[guards soldiered past with eyes and ears turned anything on the vaguest side of suspicious. the land they patrolled the edges of laid right outside a noble's castle, its grounds enshrined in a towering, stone- and iron-built gate; although there was no moon to show off the buildings' impressive spires, lanterns hoisted high in tall windows showed off just how tall the towers went. it would be a good idea to stick to the shadows of the houses just beyond the gate, or the bushes that lined the beginnings of a forest that stretched through the land.]

[after the guards passed by, the clunking armor a distant march, a psstt hissed out from one such hidden bush. if you didn't immediately spring into offensive action, a voice continued in a stage whisper.] Oi! Over here.

[and what was that...? a (mostly - the roots showed black) blond head poked out from a scraggly shrub, hand gesturing for whoever happened to look like they didn't belong to the guards to come closer.]

Hey... [in a voice that totally wasn't sketchy, his other hand raising to show off one funky looking telescope.] How good are you at jumping?

[somehow, this guy managed to get atop one of the highest spires. the roof was a patchwork of lichen and tile, the air chilly and view unchanging. he was awfully focused on scanning the stars, but after a while - well, you could've hired an ape to do this job, so it wasn't that surprising when he pulled back to glance over at either an accomplice or whoever else had the bright idea of climbing the off-limits castle.]

How many planets do you think this system has...?

[aka this is the cute star-gazing prompt, have at it.]

[cute star-gazing has to end sometime. and this time, it ends with not a wistful sigh of existential nostalgia, but rather the bang of a lightning storm brewing too close and too suddenly overhead.]

[how Hideyoshi gets from a spire to an extended castle wall, who knows. regardless, it's at the edge of the grounds where he yells down at someone passing by who doesn't look like a guard, a stray rock tossed ahead of where they are (or maybe right top of their head: he had decent aim when it wasn't close to pitch black) to get their attention.]

Hey! Sorry, uh - mind lending a guy a hand?

[leave a blank comment with a prompt or toss over a PM! whatever works will work great.]