#really sat here thinking he'd get flustered and then he had Poison on his tongue ig KFJSHDF

[sunsrefuge]

So Liifa...Eliana? 👀 (That's it. That's the question)

He immediately squints at you, his left ear pinning slightly back. A venomous “Why?” is the first thing out of his mouth. You get the impression that people with bad intentions have asked him about her before.

It takes a moment, but he sighs, straightening his posture and crossing his arms. “She’s… very forgiving,” his suspicious look falters, becoming softer. “Maybe too forgiving, but it’s what she does nonetheless.” His gaze drifts away in his thinking, a subtle tilt to his head as his expression softens further.

“Eliana’s always been kind to me, to everyone,” his ears pin back, “And it’s gotten her hurt on numerous occasions.” Liifa's eyes return to you, his suspicious squint renewed with vigor. “Don’t get any ideas about hurting her, or you’ll be dealing with me. And that is not going to be something you want.”

[shan-ri]

Popsicles Are for People…and People are Like Popsicles

It was melting fast. The seething summer sun beating down on the cold treat mercilessly, drips of sweet citrus collecting on the stick quicker than her absentminded licking could keep up. Mari turned the popsicle to the side, trying to gauge which angle was best to take the next bite. There wasn't much left, so she had to make it count-

"Are you gonna eat it or just stare at it?"

She jumped ever so slightly and turned her head to see the usual judgement plastered across her brother's face. And in that moment, when his comment warranted her sticking out her tongue at him, the popsicle finally heaved its last breaths, submitting to the combined attacks of Mari's appetite and the sun's rays.

Juice ran down the stick to her fingers and she caught sight of the last bit of the treat slipping off to land on the ground. She stared at it in dismay for a moment, before bending down to scoop it up and whirling on her brother.

"It would have been fine if not for you, Mako!" She jabbed the popsicle stick at him, the other hand clutching the melting piece of popsicle.

Mako shrugged, his own popsicle stick jutting out from the side of his mouth.

"Not my fault."

Mari paused for a moment and was considering whether the sweet in her hand belonged on his shirt or smeared on his face when there was a soft 'mew’ at her feet.

A gray striped cat was winding around her legs and when she glanced down it looked up imploringly at her, green eyes practically sparkling with feline hope.

And who am I to crush that hope? Mari made up her mind, dropped into a crouch, and held out her sticky hand towards the stray. It began to sniff at her hand tentatively.

Mako realized what she was doing at the last instant. "Mari, don't-!"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the cat took the piece of popsicle in its teeth, darted a fair distance away from them, and began chowing down on the orange-flavored ice. Mari glanced up at Mako and grinned impishly.

"Too late, it's done."

He groaned and put his hand on his face. "Popsicles are for people, not cats. The poor animal is going to get sick."

She glanced over at the animal in question. It was finished eating and beginning to wash its face with a little white paw. A pang of guilt shot through her stomach, but at least the stray had enjoyed the snack and chances were that tiny piece didn't contain enough artificial sugar to do anything bad.

Mari wiped any of that fleeting concern from her face and gave Mako her own shrug.

"Next time, I'm not buying your popsicle for you," he promised. His words sounded stern, but Mari couldn't help the laugh that slipped from her lips. Mako wasn't serious, he could never keep those types of silly, little promises to himself or to her. And Mari had already counted on that.

"Okayyyy. No treats for me!" She sung, beginning to walk further down the wharf, away from her brother and towards the preening cat.

She bent down once more and held out her hand, still sticky and sweet smelling from the popsicle. The cat afforded her one glance and then walked off with its tail waving jauntily in the air.

"Hey!" Mari shouted and jumped to her feet.

The feline shot forward--only to seek shelter beyond the legs of someone new.

"Awww, you two got popsicles without me?" a new, somewhat husky voice complained.

Mari's spirits soared once more when she recognized the long-legged boy who stood before her. "Keresh! You made it!"

The boy's mouth turned down in a sour pout and he muttered, "Not in time though apparently…"

"Hey, don't be cross, Keresh. It doesn't suit you." Mako's voice sounded and he materialized behind Mari in that eerily silent way he always did.

Keresh rolled his eyes and the stray meowed, pawing insistently at his legs. He obliged the cat and lifted it up into his arms where it promptly began rubbing its head all over his face, purring like a speedboat motor.

"You traitor…" Mari muttered, eyes narrowing at both Keresh and the cat. She had even given it the last of her popsicle, yet this was the thanks she got?

A familiar hand landed on her shoulder. "You too, Mari. You know that it's only acting that way because Keresh smells like fish."

Mako said it so matter-of-factly that Mari couldn't help the amused chuckle which escaped from her lips.

Keresh's poisonous glare was also only made funnier as the grey cat in his arms tried biting stray locks of his hair. She may have kept laughing at his expense, but Mako's hand on her shoulder tightened and he began pulling her to the side.

"Okay, enough playing around you two. We gotta bring in the traps and set up the bait before the tide changes."

They muttered in agreement and the cat yowled in protest as Keresh detached it from his face.

