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

The more of these sorts of questions Levi asks, the more Erwin starts to put a few pieces together. His mother gone, going to look for food, not going to school, asking if his father is rich for being able to afford meals for their small family. It's maybe then that he notices a little more the condition of Levi's clothes, the thinness of his arms and wrists.

...oh.

Erwin shakes his head. "No." He pauses, frowning a little. Maybe they are rich, if Levi can't afford to buy food for himself every day. "I don't think so? There are people in the city who are really rich, though. They have big houses made out of stone and servants."

He pauses, holding the jar with a few fireflies.

"...do you want to get something to eat?"

Levi seems to contemplate something for a moment, then he scowls, folding his arms.

"They're bad people," he declares, sounding absolutely certain of it. He's about to insert Kenny's opinion about MPs next to it when Erwin mentions food and he perks up a little. Does the other kid actually have money (and Levi knows what that would mean he should do, but at this point, he doesn't want to, he likes him) or is he inviting him to go and steal something together? Hm. Either way, he's hungry, so; "...yeah. Sure."

Erwin isn't sure what to say to that comment, but it doesn't matter, because Levi's agreed to come with him. His face brightens again - he thinks he has a few coins in his pocket, a rare enough thing because papa only occasionally gave him money to go buy something for the table or for mama, and on rare instances allowed him to buy a treat for himself.

"Great! I think I saw someone with a cart down the beach, c'mon!" Hoisting his jar to under one arm, he holds his hand out for Levi to take - and regardless of whether or not he does, will begin to walk in a direction parallel to the water. There is, indeed, because rule of fun, a vendor with a little cart of things a few hundred yards away, with meat on sticks over coals and a little cold cabinet with pictures of ice cream goodies.

Levi stares at the offered hand for a few moments. Right as he considers taking it, he suddenly feels filthy, and draws his hand back to vigorously rub it on his pants and shirt, trying to wipe away the invisible grime.

If Erwin is patient, though, he will receive a hesitant hand after that... and if not, Levi will simply follow him, perhaps sulking a little over missing out that chance for human contact that doesn't hurt him in some way.

Luckily, the sight (and smell) of food will definitely distract him in a moment. Meat is a rare commodity as is, and this definitely smells better than roasted rat - but he's also curious about the cold cabinet contents. He'd like to get both - and he thinks they probably can even if they don't have enough money, but he'll let Erwin start them off in a legal way, so he turns to look at him questioningly.

What are they getting?

Erwin is patient - and he beams at Levi as he closes their hands together, giving it a gentle squeeze before taking them both down the beach. It's nice to make a new friend, especially because even if he doesn't really understand why, Levi just feels special to him.

When they get there, Erwin peers at the sign, then carefully lets go of Levi's hand to set his jar of fireflies down in between his feet and then shove one hand in his pocket. There are a few coins in there that his father gave him earlier, and while he doesn't technically have enough, the person in charge of the cart doesn't seem fussed and gives them both one meat skewer and one ice cream treat of their choice. Luckily, no stealing seems necessary this go around.

There's beef and chicken for skewers, cooked with some kind of sauce, and frozen treats made from fruit juice (popsicles) and cookies with a sweet cream in the middle (ice cream sandwiches) in the cold cabinet. It'd probably make sense to eat the skewer first, and come back for the ice cream, right? They're going to run out of hands otherwise. Probably.

Erwin picks beef for the skewer. It's tasty.

"Which do you want, Levi??"

It's odd that whatever dirt Levi is concerned about doesn't seem to bother Erwin in the slightest. Neither do his shabby clothes or just his general... runtiness, as Kenny would put it. Levi thinks he feels a little more like a real person all of the sudden.

So he follows, letting the other tug him along just so he can feel that contact more firmly, his scowl wiped off of his face in favor of something like mild surprise, perhaps even a little bit of wonder again.

He has no qualms about stealing, but the merchant seems happy enough to part with their wares half for free, which he supposes is kind enough that he won't take more from them (for now).

Unfortunately, having a choice in his food is pretty much a foreign concept to Levi, and so is both chicken and beef, so he looks between them for a moment, contemplating shoving both into his mouth and running, but he can't do that because he's still anchored by Erwin's hand, and so he turns to him for help instead.

"I don't know," he mutters. "Which one is better?"

Maybe he should just get the other kind, and then they could both have some of each? As unpleasant as sharing food sounds, it's still better than what he's used to.

There's absolutely nothing about Levi's size or his condition that bothers Erwin, other than perhaps he thinks that Levi deserves something better. Those aren't things he can do anything about right now, unfortunately. But food is, so he's happy to do even this much.

Levi's hand feels good in his - the difference in size isn't that great (not as much as it will be eventually), and they fit together easily. Erwin feels reluctant to let go at all, holding on until he ends up carrying things with both hands.

