, though, more amused than argumentative. "Like right now, you're being very productive." Standing in the middle of the aisle at a library was hardly productive, nor was yelling at random kids for bumping into him.

The frown actually made her smile a little, as backward as that sounded. It wasn't like she delighted in his unhappiness or anything, but the way he said it was kind of hilarious. "That it does," she agreed, nodding. It was something she'd always thought about when she was Adam's age, but nothing that she could have been prepared for until it happened. At least it had been somewhat gradual, at least -- and it helped that it wasn't as if her parents had kicked her out of the house upon her turning eighteen or anything. No... things were a bit different considering she'd been at the Academy, halfway across the country, since ninth grade. She missed home sometimes, a lot, actually. "Having money to spend is always nice." She'd had a job in high school and had decided it wasn't worth it when she'd started needing to actually focus on things in college... which was unfortunate because that was when she'd actually needed money, but Skye had pulled through. "But school's important too." Then again, she didn't think that Grade Ten was all that important, but she didn't want to tell him that because hey, she didn't know his work ethic and if he was doing a good job in school, that was a good habit she shouldn't break.

"Okay, good," she said, nodding. "Lucky you and your student bus pass." She still had a bus pass, of course -- she used it more than ever now that she had places to go in town, where she lived, and still no car -- but it was just unfortunate that a student pass was a lot cheaper. It wasn't like she'd left school and immediately started making more money or something. "As long as you don't get in trouble." Skye was sure that he got in enough trouble without needing to be busted for being out past curfew, too. She was trying not to be some kind of awful influence here... not that Skye was a particularly bad influence, mind. "I'm going to guess you didn't have dinner," she said, arching an eyebrow at him and feeling vaguely weird that she sounded and looked like a mother or something -- but hey, it wasn't her job to chide him for skipping meals. She hadn't eaten yet either, and honestly it was with a little eagerness that she headed for the bus stop, inhaling deeply but silently as she stepped outside. The library was nice but far too stuffy when she was in there for a few hours at a time, and at this point, even just getting onto the bus for a short ride back to Maple Hollow was very welcome. "Wherever, honestly. There's a pretty cool Mexican place just around the corner from that library near downtown, actually. If you want." Skye didn't know if he even had a clue what she was talking about; she only knew because that was pretty close to her apartment, but of course this was just a thinly-veiled way to get it so that she would be able to walk home easily afterward. He didn't need to know the specifics.

They stepped off the bus and she nodded at his words, for once not thinking much on his words and the way he was actually letting her take the lead. It only made sense because she actually knew where they were going, after all, but it was almost kind of in Skye's nature to overanalyze things sometimes. It wasn't always necessary, though -- she trusted Adam to be... well, yes, kind of an annoyingly aggressive kid, but not all kinds of awful that she needed to walk away from, pronto. She wasn't sure why she had actually agreed to go get food either, actually, but hopefully it wouldn't be all that bad at all. "This way, then," she said, gesturing before heading off in that direction. "It's not a far walk from here but the bus route doesn't go there." She made idle chit-chat and watched him out of the corner of her eye as they walked. It was a little harder when he was so much taller than her, but they were approaching the restaurant and, she figured, it would be easier once they were sitting down. "So why did you suddenly want to go get food?" she asked, putting the question in the open, her tone of voice fairly neutral. It was probably a fair assumption that he actually wanted to talk about something, and she didn't bother beating around the bush.

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

Although he was young, Adam knew what the future held in terms of adult-hood. Job, making money, spending the money just to survive and, if you were lucky, had a little left over to get a drink with friends or go to the movies. He didn't envy his mother and all that she did to put food on the table, though she had a helping hand from Greg. Adam was going to help her too, if he got a job in the next year or so. It just sucked that he had an insatiable appetite for nice clothing. "Yeah I'm sure it is. Living off of an allowance isn't exactly fun, though I guess having a job and paying bills isn't a walk in the park either." He wished that he were an animal sometimes; they didn't have any responsibility. Like dolphins. Dolphins spent all day fooling around and didn't have to do anything except eat and sleep and play. That was probably a bad comparison since living in water didn't sound appealing. "Tch, school. I guess it is." Would Skye criticize him if he displayed a dislike for school? Maybe. She felt like such a mother figure, in a really weird way. He subconsciously wanted to avoid disappointing her.

