[ A day or two after this exchange, there is a small box delivered to the castle for Vex'ahlia. In it is two kinds of tea, a spiced black with orange, and a soothing herbal mix that possibly contains chamomile, along with a small box of butter cookies, half with ends dipped in chocolate. He's guessing at her tastes here, but hopes that even if he misses the mark, the gesture won't be too out of line.
And if it is...well. He'll live with that.
A brief note in very neat, precise lettering accompanies it: ]
[After his delivery, Vex takes a few moments before she sends a response back to his ORACLE device.]
Levi, the gift is lovely, but you didn't need to do this. I appreciate nonetheless.
Thank you.
However, I think you should come over to enjoy some of these treats with me. Although, I must say it's a bit silly to give cookies to a woman who is about to open a bakery.
[Vex is rather punctual when he starts to pound on the large wooden doors of Castle Exandria. She opens them up with a half-smile.]
Hello there. If you're selling cookies, I'm afraid some slightly surly army man has already sent me some and I just can't find it in me to purchase more.
[She sags a bit under the weight of the potatoes, but she catches them before they hit the ground and starts to snigger under her breath.]
Levi, you're a gem. Also, thank you for the potatoes. I know a certain wizard who won't like that he has more to peel, but I'm pleased.
[She readjusts her new gift, FREE gift even, and heads towards the kitchen.]
Well, come in. We can have tea in the kitchen. We might have the modern convenience of electricity, but I assure you that you want to be in the kitchen, since it's the warmest room in the whole castle. Oh, and you're not afraid of bears, are you? Or cats?
Can't he just wiggle his nose and make them peel themselves?
[ That's how magic works, right?
He takes in the place, not so terribly unlike some of the castles and keeps the Survey Corps has used as various headquarters and outposts. There's a sense of familiarity in that way, which puts him a little more at ease despite the inherent awkwardness of invading someone else's home.
Levi follows sedately, keeping his cloak on but angling a quirked brow at her. ]
Magic is forbidden in my kitchen. I'd make him clean the floor with a toothbrush if he tried and he knows it.
[NO MAGIC.
The castle is slowly being decorated to make it theirs, but it's stone walls and floors. Rugs run along the floors and there are some tapestries and things on the walls to mitigate the cold of winter. But there are lights everywhere and it seems to be well lit and lived in by the eight people who reside there.
When they reach the kitchen, she waves a hand at the peg holding a few cloaks and aprons.]
Feel free to hang your cloak. I'm going to boil some water so we can have the tea and get some plates. There's a table between the counter and the windows that we can sit at so we don't have to deal with one extreme over another.
And I ask, because I'm sure that Trinket will come once there is food to eat and Frumpkin wanders the castle as he likes. Not to mention that Vax is probably going around as a dragon, more than likely.
[ The sound is approving - seems sensible to him. Although he is eyeing the kitchen for cleanliness - more out of habit than anything else. He has a more discerning eye for dirt and grime than most, has always waged war on it as thoroughly as possible in his own home (a challenge, when one grew up in underground slums).
The cloak comes off in a swirl, flashing the blue and white wings of the Survey Corps embroidered on the back, and it goes neatly on a hook as he wanders over to inspect her tea preparation options. ]
[Excuse you, you could perform surgery in her kitchen it so spotless. Between Pike, Vex, Essek and Caleb, the room is probably the cleanest room in the whole castle. She leaves bedrooms to those who sleep in them, but the common areas of the castle are all some level of clean-but-lived-in. The kitchen, though, that's her space, and she doesn't allow gross shit to happen here.
Or, if it does, it gets cleaned up fast. One of the benefits of being friends with wizards. They can use magic to clean, but not to create here.
And as far as the tea options go, there are many, including a container of loose rose hips.]
One of the benefits of knowing someone with plant magic is that I've had a lot of useable flowers and plants produced as of late to make interesting teas with. It's why I'm having a tea party event soon.
