Strawberry Bruises

Not like it mattered anyways. 

"Y’know, you’re pretty pale Maya. Guess that happens when you’re stuck inside all day." The brunette laughed, taking the towel from the waitress’ hands and drying off her own hair. "There are a few days off for me, kinda. Festivals and stuff like that.” Her eyes trailed over to the heavy gray clouds that hung in the sky, letting out their torrential rains on the earth below.

“Unless it’s raining, of course!” Maya laughed, and Angela couldn’t help but return a smile.

“It must be so fun to be surrounded by crops and cute animals all day. Plus, you get to run around the whole town! I’m practically chained to the inn like a slave when I need to waitress. And it’s not easy, either! I need to balance trays, and remember orders, and the hardest thing is seeing all these yummy dishes and not getting to eat them!” She pouted like a child, crossing her arms and sinking further down the couch.

“I don’t hate it, though. I get to meet a lot of people, and they all have interesting stories to tell. Sometimes, at least~” Maya let out a laugh and smiled and Angela, who had stood up and offered her some food. Now, Maya had no shame in scarfing down any and all food at the inn, and even in public, but here she was Angela’s guest and she would at least try to be polite. (The Goddess herself wouldn’t want to know what Jake would do to her if he found out she was rude.) And being polite meant not asking for food.

The yell from the person the fish hit brought Shea out of his thoughts. Okay, he was supposed to apologize, right? Right. It’s not like he meant to hit the stranger, it was an accident and accidents get apologies.

Turning around, he slowly trudged out of the knee deep water, headed towards land. It wouldn’t make much sense to yell over to the person. Besides, walking over to them first would give him a chance to see if they were hostile before he got too close. Plus this person was closer to the food he just caught, he didn’t want to give them the chance to run off with it while he was still bogged down by the water!

"You are okay?" He asked cautiously as he reached the edge of the wet sand. His feet continued to shuffle him forward, though his body tensed in case there was a need for quick action. "No mean to throw fish at. It accident." He tried to explain, brow furrowing apologetically. Shea hoped he was apologizing right, it wasn’t a task he had much experience with.

...And his point almost as sharp as his spear, which she noticed right at the water's edge from her new position.

She eyed the weapon nervously before looking back to his face. At least his his expression was kind enough, and he wasn't holding it. Maybe he was just foreign? Maya had certainly not seen anyone dressed like him back on the mainland. Well, the important thing was that he seemed harmless enough. He wasn't angry and he didn't seem like someone who normally flung fish at people to get them to go away. 

“Yeah, I’m alright~” she finally chirped back, smiling. Maya wasn’t going to stay on the ground and brood all day! What was the point of coming to see new places if you couldn’t make new friends?! And this stranger was prime for the picking! He was already offering her a gift! In one move she hopped up to her feet and held the fish out in her hands to examine it. The poor creature had passed out by now.

“Oh, thank you so much~ Fish is my absolute favorite! ❤” Of course, being Maya’s "favorite" wasn’t a task too difficult to achieve. If something fit in her mouth she would find some reason to merit eating it over and over again. The fish’s scales were a murky greenish color, but when they caught the light they gleamed a beautiful silver. A signature pink stripe ran from its cheeks to its tail, and depending on the angle, the scales reflected colors from pink to green. It was probably what the fish earned its name from.

Her sudden change of tone softened the clamp on Blue’s jaw, and hearing her admit that he was right satisfied him more than he should be proud of. Her words were true, though he still thought she was acting childish over a simple snow cone. He knew he shouldn’t be mean… Was he being mean? He hadn’t meant to. Things just sort of fall out of his mouth that way. 

" If it’s really nothing, trust me, the person will realize quicker than you think.”

A smug smirk pulled at the edge of his mouth, “S’that mean you realize that you were actin’ like a brat?” He let out a ghost of a laugh, “Sorry.” He had to force the word out, almost. “I didn’t really mean to be snappy. I guess we both have more on our minds than the other knows… And I’m sorry about making you drop your stupid snow cone, too.”

