Levi and Mercuria meet for the first time one on one since she slapped him. Will this be another explosive conversation or can they manage something more calm?
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 8:26 pm
Wandering the halls wasn't helping. Not as much as she wanted it to. Meeting the people who she thought she hated had culminated in a strange amount of catharsis and disappointment. Ayla and Caelum didn't suck. They didn't suck and they weren't nearly half as pretentious as she'd assumed they would be. In fact, the only stick up their asses - or, well, really it was mostly up Ayla's - was about how little she understood about proper decorum. Something Mercuria was certainly never going to be the model for anyway.
So she wandered. Exploring how big this place was - because really, who needed three parlors with plush armchairs and cozy lit fires stocked with pens and paper like they all just wrote letters home - gave her restless mind something to do, something to focus on. She'd almost been tempted to check out the library, not that she was sure she was even interested in reading. But it would give her something to do. The vast, overwhelming amount of free time was driving her a little insane.
Which might have been why she flopped herself down in one of those big, plush armchairs. The fire was nice and she could stare into it while she zoned out with her feet tucked underneath of her. Or, well, she could have if there was an annoying breeze on the back of her neck. The frigid kind that tickled the little baby hairs at the base of her neck and made her shiver all the way down to her bones. So she stood with every intention of closing the door to the balcony.
Then she saw him. Rolling her head back she let out a soft huff. Part of her wanted to leave. Most of her wanted to be stubborn and stay. Which was exactly what she decided to do. Maybe it would needle him into leaving. Approaching the balcony door, she settled into the frame and leveled Levi with a stare she could only hope looked bored. "Don't you know it's rude to smoke in polite company?" She would know, she didn't smoke but her siblings were sure as hell making sure she was getting a fast lesson in princess 101.
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Levi knew that when he picked up his instrument again he’d be ripe with errors, but that wouldn’t be a problem for that day. Instead, he found himself in the library, down the aisles where shelves of sheet music were kept. With his eidetic memory each one he laid eyes on was instantly memorized, but there were a handful of pieces new to him with patterns and articulations that sparked some interest. His mood to put bow to string was lacking as of late, having dipped with the invasion. Maybe tomorrow he’d get back in there and give one of these songs a try. Or the next day. Whenever, whatever. He slipped one of the folders back from where he pulled it and stared up and warily toward nothing specific.
The idea of committing Utopia’s entire music catalog to memory before officially withdrawing came to mind. His agenda at this Gods-forsaken place was a short one: represent, network, survive. Last he checked, the dead couldn’t do the first two and at the rate this place was going, he’d probably be taken out by a rebel army, evil unicorns or – the likeliest of cases for him – some vindictive classmate. After eying the door that led to balcony seating Levi grabbed his jacket and slipped out for a break.
He closed his eyes and held his breath before forcing out the first drag of smoke that was swirling in his lungs. Tense features were now more relaxed and Levi leaned his elbows on the railing. Outside of the gaping hole in the distance, the wooded scenery wasn’t half bad to look at. The cold wasn’t as sharp as it was when he first left the fire-warmed library, and he planned on enjoying the contrast for a little while longer.
But as he pulled his cigarette up for another drag, he heard the voice of the next to last person he needed to be seeing that day.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to smoke in polite company?”
Levi clamped his eyes shut with irritation. So much for that plan. He turned his head slightly to catch her leaning against the doorframe before looking back out ahead of him. Feigned happiness twined with his answer. “Yeah well I was in polite company before you showed up. You want one?” She didn’t look like she smoked but he figured he’d offer her one. Politeness and all that.
The barely used cigarette was put out anyways. “Steve’s not here.” The little ankle biter was too busy napping when he left. He gnawed on one side of his bottom lip as he weighed the options before him. How worth his time would it be to even entertain more conversation with her? His stomach was quick to respond with a small sinking feeling, and that was enough signal for him.
He walked toward the door and stopped in before her. Sure, he could squeeze past her but simply chose not to. Not unless he had to. “Excuse me Princess Mercuria, may I get by?”
