Treehouses as permanent living structures were pretty new to him too, but he's spent a lot of time in trees - normally they were one of the safer ways to avoid Titans, if you were in the right area. It just made sense, although they may need to move to something more traditionally on the ground soon.
Levi pulls the basket up, working hand over hand.
"All right." Not entirely true, but more than it had been the month before. He secures the line against the cleat on the railing, then pulls the basket in and retrieves the box before extending a hand to help her up onto the platform. Really, if the basket was large enough, he probably could have just brought her up with it.
"Oh no, compared to some trees in Prydain it's not as bad." Eilonwy answers as she reaches out with her dominate hand to take his and pushes up for some added momentum. "Thank you, and I'm fine, yes. That's what the stretching was for."
Once she's on the platform Eilonwy takes a breath and looks around. "It's very different than being on the ground. The air even feels a little different."
"Good." He can appreciate self sufficient people, but it doesn't stop him from helping.
Levi glances around with her. The sight has become familiar, although the changing season means that the tree tops are mostly bare, now. He misses the cover of the leaves, the sound it makes when the wind blows through. But it'll come back, in time.
"Yeah, it's less stuffy." It reminds him best of being high up while using the gear. It's fresher, clearer.
He gestures. "Come on in. Take your shoes off once you're inside."
There's a mat and small foyer area for shoes, and in one corner are two pairs of tall over-knee boots. One is noticeably shorter than the other, and next to them is a neatly stacked set of strange looking metal boxes with what looks like narrow gas canisters atop them, along with trigger handles and a complicated set of leather harness pieces hanging on a peg on the wall.
Levi steps into a pair of slippers after leaving his loafers at the door, still holding her box, and leads them both to the kitchen.
She nods in agreement. "Yes! That's a good way of phrasing it." Eilonwy follows him, stopping long enough to take off her shoes as instructed. Putting them in the area indicated, she notices the boots, boxes and pieces hung on the wall but doesn't remark on them outside of- "What tall boots."
She steps into another pair of slippers after a moment's hesitation and then falls into step behind Levi, looking around as they go. "Do you like your teas weak or strong?"
Levi glances at her, his usual resting frown somewhat lightened with a faintly arched brow in what could probably be amusement.
"What do you think?" Him, weak tea? But no - the real answer is that he prefers the perfect medium, the way a tea is supposed to be brewed, neither too weak nor over-steeped.
He reaches for the kettle and starts to fill it from the sink (indoor plumbing, truly wonderful).
Eilonwy considers for a moment. "Not weak, at least." A diplomatic enough answer before the other question reaches her.
"A rolling boil, so about one hundred degrees Celsius. The tea should be brewed for- I'd guess three and a half minutes if you wanted something between the two versions."
Does anyone from his world understand temperature or use things like Celsius? No clue, but he understands rolling boil well enough.
"Got it." Kettle filled, it gets put on the stove and the burner switched on. Incredible, this concept of stoves with immediate heat. Levi never wants to go back.
He hesitates a moment, then pulls the package toward him. "Okay if I open this?" She brought it for you, Levi?? But gifts are a strange thing for him, even if she'd already mentioned she'd be making some for him.
"So what've you been up to, lately? Survive last month ok?"
"Of course, yes!" Eilonwy answers. "I've been working on handcrafts, mostly. My fingers are sore from all of the practice, but I'm getting better at some aspects of it." Her wrists will have to stop protesting eventually, but Eilonwy knows enough stretching exercises to hold off the worst of it. "I think I could start a knit square in my sleep by now." She nods at the last question, answering promptly.
"I did, thank you for asking. Likewise, how did you handle it?"
"Yeah, fine." Not entirely true, but he doesn't want to go into the details. There's happier things to think of, now. It's just good to know that she's all right.
"I see. Erwin's mother used to knit." Levi's never done much handcrafting. He can sew and mend things pretty well - a necessity in the Corps, honestly - but he's not tried anything like knitting. It sounds like she'd have to do a lot of it to make her hands sore.
...although...could this healing power help with that? He's never tried it that way.
"He mentioned that the first time we spoke, actually!" Eilonwy nods. "I'm glad it wasn't as much of a hardship on both of us."
She looks to her hands thoughtfully for a moment as she answers. "I've been working steadily for--" Eilonwy does some fast counting. "At minimum two hours per day, after I've finished housekeeping. It's more my wrists, because of how I have to hold my hands and the yarn. I'm sure if I get more experience with it, the pain will ease off." Eilonwy looks back up and gives a half smile and a shrug. "It's no different than getting used to doing anything else new, truly."
He frowns. "Do something enough and you can still fuck something up." There's building muscle and then there's overworking it, especially when it comes to your hands.
The kettle is slowly building to a boil.
"I took the blue potion. Could see if it helps with your wrists, if you want."
