Day 6! It's here, I promise! AAAH-

Anyway, yeah! I won't take up too much of your time here, so here you go! The prompt of the day is: Jewelry! See you at the bottom of the page!


Charles walked a careful distance from his target, taking a minute to steal his nerves before following them into the store they'd entered. On-foot missions weren't really his forte, but this was a special case. His goal today was not to fly his companions into the heat of a battle, or to transport important cargo, or even charge into an aerial fight. The mission of the day: retcon. Gather intel on his target and discover what the man of the hour was susceptible to, while avoiding detection from both him and his guard. The guard in question was a particular challenge, in that if he was discovered, he could be in for a world of hurt, which would be difficult to explain in a public setting like this.

So Charles kept his distance, carefully choosing when to let the target wander a bit and when to sneak closer and see what he was seeing. This store sold all kinds of things, and the store was sectioned off fairly well, letting him figure out exactly what the target was looking for. Food, games, clothes, all interesting stuff, but none of it was what Charles was after. There was a particular section of the store he needed the target to go to, but he couldn't exactly force the endeavor without making it obvious that he was here. As tempting as it was to use one of his (great, in his opinion) plans, he needed stealth, not bold action.

Speaking of action, though… It looked like his patience was finally paying off as his target finally approached the jewelry section. Pumping his fist quietly in glee, Charles meandered nearby, using the well placed mirrors that were there to deter thieves to his advantage.

Both the target and the guard were looking at the displays with interest. Charles took some mental notes of what exactly the target kept eyeing; usually, the bigger and shinier, the better, though the target seemed to have a particular interest in diamonds, rubies, and emeralds; very important to note.

Charles focused on the target. His eyes lit up with each piece he looked at, his lips parting slightly with quiet excitement. Those eyes were practically jewels themselves with the way they sparkled, his lips looked soft and round, but most of all, the utter joy on his face… all of these combined into a sight that set Charles' heart a-thumping, and he sighed dreamily.

…Wait, where was the guard-?

Someone grabbed him from behind, one hand over his mouth and another holding his arms back before he was dragged into a nearby "employee's only" room and slammed against a wall. "Listen, pal," the guard hissed in Charles' ear, "I don't know where you get off spying on me and my friend, but I'm not gonna let it slide-" they pulled back a fist.

"Wait!" Charles cried. "Ellie, wait! It's me, Charlie!"

Ellie blinked and pulled back to look him up and down. Then she punched him in the shoulder. "What the heck, Charles?" she grumbled. "I thought you said you had a mission today and you couldn't hang out with us!"

"I do!" Charles insisted.

Ellie raised an eyebrow. "And your mission involves… stalking me and Henry?"

"Observing," Charles corrected quickly. "And… not entirely. I'm mostly stalking- I mean observing- Henry." Ellie squinted at him. "Okay, I know it sounds weird, but hear me out!" Charles gingerly pushed Ellie back so that she wasn't inches from his nose. "You know how Henry and I have been dating for a while? Well, I wanted to get him something special, but I wasn't sure what he would like, and I thought if I watched him then I could pick something out that way…" He looked away, cheeks flushing a bit. "Does that sound weird?"

"No, of course not." Ellie punched him in the shoulder again. "It sounds really dorky! And adorable! Adorkable, if you will." She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and gestured at something Charles couldn't see. "Charles, you don't need to get Henry anything to make him like you; he already likes you a lot! Besides," she grinned, "anything that you could buy for Henry, Henry could probably steal for himself." Charles gave her a look. "Could, not would! I don't steal things anymore; who told you that?!"

"I thought we were talking about Henry," Charles said suspiciously.

"Uh, yep! That's what I said! A-anyway, why don't you just go on a date with him? Somewhere special!"

"I'm going to," Charles nodded emphatically. "But, you know… jewelry is traditional, a-and all that…" Ellie blinked slowly, the statement passing through her like pudding. Then she screamed as if she was being murdered. Charles yelped and clapped his hands over his ears. "Ellie!"