But for now he thinks a moment. "I don't know if one is better, I think it just depends on what you like - but we can get one of each and share so we both get both. Is that ok?"

Or maybe if they take too long to decide the merchant might just give both to both of them.

(Well maybe he should reconsider growing into such a humongous tree of a man-)

Levi could tell him that he likes everything that isn't rotting or moldy, but in this case neither of the options is. He could eat all of it, too, despite what his size may suggest, but if the seller doesn't cave in a few more moments he'll just mumble a sour; "Alright."

Aside from those reservations, though, he's honestly quite excited. The food smells really good, and he's never had this fancy stuff before. He's hardly even blinking as he watches the skewer move closer to him and immediately reaches out to snatch it.

(He absolutely will not bc the difference between them is ~~hot~~ charming ok-)

Unfortunately the merchant doesn't seem keen to give away more free food than they already are, so they'll just have to share, oh well.

Erwin takes them a few paces away from the cart to eat, carefully setting down his jar before taking a bite off his skewer. It's a little chewy, but still pretty tasty nonetheless. His eyes light up a little. "It's good!"

He'll finish chewing and swallowing before speaking again, asking eagerly: "How's yours?"

(Damn ok-)

Levi crouches down, carefully untucking the firefly jar from the crook of his arm and placing it next to Erwin's.

Then he inspects the chicken skewer he'd gotten, looking at it from all sides, sniffing it, all the while looking like he's been handed something befitting of kings. He feels drool gathering at the corner of his lips and quickly rubs at it with his sleeve before sticking the first piece of meat into his mouth.

"..."

Yeah, there's not going to be any waiting here. By the time Erwin asks him that question, half of his skewer is already gone.

"Mmfhm," he confirms, careful not to actually open his mouth lest any of the delicious food escapes from it, and chews faster so he can swallow it down and talk properly --

-- or just get more of it into his mouth. Yeah. Sorry, Erwin, your new friend doesn't have much in the way of table manners, but at least he does look like he's just discovered joy after finally returning from two world wars, so it probably counts for something.

...-oh. Wow, guess he really was hungry-

Which just makes Erwin happier that they could get something to eat together. He doesn't seem to care about table manners, and Levi looks really happy, so...after he takes a couple more bites of his skewer, (slower, making sure Levi finishes his own), he offers the rest to Levi. there's maybe about a third remaining.

"Here - you should try this one too!"

Levi has almost closed his teeth around the last bit of chicken to pull it off of the skewer when he's reminded that they had agreed to share. Looking a little ashamed, he pulls it away from his mouth and holds it out to Erwin so he can try it, a scowl on his face and a bit of an angry flush to his cheeks.

He does take the beef without protest, though, of which there's definitely more left so he'll be the one ending up with more food, but they haven't made an agreement about that, so it's probably fine.

The beef is harder to chew, but it's roasted well, so the difference isn't too unpleasant. It does at least force Levi to spend more time on eating it, which is probably helpful to make sure he doesn't make himself sick by just gorging down food like that. Luckily, he doesn't seem to be having that problem so far.

Erwin just shakes his head - he'd meant for Levi to just have the whole chicken one and the rest of the beef, since he's not had either before and he's clearly hungry.

That and he's making such a scary face about having to give it up.

"You have the rest, Levi."

Levi stares at him more intently. The scary look had just been about him being embarrassed rather than feeling forced to give up the last bite of chicken, but now it's directed at Erwin, and so is the almost-empty skewer still.

"We had a deal," he huffs through his mouthful of beef. "Take it or I'll shove it up your ass."

Erwin blinks, oddly feeling heat rise to his cheeks for some reason under that glower.

He takes the skewer, but doesn't eat it yet, frowning.

"Wouldn't that be a waste, though?"

Surely food is better eaten than shoved the wrong way up a butt???

Huh? What was Erwin looking all awe-struck about?

Well, clearly Levi's words made an impression, especially considering that he does finally take the chicken, and Levi feels very pleased with himself. Too bad Kenny can't watch him apply his lessons practically -- no, he won't think about that now. He'll be back. If Levi ends up escaping this strange world, he'll be right there waiting for him.

Though... he's not sure if he even wants to, anymore. This place is nice. He can play in the sun and people keep buying him food. Why would he want to go back into dark, damp underground, even if the only semblance of family he still had was there?

He moves to put an arm around Erwin's shoulders, just like he'd seen his guardian do when he was convincing other people of something, and gestures at his chest with the beef skewer before taking another bite from the food.

"Yeah, but 's about sending a message," he explains patiently, though maybe with a slight air of superiority. "Makes people listen t'your words more."

