Shopping was a treat to Feferi. She had recently been told she was allowed to go to the market by herself and she was just so /excited/. She felt all grown up and responsible at 14 years old! Though she knew that some of the older trolls would be annoyed at her for using Derse years, she really had no idea how the sweeps were countered. The older trolls were so silly!

Okay. So. Check the list again. Eggs. Got. Bread. Got extra because they were on offer. Chocolate biscuit for being a good little shopper? GOT.

Feferi grinned at a job well done and looked up at the sky. The only sky she'd ever known. Some of the older trolls who felt compelled to share stories said Alternia's sky was better, but Feferi couldn't believe that. The deep dark colours were beautiful in their own special way.

Oh! She was nearly out of milk! The pretty skies will have to wait, there's shopping to be done! She promptly turned and began trotting to another stall.

Nirana was so bored. Bored, bored, bored. Nothing interesting had happened all day, and as a final resort she'd taken to wandering the busy marketplace in hopes of encountering past clients, but so far, no such luck. She could feel her brain disengage and her gaze drift without her meaning to, she needed distraction, she felt dull and lifeless when she wasn't thinking about anything, she needed another job...

A sudden glitter, very noticeable among the scuffed stalls, the worn buildings and the common people with common clothing. Jewels and gems. Silk ruffles. Hairpieces and brooches. It caught her eye and drew her. Feferi Peixes, she thought she knew her from school. She looked like an ornament herself. As another seadweller, Nirana had no cause to be jealous. She had plenty of trinkets of her own.

But she could always have more.

She loved it. Jewelry. She couldn't explain why. And she was just so bored.

Well, she'd talk to Feferi. Maybe she would make it a game. How could she get her to give her one of her possessions? Immediately the cogs and gears started turning in her brain, churning out ideas, and she loved the stimulation. She'd do it.

Before she could change her mind, she'd run up and caught Feferi lightly by the sleeve. "Fancy meeting you here, Feferi! How are you doing?" Genuine smile, tinkling laugh. Cheerful and enthusiastic, but not overwhelmingly so.

She had this.

Like a dog looking for attention Feferi snapped her head around at the sound of her name. It was Nirana. She had knew of her, a fellow seadweller at her local school. They were a rare breed, so it was hard to not notice her kin. Still, she hadn't expected to see anyone here. It was a nice surprise.

"Hi Nirana! I'm doing super well thank you! I trust you're feeling alright too?"

She was given her shark grin, but it wasn't hard to see that she was a dorky child. Her long hair were frizzy and wild, she insisted on wearing those goggles at all times and her braces gleamed a little due to the unfortunate angle of the sunlight. Though she had scarcely paused for breath before she was talking again.

"I'm getting my braces off soon!"

She nodded, as if to confirm that she was indeed telling the truth.

"I'm so glubbing excited!"

And there she was with the fish puns, they'd been with her since she first joined the education system as a child.

Oh, Feferi. Taking in her silly goggles, crazy hair and unfortunate braces, all made more prominent by the girl's excited blubbering and unexpectedly huge smile, Nirana couldn't help but smile internally. This is almost too easy.

Immediately, she adopted Feferi's enthusiastic demeanor. Nirana had learned this trick by dealing with high class customers. If a nobleman spoke formally and respectfully to you, you were expected to reply as such. Quickly she had figured out that the more you spoke like someone else, the faster their trust was gained. In similar situations, she had applied her theory to great effectiveness.

"That's so great!" she enthused at the comment on Feferi's braces. "You're gonna look amazing! Not that you don't already! I mean, wow! Look at that necklace!"

Her plan was mainly a simple one. According to things she already knew about Feferi (and there really weren't many to go on,) she was a fairly gullible girl who didn't always enjoy her place, and loved to please people. In other words, incredibly easy to manipulate. She'd start by expressing interest in the object of her desire (in this case, the necklace) to plant an idea she could use later on. Then she would find some way to play Feferi so that she would begin to dislike the necklace, and then she could place the killing blow by suggesting to take if off her hands. Hopefully it would not be difficult - she knew Feferi had tons of other jewelry.

