Chapter Text
After excitedly pulling out not one, but two Whale-Tide waters from the vending machine, Stelle hurried to one of the empty tables just in front of the Sleepless Earl teahouse. March, who was amusedly watching her poke around the street, tipped her head in curiosity when Stelle triumphantly slammed the two bottles on the table.
“You stay here,” Stelle insisted, unceremoniously pushing March into a chair. “Be right back.”
“I– what? Hey! Come back, don’t you dare commit crimes without me!”
Stelle nearly protested that no, she wasn’t going to do anything potentially illegal, but she snapped her mouth shut when she reaffirmed her plan. There was, in fact, a chance of her breaking a law. Instead, she decided to say, “Don’t worry, they can’t arrest me permanently!”
She raced away, leaving a very indigent March alone with two bottles of water. Tossing a quick glance over her shoulder once she was up the stairs confirmed her suspicions: March was chasing after her, leaving the water unattended. Stelle mentally kicked herself, she knew she shouldn’t have purchased the water in advance.
“Stelle! You’re not getting arrested at all, I don’t wanna break you out!”
“As if! You’d drag Dan Heng to do the dirty work!” she called back, nearing the balcony railing above the Starskiff Jetty. Aeons, was Stelle really going to resort to this method of getting March to leave her alone, even for just a minute or two?
Random foxian citizens began to stare at them in concern and annoyance, but Stelle couldn’t bring herself to care. She’s been called a hero of the Luofu for beating up a fancy deer, they can’t persecute her publicly. Or… at least that’s what March declared when she tossed someone’s packages overboard. In front of a crowd. In broad daylight.
Stelle peered over the edge, making sure that it was solid ground underneath her instead of empty clouds and sky. There was, indeed, a floor. One that was pretty much clear of pedestrians, perfect for her mildly dubious plan. The railing barely reached her thighs; this had to be a safety hazard, especially considering the drop if someone fell over.
March had slowed down, and Stelle could pinpoint where she was on the stairs without turning her head. Fourth to last step. “What was that about?” she admonished, with her hands on her hips if Stelle knew her at all. “Are you– oh my fucking gods, Stelle, don’t you dare –”
With a hand firmly planted on the railing, Stelle took in a deep breath and swung her legs over.
Two things happened when she did that. March screamed, and so did some foxians. Second, Stelle remembered that she was wearing heels.
Don’t break any bones , is what looped inside her head as she somehow remembered to bend her knees, land on her feet, and not die. And it worked! Stelle didn’t die, even though her legs ached and her heart was definitely not alright.
The two people unloading a starskiff and Ziqiao stared at her as she wobbled and grimaced, hobbling on unsteady feet towards Ziqiao. March hadn’t yet stopped screaming and cursing her out for her stupidity either. “Hey… you got my package?”
“What– Are you… alright?” Ziqiao blinked, decidedly still in shock. “That couldn’t have been a pleasant fall.”
Stelle flapped a hand. “I’ll be alright. So…?”
“Ah, right… Stelle, was it? Give me a moment.”
She watched in silence as Ziqiao produced a checklist from nowhere and began rummaging through the boxes behind her, still shooting her concerned looks. Ten seconds into the silence that wasn’t very silent due to shouts and panicked murmur above, the familiar click of March’s heels and octave of her voice shattered the spell.
“Stelle! What the actual hell?! You can’t just– you know, jump railings when I’m trying to keep you out of jail!”
Wincing at her girlfriend’s furious and panicked tone, Stelle held her hands up in surrender. “Hey hey, I’m fine. See?” Her desperate attempts at consolation only ended in a rather hard punch to her arm. “Okay, now I’m not fine.”
March rolled her eyes, tugging Stelle into a fierce hug. “You deserved that. But like, seriously, what in Akivili’s name were you thinking?”
“Oh. Um, I wanted to give you a surprise?”
“A surprise heart attack?”
“Sorry… Really, I wasn’t thinking,” she apologized, breaking the embrace in order to look into March’s eyes. “I won’t do it purposefully until I learn how to land, ‘kay?”
March huffed out a laugh. “Of course , you dumb raccoon. And tell me what you’re gonna do next time instead of scampering off!”
