STLTH 100

After the next chapter, I'm goin' back to Vestiges. Moments start next chapter. Srsly.

6.

She found him in his room cleaning.

Higgs leaned against the wall by the doorway, her arms folded. Marco had thought that it meant that she was annoyed by something and from the usual trend, he guessed that he did something — probably the bra thing. It'd gotten messy, and she'd nearly given him a black eye for it if he hadn't cut and run. However, now she was here watching him clean up his room, and her silent stare was starting to peeve him. He gave her a stare of his own, letting her know that he wasn't going to be subjugated just because someone looked at him funny.

"What do you want, Higgs?" Wordlessly, she took something out of her pocket and tossed it to him. Cautiously, Marco dropped his broom to catch it and quickly observed it for what it was. "The ring?" It was the selfsame ring that he'd used in his distraction during the meeting the day before — he hadn't expected to see it again. He gazed back at Higgs, who smirked at him.

"I don't." she said in dry humor. It took him a while before he understood what she meant… it was a refusal of wedding vows.

"Nice," he countered sarcastically, biting the inside of his lip to keep from smiling at her joke. "Did it take you all morning to come up with that one?

"Figured you wanted it back. So… princess…" The second she said that word, Marco froze, wondering if she'd found out that he was 'Princess Turdina'. She was the last person he wanted to find out about that.

"What about 'Princess'?" he asked nervously.

"I'm thinking that she needs some underwear. Star, I mean." All of a sudden, Higgs was catching the nervous air, and for good reason. About this whole panty business, Higgs was after money. She'd heard rumors before that Marco came by a lot of money every month, and that wasn't something that was plenty right now, especially among the people in her circles. After treating Marco the way she had, she couldn't ask him for any or even request a loan. Regardless, she'd heard that he'd had a falling out with the princess and being the manipulative type, had thought there was a way to work it to her advantage. "Been hearing that you're not so buddy-buddy with the princess since yesterday and I'm thinking she's upset because she doesn't have any knickers. I decided I'd help you panty shop to help make it up to you for being such a bitch." Higgs smiled genuinely enough to pass, but Marco was just relieved enough that the girl hadn't apparently caught on to his secret. He supposed he was alright if a lot of people knew about the Turdina fiasco, but if the squire caught wind of it, she'd probably never let him live it down.

Of course, he didn't know that she already knew.

"Panty shopping?"

"Yeah. I'd go to the store for you. You know, 'cause it'd be shameful and queer if a guy went shopping for something like that."

Marco shrugged now. Higgs apparently didn't know why Star wasn't on speaking terms with him, and it certainly wasn't underwear related. In any case, a useful apologetic gift would be a great step in the right direction though. "I don't mind going."

"Really?" Man, she thought she'd had him. She'd wanted to just buy a mess of panties while keeping some for herself. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

She stumbled now. "Um… what if I went with you… make sure that you don't pick something inappropriate. I mean…" Higgs scratched her cheek, deciding that the only way to convince him was to confuse him and make him less sure of himself. "From how the princess is super active, she might like tanga panties more. Unless she's a more modest type, she'd prefer hipsters or bikinis."

"There are different types of panties?" Marco boggled. In his world, there were either briefs or boxers but his experience in the female one was woefully lacking as it pertained to preference and suitability. Yet still, this was still too effing suspicious; why was she so eager to help? "Wait… you're up to something…" He looked her over with a stinkeye. "You were going to shop for yours on my bill, weren't you?"

Busted. "Um. No?"

His glare didn't flinch.

Well, deception didn't work, mostly because she did a piss-poor job of it. She tried honesty.

"Okay! Yes. I'll owe you. Maybe a favor or something, but I'll pay you back."

His skepticism grew.

"I swear."

He still had a lot of resentment for this girl. All that she'd done to him hadn't just disappeared just because she pretended it did. It was still burned into his memory no matter how much of an effort she made trying to act like she was the victim. What made things worse was that Higgs wasn't just a bully; she was a liar. His father said that he'd rather trust a thief than a trickster and he was starting to see why-... they were risk-prone whenever they were around. Although, he had to admit that he was relishing how she was sucking up to him now. A mean idea came to him… he'd buy her a couple of pieces of underwear… all of them would be a few sizes too small. Locked between a choice between sheer discomfort and desperation of wearing them or shame from having to go commando… yeah, that'd show her.

"Okay. I guess I can get you a few."

"Really?" She was taken by surprise. She hadn't expected him to agree, given her deplorable streak with him. She'd just been considering whether if she should rob him, but she supposed times hadn't gotten that dire. "Don't worry, I'll totally owe you one." Marco nodded, though an annoying thought came to him — one of the reasons why he was cleaning his room so thoroughly was done in the hopes that his scissors would turn up but no such luck so far.

"Cripes, I don't have my dimensional scissors. How the heck are we going to get to Quest Buy?"

"There's a smuggler down in the village who opens portals for a cost. He's got quite the racket going on."

"Why does it sound so illegal?" Marco asked, wondering why she described it like that.

"It is legal. The reason he's called a smuggler is that it's not something he can be taxed for 'cause it's freelance without a future pension… it's the closest description to describe his job. Kinda pisses off the monarchy about so much money that they can't get ahold of. 'What's your job?' 'Don't have one'," she mimicked in what sounded like an old man's voice. "'How much money do you make?' 'Don't make money, only spends it as I earn it'. Then he starts up with his senile act until they eventually leave him alone."

Marco found himself trying to keep from laughing. This dry-witted smuggler guy sounded a lot like Higgs and for some strange reason, he found it amusing.

Oh man, did that mean that he was getting her sense of humor? "Alright. Let's go." Realigning his bed back into place, he started to approach her to exit through the doorway, but Higgs held up her hand to stop him, before leaving through the doorway quickly first.

"Could you keep your distance from me? At least arm's length. Not in the mood to lose anything else."

The Diaz acquiesced with a small grumble. The next thing on his agenda was getting his thieving under control.