You're so cool, Levi-

And then there's an arm around his shoulders, and it feels nice and warm and companionable. Erwin leans in, a giddy little smile alighting on his face because it makes him happy that his new friend wants to be close, so there's no hesitation when his arm goes likewise around Levi's waist. It's a sideways hug, right?

He supposes he understands what Levi's saying, but it still seems a little silly.

"If you say so. But if everyone went around doing that, no one would have anything left to eat!"

Anyway, he takes a bite.

Well, clearly he's cooler than a bunch of school people, not that the bar is high-

Okay, this is new. Erwin is supposed to look nervous, not happy, and he's certainly not supposed to hug him. Levi frowns. Is he doing something wrong? Or maybe this kid is just weird and taking joy from things he shouldn't be?

He tries to wiggle away and huffs.

"Everyone doesn't need to," he explains. "Or manage to." He imagines there's a certain amount of wrangling involved so somebody who isn't strong would probably not succeed! It does seem like a waste of food now that he thinks about it. Maybe just the skewer is supposed to be used.

It's definitely that he's weird, definitely that he probably has a messed up sense of danger to a degree, because even if he knew how dangerous Levi actually could be, it still wouldn't put him off. Oops!

It's hard not to feel a little disappointed when Levi squirms away, but Erwin lets him go, covering for the loss of closeness by nibbling a little more on the meat skewer.

"Huh," he says. What Levi's saying still doesn't quite make sense to him, but that doesn't really seem like the important part anymore.

"Thank you for letting me eat it instead of trying to shove it up my butt."

Oh no, guess that affinity for dangerous things started early...

Levi sighs and proceeds to work on his newly acquired half of beef skewer. It's a bit more hearty but also harder to chew, not that it's a problem for him. It disappears about as quickly as the chicken did, too. Looks like he's not picking favorites any time soon.

"Yeah," he grumbles with his mouth still half-full, "lucky you." Because if he tried he would have most definitely succeeded, and it was definitely kind and gracious of him not to.

As soon as the skewer is empty, he's leaning against the cold cabinet to peer at the selection of cold treats that they were also supposed to get. The iced juice looks weird to him, so after some consideration he reaches for the cookie and cream sandwich abomination, not really waiting for permission or anything. Hopefully the merchant remembers their earlier deal.

It sure...did...

Frankly, Erwin does feel lucky, because he's getting to share tasty food with a new friend. The skewers go in the little trash bucket the vendor has set out to the side, and then joins Levi in examining his options for the cold treats. These are quite the novelty to him, but he ends up picking the same thing as Levi, curious about the thing called ice cream.

They pick their items, and then the vendor waves them away, because now they've taken all they were allowed to have. Erwin gathers up his firefly jar and waits for Levi to do the same, and wanders them over a little ways away before biting into the cookie sandwich.

Blue eyes light up immediately with an excited "mmm!"

Oh it's tasty. But also cold. It's cold. Like eating snow, but much more delicious.

Isn't friend getting a little ahead of things? Then again, he has bought Levi food, so that at the very least puts him solidly into the not foe box.

Levi picks up his jar carefully and follows, setting it down again once Erwin stops since he's not going to risk dropping it while handling the unfamiliar food item. It turns out to be the right choice because as soon as he takes a bite from it, he startles and nearly drops it, though luckily his reflexes are already fast enough to snatch it out of the air before it gets anywhere close to the sand.

"Fh-- It's cold!"

The snow that made it into the Underground was never clean enough to eat, and it's not like they had refrigerators, so it's probably the coldest thing he's ever had in his mouth, save from water left outside during the winter. It's not even unpleasant so much as it's a complete shock because he couldn't even conceive of the concept until now.

No? They're having fun together, eating yummy food, catching fireflies, learning about each other. That's definitely friend territory!

"Mhm!" Erwin gets through the rest of his own bite, licking cream from his lips and laughing. "Good catch!" Seriously, it was pretty impressive.

"It's strange, right? It's so warm outside but the box kept it really cold still somehow...and the cream is sweet!"

It's also uhh melting. It might get all over their hands if they don't eat it fast enough.

Hmph, okay, maybe he's got a point there.

"Food 's supposed to be hot," Levi grumbles, nonetheless shoves more of the cream and wafer sandwich into his mouth. Now that he knows what to expect, the coldness actually feels really nice against the warm weather of a Solarpeak evening.

Mercifully, he hasn't noticed the melting issue just yet, but it certainly is about to be a whole Thing as soon as any of it touches his skin.

Exactly - they're definitely friends.

"It must be cold for a reason though - see, the cream is already starting to melt, like ice in the spring. If it was hot, it wouldn't hold its shape."

Logic! Also, some of the cream might start dripping onto the sand. Erwin takes another bite, making a face as he gets a bit of a cold shock through his teeth. But he pushes through!! Luckily they're not very big, and so shouldn't take too long to eat...

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

ok he will~

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)