Sun in the sky, and salt in my lungs ((Perry and River Quinnat + OPEN))

Perry Quinnat tied the last knot on the rope connecting the dock to the family's fishing boat, named "Quinnat's Pride", and stood upright. The sun burned bright, and reflected Perry's mood. Today's haul was better than usual, and they would earn a pretty penny at the market for their catch. Perry boarded the boat, and sat on deck while his sister unpacked the lunch they had packed for themselves. She emerged from the cabin with two large hard rolls and tossed one to Perry. He caught it with both hands, and struggled slightly to rip it apart; when he said "hard rolls", he meant HARD rolls. They weren't the freshest, but they were food.
“Thanks, sis.” Perry chimed to River as she sat down next to him with her own roll. They ate in relative silence, just listening to the gulls squawk and the waves roll in on the shore.
After they finished their lunch, they sat on the dock, dipping their feet in the cool salt water. Perry started humming their favorite sea shanty, and pretty soon, they broke into song.
“What shall we do with a drunken sailor? What shall we do with a drunken sailor? What shall we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning?” Perry sang, and River joined in. They could hear some other fishermen humming along as they did their chores, and Perry knew that this was the life. He loved days like this: food in his stomach, his feet in the water, and spending time with his favorite person in the entire world.

The last note of the shanty echoed off the side of the fishing boat, and River burst into a fit of laughter before standing up on the dock.
"Not that this hasn't been fun, but we have some fish to sell." River said, placing her hand on the top of Perry's head to get his attention. The Quinnats boarded the boat, and each grabbed half of the massive fishing net. The fish in it were now dead, and they weighed quite a bit.
"Go slow, Perry. You're stronger than me." River warned her brother when they each had their grips on the net. They picked it up and hauled it off the boat, and headed for the town square. Fishermen from other families saw their haul and looked green with envy as we walked by. River smiled to herself as she tightened her grip on the net. She quickly regretted that, however, when her fingers screamed in protest.
How can Perry be my twin, and yet, be so much stronger than me? We're practically the same person! River griped internally, and cursed the fact that she was a girl for the thousandth time. She liked being a girl, but on occasions such as this, a little more brute strength would be nice.
They reached the town square after a decent hike, and River found herself to be a little winded. She couldn't remember the last time the net had this much fish in it.
River threw a silent look to her brother, and he nodded as he understood what she wanted to say: Commence the selling of the fish.

Perry and River hauled their catch to the butcher, who usually bought their fish when they had good hauls. A couple Peacekeepers were keeping watch by the bakery nearby, and they caught Perry's eye. His pulse quickened, but he knew he had nothing to be afraid of. They were not fishing illegally, and the butcher had to get his product from somewhere. Their parents always sold their fish to the butcher, and it wasn't about to change any time soon.
Perry pushed open the door, and the bell jingled. The portly butcher waddled into the main area, and his toothy grin lit up his face.
"Perry and River! What can I do for you?"
"Well, what can you do for us?" Perry said, gesturing to the net that they had just dragged in. The butcher's smile widened, and he got a glint in his eye the kids had never seen before.
"I think I can pull something together..." he said, gesturing his employees from out of the back to come take the fish. The butcher took some cash out of the ancient register, and handed it to Perry.
It was a lot less than Perry was expecting.
"This is it?"
"I have to make a profit too, Perry."
"This isn't enough for all of that fish!" Perry said, his voice raising in anger.

River and Perry had trusted this butcher for years, and their parents trusted him before their untimely deaths. He was the best in town, and he usually gave the kids a fair price for their catches. But, the butcher was a shrewd businessman; he certainly knew how to get a bargain on the meat and fish he bought. But, River also knew that Perry could tell when he was being ripped off. River trusted his judgment, and so when he angrily said, "This isn't enough for all of that fish!", River knew that he was genuinely upset. River didn’t want to lose their business with the butcher, so she tried to calm Perry down:
"Perry...Perry, please calm down. You don't want to say something you'll regret."
It would be a miracle if he stopped, but she couldn’t say she didn’t try. Besides, he was her brother. The odds of him listening to her anyways were slim to none.