When she'd decided she wanted to needle him into leaving, she didn't expect it to work so quickly. There was a balance to these things. Banter. Back and forth. The jab for jab of it all keeping it light and less hurtful despite both of them knowing they weren't out to make friends with each other. Or, at least, Mercuria assumed he wouldn't want to know diddly about her beyond whatever look into her past Steve had afforded him.
But this wasn't right either.
There was no real bite in him. Sure he'd made a jab but followed it with some mocking attempt at sugared politeness that left her mouth feeling sticky. She didn't like it. Not in the least as she offered his back a small shake of her head in response before looking down at the toes of her shoes. "I don't smoke." The fight deflated out of her as she responded, realizing he couldn't have seen the shake of her head facing away from him. "I wasn't looking for Steve either."
The tops of his white sneakers came into view, standing nearly parallel to her own, more beaten up shoes. Raising her chin she met his green eyes. There was something in them that had her shuffling to stand up straighter, despite not moving out of his way. "No." She hadn't necessarily meant to be defiant in the moment. She'd originally tried to get him to leave and now here she was acting like an idiot trying to make him stay.
They hadn't properly spoken since that day he'd accused her of jail breaking Steve and she'd slapped him. And despite his attitude he'd stayed true to his word. Words that could have been flippant and pretty just to get her off of his back, thinking she was just like Ayla - compliant and dainty. Mercuria was aware she was neither of those things. She'd proven it to Levi on sight.
He still didn't tell anyone.
Creating a shell was easy. It was safe, prevented her from getting too close. Because when she did get too close people left. Or died. Or tried to make her someone else. Levi had done none of those things. They'd just orbited each other, unrelenting but unable to talk, for months. Having to be honest was brutal in the forced vulnerability of it. And she didn't like feeling unsure. It didn't stop her hand from moving, tugging lightly on the cuff of his sleeve as her blue eyes held his gaze unrelentingly.
"For what it's worth... Thank you." The words made her eyes drop back down again, the creeping insecurity that bled into her voice too much even for her. "You don't suck as much as I thought you did." She wasn't sure he actually sucked at all, but the idea of saying that to him made her want to die and let her corpse be swallowed whole by the ground.
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‘The ******** are you out here for then, the scenery?’ was what he wanted to ask but he instead watched his breath turn white as he exhaled. There weren’t many good reasons for them to be out there. He didn’t have any more and Mercuria, from what he could figure, had none to begin with. If she wanted to do the Hyoden challenge and freeze her a** off out there, he wouldn’t stand in her way. He was leaving, or so he thought. Levi looked her over, from her beat up shoes to the top of her head.
“No?” His request to be let by was not an unusual one by any means, so when Mercuria straightened up and refused, Levi blinked with a look of surprise. She was really set on standing in his way. “And why the hell not? Don’t you have anywhere else to be instead of blocking the door?” Their exchange at the gazebo months ago was as enjoyable as stepping on a lego and he wasn’t up for a repeat of that. He’d taken it upon himself to be a special kind of jackass toward her too, not that he fully intended to and not that it mattered. It made sense that she would want nothing to do with him after that, and that was okay. The feeling was mutual, he told himself. There were other places at this school she could go. He was here on the balcony first.
But Mercuria’s little tug, and the fact he hadn’t bulldozed past her, blew a hole in that belief. His gaze broke away from hers momentarily, flicking down to her hand at his sleeve then back up to her face. Levi wanted to ask her what on Lomacht she was doing but the words didn’t come. The way their gazes were touching, and how she looked like she was seeing right into him, had him feeling fidgety. The urgency to nope off to elsewhere was still there, but now slowly dissipating in favor of finding out what brought this on. Or something. Whatever. She sounded as thrilled as a wet sparkler and was willing to be in proximity to him of all people. Maybe whatever she ate last wasn't sitting right with her.
Her blue eyes disappeared from sight as she spoke up again. What followed was not what he expected, but he had an idea of what she was getting at. There were lengths she was willing to go to keep her past in the past, to keep those she called her parents safe. To say it was relatable was an understatement, and he meant what he said that day. Well, the parts that mattered most. He offered a nod, along with a raised brow on the part about not sucking. Mercuria was jumping to some conclusions right there.
