[M] Rebels (HappyHarper & Queen Neptune)

[HappyHarper]

Helena never seemed to be rightly shouting at people but her voice certainly did manage to carry through the bustling crowds of the market district. Helena had gotten a recent delivery of some sort of foreign dress from some desert city her father was apparently acquiring from now. If this summer were not starting off on such a brutal foot, Helena would have probably spent the afternoon banging her head against a wall. While her father did normally have a very good sense of what would sell well, he usually delivered said valuable goods to her without so much as a note as how said goods actually functioned which could be rather infuriating, to say the least.

These were fairly straight forward, though and it only took her a little over half the night to figure out some method of making them actually functional as clothes. She had no idea if she wore them how they were meant to be worn but she only even knew they were dresses from the shipping receipt. She wore one of the green dresses under her merchant's robe, tying the robe behind her back with a matching sash to keep it from hiding the dress she meant to unload as quickly as possible. The red and gold of the robe set off the shades of green in the dress quite nicely, she thought. And as she applied kohl to her eyes in her little beauty mirror, she noted that the combination rather improved the look of her dark brown eyes and golden blond hair. She gave herself a grin, pleased with her work.

She arrived at the shop store that morning before the sun was even properly up. Single handedly, she set up the stall from which she would sell her goods when the markets officially opened. She greeted the neighboring stall workers as they arrived, spending a few minutes here and there to gossip and joke and (most importantly) keep an ear out for information. Helena liked to know things and so she often made concerted efforts to poke her nose—just a little—in nearly everyone's business. It was perhaps how she managed to keep the shop going so strong even if she was not allowed to hire the help she needed to run it as she'd like.

She hollered into the market and called attention to the seasoned meats they had for sale (strange spices sold much better when people could taste them probably used), the lovely assortment of hairpins and combs, and—of course—the new, airier dress to keep cool. Helena fanned herself nearly constantly when she was not sweet talking a customer. Hardly a soul managed to leave her stall without buying something or other and of that Helena was proud. Of course, she had to keep her eye out for thieves and pickpockets even while she hawked her wares. Despite her vigilance, of course, there was one thief in particular that nearly always managed to slip past her infamous guard.

[Queen Neptune]

"Terryn! Wake up! I'm hungry!"

Grumbling, Terryn stretched and rubbed his eyes. The sun had just risen, filling the empty house with soft light. "Ryia, yer always hungry," he whined. When she gave him a stubborn look, he laughed and got up. "Ok, ok, I'll be back soon," he conceded, putting on his bag and headed out the door. He tried not to pay much mind to the exterior of the house; it hadn't been maintained since his mother's passing. They were blessed to have the property, though. He'd had to sell most everything inside to survive, but they had shelter in the rain and a fireplace to keep them warm in the winter. He made his way over to the well next to the house and brought up a bucket to wash his face with. No shopkeeper trusted a dirty fellow. He was still in his clothes from yesterday, but he didn't own enough different sets to change them everyday.

There were many people who were easy to steal from, but none were as entertaining as Helena's stall. They were friends, sort of. The girl knew he had a little sister to care for, and helped him through some rough incidents. She wasn't as easy to steal from as the rest of the shopkeepers because she knew a lot of his tricks and talents, but he had quite a few more tricks up his sleeve than she realized. He buzzed through town, greeting people confidently, sneaking food into the pouch when they got distracted. By now, it was almost too easy. People didn't usually notice a missing apple or a single loaf of bread. By the time he got within sight of Helena's stall, he'd already gotten enough food for the day.

She was quite the sight to see, hollering and charming the customers out of their pockets. He didn't know how she kept herself cool in this heat with so many layers, though. He noticed her fanning herself and thought, no, she's definitely boiling in there. That was good. Even though Helena was very sharp, anyone could get distracted by the heat. He quickly scanned her wares before approaching the stall, a big charming grin on his face. "Helena! It must've been you that woke me up, with all that yellin'!"

Though he didn't really need anything from this stall (meat and bags did not go well together), he was still very tempted to sneak something by her today just to do it. Perhaps he could surprise Ryia with a comb? Poor thing's hair was a mess. His wasn't much better, but short hair was easier to comb with the fingers.

[HappyHarper]

Helena straightened considerably when Terryn appeared. She gave a snort at his greeting and informed, “If you'd like a proper wake up call I can always holler through your window on my way to work.” Helena knew the odd hours Terryn kept and knew full well she was usually on her way to set up shop only hours after Terryn had crawled into bed. It was actually rather a tempting thought, if only to ruffle his feathers a little.

“Now, what trouble are you trying to bring to my shop?” She demanded as she always did, though with considerably less snap and iron in her voice. The heat was sucking away even her will to be perpetually grumpy with the closest thing she had to a friend. Her eyes swept over him and she frowned a little as she took note of his filled nick bag, “Looks like you've been busy.” she snapped her fan shut and jabbed Terryn in the gut with it, “But you'll not be getting anything from me today.”

