Event Log - Love at the Lake

[lucetimods]

Who: All you people, can't you see, can't you see?
What: Part two of el evento del amor, the lake festival
When: March 1st
Where: The Southern Lake
Summary: An absolutely ordinary week in Luceti ends on a high note, with a festival to tickle everyone's fancy.
Rating: up to PG-13, or take it off-comm please

Comments

[wipesfaith]

[Jean spends most of the festival stuck to Marco's side - because they're best friends and that's what best friends do. Nothing to see here, keep walking... Has he mentioned that they're best friends?

But he's a strong, independent man who don't need no man, too. (This last part is a lie.) So he'll wander around the lake to see if he can find anyone else worth spending time with, checking out the stalls along the way, pausing to listen to the music. With little reason for anyone to celebrate back home, the festival scene is pretty new to him. Anything that would pass as a "festival" in that shithole pales in comparison to everything there is to see here.

After all of these months in Luceti, he hasn't gotten used to the incredible spread of food - you might run into him boggling over the miracle of deep-fried anything on a stick, or you might find yourself wondering if he's old enough to be enjoying that beer he's got in his hand. Hot chocolate is new to him, so he'll stick with the plain variety...although, he might venture to try the caramel flavor too.]

[complicatedliar]

[Loki is totally worth spending time with, if you ask him. He's got a glass of wine in hand and is bored. So very bored. There aren't even games of chance at this festival.

He pauses where all of the food is, near someone who looks familiar. Has he trolled him before?] Mortals used to kill criminals by boiling them in oil, if I remember correctly. And now it's a means of killing food, apparently.

[wipesfaith]

[Jean gives the guy a long look, slowly recognizing him as the asshole from the journal that time his boyfriend was missing. He doesn't bother to water down the you-pissed-in-my-oatmeal scowl, but he'll take a stab at conversation at least.]

I'm pretty sure it was dead before they stuck it in oil. [See, the porkchop is completely surrounded by its oily, batter-y casing, so it had to have been cut up beforehand. But mostly, he's wondering how the hell spaghetti and meatballs on a stick are supposed to work.]

[complicatedliar]

[That scowl really just tells Loki that he has found a mortal who desperately wants to be poked with a sharp stick. He's game.]

Killed twice. It seems so unnecessary. Perhaps the first time didn't take.

[wipesfaith]

[That almost seems too weirdly specific to be a throw-away remark - his mind jumps to Marco, immediately - but there's no way it could be anything else. He'll go for a basket of cheese curds and wave it at Loki, a bit too far into his personal space.]

Most of this stuff wasn't alive to begin with.

So are you gonna take something or just stand here spouting philosophical bullshit?

[complicatedliar]

So touchy. Isn't this supposed to be a merry gathering?

[Yeah, he is not a fan of this personal space invasion thing. But for now all he does is, lightning quick, reach out to flick one of the curds toward Jean's face.]

Perhaps this food has its vengeance by making short lives even shorter. [He read that somewhere, he's fairly certain, that mortals die from eating too much grease. Too bad that didn't take out Asgardians as well, he'd have fewer people to annoy him. But more importantly, perhaps pointing that out will about this fellow more. Since he's being so very easy to needle.]

[wipesfaith]

[No time to dodge, or do much of anything beyond looking totally caught off guard, so the cheese curd bounces greasily off his shoulder and plops to the ground. He'll get the hint and withdraw the basket from Loki's personal space, still not dropping the scowl.]

Food is one of the last things I'm worried about killing me. [And he pops one in his mouth, chewing, letting the greasy cheesy goodness ooze out.]

[complicatedliar]

That look on your face could curdle milk. You probably ought to be concerned with poisoning yourself.

Do you have quite a few things out to kill you?

[wipesfaith]

[He just glares at that remark concerning his face, mouth still full, chewing, swallowing.] Not really [not here], but I've learned to expect the unexpected. [It's a lesson he's still learning, really, because it's not something that one catches onto all at once.]

I'm mostly just saying food means survival, not death. [Coming from a world where starvation outweighs obesity...]

but imagine jean's caramel lines though

[aqueousliving]

[Sometimes a guy's just gotta have some time away from a noisy festival. Sure, Haruka is willing to go to a festival with friends but it really isn't his scene. There's no place high up to view it all, alas, so he's taken to a quieter part of the lake, gaze fixed on the surface.

...And no, he's not stripping. This time.]

he's a pro

[wipesfaith]

[Having realized that he's reached the outskirts of the festival area, Jean was about to turn around - his mind is already wandering back to Marco again - when he spots Haruka over here, alone. It's none of his business. They're not even friends, really...their paths just happen to intersect on a regular basis because they live across the hall from each other.

But after a beat of hesitation, he approaches. Call it an odd sense of neighborly obligation.]

Hey, you're not thinking about going for a swim, are you?

a pro at bad flirting?

[aqueousliving]

[Haruka glances over in Jean's direction at the sound of his voice.]

No.

[Yes. The response isn't nearly as grumpy as it normally would be.]

It's too noisy after a while.

[He turns to face Jean properly. To Haruka, it's a bit strange for Jean to be all the way out here; Jean strikes him as the kind of person who would be in the thick of things, making a lot of noise, rather than looking for quiet.]

Why are you out here?

baby u know it

[wipesfaith]

[What surprises him is that Haruka chose to come to the festival at all, but he'll hold back his thoughts on that for once. He shrugs.] Saw just about everything there is to see already.