“I shouldn’t have accused you of stealin’ Steve… or snapped at you.” He fixed his eyes to the outline of the top of her head, his lips pressed into a flat line. She unknowingly found herself on the receiving end of some misdirected anger, and the weeks of replay had him cringing about it each time. Now was a better time than ever to take responsibility for that. “And I’m sorry for that.”
“... you’re actually pretty good with him. And your trick with the hoop and ball isn’t half-bad.” He turned his head while green eyes rolled with his half-confession. It was cool, but not that cool. Levi was now cringing for a different reason and it didn’t take him long to find something else to poke at her about. She, after all, was still standing in his way like some stubborn weed. He knew how to take care of those.
“Don’t think I won’t move you out of the way myself, uva. I didn’t come out here to become a human popsicle.” Levi looked back at her with a lazy warning, going back to how she refused to let him by earlier. She looked easy to pick up. Almost too easy.
OOC: uva = grape
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 8:08 pm
Listening to him apologize was like trying to breathe underwater. Like all she wanted to do was suck in air that wasn't there. A month ago she would have been screaming in his face telling him he'd better be sorry because she was going to make him sorry. Now it just made her chest ache and her mouth feel dry. He was even standing there complimenting her as if she was a thing to pity.
Maybe she was. Mercuria had come to this school ready to burn the world. Every bad rumor and assumption she'd ever had about the rich amplified over tenfold as she braced herself to attempt to weather the storm that living in this school was sure to be. Even her supposed half siblings she had assumed the worst about, but they only were angry for her. There were so many things that she had already been wrong about.
Now it seemed like her hatred for Levi was another one of those things.
Her shoulders began to deflate, whatever bold thing inside of her that had kept her rooted in place before him dying on the spot. Now she was just torn between stepping aside and bolting. Neither seemed like a good option. If she stepped aside, he would leave. And if she bolted, she would leave. So why was either of them leaving the last thing she wanted?
"Uva?" The surprise of being called something snapped her awareness back to the present instead of trying to predict the future. "I swear if you just called me something..." The threat faded as she noticed the way he was looking at her and took a couple of steps back, like the shock of his attention physically pushed her. She was still in his way and clinging to him, but now she was firmly inside instead of in the doorway.
That heavy feeling was back as she stared up at him. The one she was slowly realizing was because he wasn't the only one who'd been snappy in that conversation. "I-I also shouldn't have snapped, you know." Why did her voice suddenly sound so unsure? What in the hell was he even doing to her? This wasn't his power. He was an animal mind reader. Unless he had another power to make her feel guilty. "Or slapped you. Sorry." The final word was barely more than a whisper as she could feel her face heat up.
Looking away like it would save her, Mercuria bit her lip. It was cold. Like actually so stupid cold it almost hurt. But she still didn't want either of the earlier options. "If you're just going to stomp away, I'm not going to move. You'll have to make me." Finally she dropped his cuff, instead opting to wrap her arms around herself. As if they could be a shield to whatever havoc was going on inside of her.
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He looked at Mercuria as if he’d find the reason she was being difficult hiding somewhere on her face. They weren’t friends. They didn’t get along well enough for that to ever be the case. The back and forth was pointless if it was only going to lead to another heated exchange that left them not talking again. If anything, it’d already shown signs of having started, no thanks to his own damn mouth. Her tricks were cool but even he knew it sounded half-assed the way it landed, and he looked like a fool for it. Levi's jaw tightened with mild annoyance. He shouldn’t have let her stop him from leaving. He didn’t want to squabble with anyone, least of all her. He didn’t want to say anything else stupid. ******** if he knew why it mattered more when it came to her.
When she stepped back from the doorframe, Levi matched her steps and filled the space, leaning his free forearm up and into the jamb while he stared back at her. The warmth of the library felt far better than the cold on his back. “Yeah, I called you somethin’.” His shoulder made a shrug at her threat. He wasn’t going to deny having called her something. Maybe it shouldn’t have bothered him to see her withering like damp carnival floss, but it did. His bit of fruit-themed trash talk seemed to get to her though. “You’ll do what exactly?”