Maya's eyes softened with guilt as she watched him. Her running into him... it wasn't like that! She ran into a lot of people! Her mother always said her carelessness was bound to get either herself or someone else hurt, but she never imagined it would be someone's feelings, which was the absolute worst. 

For a moment she was at a loss of what to say, a situation practically unheard of, but after a few seconds of silence her blue eyes lit up and she crouched down next to him to be at eye level.

“Well, being invisible is a lot better than having people notice you and think you’re a brat, right?” Maya echoed his previous comment playfully, grinning as she tried to catch his gaze again. She poked him lightly on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Inconvenient, maybe. But sad? No way. Ya ever heard the expression, ‘don’t cry over spilled milk?" He cast his eyes down at the short girl, noticing that she was definitely younger than him… but she couldn’t possibly be so immature.

A rare scowl appeared on Maya's face as she watched him turn his back on her. Who does he think he is, going around talking to people like he knew what was what! Since when was he the boss of anyone?! 

"List here--!" She stabbed a finger in the man's direction, about to say his name, but stopped short when she realized she didn't even know what it was. Her finger drooped and the outstretched hand came back in to smack herself in the forehead. How did this happen? Here she was, in a foreign town, arguing with a stranger who was most likely a local.

Over a snow cone. 

She was the jerk. 

Maya's gaze trailed after him. Thankfully, he hadn't decided to leave the beach yet so she didn't need to run after him. (And she would have, if she had to.) 

"I'm sorry," Maya said, a bit softer. "For real this time. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm not actually mad, there were just some other things bothering me." She bit her lower lip. "You're right, it's silly to cry over a snow cone. What I meant was that you shouldn't dismiss other people's feelings so quickly! Something insignificant like a snow cone can mean a lot to someone else. So just--" She tried to figure out a way to explain it, but this kind of thing never came easy to her. She knew she was right, though!  

Rubbing his rough fingertips over his eyes to disperse the floating imprint of the sun, he wasn’t aware of the approaching girl. She bumped into him off guard, almost sending him right into the salty sand. Something very cold landed right onto his bare foot, which he recoiled from, still surprised by the sudden company. He had just started to digest what happened and began to collect his words to kindly tell the woman to watch where she’s going when she let out a shriek that rattled his ears.

His eyebrows knit together incredulously as she spoke, the woman acted as if she were twelve years old! Still, the tears bubbling behind her eyes filled Blue with guilt. Not for the snowcone, that was her own fault, but for almost yelling at her. He finally managed to pulled his dry lips apart,

“But it’s sad!” she insisted. It was always the same phrase, too. ‘It’s not the end of the world, Maya!’ She crumpled the paper cone into a ball in her hand and pouted at that man. He had red hair with light blue eyes. His pale skin freckled in the sun, which by the by, looked far too pale for the summer. He either stayed inside all day or dressed like it was winter year around. Either way was pretty weird. There wasn’t anything else really remarkable about him, except for maybe his hat, which looked mighty easy to swipe off his head if he continued being a butt. She crossed her arms, feeling bold.

Yesterday’s scorching weather refused to let up, but luckily for Blue he found some free time off of work to cool off today. Laying in bed with three fans going was just as unbearable as working in the heat, though, so he had forced himself out of bed. Fiery bed-head hair concealed under his standard cap,  he set out to find something to do. He couldn’t stand lazing about, it made him restless. 

The sun beat down on his worn hat as he trailed along the path, heading south. Heat penetrated even the wooded canopy to the south of the river, and the mosquitoes brought no relief in the shade. A frustrated groan escaped his throat as he swatted a pest away, stepping out into the fields that made up the southern farm of the village. A salty breeze caressed his sun burnt cheeks, tempting him closer to the sandy banks.

Maybe a dip in the ocean would be just the thing he needed. He began to unlace his heavy boots and pulled off his red flannel, leaving on his undershirt. The feel of sand between his toes was awesome. Why hadn’t he been to the beach yet this summer? 