"Oh my God, you're gonna- with Henry?! Oh my God!"

Charles shushed her and tried to slap his hands over her mouth, but she slapped his hands away until they devolved into a silly looking slap fight. "Please don't shout it to everyone on the planet, Ellie!" Charles begged over the fight. "I want to surprise Henry!"

Ellie smacked his hands away with finality before crushing him in a giant hug. "Of course you do, you big dork! And of course I'm gonna be the best lady, right?"

"I mean, yeah! Who else would it be?"

"Excellent!" Ellie clapped him on the back hard enough to send him into a coughing fit, then pulled away with a grin. "Charles, I'll be honest with you: Henry would love any ring you got him. But you've got to go about it in a way that's totally you, because it's you that he loves. Get me?"

Charles nodded once he could breathe again. "So you think I've got a chance?"

"Don't ask silly questions, Charles, or I'll strangle you."

"Haha, please don't do that-"

"Excuse me," the door to the room opened and a concerned looking janitor stood on the other side. "Customers aren't allowed in here. Are you two okay?"

Charles flushed bright red while Ellie gave a casual thumbs up. "Yep, everything's cool."

"That's nice, ma'am. Please leave."

Ellie scoffed in mock offense before walking out of the room, Charles trudging behind her like a schoolboy in trouble as he beheld the number of very concerned looking customers who were pointing and whispering in his direction. Henry pushed through the crowd, looking the most worried of all, and Charles quickly went to him. "Hey, Henry; what's wrong?"

"Are you okay?" Henry signed. "Do you need help? Are you in pain? Who screamed?"

"I'm fine, Henry, don't worry! That was Ellie, and she screamed because… uh…"

Ellie wrapped an arm around both of them. "I was just happy to see that Charles finished his mission early! Aren't you, Henry?"

Henry's mouth made an "O" shape, and he signed to Charles: "how was your mission?"

"Great!" Charles answered quickly. "I can't wait to hang out with you both now that I'm free!"

"Actually," Ellie interrupted. "I just remembered that I promised Rupert I was gonna do… a thing. With him. So you two can hang out by yourselves! I'll see you back at base!" Ellie promptly skipped away.

"A thing with Rupert?" Charles murmured. He was pretty sure the two could hardly stand each other, and judging by the incredulous look on Henry's face, he was thinking the same thing. Charles shook away the thought and turned to Henry. "What do you say? Wanna hang out a bit before we head back to base?"

Henry nodded eagerly, smiling radiantly at Charles and signing "we probably shouldn't do it here, though. I don't think we're wanted."

"What?" Charles glanced around to see that a lot of the patrons were still looking at them, looking more annoyed than concerned now. He blushed again. "Uh, yeah, let's go… not here."

"Not here," Henry repeated in sign, then shyly held out his hand for Charles to take. Charles slipped his hand into the hold, sighing at the familiar warmth, and they walked out of the store to go hang out somewhere else.


Wweh, I'm tired and I'm not sure if Ellie's character is that great here; I was kind of rushing to get this out on time today (as I tend to do, but wweh).

Obviously, this is at a point in Henry and Charlie's relationship that they're ready to start thinking about this stage of life, so it's not coming out of nowhere! They're very much in love, and Ellie loves their love! (I'm partial to both Stickvin and Poly Threat as ships, though this week is about Stickvin, so that's what we're sticking with).

What's Ellie gonna do with Rupert? Uh... probably just go annoy the heck out of him, haha. Rupert hates thieves, but if there's one thing he really hates, it's former thieves who can make fun of him and are strong enough to get away with it. Ellie is all of those things, and he hates it.

Anyway, I'm sleepy, so I'm going to leave this here! The last day of Stickvin Week 2023 is tomorrow, so get excited! Or don't! Whatever floats your boat! Leave a review and tell me your thoughts. I'll see you all later! Until then!