[Queen Neptune]

The thief gave a smirk at her greeting; she really was one of the sassiest girls he'd ever met. That was one of the reasons they had been able to stay friends for so long. She could give whatever he gave right back to him. "From the sound of et, I'd suspected you were already!" he teased, grinning. "Down right public disturbance, that is!" He knew she might now just try it, but it was actually quite humorous to him. Being as he'd grown up on his own, he'd retained a lot of his childishness, and found fun and games like this to be the highlights of his days.

Helena now stood accusing him, jabbing him. "Oi, love! Don't damage the goods!" he protested, trying to seem genuine. Terryn did have a wonderful physique, but his overconfidence was, to the townsfolk, many a laugh. "You seem to be the only one causing trouble here, poking around with yer toy!" He pressed his hands to the store table, sighing dramatically. "And when have I EVER brought you trouble?" he asked, practically batting his eyelashes.

[HappyHarper]

Helena could not help but chuckle a bit at Terryn's retort. She straightened when he called her fan a toy, though. “This,” she snapped her fan open in an expert flick of her wrist, “is not a toy. It is a hand crafted Hual fan made of Hual oak dark wood and imported, custom printed Jian silk.” she informed him with a nearly haughty primness. It was the closest her father would ever come to buying her a defensive weapon. Hual oak, after all, was a sturdy wood and could certainly survive being used to smack a full grown man over the head.

She was about ready to go into a rant on all the trouble he very much had brought to her door when a shopkeeper beside Helena's own stall gave a startling cry. Both shopkeepers, a pair of pretty looking girls that always drew a crowd if for nothing than their beauty, looked near tears as they clutched at each other. Helena frowned curiously over at the scene they were making, though unlike most others passing through the street, she still kept a sharp eye on her own stall just in case any nimble fingersmiths tried to take advantage of the distraction.

“One of them must have broken a nail.” She grouched under her breath. The girls were rather vapid and Helena found it hard to get along with them for that very reason. Still, they occasionally knew some good gossip and Helena—as grouchy as she was—did tried to look out for her neighboring merchants. It wasn't until she realized the commotion around the girls was growing that she thought it might be something a bit more serious than a damaged nail.

“What is going on over there?”

A man passing through heard the question and informed in grave tones, “Haven't you heard, miss? The queen is dead.”

“Don't joke like that!” Helena snapped with a sharp frown, startling the man who often passed her stall and had only ever seen her sweet and smiling.

“It's no joke, miss!” he defended quickly, “The announcement was made less than an hour ago in the square. Proper criers and everything.” Helena looked utterly shocked and a moment later was dropping to her stool in a way that looked as if she would have dropped there whether her seat had been present or not and would not have noticed one way or another.

There was a mix of shock and a quiet fear over the city for the rest of the day. Many shops closed up early but Helena remained open even knowing no business would come of it. She would prefer to be in the melancholy market district, surrounded by her beloved shop and the sounds she was so very familiar with rather than return home to quiet emptiness.

[Queen Neptune]

Her defensive reply made Terryn chuckle back at her, raising his hands in mock defense. "Alright, alright, yer FANCY toy," he relented, grinning. Honestly, he hadn't understood a word she'd just used to describe the thing, but it amused him how proud she was with it. It made him picture her as a peacock. He didn't doubt she'd use it against him if he mentioned that, though, so actively bit his tongue about that thought. She was a lot feistier than the other girls around here; whoever she married would have a run for their money, the poor sod.

The startled cry from the girls immediately had him subconsciously reach to palm where his dagger was hidden, but he relaxed when he realized that no one was after him this time. When he saw that the sound had come from the dense beauties that ran the shop next to Helena, he couldn't suppress an eyeroll. He couldn't stand those vapid fools; they always seemed to have something to complain about. Helena's comment gave him a good laugh. "Everythin' is drama to them," he agreed, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

He looked back over to the girls when she made an inquiry, and his eyes widened at the man's response. For once, he was speechless. The Queen had made life for street rats like him a lot more survivable, and a lot of them had been able to get around without stealing. He had almost gotten to that point, but not many people wanted to hire someone with no proper experience. Terryn instead did what hard labour he could and stole what he needed elsewise. It made him not like doing honest work, because the only jobs he could get were very physically challenging. He'd rather just take what he needed.

"Uh... I gotta go... feed Ryia... yeah," he muttered, wandering off. It wasn't much of a departure, but Helena looked like she was inside of her head anyways. He didn't blame her; it was a shock to even him.

He returned to Ryia and told her the news over breakfast and she was quiet for the rest of the day. She'd been blessed enough to once reach out through the crowd and bestow the Queen with a handful of wildflowers. The Queen, noticing Terryn and Ryia's ragged attire, had handed her back a small sack of coins which fed them both for a week.

Soon enough, it became early evening. He knew he had to take advantage of the unattended shops today, even as it made him feel about the reason. Sometimes he would go out and find anything they'd dropped or left around or in the stalls. He poked around the district, feeling out of place in the deserted area. Well... almost deserted. "Helena, what are ya still doin' out here?" he asked, scratching his head. Unfortunately, he hadn't found anything of interest yet. It felt like bad luck.