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[ Mikasa is dressed simply; plain black trousers, a white shirt, her scarf. She's a little chilly, but she hasn't really had the forethought of "get some kind of jumper to wear" when she's focussed on other things.

Her expression relaxes when she sees Jean and she steps over, handing out the cake. ]

No, it's for you. I liked it when I came here before, so I got you one.

[ His gaze moves over her, as if checking to make sure she's not cold. He'd probably give her the jacket if she shivers, but so far, no need to.

He takes the cake with an expression of surprise, but it morphs into a pleased smile. ]

Oh, thanks. I haven't tried everything here yet.

[ The unspoken goal - one day he will. The cake is small enough and he's practical slash a mess enough that he just lifts it with his fingers, taking a bite and making a pleased noise. ]

There's chocolate in this!

[ They don't have that back in Paradis, and he's only ever tried it in Marley or from Niccolo. ]

It's okay. I thought you'd like to try one too.

[ Mikasa watches him, to make sure he really does like it, some of the awkwardness in her shoulders fading as he seems to enjoy it. ]

There are lots of different kinds in there. Some had berries, or chocolate, and one had lemon.

[ Compared to what they're used to having, this place is indulgent. Extravagant. ]

Maybe we should bring some for the captain.

[ It is extravagant, and Jean's still getting used to it. The couple of meals he's cooked have been simpler affair, enlivened mostly by the fact he can get meat pretty cheaply and just add it in to what he's making.

Jean might be a mess, but he still swallows what he's eaten before he speaks again. ]

That might not be a bad idea - I'll ask Erwin and Hange if they're planning on a cake.

[ And to see if 'not too fancy' applied to food, too. He's pretty sure Levi liked lemons...? He steals another bite of the cake. ]

This is probably sweet enough to hold me over, if you wanted to start walking.

Let's go.

[ She nods her head, starting to walk through towards the market before she responds to him. ]

I don't know if the captain would go if it was that obvious... But maybe he's happier here. He might like to celebrate.

[ Mikasa can't imagine something as simple as a birthday or winter party, but everyone seems so... Content here. ]

[ He follows her, finishing off the cake quickly and licking his fingers clean of icing, crumpling the paper but tucking it into a pocket to throw away later. ]

You've got a point, they didn't even say it was for him in their post.

[ Birthdays, winter parties... He remembers Marco mentioning a harvest festival back where he came from, but there was nothing like that for them in the Scouts. A birthday maybe meant a small food treat you wouldn't normally eat, but not a party or a plethora of gifts.

Much different here. ]

He does seem happier. When I spoke to him at the bonfire he smiled a little easier. And, you know - they married.

I understand. Captain Levi doesn’t seem like the party type.

[ Not from how she remembers him, anyway.

She’s about to say more when Jean drops that bomb, and she turns her head, eyes widening. ]

They’re what?!

[ Since when? And how is it that Jean knows and she doesn’t? ]

[ He blinks a little bit when she looks at him, raising his hand and pointing at his ring finger with the other. Like she doesn't know what wedding rings are! ]

They're married. They both have the same gold rings on. Captain Levi basically confirmed it when he found me on the beach.

[ Well, Jean commented and the Captain tried to use his creepy stare down and it didn't work on Jean. There's really only one of two people it could be, and one was new. ]

[ She really has been out of sorts - not that she thinks she’d expect Levi to be married or to look for it here, but… No wonder he seemed more okay here. He’s happy.

She’s glad for him. ]

I had no idea. It didn’t come up when I went to see him.

[ As glad as she is for his happiness, she’s also a little jealous. ]

[ He didn't realize she had been by to see Levi, but he can guess a variety of reasons that would have happened, and plenty of them for Levi not to mention it. ]

I get the sense they're not exactly telling everyone, but they're not hiding the rings, either.

[ Jean was just the kind of guy who would notice that kind of detail, of course. They're almost to the market stalls, thankfully. ]

... I wonder if they'll get one for Commander Hange, too.

[ Her eyes grow even wider. ]

Hange too...?

[ It's not that Mikasa cares what they do with each other - there were always more important things than relationships, romantic or sexual or otherwise - but it's unexpected. She had no idea, but maybe she should have noticed.

She was a little hyperfocused on Eren, though. ]

I didn't know. Was it that obvious?

I don't think they made it obvious. I...

[ He frowns, a little bit, looking deep in thought. ]

Do you know there are songbirds that mate for life? A lot of people in the interior have them. When their mate dies, they act differently, and don't sing the same songs.

Commander Hange, and Captain Levi... right after we returned from retaking Shiganshina, I helped them with quite a bit of work. I always noticed that they would start to do something and stop, like they were looking for someone else that was no longer there. It took me a while to figure out it was Commander Erwin.

[ Three cups of tea made, one belatedly offered to Jean once the mistake was realized. Paperwork set aside and then slowly pulled back into piles. Levi, looking up and looking for a tall figure, surprised when he found Jean to his right instead. ]

It was like... watching a play that was missing its third actor.

Edited 2023-12-10 22:28 (UTC)

I wasn't paying attention.

[ Why would she? Mikasa was always singularly focused - either they had a mission to complete, and her mind was set on that, or she was making sure Eren was safe, her mind attached to him and nowhere else. She didn't notice a lot of the interpersonal relationships between her fellow soldiers, not unless it was made blindingly obvious to her.

Maybe it was obvious and she missed it, or maybe it's a subtlety that Jean was able to pick up on because of his own intelligence on that matter. No one could ever claim that Mikasa was particularly emotionally sensitive.

Her attention was always elsewhere. On Eren, or fighting, or trying to save her friends. ]

I'm glad they can be together again. They deserve that.

I don't think a lot of people were, to be fair.

