SEASICK

20 ☠︎︎ 𝔽𝕠𝕩 𝔽𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕝 ☠︎︎

[[ An 'awe' chapter, almost a filler but not quite. I hope you enjoy it. I do not own music or art.]]

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"Open," Ivo demanded firmly. Alana blushed out how embarrassing this must look.
"Ivo..." She muttered wanting to deny him outright.
"I said. Open." He spoke more clearly. She reluctantly parted her lips and opened her mouth for him. My gods, she is so beautiful like that. Ivo thought to himself as he plopped it on her tongue. Instantly Alana's eyes widened, this is so good!
She began to chew the doughy ball; sweet and salty flavors coated her mouth, and the dough was bouncy. Ivo licked the licked sauce off his slender fingers as he watched the girl enjoy her Dango. They stood at a food stand, adjacent to the festival activities. The sun had set, and the town was lit with many lanterns, the lights form storefronts and a large bonfire in the middle. Ivo had essentially kidnapped Alana from the others when the crowd grew, to have alone time with her at the festival.
"See, I knew you'd enjoy it, little dove." Ivo smiled and Alana reddened. She did not understand where Ivo got his nickname for her, but she did not plan to ask him.
"Thank you." She said with a small grin and began to look around for the others.
"Of course." He smiled, using his hand on the small of her back to guide her through the river of people. Ivo and Alana finished the Dango quickly, splitting the last piece between themselves.
"I have never been to a festival before," Alana confessed loudly, to be heard over the activities taking place.
"I haven't stopped to enjoy one either." Ivo leaned down to speak into her ear.
Alana was a little surprised by that. She did not think a pirate spent their time just going to festivals of course, but to be able to do whatever you wanted and not enjoy one in all your travels? It perplexed her but she did not press on why he never did.
"Hey!" She heard a familiar voice shout. Her, Ivo, and a few other bystanders looked in the direction of the shout to see an angry and pointing Leven. Behind him stood Kazumi, who was expressionless as always, and Leopoldo with a threatening smile. Leven marched up to the pair, Kazumi and Leo following close behind.
"Why'd you run off like that?" Leven said to Ivo as soon as he got to them.
"Whatever do you mean, Leven?" Ivo said innocently, naturally with a smile.
Leven gritted his pearly white teeth. "We looked back and you weren't there!" He accused. "And you took her!" Leven pointed at a confused Alana. Ivo said they were going ahead of us to do something else. And it was then she realized she had been kidnapped so easily. She looked to Ivo shocked, who was still smiling at Leven.
"No, we were separated by the crowd, we tried looking for you," Ivo said, scarily sounding sincere. How can he lie so easily? It is almost impressive. Alana thought to herself, watching the brunette deceive his way out of the argument. "Well, no matter, we are together now." Ivo clapped once, Leven did not say anything else on the matter, but he did not look very satisfied.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Alana?" Kazumi said, placing a hand on her head. She looked up to him with an honest smile.
"Yes, very much." She replied. His heart melted in his chest at the sight of her looking up at him with that smile, but of course, his expression did not change.
The group began to stroll down the row of booths, the four men surrounding Alana like always. There were many different booths, all with attendants trying to get the attention of the people walking by, it was overwhelming to the girl. It was different from Oldkeep, instead of people already flocking to the stalls, these people seemed desperate for someone to approach their booth. She felt horrible walking past all the hardworking people but was comforted by the hand secretly slipped into her own. Leopoldo held her fingers gently, though it was not obvious, he looked straight ahead with a plain expression. She was thankful he noticed her nerves getting to her and made an attempt to soothe her.
"You there! With the white hair! Little guy!" A shouting stall owner made booth Leopoldo and Leven stop in their tracks, in turn causing the whole group to stop. It was a middle-aged man with peppered hair and a beer gut. They were only a few feet away from the stall, but the man was shouting like they were fifty feet away. "Come on over! Try your hand at my game!" The game owner motioned his arms at colorful balloons behind him. Alana thought they would ignore him but was surprised to find them moving towards the man, Leo released her hand. The stall owner looked ecstatic, but Leven looked annoyed. Alana figured it was because the man used the term 'little guy'.
"All you have to do is try to POP the balloons with these darts." The man showed off about a bright yellow color, three-inch darts. The girl looked behind the man, the balloons were barely filled with air, and spaced far apart, in all it looked difficult, maybe even rigged.
"I don't want to play your stupid game," Leven snapped, causing the man to flinch. "I came to carve your tongue out your mouth." Leven was usually harsh, but his aura completely changed.
"Excuse me?" The stunned man asked.
"Who are you calling little, huh?" Leven looked ready to jump over the booth counter.
"Now, now, brother." Leopoldo cooed but made no move to hold him back.
The man was stuttering an apology when Leven clicked his tongue and turned abruptly. "You better be lucky I am busy with our girl." He called over his shoulder. Our girl? Alana blushed.
When Leven walked by Alana she smiled. "It looked like too hard of a game anyway." She commented, trying to make him feel better but he froze in place. "Leven?" She asked worried she struck another nerve. Instantly Leven turned on his heel and marched back to the stall, scaring the man. "I will play!" He snapped as if there were an argument about it, slamming down a few coins from his pocket. The man hurriedly placed five darts in front of Leven and scurried out the way. Leven turned; his face looked angry, but Alana did not feel that vibe from him.
"You better watch closely!" He ordered, to which she just smiled and quickly nodded.
She stood to the side with the others, who did not seem to mind Leven's outburst at all, in fact, Leopoldo looked almost proud.
Alana eagerly, and nervously watched. The first dart Leven picked up he tossed up and down testing the weight, as he eyed the pitiful looking balloons on the board. If Alana had blinked a moment too soon, she would have missed it, and her eyes widened with shock. Leven threw the dart with such speed she barely saw his arm move. The balloon board wobbled from the force from the impact of the dart, a blue balloon shattered to pieces.
"Wow, Leven, you're amazing!" Alana cheered and clapped when she recovered from astonishment. Leven did not look to her, but he heard her praise loud and clear, his face was a bright red. The others heard it too, swimming in jealousy, she had never cheered for them before. If only looks could kill.
Amazing? She says I am amazing. Leven was on cloud nine as he picked up two more darts and threw them, just as fast and accurate. He followed them quickly with the last two. He threw them so quickly you would have thought the balloons were popping on their own, but the darts and wobbling board proved Leven was truly just that fast and accurate.