[i]Andy and Selena Royal[/i]

The motorcycle idled in front of Springwater High School, nestled under the shade of a cluster of trees. The heat wasn't much of a nuisances (quietly, subtly, the warm air rolled out down his back) but given that he was wearing a jacket, cradling a helmet under one arm, it seemed natural that someone would park in the shade. That's what people naturally did when they were warm, wasn't it? And that was Andy. Natural. Completely.

He drummed his fingers against the throttle, humming softly to himself as he waited for baby sister. Probably talking to someone. Andy's brown furrowed a bit as he considered the possibility of her talking to any boys. Ugh. Too young for that. Far too young. Andy threw back the kickstand with the heel of his left foot and rested his legs on the front of the bike, leaning back a bit and admiring the quiet chaos that ensued at the end of a testing day. Saturday-so no school-but he'd cajoled Selena into taking the SAT. She came storming out the front doors, some hundred yards out, furious eyes scanning the parking lot. Andy considered just taking a few laps around the parking lot and letting her cool down.

He paused.

He really considered it.

He raised a hand to his ear and presumably flipped a Bluetooth on. "Over here. By the trees," He murmured. Selena's head turned, made awful, glaring eye-contact, and began coming his way. Andy appreciated the subtle irony of there now being absolutely no way she could talk to any guys. "Perhaps I should annoy her off more often," he mused. 

"What the hell was that?" Selena whined, giving her brother a playful shove as she slid onto the back of the motorcycle. "Don't bother making me wear the helmet," she interrupted. "If I die-actually, no, give it to me, if I die right after taking that, I will be pretty pissed off. Gimme." she took the helmet and sidled it down over her head, for once not issuing up complaints about the effects the helmet had on her hair (complaints which were always met with the rebuttal of "Would you prefer to see the effects of asphalt on your skull?", which were met with the rebuttal of "Would you prefer to see the effects of my foot in your ass?". Repeat ad nauseum.) 

"Where to?" Selena asked. "I'm feeling ice cream. Lots of ice cream."

"Summer festival," Andy replied, starting up the motorcycle. He let it rev to life for a moment before taking off-he kept it in pristine condition, but it just seemed prudent. He checked over his shoulder twice before pulling out, sidling into the road and going slow. The speed bumps were a bit jarring, but Andy's weight kept them from getting jostled about too much. Only good thing his dense ass did for that bike-he was changing the tires pretty often. Still, it saved on gasoline, and he was a careful enough driver to be confident that Selena wouldn't get hurt on it. Worth it. 

He rolled to a complete stop, ("Nerd," Selena muttered) before turning and beginning to make his way towards the festival. It would be a bit of a drive, but this didn't bother Andy so much. Selena, on the other hand, wanted to be there-and Verthaven traffic on the day of the festival was not making things too terribly easy on her. She'd dressed for the weather, at least-blue jean cutoffs and a tanktop-which made the frequent traffic stops more palatable. Andy, as always, displayed his usual level of easygoing nonchalance. Selena closed her eyes, resting her helmeted head against Andy's shoulderblades for a few moments. 

"Traffic's gonna take about fifteen minutes extra," Selena sighed. "I'd almost rather park out here and walk."

"Really? Well I suppose we cou-" Andy stopped abruptly, thinking to himself. "...no....wait. There's a Baskin-Robbins right around the corner, isn't there?"

"Damnit!" Selena said, leaning back on the bike for a moment. Andy jerked the bike forward just a hair, prompting a yelp and a frantic lunge forward from his little sister. "Asshole! Asshole!" she smacked him playfully and resigned herself to an immediate future devoid of ice cream. It was a terrifying and nihilistic prospect, but our Selena is a brave one, and they weaved through traffic (Andy stayed a solid three miles under the speed limit the entire trip, with the sole exception of when they passed by the ISD building, at which point Andy drove considerably faster, his eyes flickering nervously behind his sunglasses) without much difficulty. Downtown Verthaven was always a fun jaunt-not far from Andy and Selena's apartment in Las Palmas, there was plenty to do, and in relative safety. Relative being the keyword, there-for metas, Andy felt (as did Selena, although she was far too cocky to admit it, even to herself) there was no absolute safety. 

Well, he thought, sliding off the bike and hooking the helmet over one of the handlebars, there was one way to ensure you never got bothered anymore. Wasn't an option he was quite willing to consider yet. Selena jumped off with far more enthusiasm than her older brother, surveying the labryinth of cars, motorcycles and bicycles alike that filled the parking lots. They'd tucked into a small spot on the side of the street, easy to get in and out of in a hurry. Not that Andy expected trouble-there were NEST agents and vanilla cops crawling all over the place. Selena walked close with Andy (the girl didn't admit to fear, not now and not ever, but she, shall we say, held a healthy [i]respect[/i] for NEST operatives) as they made their way towards the festival, Selena's eyes drawn to the fresh-cooked treats displayed at every corner, Andy eyeing the art and trinkets. 

"Meet back here in, say....two hours?" Andy asked. Selena raised an eyebrow.

"Look at you, letting me wander off on my won. You going soft?" she asked, giving him another playful shove. "You want me to wear a leash? Or should I text you every five minutes? How about-"

Andy rolled his eyes and walked off, which was generally an effective method for handling Selena's comments. He nodded to a NEST officer stationed on a corner, a tall and broadly built woman carrying a shotgun. He glanced at it for a moment-AA-12. Glock on her waist. Taser. Hm. He didn't let his gaze linger-didn't want them thinking he was looking for any trouble, but he couldn't resist a bit of childlike curiosity for firearms. Andy would've owned a few (and with good reason-the streets of Verthaven were dangerous, and he was confident in his abilities to use them without collateral damage) save for the cost and legality. Still, they were machines, honed to cause chaos, but capable of being used for things like protecting little sisters. He appreciated that. Andy strolled down the Verthaven streets, a casual walk that lingered at every vendor, looking over all they had to offer. He stopped at one selling paintings-a dozen or so watercolors, mostly of the beach, a few of Verthaven's more noteworthy sites. One captured Las Palmas in all its casino-ridden splendor. He smiled softly, watching what else they had to offer.

Selena, meanwhile, crossed the street, snapping her back left and right far too quickly to notice if any cars were actually coming before jogging through ("HONK HONK!" "SORRY!") and coming to a stop at a Greek vendor. Gyros. She didn't really know what a gyro was, but it smelled absolutely delicious. Food was something Selena enjoyed, moreso than the normal teenager already did-given Andy's...rather...nonexistent eating habits, food was almost something private to her. He never really objected to what she ate, which had led to young Selena becoming quite the cook. With nobody else around, she figured if she wanted to eat well, she'd have to learn how to cook well. It was a bit depressing, at times, not ever having anybody to cook for, save herself, but still-food's food. She emptied her pockets of money, ordered whatever the hell a gyro was, and stood to the side, eagerly awaiting a well-deserved treat after three hours and forty five minutes of hell. She glanced around, looking at everyone and everything. It brimmed with energy-a few familiar faces, school friends mostly, darted in and out of the crowd. Handful of cute guys. She saw Andy a few hundred feet away, staring at some boring ass paintings, which was about how on-par for the course. Selena mapped out her next moves, figuring she could walk and eat at the same time, seeing what all they had. There were some improv guys, she thought, somewhere around here. Or maybe some of those carnival games. She'd get Andy to go win her some cheap shit if that was the case. After a few minutes she accepted her gyro and, walking and gnawing simultaneously, she followed down the other side of the street, observing everything Verthaven's most bitchin' festival had to offer.