First, though, she had to make Feferi a little insecure or uncomfortable, and there was no better way to do that than heaping on the compliments. "Oh wow, seriously, that necklace," Nirana continued, making sure Feferi caught at least a glimpse of Nirana eying it. "It looks really, really grand, you know, that classical feel? Looks like it cost a fortune, though! Gosh, I am so jealous. Where did you get it?" There. The implication that it looked a little out of place on Feferi and that she'd blown a lot of the riches everyone knew she had on it was subtle, but it was there. Maybe Feferi would catch it and maybe she wouldn't.

Ohh, this was perfect. Nirana could feel the thrill. And maybe it wasn't the most honest or respectable way of having fun, but there was certainly something to be said for doing what she did best.

(OOC: Auugh I'm so sorry Fef, this is so late! I promised and promised I'd do it but things kept coming up, and I was having trouble with ideas and getting started. I think I've got it now, though! I hope this is okay Nirana's such a jerkbag)

"My mummy got it me!" She declared, unwttingly shattering Nirana's plan. "She took us to the beach and-and we found some clams! And I found a pearl in one and I reely reely liked it. So she got it me for my birthday!" The seadweller explained.

She smiled on for a few more moments.

"Your necklace is really nice too!" She grinned, peering in slightly to look. "It's even made of pearls too! and I just LOVE the little flower!"

The little girl giggled. "So it hooks like we all get to have pretty necklaces! and yours even has extra bits!" She giggled a second time. The giggle parade never seemed to end.

"Now it was lovely seaing you! But I really ought to be going. I need to go buy some milk before I take this shipping home!"

She began to look perplexed, frowning slightly as she contemplated whether or not 'shipping' was a pun too far. Then she shrugged, returning to her shark grin. She gave a little delicate wave of her fingers before attempting to trot off happily on the road to purchasing.

Nirana had to make a conscious effort not to roll her eyes. My mummy got it for me! Please. Nirana's own guardian had died four years ago, and she'd been entirely self-sufficient ever since. Honestly, why did girls like Feferi end up at the top of the hemospectrum? All of that power and status, and look what she was doing with it. At least Nirana had worked for her own self-independence, even if she was lucky to be born a seadweller.

Emotional attachment just made the necklace less easy to lose. What a waste of energy, really - an object was an object. Still, Nirana appreciated the added challenge.

She appreciated it a little less, however, when she realized that Feferi had picked up on not a single one of her hints. How interesting that some girls could still be so silly and childish at fourteen years old, no less! Nirana tried not to flinch every time Feferi released another sickening giggle. This entire scene was just making Nirana lose hope in the troll species as a whole. Who knew talking to Feferi could be so difficult?!

And now she was getting away. Quick as a flash, Nirana put a light hand on Feferi's shoulder, stopping her without doing it roughly. "Oh, why don't I come with you? I'm not busy at the moment, and I know where the milk is sold. I guess you don't come by the market often!"

This was seeming like a worse idea all the while. Her other hand in the folds of her skirt, Nirana felt in her pockets for her small knife. Forget about talking Feferi into giving her the necklace. She didn't feel like dealing with Feferi's chatter any more today. Cutting the necklace right off her silly little neck would be satisfying enough.

Feferi felt her mood lift just that little bit higher, as impossible as that may have sounded, the idea of Nirana being nice to her was just....well exciting! She knew Nirana from school but...actually being friends with her, and going shopping (the fact that it was just for milk was completely irrelevant) was such a lovely concept!

Though sadly she remained ignorant the malicious intent behind the offer.

She kept her gleaming braced teeth on her new 'friend' for a moment longer, before eagerly snatching the other seadweller’s grey had hand and holding it tightly, clinking some of the rings on their respective digits together. She now fully expected Nirana to lead them on the merry adventure to Feferi's eventual milk purchase. Regardless, she still seeked to cement this possible blossoming friendship while she could.

"Would you like to come over? We can play board games!" She suggested, sincere and gleeful, and still oh so unaware.

"I... er..." Nirana mumbled, eying her now trapped hand. "I think I am going to have to skip on the board games! I... have some errands to run, so I can't stay that long, but I'll definitely help you find where the milk is sold!" With effort, she managed another smile, then turned away and began tugging Feferi along behind her, her facial expression reverting to a flat little pout. It didn't matter. Feferi couldn't tell, anyway.