[ Mikasa was trying to keep her most important person alive, and Jean doesn't resent that. He'd just been uniquely positioned to notice the absence of someone between two people. In truth, he wasn't even sure of the nature of the relationship until he was much older, and had it confirmed here.

He's pretty sure that songbird metaphor applies to Mikasa, too, even if she has Eren back again so soon.

He offers her a smile. ]

Yeah, I'm glad they get to be together here too. Which is why I think they want to celebrate... without making it obvious.

[ They draw closer to a stall that has a variety of soaps on it, and he pauses in front of it to look them over. He also wants to smell the coconut one and see why Levi hates it! ]

There were other things happening.

[ When they lost Erwin, it was the basement, the truth about the rest of the world, what it meant to them. After Hange, it was finding Eren and ending the Rumbling. She didn't have time to sit down and see what everyone else was going through because she knew enough to recognise it - grief, loss, pain. The things that came hand in hand with being part of their Corps from the beginning.

A small part of her wishes she had paid attention. Maybe she could have come something, especially for Levi. Maybe there's still time, if they ever go home. With Eren gone he is, technically, the last of her real 'family' left - though she would count the rest of her squad amongst that, even now.

She steps up, staring at the soap, reaching out to lift a random one to her nose and smell it. Citrusy, but not overpowering. He might like that. ]

I won't say anything unless they mention it first, in that case.

Probably a good idea.

[ He leaves the talk of Hange, Levi, and Erwin alone for now, with the array of soaps to look over. He keeps in mind that Levi doesn't want things that are too complicated, so he avoids the ones that are a mix of three or more scents.

He does find a coconut one and lifts it. ]

... Huh, I wonder why he hates this smell?

[ He trades soaps with Mikasa so they examine them. ]

This one does smell like something he'd like, though.

It's quite a bold scent.

[ Her nose wrinkles a little: she's not a huge fan of it either, apparently. They've never had so many varied options for something as simple as soap before, and she finds herself drawn to the softer, simpler scents, the ones that might linger but only to people who are close enough to smell it in her hair.

The lemon is nice, and a lavender one that interests her. There's something to be said about the rose one, given the insignia of their fellow soldiers, but there are enough simple, plain ones that they have a lot to choose from. ]

We can get him a few and if he doesn't like them, one of the others can use it.

I guess you're right about that.

[ Is he almost disappointed? Maybe! He'll discover hair shampoo later, and then everyone will have to deal with coconut head.

He does, however, look through the soap with her, noting her tendency to softer scents. He notices he's more drawn to stronger, bolder scents, like lemon-mint or tarragon, but he decides between Erwin's suggestion and her tendencies, she's probably more likely to pick something Levi would like.

He's picking up one with wings on it that says it smells like 'clean laundry' but only makes him sneeze, away from both seller and Mikasa, before he sets it down. ]

I think that's a good idea, like a little collection. Lemon's probably a given, and the lavender was nice - anything else you think we should grab?

You can get one. We can have our own now.

[ No standard issue washing equipment here! The notion of being able to indulge in luxuries, something as simple as soap, is still leaving her feeling a little uneasy. They can just go and get cakes? They can choose fancy things for themselves? The freedom of choice is an interesting change for Mikasa, who never cared before.

Glancing up at his sneeze, she smiles softly, her lips twitching up and staying here. ]

Here. These.

[ A lemon, one of the lavenders, a sandalwood, and a rosemary one. ]

I think they'll be fine. I saw the tea he had at his house when I visited, so we can get him more of that.

[ He can get one, but she didn't like the coconut, so he's not going to get it... at least, not in front of her. He does want to impress her a little, at least.

He watches her pick up a few for Levi, and looks over a few more before he grabs a second sandalwood and lemon one, dropping it into the paper bag. He's pulling something out of his shirt - his pendant, a teardrop of diamond, to pay, before he pauses. ]

You should grab one too - and one for Eren. Then we can get some tea for the Captain.

Edited 2023-12-11 18:14 (UTC)

[ She looks at him, almost shy for a moment - she will definitely sneakily pay him back - before she picks up a lavender one for herself, and tries to find a simple one for Eren. The mint will do, and if he hates it then they can swap. ]

That one would suit you.

[ The sandalwood, she means. ]

[ Someone is getting the rose scented soap as a present, later. And also if he can ever find a clean laundry scent for Levi that doesn't make him sneeze.

He pays the stall owner with a smile, folding over the top of the bag and tucking it under his arm. When she compliments the choice he made, he flushes slightly. ]

Thanks. I used to have a cologne with that scent -for when we had to visit the interior.

[ Still a cool city kid at heart... ]

[ Mikasa is accustomed to plain soap - whatever Carla could get them, and then whatever she was given as a soldier. Being 'picky' wasn't necessarily in her vocabulary, but if Erwin is right... Maybe she has a chance here.

Nodding, she steps away and begins to walk around to find the tea shop. ]

Is there anything else you want? We could find some cologne.

[ He waves a free hand. ]

Lets see how the soap works out, first. My mother always told me if you put too much on, it has the opposite effect.

[ And scented soap is a nice luxury, but he can't really justify the cologne when they have access to apparently-unlimited warm water. He looks around for the tea shop, and reaches out with his arm to point it out to her when he spots it. It's an actual whole shop, not just a stall. ]

That looks like... a lot of tea.

It would make you smell bad?

[ Are these the kinds of things people worried about in the interior? Smelling nice enough? When you live with soldiers for enough time, things like smelling good matters a little less.

They pause in front of the tea shop, and she just... Blinks at it. ]

It's probably good I saw the blend he liked.

[ And not his ring? Girl, sort out your priorities. ]

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i put sandalwood cologne in his olfactory description so --

:eyes:

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