seasonsrpg | [Closed Log] Fireflies are stars that couldn't journey to the skies

Between the stinkeye and the shitty attitude? Yeah, this is definitely a smaller version of Levi.

Ironically, him being a tiny turd of a child just endears him to Galliard. As a veteran tiny turd himself, he gets it. Sometimes, you just need to lash out at a world that isn't treating you fairly.

"Okay." He spreads his palms wide and shrugs, still faintly smiling. "I just thought we could team up, catch more of them, if we worked together. But if you'd rather work alone, that's fine too."

He takes a step away, but doesn't leave. When a firefly zips past, Galliard moves his own jar in a gentle, swooping motion, and catches it.

Edited 2023-11-23 16:05 (UTC)

Sometimes you do need that. Sometimes you also work your ass off to impress someone only to realize the only thing watching you is their retreating back! Frankly, the world sucks, and Levi's just about had it but he does like this place. He's still more comfortable in the dusk or dark, like now, but theoretically he can go out any time he wants and see the sun, sky or clouds. It's amazing.

What is also pretty amazing is the way the stranger just scoops a firefly out of the air. Levi's eyes go a little rounder, and while he doesn't rescind his un-invitation just yet, he's definitely watching Galliard intently now, probably hoping to steal his trick if he displays it again.

Galliard sees Levi watching him from the corner of his eye, and he does another lazy loop with his jar. Now there are two fireflies floating around in it.

"The trick is to predict where they're flying, then get the jar in their way." Still not looking at Levi! Nope, just casually talking to the air here! "They can't change directions very fast, so if you hold the jar where they're already flying, they'll fly right in. It's a lot easier than chasing them."

This time, he slows his movements way down, so it's easier to track and follow the way he moves the jar.

Just like a spooked cat, Levi seems to gradually grow less tense when he's not being perceived. Soon enough, he's watching with open curiosity, and yes, he's definitely using the opportunity to get a better look at that movement once Galliard slows down.

By the time he's gotten five fireflies, Levi seems to be willing to talk again.

"Your brother taught you that?"

If Levi wants to just hang out next to each other and catch fireflies, that's fine. Galliard wasn't expecting him to speak again, but when Levi does, he pointedly doesn't look at him to respond. Instead, he loops his jar around and catches another firefly.

"He did. He taught me a lot of things." That part, at least, is true. "He was older than me, and liked to show me things that he had already figured out."

"That sounds nice," Levi says and clarifies, just in case, "I don't have a brother."

A bit hesitantly, he untwists the lid from the jar and inches toward a firefly that's floating a lazy figure eight a bit to the right. He doesn't need to worry about accidentally squashing them when just trying to scoop them out of the air like this, so he makes a fairly energetic attempt and seems to light up a little when, indeed, it leaves him with a little light inside his container.

"It was." Still not looking at Levi, Galliard smiles a little. It's a smile tinged with regret, but there's some genuine fondness in there too. Marcel has been gone so long that the major, gut-churning grief has started to fade; maybe someday it will mellow into only fond remembrance, but that's not happening today. "It really, really was."

He sees the little glow in Levi's jar, and that manages to chase the sadness out of his eyes. He doesn't say anything, but gently shoos a few fireflies circling him in Levi's direction.

"Oh." He doesn't know what happened, but he's not unfamiliar with kids talking about their siblings or parents in the past tense, and he knows what that means. Granted, in his world, it was usually sickness or starvation that got them, rather than titans or warfare, but the end result was still the same: they were no longer there. He pauses a little, unsure if he's supposed to say anything else, then manages a curt; "Sorry."

He pouts a little when Galliard herds the fireflies toward him; part of him wants to insist that he doesn't need the help, but at the same time... him doing things by himself is honestly the default, has been for years at this point, and he can't deny that being babied a little bit feels nice. He thinks his mom would maybe do that, if she was here.

So in the end he doesn't say anything and his expression lightens up again as he quickly goes after the incoming fireflies, and soon the number in his jar has hopped up from one to five.

"Thank you." That simple expression of sympathy from Levi tugs at Galliard's heart; he doesn't appear to be a kid who had an easy life, but he's still considerate enough to recognise what the past tense Galliard used to talk about Marcel, and offers his condolences. For just a moment, Galliard lets himself wonder what Levi might have grown into, if he hadn't turned into a terrifying war machine. What could any of them have been, if they'd been born somewhere else, in some other time?

