Hmmm.... Thing is, I've dealt with children like that before. Hell, I've even had to deal with a few adults like that before.
Also, I am very familiar with "Shiny Red Button Allure". One of my favorite stories about this was my first girlfriend's tale of how her high school had made its computer lab in the old printing press room where they used to print the school's newspaper. This being small, but very much industrial equipment, the room itself had a simple safety mechanism: big shiny red buttons spaced apart at regular intervals where, upon being pressed, all the electrical outlets in the room would have their circuit breakers tripped. This led to quite a few students losing a lot of unsaved work because one person couldn't help themselves and just HAD to push the button.
Also, I know that as humans we're hard-wired to want to push the button. It's actually part of the brain that handles 'rewards'. It wants us to push the button and have the 'reward' of getting to see what happens.
The next words to immediately come out of my mouth after saying what is was would have been, "Seriously. Please don't push it or else it's going to inconvenience a LOT of important people." This would be stated to their face while looking them in the eyes, and if they weren't looking me in the eyes, I would have demanded that they do so.
And afterwards if they do push it? Oh, I'd be pissed, and rightfully so - I had just gotten done telling them, emphatically, and in no uncertain terms, Do Not Push The Button. But I've dealt with these sorts of things often enough (that is, someone doing what they are not supposed to do even though you've told them not to - remember, oldest out of seven kids) to know that the best thing to do right then is to make them leave (removing the source of aggravation) so I can actually focus on fixing things and be angry about it later.
"LEAVE. NOW."
"But what did I do!?"
"You just bought me a boatload of trouble, wholesale. Leave now so I can fix this!"
"But-"
*Pushes troublesome person out of the room, shuts the door and locks it, then starts working his way the the manual, putting his knowledge from the Navy on how tech pubs are written to use.*
The mistake here on my part might be that they take me a bit too literally and actually leave the complex. And that would be quite a good story in and of itself.
However, I don't often call anyone 'Stupid', least of all to their face. That's reserved for the willfully ignorant, and even then I don't use it lightly. I've had that lesson before. I don't always know what a person's circumstances are. They may not be able to help the fact that they're... not the sharpest tools in the shed. Instead, I would say that someone is 'acting stupid', which would have absolutely been the case with Tomo.
The only two people in my group that I can imagine doing this would be Mihoshi (naturally) or Ryoko - who'd actually do it just to see the anthill kicked over... And then Washu would promptly show up, cancel the alarm, and then drag Ryoko off by her ear.
So anyhow, you only gave me an example of how one might react when someone intentionally does something to get your goat. I'd actually need to see the scene you're planning for the Halloween Party itself with the lead-up. I swear I'll be as honest as possible in my response.
Also, I am very familiar with "Shiny Red Button Allure". One of my favorite stories about this was my first girlfriend's tale of how her high school had made its computer lab in the old printing press room where they used to print the school's newspaper. This being small, but very much industrial equipment, the room itself had a simple safety mechanism: big shiny red buttons spaced apart at regular intervals where, upon being pressed, all the electrical outlets in the room would have their circuit breakers tripped. This led to quite a few students losing a lot of unsaved work because one person couldn't help themselves and just HAD to push the button.
Also, I know that as humans we're hard-wired to want to push the button. It's actually part of the brain that handles 'rewards'. It wants us to push the button and have the 'reward' of getting to see what happens.
The next words to immediately come out of my mouth after saying what is was would have been, "Seriously. Please don't push it or else it's going to inconvenience a LOT of important people." This would be stated to their face while looking them in the eyes, and if they weren't looking me in the eyes, I would have demanded that they do so.
And afterwards if they do push it? Oh, I'd be pissed, and rightfully so - I had just gotten done telling them, emphatically, and in no uncertain terms, Do Not Push The Button. But I've dealt with these sorts of things often enough (that is, someone doing what they are not supposed to do even though you've told them not to - remember, oldest out of seven kids) to know that the best thing to do right then is to make them leave (removing the source of aggravation) so I can actually focus on fixing things and be angry about it later.
"LEAVE. NOW."
"But what did I do!?"
"You just bought me a boatload of trouble, wholesale. Leave now so I can fix this!"
"But-"
*Pushes troublesome person out of the room, shuts the door and locks it, then starts working his way the the manual, putting his knowledge from the Navy on how tech pubs are written to use.*
The mistake here on my part might be that they take me a bit too literally and actually leave the complex. And that would be quite a good story in and of itself.
However, I don't often call anyone 'Stupid', least of all to their face. That's reserved for the willfully ignorant, and even then I don't use it lightly. I've had that lesson before. I don't always know what a person's circumstances are. They may not be able to help the fact that they're... not the sharpest tools in the shed. Instead, I would say that someone is 'acting stupid', which would have absolutely been the case with Tomo.
The only two people in my group that I can imagine doing this would be Mihoshi (naturally) or Ryoko - who'd actually do it just to see the anthill kicked over... And then Washu would promptly show up, cancel the alarm, and then drag Ryoko off by her ear.
So anyhow, you only gave me an example of how one might react when someone intentionally does something to get your goat. I'd actually need to see the scene you're planning for the Halloween Party itself with the lead-up. I swear I'll be as honest as possible in my response.