There we go. As Nirana had predicted, it was a short walk to the milk vendor's stall, and she didn't hesitate to ease lightly out of Feferi's grasp when they arrived. Positioning herself at Feferi's shoulder, Nirana stretched an arm around Feferi's shoulders nudged the other girl forward gently. "Here's the milk, Feferi! Tell the vendor what you'd like!"

The seadweller and the vendor both adequately occupied, Nirana shifted her hand on Feferi's back so that long hair fell over it and concealed it from view. She made sure to maintain her bland smile as the knife slid out of her sleeve and under the flimsy string of the necklace. She'd checked in advance that this was the kind of necklace that would stay intact after the cut, and wouldn't fall apart in a scatter of beads and gems.

Snap. The blade cut cleanly through the back of the necklace, and now there was nothing holding it around Feferi's neck but Nirana's fingers. Yes, yes, now she could feel the adrenaline high! The wave of vindictive pleasure rushed through her, she just had to wait for Feferi to turn back around, and then she would use that opportunity to whip it off her neck without her even noticing it was gone...

Feferi began to believe that she was actually making progress with Nirana. It was exciting really; she hadn’t met many other Seadwellers, especially not her own age! She kept her grin up throughout the purchasing of her milk, 2 bottles this time, she remembered. She put them in her bag and turned around to face her ‘friend’ once more.

“Well, if you don’t want to come over today…we can meet up another time?” She asked hopefully, as determined as ever, though unfortunately ignore to Nirana’s ploy.

“It will be REEL-Y fun I PROMISE.” She affirmed; hope flittering across her eyes like sparkles. “I’ve got all sorts of board games, and, and I’ve got these cool books! Yeah you get options, and depending on your choice you go to different pages! It’s loads of fun. Oh! Have you ever been to the ocean Nirana? You-you can come with me if you want?” She prattled.

Perfection. All right, she'd admit this encounter had not gone entirely as planned. But she had still won, and that was what mattered. On a worse day, this victory would have been marred by the fact that she had to resort to a sloppy sort of petty theft - she had standards, after all - but it had been fun all the same.

It was too bad. Doubtless that Feferi would notice the absence of her treasured necklace in the very near future - she did seem relatively attached to it - and Nirana did not want to be around when that happened. Hopefully Feferi would chalk it up to her own carelessness, but there was a slim chance that she'd suspect Nirana, even if she'd been careful not to give Feferi a single reason to distrust her. Nirana liked to stay on good terms with everyone, as anyone could prove useful at a later date. However, putting Feferi's trust at stake wasn't a very dangerous gamble. Sure, she was a seadweller, but she had to be the silliest one Nirana had ever met. Therefore, even if she had just burned Feferi's bridge, Nirana was not particularly perturbed.

Th necklace was free, and Nirana immediately plunged it deep into her pocket. Maybe she'd find a place for it in her cupboard. Or she'd find somewhere to sell it off, it looked like it was worth good money. Certainly she wasn't fool enough to wear it on the streets. A shame. "The ocean!" she gasped, eyes wide and fingers clasped. "Oh my, that would be lovely! Another time, most definitely! Now that you've got your milk, though, I've got to go. It's really been a pleasure and I hope I've helped! See you around, Feferi!" With a great big smile and a wave, Nirana turned and started down the busy street, quickly disappearing from Feferi's field of view by taking as many turns around buildings as she could.

She wore the smile all the way home.

Disappointed that Nirana had moved on so quickly, Feferi headed back to her hive. She felt disheartened, yes, but not entirely shot down. There must be a way to secure Nirana's interests, she didn't seem to be too interested in the Ocean idea....sure she ACTED happy at the concept, but she did seem eager to go.

Feferi began to cycle new ideas through her head. Maybe they could see a play? Or go for a walk? It suddenly occurred to her she hadn't actually gotten any of Nirana's interests from her. She went home with a face of furious concentration.

2 hours after being home she noticed her necklace was gone, she spent weeks fretting over it. It wouldn't be until after she was 'elevated' to being a Princess before she realised, and by then it was too late. It was gone.