“…ust like my love, ever long…ing. When the rhythm’s on, you better belieeeve…” Julia sung to herself, making her way through the streets of Detu City, a bag of groceries slung over her shoulder. “Still going on, going strong…”

She passed by the Flash-Rail station, before noticing the lovely weather and deciding to walk home the long way.

“Might get some cardio in too.” Julia remarked to herself, before clapping her hands. “Let’s do this!”

Almost immediately, her attention was caught by a glint on the ground in front of her.

“Whoa…” Julia let out, before reaching down and picking up a coin worth five capitals.

She looked around curiously, checking to see if anyone had dropped it. No one seemed to be around, as she shrugged and pocketed it.

“Pretty lucky start to the day.” Julia admitted, continuing on her way. “Not much you can get with it, but it’s still nice to have.”

She carried on for a little longer, happy to reach the more open parts of Detu City, as more people started making themselves known.

She glanced around inquisitively, keeping herself busy as she walked, only t-

“WAAAHHHHH!!! WAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

Julia suddenly spotted a baby being held by his mother in front of her, crying loudly for no particular reason.

“Timmy, please…” The mother insisted, patting his head as they walked, despite him still crying out.

She held him over her shoulder, as he kept whining, before looking over at Julia with his sour expression.

Julia realised she’d captured his attention, before smiling and starting to raise her eyebrows over and over. Timmy kept staring, as she looked side to side, before puffing out her cheeks.

She let out the air with a silly noise, as Timmy’s expression turned much happier, letting Julia keep making funny faces. She started playing peekaboo as well, getting some laughter out of Timmy, before his mother started to take notice.

“Well, that’s a lot better. What’s gotten into you, little man?” She said, nuzzling his nose, before moving him back to the stroller, not even noticing Julia walking behind her.

Julia rolled her eyes and kept walking, still thoroughly enjoying the lovely weather, as she grabbed a bottle of lemonade from her groceries and took a swig, before noticing something missing from the bag.

“Did I forget the dry oregano?” She commented, before digging around the bag. “Dammit…alright, I’ll grab some on th-“

“P-Please, what’s the probl-“

“What’s the problem?! I think you should know, you little fuck!”

Julia’s ears rang out, before she spotted two people in a nearby alleyway, one ready to beat the hell out of the other, pushing him against the wall threateningly.

“You’re the reason! You’re why she’s acting out this way!” One of them yelled, as the other cowered away.

“I-I-I don’t know what I-“

“Stop lying!” He yelled, getting ready to throw a punch, only to feel his body slow to a crawl, his punch barely making any progress in the air.

Stolen story; please report.

He turned to see Julia holding out her hands, using her Whil to slow the velocity of his fist, as she walked closer to them.

“Alright, that’s enough.” She insisted, feeling herself losing her grip, before stepping in front of the man against the wall. “There’s no reason to start fighting.”

“Yes…there is!” The other man cried, breaking free from Julia’s Whil. “After what he did to her!”

“W-Who?” The cowering man asked.

“Carolyn!”

The cowering man lifted himself up in recognition. “Wait, how do you know her?”

The angered man raised his hand and showed off an engagement ring, as Julia put the pieces together.

“She was sneaking off, and I…didn’t know where.” He muttered, breathing out. “And then I saw you two out at a bar, before you took her home…”

The scared man threw up his arms. “H-Hold on, she never told me she was engaged to someone! It was just a c-casual thing!”

“You expected me t-!“ He said, going to throw another punch, only for Julia to use her Whil to intervene again.

“Stop doing that and listen.” Julia insisted, letting go of him again. “This is gonna go nowhere if your only reaction is to throw a punch. I wanna see you reach an understanding, so I’m gonna stay here and make sure you two hear each other out, okay?”

The two of them looked at each other in confusion, before sighing out.

“So, you weren’t dating or anything?”

“No, of course not. I’m not really in great headspace for dating right now, so I was just looking for casual hookups.” Thomas explained, sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall. “Carolyn was interested in me, but she never told me she was seeing anyone. I never would’ve gone any further if I knew that.”

“Shit…and she wasn’t wearing her ring or anything?” Burnie asked, as Thomas shook his head.

“She must’ve taken it off before arriving. I never saw her wearing it.”

“…and this whole time, she said she was prepping the wedding for us.” Burnie groaned, throwing his hands out. “Like, it was nine at night! Who does prep that late in the day?”

Thomas shrugged. “I guess she ended up lying to both of us.”

“…yeah.” Burnie let out, tapping his foot anxiously. “…sorry, for…”

“No, no, I get it. I looked like the asshole.” Thomas admitted, before turning to Julia. “It’s a good thing you came in when you did, or else I’d be trying to talk with far less teeth.”

“I hate to agree, but yeah.” Julia admitted, before standing up with them. “So? Cleared the air a little?”

“I’d say so.” Burnie said, patting his jeans down. “…man, I shoulda seen this coming. She did stuff like this when we started dating, but I hoped she’d grown out of it.”

“Hey, you wanna grab something to bite?” Thomas asked, pointing out of the alleyway. “I’m stupid hungry right now.”

“Honestly, yeah. You’re the only person I could talk about this with who’d get it.” Burnie confessed, leaving with him, before turning back around to Julia. “Hey, thanks lady, for cleaning us up!”

Julia waved them off, before leaving the alleyway herself, as she only just noticed how much time had passed.

“I better start making tracks again.” She said, heading back in the right direction. “Just like my love, ever long…ing…”

On her way home, she passed by a couple storefronts lining the shopping district, including Virgil’s, waving inside as he cleaned up for the day. Eventually, she passed a grocery store, before remembering she had to buy some dry oregano and quickly heading inside.

She managed to find a bottle and paid for it right after, heading back out, only to catch the conversation of the person behind her in line.

“Are you gonna buy it or not?”

“U-Uhh, yeah, I’ve got…I’ve got the money…”

The storeowner tapped his fingers on the counter, as a woman desperately searched in her bag for extra change.

Julia noticed and stood off to the side, as the store owner sighed out.

“Listen, if you ca-“

“Please, just…I can pay for them, please…”

“Miss, you’re four dollars off. I’ve gotta make a living too.”

Her searching got more frantic, as Julia felt a tinge of empathy for her, before quickly remembering the capital in her pocket.

She pulled it out, before leaning down and rolling it across the floor, using her Whil to keep it rolling, right as it hit the woman’s foot.

It took her a second to notice, before she looked down and saw the coin by her feet. She looked around curiously, checking to see if anyone had dropped it, before grabbing it and holding it out to him.

“There we go.” The store owner let out, taking it from her, as she let out a relieved laugh, before happily taking her groceries with her.

The woman took a second to look around the entrance, trying to spot who might have helped her, before chucking it up to fate and continuing on, as Julia casually stayed out of the way, waiting for her to pass, before continuing on her way.

Not too long after, she managed to make it back to her home, being greeted by Wess in the lounge room, turning her head to look at her.

“Well, someone took their time.” Wess remarked, as Julia dropped the bag off in the kitchen.

“I decided to walk. The weather was too nice to waste.”

Wess got up to help her unpack. “So? Get up to anything special?”

Julia grabbed out the bottle of dry oregano, before smiling to herself.

“Same old, same old.”