The boy smirked and flipped the pass between his fingers. He did feel rather lucky. "Me? Get in trouble? Please. I can always weasel my way out of trouble if I really wanted to." He exaggerated, a strut to his words as he spoke. The only way he could avoid getting in trouble is if he lied and came up with some sort of excuse as to why he was out late, and it would probably include mixing up the bus stops or helping his mom at home. He did not know if it would work but it would be worth a try. He pointed his index finger at Skye and closed an eye. "You guessed right, doll. I could eat all day though, if I had the chance." His metabolism was pretty high considering he was still just a teen and an active teen at that, so he was like a human garbage disposal. He walked alongside her to the bus, glad to be out of the library. "Mexican sounds good," Adam agreed, glancing down at her. "I haven't had a decent burrito in a while. I do warn you now that I could probably go through several baskets of their chips and salsa." God, he loved chips and salsa, and sometimes cheese dip, though sometimes that could be a meal in and of itself.

He was never much of a follower but figured this time would be best, even if instinct wanted him to pick up the pace and be one step ahead of her. He wondered if she was curious about his change in behavior, and if she was then nothing was being said about it. Maybe that was a good thing. "That sounds shady, but I'll go along with it." Adam joked with a small smile, glancing over his shoulder at the bus which was now retreating into the distance. His mind was mostly on food and the other random thoughts floating around so the humored smile vanished shortly after. Luckily they went back and forth in conversation, nothing too out of the ordinary. It was weird to have a normal chat with her without being loud and irritable all the time. He saw a sign for a restaurant in the distance with a name that was obviously Mexican--not only that, but it had a spiffy sombrero above it. Just when Adam thought he was in the clear, Skye asked after the food.

He frowned. "I was...hungry? That's normally why people eat, right?" Sounded quite logical to him, but of course he looked more disgruntled than anything. Probably because he felt like she was catching on to why he asked her to grab food with him. "But hey, we don't have to eat if you don't want." Without even waiting for a response, he pulled the door open to the restaurant and leaned against it to see what her choice would be.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

Skye nodded. Though they hadn't really used the word "allowance," her parents had sent her money throughout high school, once every few weeks -- enough to subsist on, really. She hadn't had too much money in high school, just enough to go out or buy something every so often. Nearly all of her meals had been in the mess hall, though, and as a kid, it wasn't like there had been much she needed to buy. The big things -- phone bills and so on -- were obviously paid for by her parents. She'd had it good, in many ways. She didn't know what else a fourteen-year-old kid could do to get by, however. "Yeah. And you won't have to do taxes until you're eighteen, either." Without working for the past few years, she'd received a small sum back from the government throughout her college years, which had helped considerably. "School's not so bad," she told him, managing to sound not argumentative but more frank and honest. She believed she was right, at least. "It's not as tedious as work, anyway. Doing the same thing for... what, six hours in a row?" She didn't work six hours in a row at the library, but it was usually the job she went to after at least six at the constituency office. That was the real problem. She liked the political side of things, but anything was grating after she spent too much time surrounded by it.

Considering how she had essentially bailed him out of trouble earlier -- even if, she thought with a sudden feeling of vindication, he had preferred dealing with her co-worker, by all means -- she doubted that he would be able to weasel his way out of things as easily as he boasted. "Right." She wasn't going to be awful enough to point out all the examples of times that proved him wrong, however. "As long as you're sure." She shrugged the thought off easily, though her shoulders didn't actually move -- it was more of a note to herself. "Don't call me 'doll'." The instruction was firm but she moved on quickly, trusting that he'd be able to keep up. Adam was many things but not stupid. "But that's good, I skipped dinner too." They could have dinner, then, even if it was a little later than dinner probably should have been, but with her work schedules that wasn't always possible. It was a fact that Skye lamented but really, she had very little choice. She needed to pay rent and buy groceries, after all -- and the library job did mean she was even able to start saving for the little things. "That's alright. As long as you know how to share." She actually didn't eat very much, at least not any more than the average person, but Skye did love food. Sweets were certainly more her thing, though. "Their chips baskets are huge, though. So we'll see." It was almost like a challenge, but very subtly so. If there was one thing she knew about people like Adam, it was that they never failed to rise to a challenge, and this one wasn't a bad one -- better than if she bet him five dollars he couldn't jump off a bridge and survive or something like that.