Levi’s upper body inched back slightly and he stared back at Mercuria with a flicker of unease in his features, like she’d asked him to solve long division. Usually he was the one making apologies. Hearing one, so sincere and from someone who had nothing to be sorry for, felt wrong. Undeserved, because much like every other time, he deserved the things she was apologizing for. He exhaled the breath that was held rigidly in his chest, then leaned back in closer than he was before, inches from her face. Closer than he meant to be, but it allowed him to keep what he said for her ears only. “And you wouldn’t have if I hadn’t come at you first.”
He cleared his throat after pulling back and straightening up. A clock on the wall had his attention until Mercuria’s voice called it back to her. Her declaration that she wasn’t moving wasn’t as irritating as he thought he’d find it. More amusing, really. Levi tilted his head as he watched her wrap her arms around herself. She was really dead set on this, illness be damned. “If you insist, princess.”
His hands found their way around her upper legs and Levi threw her over his shoulder. Gods, she was lighter than she looked. If she wanted to change her mind, it was too late and tough luck for her. He was already walking, and made a beeline for the plush, oversized armchair near the fire when he spotted it. Once he lowered her down to it, he walked away. Away from Mercuria and back toward the balcony door they were just standing at. He mumbled under his breath about the cold and stubborn girls as he pulled the door shut.
“I called you a grape, by the way. Your jacket. Reminds me of the red ones.” Levi said plainly when he returned and made a seat on the arm of the chair. Hardly a clever burn but he never intended for it to be one in the first place. With his elbow to the back of the chair and his cheek resting in his hand, he looked down in her direction. “You’re welcome, by the way. Did you get carried here too?”
He looked over to the fire as one corner of his lip twitched. “What’re you doing here anyway?”
The step into her hadn't affected her. Nor had the stupid, hot way his arm had reached above to rest on the door frame, like he was caging her in despite the fact that nothing was to her back. The expression on his face was unreadable. Then again, she didn't exactly know what expression she was making right now either. Was she looked up at him as lost as she felt? Or as blank and unreadable as he was looking at her?
She wouldn't get an answer. Not when Levi leaned in and dropped her voice, the sound of it making her face suddenly warm. Or was that because she could feel his breath against her cheek and was breathing his air? What the hell was he doing to her?
Whatever it was apparently didn't have s**t to do with proximity. Him pulling away wasn't making her heart calm down or her face feel less warm. It didn't matter that he was looking down at her like she was being a silly, temperamental child. Actually, yeah. That part was a little annoying, actually. Especially since his face didn't stop looking good while it was twisting up that way. Half of what he said didn't even register with her as she stewed in how unfair it was that he was hot and a d**k.
"Wait how did you know -" Her question was cut off with a shriek as he bent to wrap his arms around her thighs and hauled her over his shoulder. For a moment, Mercuria was speechless. She hadn't expected him to actually put hands on her. Or, worse, for her to like it. For the way he manhandled her right across the room and the surprising gentleness in the way he settled her down onto the plush armchair like she was actually important to him. It made her heart climb up her throat to hammer there and plug up any words trying to come out.
For a moment she just watched him close the door, her mouth gaping like a fish. A million questions were racing through her mind, all of them being able to be summed up with some variation of "why was that hot?" The rest of her was trying not to let it sting. To ignore the way he'd moved her just so he could leave and how much it bothered her.
Then he was back, settling onto the arm of the chair and leaning over her in a way that almost made her feel like prey. At the very least it made her feel tiny in comparison even through he was really only a couple of inches taller than her. "O-oh." Wow. So eloquent. She should write speeches.
He was speaking again, this time making a jab that actually stung. Averting her eyes, she didn't want to think about the way she'd been forced away from the only home she'd ever known. Levi was far to close to hitting the nail on the head. Only they didn't need to touch you to carry you if they could manipulate gravity.
Letting her silence answer for her, she waited to see what he would do or say. Watched as his face turned towards the fire and how the flames mixed with the green of his eyes to look almost ethereal in the glow. Something about how he looked like a fairy must have pulled the truth out of her. Yeah. That had to be it. Not that there was really any excuse to hide the truth from him. Steve had already apparently tattled everything he ever needed to know about her.