As for the pets, I know that Vax'ildan is a strange name, but I didn't pick it. Besides, Frumpkin is Caleb's. You'll have to take that up with him.
[ Well then he very much approves. It's not often he doesn't find something to complain about in that regard, so color him impressed. ]
Plant magic, huh.
[ It may never cease to amaze him how hearing about the things possible in other worlds manage to make the Titan-filled one he comes from seem...bland, by comparison. Could they grow crops anywhere, even temporarily, to help feed a starving population? These places certainly still don't sound like utopias by any stretch as it is, but surely some of the problems the people of his home face could be mitigated if they had such things at their disposal.
On the other hand, the rich pigs in charge would probably find some way to exploit that sort of thing, too. Levi doesn't usually engage in 'what-ifs' as a general rule, but sometimes, he can't stop the thought exercise from happening in his head anyway.
He lets it go, and huffs in something like amusement at that last quip as he examines the options, sniffing at the different containers. Floral teas aren't his specialty, but since Erwin's suggested opening a tea shop, the idea's been rattling around in his head quite a lot lately. ]
Hm, yes, her name is Willow, so it seems rather fitting that she has plant magic.
[If only Keyleth was here to get to know Willow. The two would get on like a house on fire. In the middle of the summer.
While she's working, she does watch him out of the corner of her eye. She doesn't mind him checking her new collection. It's not anywhere near as big as the one Laina had in Greyskull keep or the kitchen in Whitestone Castle, but she's happy with it, nonetheless. She'll be using some of it and the dried flowers and herbs that Willow has crafted for her for the event. And, honestly, while she's a bit tired of baking in preparation of the tea party, having tea and cookies that were gifted to her is a very nice gesture and a good way to make a new friendship even better.
His question as her settling the kettle on the fire and then leaning against the counter before getting out the dishes they'd be using.]
I rescued him from poachers as a cub. Since then, he and I have been together every day.
If Levi had an inkling of how tired she is, he'd nudge her into a chair and make her let him do the rest. He selects a black tea that seems to have some notes of honey in it, and starts preparing two cups with strainers, carefully measuring out the portions and looking at each one critically before scooping a tiny bit of one into the other before he seems satisfied. It's clear he's rather meticulous about his tea preparation.
The story is a basic enough explanation to start. ]
[She didn't name the girl, but she also doesn't disagree.
When Levi pushes her out of the way in her own kitchen, she just takes all the dishes down and sits at the table to watch him move around as if he has a system. And the longer that she watches it, the more she realizes that it's true. The man is meticulous. Being her and married to Percival means she's used to meticulousness, but she finds it both amusing and endearing.]
Well, why not? Vax and I were fairly nomadic at the time. We spent a lot of time going from town to town looking for work we could do and camping out in forests. Trinket fit right in. And he was small enough that I could keep him in my cloak and in a sling if we were around others.
When he got older and bigger, he was already trained enough that we could leave him outside of towns so we could go shopping and look for work. Or Vax would go into town and I would set up camp a good distance from the town gates. We stayed like that for about a decade, both with and without Trinket.
[ Yes, good, sit down and let him do this for you, Vex. He's got this. The cups and tea are prepped just so, waiting for the kettle to finish heating. Levi also scrubs his hands and dries them thoroughly before handling the cookies, setting them out in neat pairs on the plates. ]
Suppose having a bear around is a good deterrent when you live in the woods.
[ Couldn't be him. Sure, he's camped with the Corps while on expeditions. He'll compartmentalize and tolerate being dirty and even going without washing a few days if need be. But living like that long term? Pass, if he has the choice. He's harassed more than one person in Somnius to not live outside or on the street when there's free housing.
When the kettle whistles, he retrieves it from the hearth and opens the spout, letting the steam rise a minute or two instead of immediately pouring the water in. No burning tea leaves here, thank you very much. ]
[Vex contemplates how she wants to answer this part because it's pretty personal, what with why she and Vax became so nomadic in the first place. It's not like she's ashamed of their lives. They did what they had to do to survive. It's just... revisiting at lot of it when she's tried to move past it.