[And he takes a sip from the hot chocolate he's been carrying to keep his hands warm; since it's dwindled from hot to lukewarm, he's been drinking it more quickly.]

[aqueousliving]

[That sounds fast, but this festival isn't like a huge thing with a million squid stalls.]

Did you like it?

[Haruka doesn't have a cup of his own; he just hadn't felt much desire to get one himself. But his gaze glances towards Jean's drink anyway.]

[wipesfaith]

Yeah...I've never really been to anything like this before.

[The festivals he can remember darting through as a little kid were pretty pitiful in comparison. Modest like his world's land reserves and food supplies and technology and so many other things.]

[aqueousliving]

[Given the way Jean had gone about the kitchen not that long after their arrival, Haruka isn't surprised about that.

He tilts his head slightly in the direction of Jean's cup.]

What did you get?

[Best friends share, right? Like sharing ice cream--]

[wipesfaith]

[Since when are they best friends? Although they're doing a much better job of tolerating each other than usual. That's new. Whatever little behaviors Haruka normally exhibits that add up to what Jean interprets as "being an asshole" just aren't there today.]

This? [He raises his cup a bit.] It's called hot chocolate.

[He wonders if it's yet another thing that's commonplace where Haruka's from.]

[thebetterhalf]

[A lake festival... A real, actual, genuine romantic lake festival. It's more than Marco could've hoped for and then some. Most of the scene is eyed with a sense of wonder and he's glad that Jean's by his side to enjoy it too.

Even so, as the day passes, he's thankful that his boyfriend eventually leaves him to go do some things on his own. A few days ago, he was struck by a notion. A silly idea, really, but it hadn't left him. It was the sort of thing that only grew and grew as he got more excited about the prospect. It doesn't help that the lake festival is the ideal place to make it happen. The ideal place to find what he needs.

A blue feather.

By the time he finds Jean again, that very same item is stuffed securely in his pocket. He still hasn't decided if he can work up the nerve to present it, but at least he has it now. Just in case. The sun's already starting to set, casting an orange glow over the waterside.]

[wipesfaith]

[After a long afternoon of wandering the festival on his own, he's happy to return to Marco's side as the day draws to a close. Home again.]

Maybe we should get a blanket and find somewhere a little more quiet to spread out. [Code for: he wants to hold hands and throw him all the lovesick looks he's got.]

[thebetterhalf]

[Marco understands that code just fine. In fact, he expects it to be a bit more than just hand holding and lovesick looks, but let's see where the evening takes them and whether they can get some privacy or not.

He nods, practically beaming at Jean. Let's make the evening last, man!]

[wipesfaith]

[He's perfectly capable of having fun away from Marco - the course of the afternoon had delivered interesting sights and enough worthwhile company to outweigh the annoyances. But that bright smile reminds him how much better the view is from Marco's side. It amazes him how that fact can still feel so fresh, no matter how much time they've spent together.

After grabbing a blanket from one of the nearby (and conveniently placed) stalls, he'll start to head away from the main festival drag.]

Somewhere by the water would be nice... I hear there's supposed to be a "fireworks show" later, after dark. [Which is something he's never seen, so he isn't sure what exactly to expect.]

[thebetterhalf]

[Fireworks... The only thing Marco can picture for that is a bonfire. Will it be like that? He hopes so. Bonfires are always good fun. The spreading warmth, the flickering flames, the way people all gather around them...

Still, he'd rather spend some time with Jean in private first. The waterside should be perfect for that. He casts a quick glance around to see if anyone's watching, but considering they're moving away from the bustling festival, there's very few people to be found in the near vicinity. After a moment of hesitation, he carefully reaches out to take Jean's hand.]

[wipesfaith]

[He has heard that these fireworks happen up in the sky, so he imagines something similar to the smoke signals shot off by the Survey Corps, just with more fire than smoke.

When he feels Marco's hand around his, he slowly slides his fingers into the spaces between Marco's, where they fit perfectly, with only the briefest glance back over their shoulders which now brush against each other. It is a reflex that is hard to shrug off. As his gaze returns to his boyfriend, Jean gets a head-start on the lovesick looks. He wears the soft expression unknowingly, but like everything with him, it's a show of raw honesty.

Unfortunately, he must look where he is walking, so after a prolonged beat his eyes reluctantly point ahead.]

I don't know about you, but I've probably already had enough food to last me the rest of the day. [He would attempt to sign at least some of this if his hand weren't occupied by Marco's, and his other arm busy with the blanket tucked underneath it.]

[thebetterhalf]

[No signing just means that Marco gets to hear more of Jean's voice, which is always a bonus. Not that he doesn't appreciate the sentiment of Jean practicing sign language alongside him- it helps Marco's own practice and adds a sense of support. Still, talking is so much nicer. So much easier. So much more normal.

His hand gives Jean's a strong squeeze once that love-sick look's passed (don't think he hadn't noticed, because he had), thumb rubbing against the side of Jean's palm. Dude, he had more food than he'd have back home in a week. It's kind of embarrassing.]

[wipesfaith]

[Marco is allowed to notice...! (But if he were to point it out, Jean might get embarrassed.)

He will get to hear plenty of Jean's voice later on in the night, although the words will be a lot less coherent and involve a lot more cursing. For now, he'll just keep filling Marco in on the different foods he tried, eventually moving onto the people he ran into.]

You know who's here? Haruka. [A pause for effect, because really, he's still surprised.] I know what you're thinking, and I'll have you know I was 100% civil to him. We actually got along for once. Are you proud or what?

[By now, they're almost far enough from the crowd to settle down.]