Silly River.
"River, stay out of this." Perry said, his temper flaring up, a “lovely” trait he inherited from their father.
“Listen to your sister, Perry. Take the money and leave.” The butcher said, which only made Perry more angry.
“This is our only source of income. We spent hours out at sea getting this fish! We need money to buy food so we don’t starve to death. You know we only have our grandmother!”
The butcher looked slightly guilty, but didn’t make any indication that he was going to change his offer.
“I’m sorry, Perry. I know your family situation, but I need to make a profit on this fish as well. If I gave you full sale price, I’d lose money. As much I want to help you, I can’t. I have my own family to think about.”
Perry knew the butcher had a point, but he couldn’t help but feel cheated.
“Are you sure you can’t help us out a little bit?”

Perry looked as though the butcher had punched him in the stomach. River felt horrible, but knew there was nothing the kids could do about the butcher's pricing.
"Perry, let's just take what we can get. It's better than nothing." River said, placing a hand on her twin's shoulder.
"We'll take your offer." River said to the butcher. The butcher nodded forlornly and rung up the transaction on his cash register. He handed the twins $75, which even River knew was not a fair price. The fish they caught was easily worth $250, but the $75 was more than they walked in with, and it was better than leaving empty-handed.
The twins exited the shop, and sat on a bench nearby.
"Perry, you can't lose your cool like that. The last thing we need is to lose the butcher's business." River said. "Selling our fish to random passersby doesn't work."

((Hey, is it OK if I join? I know it says open but just checking ))

((Sure, go ahead! The more, the merrier!))

((Good, thanks!))


Lucy was losing her cool. She had just signed up for even more tesserae and had come back to the house to find her little brothers running around and upsetting their already unstable mother.
“Jake! Liam! Will you stop causing such a mess? It’ll take me forever to clean this up!” she yelled at them. Not that it stopped them. They ran through the kitchen, smearing blue and red die over every surface they could find.

“No way!” Liam giggled. “We’re just getting started!”
Lucy knew that it shouldn’t be her job to keep them under control, but needs must.

“YOU TWO! I’ve just signed up to get more food so that I can keep you lot alive! Stop wasting our resources or it’ll be you next! If you’ve got some spare energy, go use it to get us some water to boil!” she exploded, hating that it was always her that had to yell at them. With a frightened murmur, they ran out the door with the pots and pans. She turned to her mother with a sympathetic expression on her face.

“Are you okay? Have they been giving you a headache?” she asked kindly. She could see that today was a bad day; her mother eyes were painfully expressionless and out of focus.

“Headache? I- no, no, no, no, no headache. No feeling at all… just the numbness, closing in continuously, never being able to escape it…” her mother rambled. Lucy picked her up and carried her to the bed. She lay her down softly and stroked her hair.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything come for you. Do you want me to stay with you?” she fretted anxiously.

“No, no, no, go out, go and play on the beach, find some shells… some… some… shells…bring…home…” with a round of incoherent mumbling, her mother faded away into sleep and gave a soft sigh. Lucy gave her mother one last worried glance before going out the door. Just before walking away from the house, she picked up her net- a contraption of knots and loops made as quickly as possible. It wasn’t a bad attempt, considering how quickly it had been made, but nothing like some of the things that she had seen in the village. She was just walking down through the town when she saw two of the local teenagers, Perry and River Quinnat, sitting on a bench and looking forlorn. As she approached them, they looked up. Perry was holding an average sized wad of money.

“Been out on the boat?” she asked, smiling. She genuinely liked the siblings- they were literally in the same boat as her, so she understood how they felt and why they did what they did. They had never offended her in any way, so Lucy had always done her best to return the civility, even if they didn’t know each other very well.