Finally, after a great deal of being lost in her own mind, she answers him.]
We were sixteen when we left Syngorn. We returned to the village our mother lived it and found that a dragon had come and killed at least half of the residents, including our mother. After that... we never set down roots. Not until we met the people who would become our friends and new family. By then, we were twenty-five.
[ ...well he'd only been curious as to when she acquired a bear cub for a pet, wondering if he should be imagining an overly zealous teenager or something closer to how she appears now. How long do bears even live? Not like he knows.
But as Vex mentions losing her mother, Levi pauses what he's doing with his hands and just listens quietly. That pain resonates, the oldest and most familiar he carries. He lets her story settle a moment, sinking into his memory. ]
...I see.
[ He glances around then for a clock of some sort to note the time. If there isn't one he'll just carefully guess; usually he's pretty good at estimating when four minutes have passed. ]
Sorry about your mom.
Edited (icon indecision rip) Date: 2024-02-07 03:52 am (UTC)
[She notices that he gives her space, and for that, she's grateful. Thinking about her beautiful, happy mother as nothing but a body in the ground has fueled her hatred for most of her adult life. And with Thordak dead, she's had to redefine herself, learn to love more of those around her.]
Thank you. I took my pain and anger at the murder of my mother and my childhood home and fueled it into learning as much as I could about dragons. Until the day we took down the monster responsible.
[She gives him a wry smile.]
I couldn't move on and live my life until that part was laid to rest. The fact that we ended up doing so much more than that during our pursuit of Thordak is a bonus. And the timer is on the counter next to the fancy bread toaster.
[ Her story reminds him a little bit of Erwin's - turning the loss of a parent into the driving force in their lives, seeking justice or redemption or revenge. A consuming force, for better or worse. What would Erwin have become, if he'd been able to see his father's beliefs proven right? What would have happened, after?
They'll never know. ]
Glad it worked out for you.
[ Levi spies the timer and fetches it, examining it a moment to figure out how to set it properly, then sets it for three minutes and thirty seconds. He seems a little intrigued by it. ]
Should get one of these.
[ Definitely going to go buy one immediately after he leaves here.
He leans back against the counter as they wait, arms lightly crossed over his chest. ]
Vax and I made it work for us. Remember how I said we were stubborn? It wasn't a joke. We can be reasonable, but not when it comes to Thordak. Or each other.
[She watches him as he plays with the timer before setting it. It's one of the nicest kitchen trinkets she's gotten. Sure, she had a lot more in Folkmore, but with the addition of electricity and indoor plumbing to the castle, she's found more and more things to play with that makes cooking and baking easier.
Earthen Modern Conveniences are great, but simple is sometimes the best.]
It was something I found while searching in the shops. Fun and interesting things are available if you go to the smaller ones where the gelflings and goblins are generally kinder. That particular item came from the shop nearest Elias's bookstore. I think the owner's partner makes it by hand. Somehow.
[Don't ask her. Does she look like magic?]
I'm sorry to hear that. It's hard to lose a parent at any age. Do you mind me asking how?
[ Levi knows plenty of stubborn people. Stubbornness can keep you alive. It can also get you killed, but it tends to be a pretty good motivator.
He looks back at the timer, even more intrigued now. ]
Huh. It's not bad. I'll have to go look.
[ He can bring Erwin along, it sounds like there'll be plenty of things to interest him. Levi doesn't much care how a thing works, so long as it does. ]
She got sick. [ A shadow of old pain crosses briefly over his face, and his left hand flexes a little, seeming without thinking. There's a small, plain gold band on his ring finger. ] Couldn't afford a doctor.
[Stubbornness and impulsivity are some big flaws that both Vex and Vax have had to work on over the years. They've served them well over the years when they were alone, but as of late, not so much.]
If my best friend was here, it would be fun to go looking through the all the shops, but I'm forced to do it by myself.
[Woe is her. Don't you feel sorry for her?]