"I met my siblings." Pulling her feet up, she wrapped her arms around her legs in an attempt to make herself as small as possible. "I -" She faltered, he own gaze shifting to the fire instead of memorizing the profile of his face. "I thought everyone here would be so much worse than they are. A couple of them are exactly what I thought." Especially one giant woman who had a habit of acting like she was the center of the goddamn universe and everyone else was an ugly little ant beneath her. "But they... aren't. They accepted me with open arms and it feels wrong somehow. So instead of stewing in it I was exploring a little bit."
She let her honesty hang between them for a moment, like it needed to seep into their skin before they could move on. After a breath, her eyes flickered back to his profile. Her expression was carefully blank as she reached out and grabbed his sleeve again for comfort. "You didn't smell like cigarettes before. Are you okay?"
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The way Mercuria continued to persist in not just his vicinity but in his thoughts when she wasn’t even around had him grinding his teeth. It was like she was trying to chip away at him on purpose. He didn’t have time or want for it, or for her and yet he wasn’t doing anything to stop it. Levi was more mad with himself about that. The way she shrieked when he threw her over his shoulder caused a sudden chuff to escape him, and he quickly pressed his lips together before she could hear him laugh anymore about it. He had to stifle a smaller one at the surprised look on her face and her eloquent “o-oh,” It was not cute and definitely played no part in why he suddenly felt the need to swallow.
Now he was watching her, feeling her sudden silence as heavy as it sounded. His question was left unanswered, and with a roll of his eyes he turned his head to look at the fire. What the hell about being carried to the library got her panties all in a bunch? Levi resolved to just let it go and drop it while he was ahead. If she was going to be mad or hurt about being picked up and carried inside, that was her problem. He watched the fire, or at least pretended to. The way those blue eyes looked when she turned them away from him, as if he’d kicked her, played on loop.
Dammit. “Hey. Did I say something wrong just now?” Levi rubbed his jaw with the heel of his free hand as he looked back at her. “I’m not apologizin’ for carrying you.”
“Oh.” He blinked. That was a big deal all on its own, but the way she pulled into herself had him watching, waiting to see if she would say more about it. When she did, Levi exhaled. It was a sentiment very similar to ones he found himself facing when it came to meeting other people there. “It sounds like you lucked out with them.” He felt like a reluctant expert when it came to having garbage siblings. “Do you like them?” He hoped they remained as promising as it sounded for her.
Levi slid down from the arm of the oversized chair and into the space closest to it, leaving space between them. Propping himself up with his arm was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Yeah, that’s it. He turned slightly and leaned his head back to look up at the fancy painted ceiling. When he spoke again, he tried to do it with more softness injected in his tone. Didn’t sound all that noticeable to him though. “For what it’s worth… it doesn’t have to make sense right now. There’s still things that don’t sit right with me either.”
Like why Lady Ainsworth didn’t just get her own dog or why he was still there in the library with the girl from Luna who could charm you with a smile and shank you when you were in fact looking in the same afternoon. He might as well have been playing in the fireplace at this point. Levi lowered his head and looked over to her again, then back to the fire. His eyes narrowed, while the corner of his lip twitched upward. “So that’s why you came to bother me?”
”I’m kidding.”
Again with her taking his sleeve. Before he could comment on it, she’d asked her question and she shot him a narrowed side glance. Had she paid that much attention to him, or was it just a lucky guess? He was okay. He was as okay as a snowman at the edge of hell and twice as happy to be there. “Yeah, I’m good. Absolutely. Livin’ the dream.” He said, you know. Like a liar.
But if what happened between them at the gazebo was any indication, Mercuria wasn’t going to let it rest. Levi pushed his hand across the cushion and closer to her, to make it easier for her to play with his sleeve. He couldn’t believe he was about to go along with this. “I re-heh-eel-ly didn’t want to come here an’ I put it off for as long as I could. But titles come with things you gotta do and well… here I am, doin’ it.”
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