"Yes, I'm aware." A similar idea had been metaphorically drummed into her head when she began sword training and tailor work. But the ideas aren't wrong at all. Eilonwy sighs, recognizing she's pushing past common sense.
"I'd appreciate that, thank you." Eilonwy will hold out her hands, wrists up.
Sometimes you need someone else to tell you to stop being stubborn. Levi has plenty of experience with people who don't realize they're pushing themselves too far.
"Not sure if it'll help..." he's not tried it with this sort of thing, but it doesn't stop him from wanting to offer, anyway.
His hands probably aren't much larger than hers, gently cupping one palm on top and the other underneath one wrist. After a second a soft, blue glow lights between his hands, and a dull ache echoes in one of his own wrists. It's not too bad, but still, he's glad he can do something about it.
After about half a minute, he does the same to the other, feeling the same ache. The glow fades, and his hands float back to his sides.
It's true, Eilonwy remembers some of the lectures she received.
Eilonwy watches as the light comes and goes, eyes widening a bit. "Oh." She turns her hands over a few times and looks at them in surprise. "That's much better, thank you. Your magic is different from mine- I can heal cuts and scrapes, but nothing with muscle pain."
"Huh." He shrugs a bit. "Wonder why that is." (It's because the mun just makes stuff up as she goes-)
"Glad it helps." And he is, really. It's nice to do even small things like this. Levi's never considered doing anything like being a doctor, for many reasons. But something like this is less...messy.
He goes back to carefully unpacking the box - it's nicely done, and the tea already has a pleasant aroma even before steeping. The water is at a near boil, so he pulls out two mugs and two strainers and two little dishes for the strainers to rest in after. He measures a teaspoon or so of the tea into each strainer and casts a glance to Eilonwy.
"This good, or do you usually do more?" Herbals don't tend to be as strong as black, but he wants to check in with her opinion anyway.
"I don't know myself. I simply thought it had to do with the garden."
Eilonwy nods and watches as he prepares the cups. "No, that's my usual amount. It doesn't need much with the types used. The first few tries were very overpowering. They'd probably make very good teas over ice, but not for resting."
Levi makes a grunt of assent, puts the rest of the paraphernalia away and carefully repacks her box, setting it on the shelf with his growing collection. The kettle just starts to whistle - perfect timing - and he takes it off the stove to carefully pour the hot water slowly into each cup, sure to cover the tea in each strainer.
"Aurora mentioned the plants come in at different times. I was thinking it was the same for the potions."
Eilonwy answers simply. It makes enough sense in her mind. She watches as he adds the water and smiles. "I hope you like it-- it isn't as strong as what I remember, but it did help me relax before bed."
"Huh. Maybe that's it." It's definitely the mun just making shit up.
There's a small clock nearby. It's not a timer, just a regular clock, and Levi makes a note of when the water went in. He loosely folds his arms, leaning back against the counter as he looks at Eilonwy curiously. Did she know that he had trouble sleeping, or was it just a guess? Maybe Erwin told her? Either way, he has his doubts that it'll help put him to sleep, but it didn't help to have something to help wind down with, and Erwin certainly didn't need to be drinking anything with caffeine at night.
"As long as you used good ingredients, it'll be fine." His time for being forced to consume shitty tea is long over.
Eilonwy notes the look and smiles. "With everything that happened with Winter Full-- sorry, with October, I figured it was needed. I think the ingredients are good enough, the shop owners were more excited than I was that they had cherry tea available." She giggles and nods.
"Yes, but I've settled in as much as I think that I can. I've been decorating and keeping house so that's helped it feel more comfortable than it did earlier in the year."
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Levi pulls the basket up, working hand over hand.
"All right." Not entirely true, but more than it had been the month before. He secures the line against the cleat on the railing, then pulls the basket in and retrieves the box before extending a hand to help her up onto the platform. Really, if the basket was large enough, he probably could have just brought her up with it.
"Sorry, it's a pain in the ass. You good?"
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Once she's on the platform Eilonwy takes a breath and looks around. "It's very different than being on the ground. The air even feels a little different."
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Levi glances around with her. The sight has become familiar, although the changing season means that the tree tops are mostly bare, now. He misses the cover of the leaves, the sound it makes when the wind blows through. But it'll come back, in time.
"Yeah, it's less stuffy." It reminds him best of being high up while using the gear. It's fresher, clearer.
He gestures. "Come on in. Take your shoes off once you're inside."
There's a mat and small foyer area for shoes, and in one corner are two pairs of tall over-knee boots. One is noticeably shorter than the other, and next to them is a neatly stacked set of strange looking metal boxes with what looks like narrow gas canisters atop them, along with trigger handles and a complicated set of leather harness pieces hanging on a peg on the wall.
Levi steps into a pair of slippers after leaving his loafers at the door, still holding her box, and leads them both to the kitchen.