I'm sorry for your loss. Even coming from a world where magic is rampant, it doesn't always save those who are ill or bring back the dead.
[ What a terrible ordeal for you, Vex, so awful. ]
Thank you.
[ It's still hard to imagine, the idea that death has even a chance of being impermanent. He's heard of it from multiple people, has heard rumors that even here it doesn't last, but it just makes him...quietly envious, really. Even if it doesn't always work perfectly, could they have saved more people? Or would it just hurt more, when they inevitably die (again?) anyway? Even titan serum wouldn't revive a dead person. ]
We don't have anything like that, where I'm from. What would make it fail to save someone?
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branchandroot
Delivery
Date: 2024-02-03 07:21 pm (UTC)And if it is...well. He'll live with that.
A brief note in very neat, precise lettering accompanies it: ]
Sorry,
Levi
text | un: Mistress_Vex
Date: 2024-02-03 10:01 pm (UTC)Levi, the gift is lovely, but you didn't need to do this. I appreciate nonetheless.
Thank you.
However, I think you should come over to enjoy some of these treats with me. Although, I must say it's a bit silly to give cookies to a woman who is about to open a bakery.
text; un: levi
Date: 2024-02-03 10:32 pm (UTC)I'll send you a sack of potatoes next time.
Can come by whenever. Just say when.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-03 10:42 pm (UTC)Oh, see, that's practical and I would love it if you'd do that. Perhaps I can see you some fresh venison from when Trinket and I go hunting next.
And what do you say to an hour from now? Or is the trip to the castle twice in one day too much?
text > action
Date: 2024-02-03 10:53 pm (UTC)Had a courier drop it off, don't mind coming by.
See you soon.
[ And in an hour or so he's banging on the front door, bundled up in his green Survey Corps cloak and tall boots against the winter air. ]
Hey.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 06:16 am (UTC)Hello there. If you're selling cookies, I'm afraid some slightly surly army man has already sent me some and I just can't find it in me to purchase more.
[She's a shit. You're welcome.]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 06:20 am (UTC)Good thing I'm a different surly army man. Also lucky for you these are free of charge.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 06:28 am (UTC)Levi, you're a gem. Also, thank you for the potatoes. I know a certain wizard who won't like that he has more to peel, but I'm pleased.
[She readjusts her new gift, FREE gift even, and heads towards the kitchen.]
Well, come in. We can have tea in the kitchen. We might have the modern convenience of electricity, but I assure you that you want to be in the kitchen, since it's the warmest room in the whole castle. Oh, and you're not afraid of bears, are you? Or cats?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 07:00 am (UTC)[ That's how magic works, right?
He takes in the place, not so terribly unlike some of the castles and keeps the Survey Corps has used as various headquarters and outposts. There's a sense of familiarity in that way, which puts him a little more at ease despite the inherent awkwardness of invading someone else's home.
Levi follows sedately, keeping his cloak on but angling a quirked brow at her. ]
No. [ Pause. ] Why?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 07:18 am (UTC)[NO MAGIC.
The castle is slowly being decorated to make it theirs, but it's stone walls and floors. Rugs run along the floors and there are some tapestries and things on the walls to mitigate the cold of winter. But there are lights everywhere and it seems to be well lit and lived in by the eight people who reside there.
When they reach the kitchen, she waves a hand at the peg holding a few cloaks and aprons.]
Feel free to hang your cloak. I'm going to boil some water so we can have the tea and get some plates. There's a table between the counter and the windows that we can sit at so we don't have to deal with one extreme over another.
And I ask, because I'm sure that Trinket will come once there is food to eat and Frumpkin wanders the castle as he likes. Not to mention that Vax is probably going around as a dragon, more than likely.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 05:45 pm (UTC)[ The sound is approving - seems sensible to him. Although he is eyeing the kitchen for cleanliness - more out of habit than anything else. He has a more discerning eye for dirt and grime than most, has always waged war on it as thoroughly as possible in his own home (a challenge, when one grew up in underground slums).