She shot him a falsely serious look when he said that it sounded shady. "It's wiser not to say things like that around these parts." Hah, no. It was literally just around the block and, considering there was a library here, and a cute little elementary school just across the way, she doubted it was what anyone could consider a dangerous neighbourhood. Admittedly, though, it was a slightly older part of it, so it might have looked a little more run-down. Safe, however, it definitely was. Skye lived nearby, after all. She didn't have time to go zapping any assholes in the area. His answer to her question definitely set off alarms. If anything, if simple hunger were the right answer, he would have come back with a stupid sarcastic response that would have made her roll her eyes. This left her not knowing the answer at all, except that the answer was definitely not what he'd just said to her. "That makes sense," she said anyway, her tone making it clear that she knew what he was up to, even though she didn't really have a clue beyond the fact that it was something. "We're already here, we can eat." She wanted to know, too, what was actually going on, and leaving now was not conducive to that goal. "Thanks." Skye stepped inside, nodding at him as she passed through the door, then went to order her food and then grab them a table. She let him sit and get comfortable before continuing, as if they hadn't missed a beat in the conversation, "But really I wanted to know why I'm here if you were just hungry."

[ADAM EVAN RIZZO]

"So I have three years of freedom," Adam pointed out blandly, not looking the least bit enthused about adulthood. So much work and it seemed like there wouldn't be much of a reward in the end. "Sounds awesome. I can't wait to become a slave to the workforce." He said it with as much sarcasm as he could muster, rolling his head back. The ceiling was ugly and lacked anything interesting, so he focused on Skye again. "So basically I'm imprisoned by society for the rest of my life?" His head dropped a little as he shook his head; he would spend thirteen or so years in grade school, and then move on to college for four more years, then move on to working. That didn't sound very exciting at all. Of course writing and some other things were fun so perhaps he could focus on the enjoyable hobbies to get through most of it.

He shrugged his shoulders and merely offered her a coy smile, not really caring if calling her 'doll' struck a nerve or not. Those sorts of things never kept him awake at night, for sure. "Then I guess we should just order everything on the menu? That would be fun." They would be glad for the revenue but would they be happy about cooking all the things? Adam didn't know but it would've been funny. He drew his head back as though she had spit poison in his face. "Sharing? You've gotta be kidding me. You have no idea who you're dealing with, obviously." Well, who was he kidding? She probably did. To a degree the kid was predictable and easy to calculate, especially for someone who didn't react to his attitude the way most people did. "Wanna make a bet? I bet ten bucks I can finish off a basket of chips by myself." He shot his hand out in attempts to finalize the deal, wondering if she would accept or not. What could it hurt?

When Skye told him not to say things like that, he had a feeling she was joking so played along, and hunched his shoulders as though he were a turtle drawing into his shell. He wondered if there were place like that in the Hollow, places that made even the toughest person feel vulnerable because it was "that part of town". He didn't travel around enough to know. He glanced at her, glad that she agreed to his logic but still feeling wary. Despite all of the talk, Adam never was sure if he was adept at hiding his true intentions. "Alright, cool." The relief wasn't evident in his voice but he definitely felt it settle in his chest like a cooling sensation. "No problem." He nodded in return and followed her inside, grabbing his food after she did. It looked so delicious but his mind wasn't solely focused on his meal. He found the table she picked and sat down across from her, not even having a moment to think about which burrito he wanted to eat before she hit him with the big question. Dark eyes stared at the tortilla wrap before glancing up at Skye. "Because I didn't want to eat alone? Like seriously what's with all of these questions. They all have obvious answers." He glanced away from her and stared at the floor near the booth, memorizing the pattern. It wasn't difficult, it was merely a distraction. If he held out too long she might not want to talk about it but it was so...so hard to bring into conversation. He wasn't good at this.

He cleared his throat. "But I guess while you're here..." Oh yeah, that was a smooth transition. Sounded like a mafia movie scene of some sort for some reason. "I wanted to uh. Like, I guess...I need to say...okay, so, I know that we don't talk a lot, but...I feel I should-- Well I know I should say th--" He exhaled. "Fuck." The words didn't sound right! He mentally kicked himself and tried to sort it all out before saying anything else, eating his burrito angrily as he did so. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. Did any of that even make sense? Would Skye understand it or would she just give him a blank, listless stare as she waited for an actual sentence? It made him feel irrationally angry. This was why he never talked about emotions. After some thought--and much needed silence--he finished off half of his burrito before trying again. "Alright, so. Bottom line: Thanks. I'm not good at this...whole thing." His hand made a circular motion in the air. "But thanks for, well, putting up with me. I don't have a lot of people who do. Or stick around. Not that I don't have friends but there's not...a large circle of them." That was harder to admit than he led on. All of this was difficult. First allowing her to scold him for his actions in the library, and now. He tapped his plate. He didn't know what she would say to that, if anything at all.