Galliard watches Levi go after the fireflies, and the kid picks things up quick. He herds a few more Levi's way, then pauses and waits for him to capture them.

"You're getting good at that."

Well. If he hadn't turned into a terrifying war machine, he might have turned into a guy who sucks dick for coppers behind the tavern.

He may not admit it aloud, but he does hold gratitude to Kenny for giving him more choices in the hellhole they called home. If he'd also been born in a different place and different circumstances, though... Who knows. He would probably be helping people in some way, and if the world itself had been less cruel... any and all of the would have had better lives in that case.

The current, tiny(er) Levi seems to positively light up, almost preen at the compliment, as if it's something he's been starved of for years and finally got a generous chunk of.

"You showed me how," he retorts contentedly as if that naturally explains his being good at it. But he's always been pretty quick with things like how to move or how to swing a knife; even Kenny may have let it slip once or twice. Guess you're not completely unteachable, things like that. It was the less physical things that were more of a challenge to him; after all he still had to train to improve his writing when he was promoted in the Survey Corps.

And as if to demonstrate his point, he swiftly scoops up the fireflies that Galliard ushers his way, plus a few more from the other side. His jar is glowing quite brightly at this point; it's almost full, and Levi looks at it in adoration.

Hey, being that guy is one bad turn of luck away for most Eldians, so Galliard can sympathise.

"Sure, but you mastered it." And mastered it quickly; by this point, Levi is doing better with the little technique Galliard cooked up than Galliard himself is, and he's legitimately impressed. He hadn't thought to try catching the ones on the other side of one of those lazy loops, and here Levi is scooping them right out of the air. "A few more and I think that jar will be full."

He half-turns towards Levi and offers his own jar, which only has about three fireflies in it. "If you want to catch more, you can have this jar too."

At least the world Above tended to have a few more career paths to choose from, even if a lot of them were still shitty. It was a lot harder to start anything Below that wasn't part of either a brothel or a gang, and the so-called business owners still were often intermingled with one or both. But Eldians did tend to get the short end of the stick all around the world.

"Yeah, I--" he hesitates for a moment, but then decides that bragging to a stranger is a perfectly valid course of action, considering how little praise he received from others, and puffs his chest out a little bit. "I'm good with this sort of stuff! Like-- moving, and..." Fighting, he'd say, but he's suddenly hesitant to say that. He could hold his own well enough by now, but he didn't want to go around picking fights with bigger people just for the hell of it. He would defend himself, but he preferred not starting anything when he could. He settles on the concept of trajectory prediction, but he doesn't have the words for it. "...ya know, guessing where things are gonna be next."

He looks a little interested when Galliard offers him another jar but after some consideration he pouts slightly, hugging his own jar closer and taking a step back. He likes this one, and he also likes the shiny bugs and he doesn't want to trap more of them than he needs for his own lantern.

"Nah, 'm good."

"I can tell." Galliard has no interest in fighting with Levi, but especially not as he is right now. Firstly, it would be super embarrassing to get his ass kicked by a literal child, but moreover, what would be the point? The longer he's been in Ellipsa, the more he's realised there's no point in fighting amongst themselves any longer; why bring Paradis and Marley's problems to this new place? Why were they even bothering to fight in the first place? "I bet there'll be all kinds of things you'll be able to do when you're older."

Including being a terrifying war machine, but hey, no traumatising children while they're out catching fireflies.

Galliard makes no move to try and take Levi's jar from him. Instead, he nods and smiles faintly, then turns his own jar to the side and gently shakes his own fireflies free. "You're right. There's no point in getting greedy."

Well, maybe he wouldn't get his ass kicked! It would still be kind of embarrassing to fight a literal child, though. Levi looks pleased when he agrees, something almost close to a smile flashing on his blank little face.

"That's what Kenny says, too," he announces proudly before thinking better of it and going quiet again. Honestly, considering the sort of shit he'd seen on the daily, he'd probably find the terrifying war machine thing elating.

He watches with a little bit of confusion as Galliard empties his own jar.

"...don't you need one?"

He'd probably get his ass kicked. Nothing more embarrassing than having to turn into a titan and flee from a literal child.

Galliard doesn't ask who Kenny is, figuring that if Levi wants him to know, he'll talk more about him. Once his jar is empty, he twists the lid back on and sets it on the ground.