The cloak comes off in a swirl, flashing the blue and white wings of the Survey Corps embroidered on the back, and it goes neatly on a hook as he wanders over to inspect her tea preparation options. ]
Got some weirdass names for your pets.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 06:08 pm (UTC)Or, if it does, it gets cleaned up fast. One of the benefits of being friends with wizards. They can use magic to clean, but not to create here.
And as far as the tea options go, there are many, including a container of loose rose hips.]
One of the benefits of knowing someone with plant magic is that I've had a lot of useable flowers and plants produced as of late to make interesting teas with. It's why I'm having a tea party event soon.
As for the pets, I know that Vax'ildan is a strange name, but I didn't pick it. Besides, Frumpkin is Caleb's. You'll have to take that up with him.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-04 06:37 pm (UTC)Plant magic, huh.
[ It may never cease to amaze him how hearing about the things possible in other worlds manage to make the Titan-filled one he comes from seem...bland, by comparison. Could they grow crops anywhere, even temporarily, to help feed a starving population? These places certainly still don't sound like utopias by any stretch as it is, but surely some of the problems the people of his home face could be mitigated if they had such things at their disposal.
On the other hand, the rich pigs in charge would probably find some way to exploit that sort of thing, too. Levi doesn't usually engage in 'what-ifs' as a general rule, but sometimes, he can't stop the thought exercise from happening in his head anyway.
He lets it go, and huffs in something like amusement at that last quip as he examines the options, sniffing at the different containers. Floral teas aren't his specialty, but since Erwin's suggested opening a tea shop, the idea's been rattling around in his head quite a lot lately. ]
So how'd you wind up with a bear?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-05 05:03 am (UTC)[If only Keyleth was here to get to know Willow. The two would get on like a house on fire. In the middle of the summer.
While she's working, she does watch him out of the corner of her eye. She doesn't mind him checking her new collection. It's not anywhere near as big as the one Laina had in Greyskull keep or the kitchen in Whitestone Castle, but she's happy with it, nonetheless. She'll be using some of it and the dried flowers and herbs that Willow has crafted for her for the event. And, honestly, while she's a bit tired of baking in preparation of the tea party, having tea and cookies that were gifted to her is a very nice gesture and a good way to make a new friendship even better.
His question as her settling the kettle on the fire and then leaning against the counter before getting out the dishes they'd be using.]
I rescued him from poachers as a cub. Since then, he and I have been together every day.
[Truth, but not the whole truth.]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 02:57 am (UTC)If Levi had an inkling of how tired she is, he'd nudge her into a chair and make her let him do the rest. He selects a black tea that seems to have some notes of honey in it, and starts preparing two cups with strainers, carefully measuring out the portions and looking at each one critically before scooping a tiny bit of one into the other before he seems satisfied. It's clear he's rather meticulous about his tea preparation.
The story is a basic enough explanation to start. ]
You just decided to raise a bear?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 04:32 am (UTC)When Levi pushes her out of the way in her own kitchen, she just takes all the dishes down and sits at the table to watch him move around as if he has a system. And the longer that she watches it, the more she realizes that it's true. The man is meticulous. Being her and married to Percival means she's used to meticulousness, but she finds it both amusing and endearing.]
Well, why not? Vax and I were fairly nomadic at the time. We spent a lot of time going from town to town looking for work we could do and camping out in forests. Trinket fit right in. And he was small enough that I could keep him in my cloak and in a sling if we were around others.
When he got older and bigger, he was already trained enough that we could leave him outside of towns so we could go shopping and look for work. Or Vax would go into town and I would set up camp a good distance from the town gates. We stayed like that for about a decade, both with and without Trinket.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 07:00 pm (UTC)Suppose having a bear around is a good deterrent when you live in the woods.
[ Couldn't be him. Sure, he's camped with the Corps while on expeditions. He'll compartmentalize and tolerate being dirty and even going without washing a few days if need be. But living like that long term? Pass, if he has the choice. He's harassed more than one person in Somnius to not live outside or on the street when there's free housing.
