The guy was taking the mickey. Phil knew he was, because that was Ciaran's general character - a lack of seriousness, or indeed a lack of desire to take things other than the mickey. Which was, he considered, actually an interesting point - the phrase was colloquial, intended to refer to annoying somebody for laughs, but how exactly did that relate to the mascot of a major film company and/or theme park chain? Or was it more in reference to that 80's song by Toni Basil? That seemed less likely, for how long said mouse had been around. On the other hand, this was a mall, not a film. An Italian mall, at that.

So, yeah, he was having a go at him. And yet, despite knowing that, Phil felt it would probably be pertinent to do the right thing and just, casually, lift half the stack of bags out of Ciaran's hands and oh dear it was toppling. Or was it? Quick as a flash, a quartet of shimmering, kaleidoscopic arms leapt out of Phil's shoulders, smacking the sides of the bags to push the stack back upright, ensuring they remained balanced. Wherever they touched, a sigil was left behind, each shimmering briefly as the impacts left upon them were reiterated again and again, until every minor imbalance had been cancelled out.

And then he put the stack down and split it into two again, picking up one half securely with each hand. 'You're welcome,' Phil offered matter-of-factly, taking it as though it were just the right, humble thing to do. That was when people tended to thank you for the assistance, not when you were bragging about how helpful you had just been. Of course, he half-expected Ciaran to keep on pestering him for falling for his [i]obvious[/i] wounded deer ploy, and maybe point out how enemy Stand users might make use of it to harm him later, but shit, he wasn't exactly falling for it if he knew it was a ploy. That was the point of an ambush, after all: to take people by surprise. If they weren't surprised, if they were approaching the situation with a plan for how to counter the surprise attack, then it wasn't a successful ambush. It was just a regular sneak attack. And that would be something Phil might have to teach Ciaran about, all things considered.