Mako began dragging the traps in one by one as he crouched on an outcropping of rocks. He checked them each quickly, his keen eye easily discerning the ones that had reached their capacity of crabs, crayfish, and shellfish before putting those to the side. Some of the empty ones he sunk back below the waves, while others he also placed on the rocks--probably because the traps were damaged, or the bait was no longer fresh and tempting enough.

Mari watched her brother for a little while. She would never admit it to him but… she found his routine actions oddly calming and admired the skills which he'd honed over the years. He didn't do this for their main source of income, mainly to bring a little extra fresh seafood to the dinner table and then sell the rest off to a proper fish vendor. Or, so he explained.

But Mari knew better. She could see the way his eyes glittered whenever they walked the beaches of their home, plundering the sea for her bounties, and hear the excited, rising intonation of his voice as he discussed even the most menial of fishing activities.

She shook her head and went back to focusing on her task--setting wriggling bait worms on hooks.

They moved slick and wet under her touch, but her fingers were sure and practiced. Not a single worm would survive her ministrations.

She wished she could say the same for Keresh.

Unfortunately, his baiting of the hooks was clumsy at best, dreadful at worst. It seemed that every other worm was dropped on the sand before it was finally set upon the hook. Mari grimaced as the boy dropped yet another bait worm making a bid to escape. There was no way she was letting him near the small bait fish swimming in the bucket beside her anytime soon.

But, she knew she couldn't lose her patience with him. Keresh had only arrived in their town a couple of months or so prior and, by his jerky, uncertain actions, Mari guessed he had never engaged in even the most basic fishing activities before.

He fumbled over the hook in his hand and groaned, "Why can't we be eating popsicles instead?"

"You're still going on about those?" Mari shot back. "Here. Give me that, I'll do it before you hurt yourself."

Keresh fell back into the sand with a dramatic sigh as Mari wrestled the remaining hooks away from him. "I don’t understand why you go through all this effort to catch fish. It seems so…excessive."

He began unraveling the tangled fishing wire and Mari fought back a scoff as she arranged the baited hooks along the rim of another bucket.

"It's not excessive, it's necessary. How do you suggest we catch them then? With ice cream cones and rainbow pops?"

Mari shot him a quizzical glance with the beginnings of a smirk. But he didn't even look up, shrugging and replying, "I dunno. With your teeth. And your hands too if it's a big one."

"You're kidding. No one can do that or would even want to if they could!" She sat back on her haunches and gestured to Keresh. "What? Can you?"

Keresh finally looked up and his turquoise eyes shone with absolute earnestness.

"Yes. My teeth are very good for catching fish."

Mari laughed. She couldn't help such a natural reaction. The image of Keresh swimming under the waves, snapping his mouth open and closed to snag any passing fish, was too hilarious.

She clutched her stomach from the continuing guffaws, managing to force out in between giggles: "What are you, then? A shark?"

"No! How dare you!" Keresh jumped to his feet and glowered down at her, looking, impossibly, unreasonably offended.

Mari's laughter reached a new pitch and she was struggling for breath when Mako rejoined them.

Through the tears in her eyes, she saw him standing, a trap writhing with crabs and such grasped in each hand, and a third trap slung around his neck by a rope. His pants were rolled up to the knees, and his hair was wet from the waves.

"Is there time for you two to be rolling around in the sand?" He asked, though he looked more perplexed than upset. His head swung towards Keresh as it became apparent Mari was still trying to regain her ability to speak, much less find any composure. "Is she making fun of your baiting again?"

"No…" Keresh began reluctantly, shooting a glare at Mari. Then, he seemed to change his mind midway. "Yes…In a sense."

Mako switched one of the traps over to his other hand to give Keresh a friendly pat on the back. "Don't worry about her. Come on, I'll buy you a popsicle."

Keresh lit up immediately. "Really?"

"Really. Geez, calm down." Mako gestured at Mari to get up and gather the equipment, and she grudgingly obliged. Sometimes, he really seemed to think he could order her around…

She trailed behind a few steps, weighted down by the buckets and the bag strapped across her chest, while Mako tried, unsuccessfully, to stop Keresh from jumping up and down in excitement.

"I'm just getting you one, okay?! You really eat too many of them."

"You can't eat too many popsicles. They're practically air!" Keresh protested, quite seriously.

Mari could tell Mako was getting flustered, the left corner of his mouth rising in frustration. "That's not how it works. They're like any other food, if you eat too much of it you'll-!"

His explanation was cut off as Keresh suddenly came to a stop and looked straight up at the sky.

A few beats of silence other than the cries of seagulls and the crash of waves, and then: "There's gonna be a storm soon."

"Huh? Really?" Mari also looked overhead, seeing only the wispiest of clouds, the sun’s brute power reigning supreme even in the late afternoon and early evening.

Keresh merely nodded while Mako stared at him with a strange expression on his face.

He glanced at Mari, but she couldn't think of anything to say before Keresh began prancing ahead of them--acting like an overgrown child once again.

Mari and Mako knew better than to take the true nature of the weather at heart from a moment’s glance. They shrugged off the comment for later introspection and chased after their friend before he devastated the nearest tourist shop's dessert cooler.

End Part 1