When the kettle whistles, he retrieves it from the hearth and opens the spout, letting the steam rise a minute or two instead of immediately pouring the water in. No burning tea leaves here, thank you very much. ]
How old were you?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 07:12 pm (UTC)Finally, after a great deal of being lost in her own mind, she answers him.]
We were sixteen when we left Syngorn. We returned to the village our mother lived it and found that a dragon had come and killed at least half of the residents, including our mother. After that... we never set down roots. Not until we met the people who would become our friends and new family. By then, we were twenty-five.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 03:51 am (UTC)But as Vex mentions losing her mother, Levi pauses what he's doing with his hands and just listens quietly. That pain resonates, the oldest and most familiar he carries. He lets her story settle a moment, sinking into his memory. ]
...I see.
[ He glances around then for a clock of some sort to note the time. If there isn't one he'll just carefully guess; usually he's pretty good at estimating when four minutes have passed. ]
Sorry about your mom.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-16 06:20 pm (UTC)Thank you. I took my pain and anger at the murder of my mother and my childhood home and fueled it into learning as much as I could about dragons. Until the day we took down the monster responsible.
[She gives him a wry smile.]
I couldn't move on and live my life until that part was laid to rest. The fact that we ended up doing so much more than that during our pursuit of Thordak is a bonus. And the timer is on the counter next to the fancy bread toaster.
[She's got a specialty tea timer, what of it?]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-25 04:58 pm (UTC)They'll never know. ]
Glad it worked out for you.
[ Levi spies the timer and fetches it, examining it a moment to figure out how to set it properly, then sets it for three minutes and thirty seconds. He seems a little intrigued by it. ]
Should get one of these.
[ Definitely going to go buy one immediately after he leaves here.
He leans back against the counter as they wait, arms lightly crossed over his chest. ]
Lost my mom when I was a brat, too.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-28 10:47 pm (UTC)[She watches him as he plays with the timer before setting it. It's one of the nicest kitchen trinkets she's gotten. Sure, she had a lot more in Folkmore, but with the addition of electricity and indoor plumbing to the castle, she's found more and more things to play with that makes cooking and baking easier.
Earthen Modern Conveniences are great, but simple is sometimes the best.]
It was something I found while searching in the shops. Fun and interesting things are available if you go to the smaller ones where the gelflings and goblins are generally kinder. That particular item came from the shop nearest Elias's bookstore. I think the owner's partner makes it by hand. Somehow.
[Don't ask her. Does she look like magic?]
I'm sorry to hear that. It's hard to lose a parent at any age. Do you mind me asking how?
no subject
Date: 2024-03-07 03:32 am (UTC)He looks back at the timer, even more intrigued now. ]
Huh. It's not bad. I'll have to go look.
[ He can bring Erwin along, it sounds like there'll be plenty of things to interest him. Levi doesn't much care how a thing works, so long as it does. ]
She got sick. [ A shadow of old pain crosses briefly over his face, and his left hand flexes a little, seeming without thinking. There's a small, plain gold band on his ring finger. ] Couldn't afford a doctor.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-08 12:31 am (UTC)If my best friend was here, it would be fun to go looking through the all the shops, but I'm forced to do it by myself.
[Woe is her. Don't you feel sorry for her?]
I'm sorry for your loss. Even coming from a world where magic is rampant, it doesn't always save those who are ill or bring back the dead.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-16 07:09 pm (UTC)Thank you.
[ It's still hard to imagine, the idea that death has even a chance of being impermanent. He's heard of it from multiple people, has heard rumors that even here it doesn't last, but it just makes him...quietly envious, really. Even if it doesn't always work perfectly, could they have saved more people? Or would it just hurt more, when they inevitably die (again?) anyway? Even titan serum wouldn't revive a dead person. ]
We don't have anything like that, where I'm from. What would make it fail to save someone?