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

[rustyhonesty]

WHO: The Shingeki Cast
WHAT: Firefly catching
WHEN: During November Event
WHERE: Solarpeak Beach
WARNINGS: inevitable talk of death, likely gore and other attack on titan basic content warnings, will add as needed.

Just Shingeki cast seeing appreciating fireflies and catching them in jars while bonding on various levels.

Comments

[wingbound]

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.

[offeredhearts]

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.

[wingbound]

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.

[offeredhearts]

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...

[wingbound]

"Then they could use something else," Levi grumbles, though unfortunately he has no suggestions since he's barely seen sweets in his life and he definitely doesn't know about the harder creams used in some pastries that do hold their shape in warmer temperatures. As far as he's concerned, Erwin may be right.

He manages to almost finish his, eating like the starved little thing that he used to be quite recently still, when the cream finally drips onto his hand and once again, he almost drops the entire treat.

"Ugh," he says, licking it and shoving the rest of the thing into his mouth to prevent further damages, but that's not good enough, he needs to wash it off --

There's some more leaking out of the corner of his mouth as the remaining treat was still a little too big for a single bite, and he hurriedly wipes it off with the already dirty hand, suddenly looking anxious and alarmed.

[offeredhearts]

Erwin manages to finish his without too much dripping, angling it so it ends up in the sand rather than on his clothes, at least, but there is still some on his fingers, which he does lick off and then...just wipe on his pants.

He laughs at first when Levi stuffs the remainder in his mouth, but then the moment very clearly and quickly turns into one of distress, and Erwin reaches out gingerly, large blue eyes flooding with concern.

"Levi? Is something wrong?"

[wingbound]

Scandalous. Luckily Levi isn't paying too much attention to it, busy scrubbing the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand until it gets as dry as it possibly can, but it doesn't take away the sensation of something pulling at his skin.

"It's sticky," he complains urgently, holding his recently ice-cream splattered hand by the wrist with the other, as if to make sure it doesn't touch anything else. "That's gross."

[offeredhearts]

Erwin gives him a bit of a quizzical look at first, a little confused by the reaction, but then fishes a handkerchief from his pocket and looks around. At first, he considers just wandering into the surf to get it wet, but then remembers when he was exploring it earlier how salty the water was and that it left kind of a funny feeling on his skin, so maybe not that, if Levi is complaining about feeling sticky.

Back near the vendor's cart, he spies something that seems like a pump...? but then sees someone walk up and press a button to shoot a stream of water out of a spigot and lean in to take a drink. That'll work.

"Wait here," he says to Levi, and trots off toward the little pump (drinking fountain). He returns a minute or two later with part of the cloth damp, and holds out his hand for Levi's.

"Here-" and if Levi lets him, he'll gently clean it away.

Alternatively, he could just snatch it from him.

[wingbound]

He does sort of snatch it, but possibly along with Erwin's entire hand as he leans in to scrub the damp part of the handkerchief against the corner of his mouth before letting it drop lower. At that point Erwin is allowed to wipe his hand with the rest, though if he's let go by then, Levi will just do it himself.

When he glances at the other boy again, he's pouting a little, but it's not angry. Maybe more like a little embarrassed and a little surprised, as if he's just seen him in a whole different light. His breathing seems to be evening out, too, and he doesn't look panicked anymore as he looks to the side and sort of kicks one foot against the sand.

"...Thanks."

[offeredhearts]

Erwin doesn't let go, though it's more out of surprise -- he hadn't realized everywhere the stickiness had gotten to Levi, but once he's taken care of his face, he'll gently wipe off his hands. Levi has nice hands, he thinks. They're small but clever - and strong, as he's realizing.

But once his hands are clean, he seems much calmer. That's good, at least, and Erwin just nods cheerfully, and wipes his own hands off on the handkerchief before folding it over and stashing it back in his pocket.

"You're welcome, Levi."

He looks around, picking up his jar again.

"Do you want to catch more fireflies?"

[wingbound]

They're also excellent for thieving, and he may or may not attempt to surprise Erwin by offering him the money he had paid to the merchant later at some point. Hopefully he's not too strait-laced for that.

For now, though, he just grimaces slightly as he watches the other boy shove the used napkin back into his pocket (what is he supposed to do, Levi? Burn it?) and picks up his own jar as well, looking at it contemplatively for a moment.

"I've got enough," he says, "but I wanna watch them some more."

They could find a patch of grass to sit down on and just admire the view for a while. Levi doesn't think he'll ever get tired of it.

[offeredhearts]

He isn't, although he'll mostly just be confused, maybe tell Levi to keep it so he can buy his own food again later, thinking that maybe he just found it.

But Erwin beams, nodding enthusiastically before reaching out to take Levi's hand again - hopefully that's okay - and trotting off together to find them a place to sit and watch. It really is like watching a sea of yellow, twinkling stars, but alive. If there is anything more wonderful than this kind of simple joy - taking in a beautiful scene with a new friend (that feels strangely familiar in the best kind of way), Erwin can't think of it.