"Nah, I'm all right." For the first time, he turns his head and actually looks at Levi. "I think it's more fun to catch them than to keep them."

There is that.

Levi doesn't seem to be in the mood to share more at the moment. He does watch Galliard closely, though, tilting his head slightly in confusion, the beginnings of a worried frown on his face.

"...do you think they don't want to stay there?" he mutters, suddenly feeling very selfish.

"I think they don't mind it for now. But it'd probably be nice to let them go at the end of the night."

Galliard shrugs. "I've also been told we're supposed to be catching them for a quest, so maybe they like being in the jars? I don't know." He gestures at Levi's jar. "Yours have lots of friends in there with them, though. Mine just had three. Instead of catching more, I let them out to find their friends."

"I'm not five," Levi grumbles at the end of that little explanation, because wow, bugs finding their friends, that's so cliche! But... maybe they do have families? They seem pretty magical, so it's not too unthinkable to consider they might be special in other ways.

Nonetheless, after a moment of frowning in consideration, he unscrews the lid from his jar, lifting it a little as if to let the fireflies out.

They don't seem to be interested in doing that, however. A couple do float out after a while, but plenty remain, and after waiting some more Levi puts the lid back on. Guess he'll be keeping this after all.

"Sorry. I'm not good at kid's ages." Fun fact, Levi: Galliard talks to Armin tonight too, and thinks he's about eleven years old, when he's actually fifteen. Later on, when Armin is back to his normal age and contacts Galliard, he's going to think Armin is the same age as Gabi, so about fifteen.

He's not good at this, okay?

He watches as Levi unscrews the lid of his jar, and the pair of fireflies that do make a bid for freedom. He smiles when all the other ones decide to stick around. It's probably the magic of this place, doing its thing; maybe the fireflies are choosing to stay with Levi right now because Levi needs them to.

"They like you more than me, it looks like."

All excuses, clearly, because Levi is practically a grownup!! Or so he thinks, not that he really has any kind of reasonable frame of reference. But he can take care of himself and that's pretty much what it means, right?

He actually looks... perhaps not happy, entirely, but at least pleased when Galliard points that out, and holds the jar a little closer like a precious thing. It's not often that anyone or anything choose to stay with him, after all.

"Yeah," he mutters.

"I'm sure you'll take good care of them." However one is supposed to take care of magical fireflies, Levi will figure it out.

Galliard tucks his own jar under his arm. "I'm going to go look for a place to get rid of my jar. Want to help me look?"

Levi nods. He's not sure how he's going to do that yet, exactly, but he'll certainly do it! For now, the fireflies seem content in the jar, though he does make a mental note to find out what they eat, just in case it's not just huffing fairy dust or whatever.

Maybe it's that reassurement, maybe it's the earlier help, but Levi seems to be warming up to Galliard quickly enough - in fact, he's giving him a curious look at the invitation, rather than outright refusing.

"Why do you want to get rid of it?" It's a good jar. Clear glass. He could put food in it, it'd probably last longer than in a ceramic pot.

"I'm not sure if I can keep anything in it except fireflies." What would happen if he put food in it, and it suddenly started glowing? "And without the fireflies, it's just glass."

He shrugs. "Who knows, though? Maybe if I leave it on the edge of the field, some other kid will come along and want to catch some fireflies of their own."

Levi considers asking him to just give it to him. If there's another kid who wants a lantern, Levi could just give them his and then catch more for himself. But maybe they'd want to do it themselves, too. Hm, maybe the man's plan works better after all.

There's also the question why he's so sure he can't put anything else in there, but maybe he knows something Levi doesn't.

"Alright," he says with a light shrug, though he's not sure how exactly he's supposed to help.

At the end of the day, Galliard just doesn't want to carry around a jar he views as useless. But if Levi wants to assign him more altruistic motivations, he won't dispute them.

"Okay, thanks." Galliard starts walking away, trusting that Levi will follow him, and he's taking slightly shorter steps than usual. He would never dream of doing that around adult Levi, but he's spent enough time around the young Warrior cadets that it just comes naturally.

"If you just got here, and were looking for a jar to catch fireflies, where would you look?" He cedes to Levi's childhood point of view for this.

[Closed Log] Fireflies are stars that couldn't journey to the skies

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cw: prostitution (in the cute firefly thread)

the duality of rp

indeed

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oh no MY HEART

:>

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fin!