His memories haunted him still. He had improved a lot over the years, that was for sure, but he still couldn't help getting caught up in his thoughts from time to time. He had plenty of regrets, and they came back to taunt him often. Especially whenever he was around children. They all reminded him of his late sister in some way, whether it be their smiling face or their childish laughter as they chased one another. He always felt a pang in his chest whenever he saw them. Even so, he loved kids, and even thought of having some of his own one day. The thought of settling down with a family of his own was comforting.

The air was light as Charlie walked along the streets, a sleepy atmosphere hanging over everyone in the early morning. He usually woke up pretty early, only because he was somewhat of an insomniac and could hardly sleep most nights. Still, he had adjusted, making it a habit to drink at least two cups of coffee every morning. It helped somewhat, though by the afternoon he was heavy with the need to sleep.

Still, despite the time, the market was still hustling and bustling. He had to push past people to get from stall to stall. But, considering his stature, it wasn't that difficult to get people to move out of his way. They would notice him coming and quickly step out of his way. It was really convenient.

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Unlike Charlie, Annie was no insomniac. Though there were some days she could happily bury her head into her pillow well into the afternoon, most days, she was up at dawn to watch the sun rise and the birds wake. Plus, it gave her more time to be with her mother in the morning before Morgan Heights and all its duties called. Annie tried to be helpful, truly, with her mother being the Peony and all, but there was only so much she could do. Besides, it wasn't like she had a rank in Morgan Heights yet. She was just the 'Changeling' Child that Eilora had saved from her doomed future. It was a time, and a place, that Annie remembered rather little of. Of course, she remembered some parts of it; negligence, being cold, sick, and hungry; half deaf, and undiagnoised, yet yelled at for ever making a sound.

What more Eliora had seen of her future, what more of her tale that had earned her mother her Reckoning Wings for saving her, Annie had dared never to ask. No, she didn't want to know. She was quite happy to pretend that Eliora was her real mother, through and through. After all, most of her thirteen years had been spent in Morgan Heights. As far as Annie was concerned, she had no other mother but Eliora.

Yawning faintly as she wove her way through the markets and stalls, a brand new blue bow pinned proudly in one of her blonde dutch-braided pigtails. The bow, Annie was quite proud of, matched a sun dress of a similar color that she was wearing. Over it, she wore a light cream knitted sweater to keep out the morning chill. Clutched to her chest was a small box of new henna cones, and judging by the peekings of designs swirled across her hands and legs uncovered by her clothing, Annie had taken quite a liking to these more lasting temporary tattoos.

Unlike the others, however, Annie's back would have been turned to Charlie as she stepped backwards from the stall she had just made her recent purchase from, a grin on her face as she spoke softly to the merchant across the rabble and chatter of the early morning markets. It was bustling enough that her hearing impairment blocked the heavy weighted steps behind her. Then again, she should have had half a mind to look where she had been going. "Of course!" she'd chime to some idle sentiment from the merchant as she took another step back, "I'll see you tommor-woah!" her words were cut off as she would, quite literally, step straight into Charlie.

Stumbling briefly as she hit the wall of a man, considering her short stature was nothing compared to his, her footing was lost as she went sprawling backwards onto the ground, the box in her arms scattering off towards her left while she fell like a sack of potatos. Blinking briefly in a daze, she'd glance to her position laid across the cobbled grounds of the street before her blue-eyed gaze turned upwards to the man she had just crashed into. "Oh! Mister Charlie!" Seeming with little concern for the incident that just occured, aside from rubbing a bit at her elbow that she had landed upon, she sat back up slightly and stretched a hand out for her box. "Sorry! I didn't see you there!" After all, it had quite been her fault. "Good morning!" Her words, now, were accompained by a bright giggle for the oddness of the situation.

Before things happened, he had been a part of a happy family. He didn't remember much of his father before he passed, but he still managed to keep his memory alive, keeping his pictures everywhere and sometimes writing him letters. As he grew older, though, he stopped. When his mother passed, it became harder to remember them. He had to keep a strong face for his sister, after all. Sometimes she would ask him about their parents, or just bring them up in conversation, and he would quickly turn things around to a new subject. Now, when he thought back on it, he wished he hadn't.

With the height difference, Charlie didn't notice Annie walking towards him, oblivious to his presence. Instead he kept walking until he felt something bump into him, barely fazed as he looked down to see her now on the ground. He frowned and bent down. "Oh, it's all fine, but are you alright?" he simply waved off her apology, reaching for the box she had dropped. He regarded it with a curious eye before handing it to her. He had seen a few children and even some adults walking around with henna marks on their skin, but he still wasn't quite sure what it was, only knowing that it was some sort of temporary tattoo.

A smile stretches out on his face at her cheery disposition, chuckling slightly as he stands up and extends a hand out for the child to take. "Good morning to you, too. Let me help you up," once she was on her feet again, he would run a hand down the front of his shirt, flattening it out. Again his attention goes down towards her box, finally voicing his question. "If I may ask, what's in your box there?" his best guess would be some sort of arts and crafts thing. Art wasn't his thing, though he admired the skill of those who were able to make such things. He didn't mind admiring a portrait or two.

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Reaching up for his hand with a grin, Annie would pull herself back up to her feet with his help, and non-chalantly brush off her skirts with the palms of her hands as if little had occured. "Just fine!" she'd chime happily, the grin never leaving her face- perhaps it was simply impossible to rid the grin from her features. With her box once more in hand, she tucked it underneath an arm as she tilted her chin up to stare at him. He was much taller, that was a given, but also far older. Annie of course knew that her mother was familiar with Charlie, and had been around when he first joined- but then again, her mother had been there for a lot of people. Of course, with that amount of time, Charlie could probably remember Annie, her little toddler self, when Eliora had first brought here her to raise as her own. Quite literally, Charlie had been in Morgan Heights as long as Annie herself had even been alive.

Regardless, her head tilted faintly at the question that was posed, her gaze dropping briefly to the box before she smiled more gently. "It's Henna," she answered with more care, her cheer mellowing so that she could hold a proper conversation, her gaze still upwards to Charlie's face, so she could watch his lips move as he spoke if she so needed the extra bit of verification as to what he was saying. "It's like.. temporary tattoos, but so much better. 'Cause, instead of like the weird.. glitter cat sticker pad things it's like paint you can draw on yourself, and then it dries in the sun and lasts a lot longer than other temporary tattoos- if you take care of it, anyway. The stuff on my hands always goes away after a week cause of moving and washing them and whatever, but the ones on my legs-" to prove a point, Alianna sort of stuck out a leg in show of the swirls and flower patterns crawling up her legs, "Have lasted about a month."

Alianna paused for a moment before a wide grin began to break out over her face, "Maybe you'd like to have some? It's fun!"