Han and Qi'ra – Eating Ice Cream

"Come on Han, I'm going to teach you how to beg,"

Ten-year-old Han followed behind Qi'ra. He had only been part of the White Worms for a couple of weeks, but already his old life with his parents felt far away. At least Qi'ra had taken him under her wing and taught him what he needed to know – he didn't know how he'd survive without her.

"I already know how to beg," he said. "I did it plenty when I was wandrin' the streets."

"Yes, but how much did people actually give you?" asked Qi'ra. "There's an art to begging, Han – you've gotta make people feel so sorry for you that they can't help but give you stuff." She stopped in front of a small ice cream shop.

Han found himself staring longingly at the door with the ice cream cone painting on it. "Been a long time since I last had ice cream . . ."

"Well this is your chance," said Qi'ra. "Come on, let's go in."

Han gulped, suddenly wondering if they'd get kicked out if they tried begging for ice cream. He might see those big tubs of ice cream and they'd trigger memories of the extremely-rare times when his parents took him out for ice cream. It was probably only on his birthday – yes, it was probably just on his birthday when they'd do it, and they probably couldn't even afford it then. He didn't know a lot about money back when his parents were alive, but he still knew they were poor.

"Before we go in, look at me," said Qi'ra.

Han obeyed.

"All right," Qi'ra continued, "now show me your begging face."

"My what?"

Qi'ra sighed in an exasperated manner. "You were out wandering the streets and you don't have a begging face?"

"There's a face you need for begging?"

Qi'ra sighed again. "Okay, pretend you're asking me for money. How'd you do it when you were on the streets?"

"You want me to pretend I'm still on the streets?" Han shouted, feeling his chest tighten. "I ain't doin' that!"

"Why not?"

How could Han explain that? How could he tell her that he just thinking about the indifferent glances from passing adults as he cried for money made him sick to his stomach? How could he tell her that he still had nightmares about those long days of wandering until his feet blistered with his stomach still empty and those long nights of trying to sleep curled up in cold alleys? How could he tell her that he'd give anything to forget everything about those days?

But then Qi'ra put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Han, you don't have to pretend that you're still on the street if you don't want to." She glanced at the street below her. "I don't like remembering my time between my parents dying and Proxima's goons finding me either." With a deep breath, she looked back up at Han. "Anyway, here's a good begging face."

She widened her eyes and looked up, breathing rapidly as she frowned desperately. Han found himself thinking that she suddenly looked like a little kid even though she was older than him. "See, it's easy," she said. "Can you do that?"

Han did his best to imitate her, though it hurt his eyes a little to make them so wide and round.

"Great!" exclaimed Qi'ra. "With that face combined with your natural cuteness, they won't be able to resist."

"Wait," Han exclaimed, relaxing his face, "whaddaya mean natural cuteness?"

"Just what I said," said Qi'ra. "You've got an adorable face – it makes you look younger than you are, in fact. That kind of face is super-valuable in our line of work."

Han twisted his mouth. "Are you sayin' I look like a little kid?"

"Hey, that's a compliment," said Qi'ra, gently pinching his cheek. "It means money. The longer you can keep your baby face, the better you'll be at begging."

Baby face. Han wanted to protest and say he didn't have a baby face, but on the other hand, what Qi'ra was saying made sense. Adults would probably rather give money to a cute little kid than a teenager.

"Anyway," said Qi'ra, "are you ready for ice cream?"

"I guess so," said Han.

"Then let's go in there and make the ice cream sellers feel so sorry for us that they'll want to give us enough ice cream to last a year!"

They didn't get enough ice cream to last a year, but five minutes later they emerged from the shop, each licking a large ice cream cone.

"See, what did I tell you?" asked Qi'ra. "The adorable baby face works wonders."

Han nodded as he licked his ice cream. If having an adorable baby face meant people would give him stuff, he'd try to keep it as long as possible.