At least she had a beach.

And more importantly, a snow cone. 

She bit into the shaved ice with her front teeth without so much as a flinch, sucking out the sweetness and letting the compact ice melt in her mouth to keep her cool. Syrup was smeared on her face and colored her lips and tongue an unnatural candy-red. Her pink dress fluttered in the sea breeze as she made her way down the shoreline; it was pretty, she'd give it that. The ocean seemed so inviting with it's misty waves, and the sky so hard and blue it looked like it could be shattered with a stray baseball flying through the air. 

Maya stared out passed the sand and the white sails of a nearby boat. The horizon looked so clear, so near. It was easy to imagine why some men thought it was the edge of the world out there. 

Perhaps Maya should have been doing less imagining, however, and more paying attention to where she was going. She let out a small yelp of surprise when she bumped into something solid. A person, she vaguely realized as she stumbled back a few steps. Though the sand was uneven she did manage to catch herself before she fell.  

Her snow cone wasn't so lucky.

The rest of her scoop tipped off her paper cone with a sloshy plop. Maya watched with horror as a wave road in and carried off her treat with the same expression a wife might wear as she watched her sailor husband get lost to sea. 

Hmmm, hmmm. Castanet was adorned in ribbons and dashed with a festive aura that seemed to rub off on her. The last time she had visited, she and Ange had quite the reunion, to word it lightly. But this time around, Claire was here to have a little fun, meet some new people and let loose for once.

So where to start? The banners and signs signified that the fireworks definitely weren’t going to start any time soon. Pivoting on her toes, she took the entire area in with one sweeping glance and just randomly picked a direction to head in. Well okay, her nose picked her direction for her, hahaha. 

Something smelled awfully great, as a sweet, seafood smell wafted out of a small stall by the beach. With a click of her boots, she was in there in a flash. Her signature smile was out and ready to knock some new people out, while she kept her fiery spirit tucked back in her pocket for a bit. Honestly, she was a tad too excited for all this. As she ducked to look under the booth awning, Claire’s voice chimed in. 

"Hi there! Are you guys open for business ye—"

Claire’s eyes widened as she witness something that would probably be ingrained in her mind forever. There was a girl dressed in pink talking to her fish balls. Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Well, uh… to each their own? Claire cleared her throat and slowly took a few steps back in retreat. Maybe she should leave the fish ball girl to her own devices.

What mattered was she was right about to back out of the booth.

“Hey--!” A few crumbs fell out of Maya’s mouth as she suddenly called out to her. Darn it. Her mother always scolded her about this kind of stuff. Maya quickly chewed and swallowed, then tried again. Her words came out even louder once the takoyaki balls weren’t obstructing her voice.

“Hey!! Come back here! We’re open, we’re open!” Maya laughed playfully as she stretched her arms out and waved the woman back.

“What’s that look for? Don’t worry, the only thing creepy in this booth is the octopus—and they’re already dead!” Maya grinned as if that totally wasn’t a serial-killer thing to say. She placed her hands on her waist and beamed proudly, the still-warm takoyaki on the counter in front of her. They were a golden-brown, not yet glazed. Maya was to put them on little sticks and prop them up over a grill to keep them from cooling, then brush the glaze over them.  She still thought they looked plenty appetizing, though. Surely this stranger couldn’t possibly resist!

“You’re a visitor, aren’t you? Oh, then you have to try my grandmother’s takoyaki balls! She makes them special for the fireworks festival! You’ll seriously miss out if you come all the way to Castanet and not try her cooking!” Maya already made up her mind, not caring what the woman had to say about it. She stacked three balls onto a stick then brushed them with the glaze, using the same artistic flare as a painter putting the finishing strokes on their masterpiece. Maya held the snack over the counter, grinning.

“C’mon! First batch is free~ I guarantee you’ll have more tonight with the fireworks after just one taste!” There was nothing better than seeing the look on someone’s face when they try something new and delicious. Maya was practically vibrating with anticipation as she waited for the lady to take it.