Ziqiao, who Stelle forgot was there, cleared her throat, grabbing their attention. “Here’s your package. And be careful out there, if you can’t even do that here.”
Humming in agreement and thanks, Stelle took the package from the Heron Express Specialist and tugged March along with her, all the way back to the table where they had left their bottles of Whale-Tide water. March had fussed over her, making sure Stelle was alright to walk, before dubiously accepting her words when Stelle brought up how she was in perfect health even after the squabble with Cocolia.
However, the water was gone. No trace of it was left. Not an empty bottle, no spills, just gone. “Nooo, my credits! Hey March, let’s go educate the thief very kindly!”
March paled, distantly remembering what happened last time she agreed. “Nope! Not doing that again! Really, what do you need water for?”
Pouting, Stelle slumped into an empty chair and stared at the ground. “I… bought edible glitter because you thought it was pretty when it swirled in water…”
Thankfully, March decided to ignore Stelle’s hesitation over how she acquired the glitter, instead focusing on her intentions. “O-oh! That’s so sweet of you, Stelle, I adore you so much!”
Stelle flushed slightly, sliding down into the chair even further. “I know, I love you too. But we don’t have water anymore, for the glitter.”
“Let’s get back to the Express, then? I know Himeko made strawberry lemonade yesterday, we could dump it in there,” March suggested. “It’d taste better than water too.”
“Okay, yeah, let’s. Hey, do you think we could sneak this stuff all into Dan Heng’s food?”
“Ooh, yes, we should! He hates normal glitter, imagine his expression when he finds it all over his food!”
They made their way over to the Express, hand in hand with the box of glitter tucked under Stelle’s arm. So far, they conjured up eight different ways to ambush Dan Heng with glitter, all more unhinged than the one before it. For example, somehow getting the glitter stored in the microwave, and when he would microwave his food, the glitter would coat it instead, while preventing the microwave from actually warming the food.
March pushed open the door to the kitchen with a laugh, bee-lining to the fridge. “You can manually put it in, Stelle, I’m not risking Dan Heng’s wrath if I get caught.”
“Yeah, sure, don’t say you’re a coward, I get it,” she snickered in response, ripping open the box and dumping out three large jars. Each jar was a different color, and Stelle wanted to stick her finger in one and eat it straight up.
When she did just that with the silver glitter, she found March staring at her with fond exasperation nearly a minute later. Stelle froze, glitter still coating her fingers and dusting her lips.
March set down the two glasses next to the pitcher of strawberry lemonade, pushing the other two jars of glitter further away from Stelle. “I thought you wanted water to enjoy your glitter?” she teased.
Pulling the final jar towards her, March tilted her head up and stole a quick kiss, effectively getting glitter on herself as well. Stelle flushed again, entranced by the soft shimmer on her girlfriend’s lips that made her look even more angelic.
“That’s not fair…” she mumbled. “You’re gorgeous.”
March simply smiled, before swiftly turning around to hide her own red cheeks. “I’m gonna get some ice!”
She quickly shuffled away, muttering something under her breath. Stelle, seeing her chance, grabbed a spoon and shoveled a heap of glitter into her mouth. It crunched pleasantly between her teeth, like sand but tastier and finer.
When the two finally poured the lemonade into their glasses, along with the ice, Stelle measured out a tiny pinch of glitter with the spoon, marveling at the swirls that sunk down to the bottom of the glass. March bounced in delight, already recording with her phone. “Stir it, stir it! That’s so pretty!”
Stelle complied with her own grin, slowly swishing the spoon around, admiring the spiral of pinks and silvers around star shaped ice cubes. “It’s like a galaxy.” She removed the spoon, drying it off with a napkin, before doing the same with the other glass of lemonade.
“I don’t think I can go back to plain old water after this,” March said seriously, tipping the drink into her mouth.
“It’s really addicting,” Stelle agreed, drying the spoon and shoveling another mountain of pure edible glitter into her mouth.
“Uhh, starlight, I don’t think that’s good for you!”
“Try me,” Stelle deadpanned around a mouthful of glitter.