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She steps into another pair of slippers after a moment's hesitation and then falls into step behind Levi, looking around as they go. "Do you like your teas weak or strong?"
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"What do you think?" Him, weak tea? But no - the real answer is that he prefers the perfect medium, the way a tea is supposed to be brewed, neither too weak nor over-steeped.
He reaches for the kettle and starts to fill it from the sink (indoor plumbing, truly wonderful).
"How hot should the water be?"
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"A rolling boil, so about one hundred degrees Celsius. The tea should be brewed for- I'd guess three and a half minutes if you wanted something between the two versions."
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"Got it." Kettle filled, it gets put on the stove and the burner switched on. Incredible, this concept of stoves with immediate heat. Levi never wants to go back.
He hesitates a moment, then pulls the package toward him. "Okay if I open this?" She brought it for you, Levi?? But gifts are a strange thing for him, even if she'd already mentioned she'd be making some for him.
"So what've you been up to, lately? Survive last month ok?"
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"I did, thank you for asking. Likewise, how did you handle it?"
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"I see. Erwin's mother used to knit." Levi's never done much handcrafting. He can sew and mend things pretty well - a necessity in the Corps, honestly - but he's not tried anything like knitting. It sounds like she'd have to do a lot of it to make her hands sore.
...although...could this healing power help with that? He's never tried it that way.
"Your hands are sore?"
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She looks to her hands thoughtfully for a moment as she answers. "I've been working steadily for--" Eilonwy does some fast counting. "At minimum two hours per day, after I've finished housekeeping. It's more my wrists, because of how I have to hold my hands and the yarn. I'm sure if I get more experience with it, the pain will ease off." Eilonwy looks back up and gives a half smile and a shrug. "It's no different than getting used to doing anything else new, truly."
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The kettle is slowly building to a boil.
"I took the blue potion. Could see if it helps with your wrists, if you want."
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"I'd appreciate that, thank you." Eilonwy will hold out her hands, wrists up.
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"Not sure if it'll help..." he's not tried it with this sort of thing, but it doesn't stop him from wanting to offer, anyway.
His hands probably aren't much larger than hers, gently cupping one palm on top and the other underneath one wrist. After a second a soft, blue glow lights between his hands, and a dull ache echoes in one of his own wrists. It's not too bad, but still, he's glad he can do something about it.
After about half a minute, he does the same to the other, feeling the same ache. The glow fades, and his hands float back to his sides.
"How's that?"
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Eilonwy watches as the light comes and goes, eyes widening a bit. "Oh." She turns her hands over a few times and looks at them in surprise. "That's much better, thank you. Your magic is different from mine- I can heal cuts and scrapes, but nothing with muscle pain."
no subject
"Glad it helps." And he is, really. It's nice to do even small things like this. Levi's never considered doing anything like being a doctor, for many reasons. But something like this is less...messy.
He goes back to carefully unpacking the box - it's nicely done, and the tea already has a pleasant aroma even before steeping. The water is at a near boil, so he pulls out two mugs and two strainers and two little dishes for the strainers to rest in after. He measures a teaspoon or so of the tea into each strainer and casts a glance to Eilonwy.
"This good, or do you usually do more?" Herbals don't tend to be as strong as black, but he wants to check in with her opinion anyway.
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Eilonwy nods and watches as he prepares the cups. "No, that's my usual amount. It doesn't need much with the types used. The first few tries were very overpowering. They'd probably make very good teas over ice, but not for resting."
no subject
Levi makes a grunt of assent, puts the rest of the paraphernalia away and carefully repacks her box, setting it on the shelf with his growing collection. The kettle just starts to whistle - perfect timing - and he takes it off the stove to carefully pour the hot water slowly into each cup, sure to cover the tea in each strainer.
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Eilonwy answers simply. It makes enough sense in her mind. She watches as he adds the water and smiles. "I hope you like it-- it isn't as strong as what I remember, but it did help me relax before bed."
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There's a small clock nearby. It's not a timer, just a regular clock, and Levi makes a note of when the water went in. He loosely folds his arms, leaning back against the counter as he looks at Eilonwy curiously. Did she know that he had trouble sleeping, or was it just a guess? Maybe Erwin told her? Either way, he has his doubts that it'll help put him to sleep, but it didn't help to have something to help wind down with, and Erwin certainly didn't need to be drinking anything with caffeine at night.
"As long as you used good ingredients, it'll be fine." His time for being forced to consume shitty tea is long over.
"You still live by yourself?"
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Eilonwy notes the look and smiles. "With everything that happened with Winter Full-- sorry, with October, I figured it was needed. I think the ingredients are good enough, the shop owners were more excited than I was that they had cherry tea available." She giggles and nods.
"Yes, but I've settled in as much as I think that I can. I've been decorating and keeping house so that's helped it feel more comfortable than it did earlier in the year."