EDITED 1/27/2016
The first time Levi sees her, she is on the lower deck. It was the brightness of her hair that caught his attention. He thinks to himself that the way it shines it unnatural, but it works for her.
His time looking is cut short when her companion, some girl he can't bother to remember, whispers something into her ear, making her look up. Their eyes meet for a second before he turns away, flicking the cigarette he had in his hand onto the floor.
The second time Petra sees him, he is talking to a tall, blond man. Or, the tall man was talking while he stared out into the sea. She thinks to herself that he looks bored, like he would rather not be on something as magnificent as The Ship of Dreams, something as breathtaking as the Titanic.
She turns to Nanaba, the friend who was with her the first time she saw the short man. "Is that him?" she points.
"Yes, ma'am it sure is," Nanaba responds, a smile forming on her lips. "Did you wanna do something about his staring?"
Petra turns to her blonde companion. "I want to get his attention."
Her friend nods in approval, but then offers her some advice. "Don't make a scene, though. The wealthy are different. Hell, they might even be kind of rude."
Turning away from her friends and back at the short, raven-haired man, she begins to examine him a little more. To her, he certainly looked like the type to be rude, but something inside her was telling her otherwise.
"Wish me luck, then."
He was close enough to the stairs that led down to the lower deck, she noticed. Her lips curled into a tiny smirk; she knew a few ways to get his attention in a subtle way.
She pushed herself off the railing she had been leaning against, gesturing to her friend to stay there since she would be right back.
Straightening herself (because she wanted to look at least a little decent when she reached the upper deck), she began to make her way up stairs.
"Oi, Miss," a voice called out. She had only a few more steps to go before being on the upper deck. Her hand were holding onto the rail as she turned to face the person who had called her. A young crew man with light hair stared at her. She gave him a bright smile.
"Yes, Sir?"
The crew man took in her attire: a faded blue dress, worn out gloves (by worn-out he meant slightly dirty, not the pristine white they should have been) and boots, certainly not a lady that belonged on the upper deck. Naturally, it was his duty to stop her.
He starts to clear his throat, "I am afraid you are not permitted to go up there, Miss." Petra could tell he was uncomfortable. He didn't want to embarrass her, and he probably had never embarrassed a woman his entire life. What a sweet boy she was thought.
"Well, Mr…?" She quirks an eyebrow, her smile fading slowly to let her question hang on until he gave her his name.
"Jean Kirstein," he finishes off for her.
Her smile came back upon hearing his name. She figured if she kept her charm up, she would eventually complete her mission. "Mr. Kirstein, I have something that I must get back, and I am afraid that it is atop there." Her dainty, gloved finger points up toward the deck, her head also turning the direction of where she was pointing. She took note that the man was still there, which was good for her. He was still staring out into the ocean, ignoring whoever he was with.
"Miss?" she hears again, and her head whips back to Mr. Kirstein. "What did you need to retrieve, if I may ask? I can get it for you."
"Oh, uhm…," she wasn't prepared for anyone asking her questions. She thought this would be quick. "I have to…," she trails off again, racking her brain for something to say. An idea struck. She slips off her right hand glove and throws it over her head, aiming it so it was as near to the man as it could get with her own aim. "I simply need to retrieve my glove," she tells him, her smile growing even wider.
Jean Kirstein began to look a little more than confused. Did this woman think he was stupid? Blind? "You just threw your—"
"Oh my, how clumsy of me! Let me get that myself," she cuts in. She turns on her heel, about-facing, and proceeds upstairs, ignoring the calls of the crew man pleading her to stop. "I'll be right down in a minute," she says over her shoulder to reassure him.
As she gets closer to her glove, closer to him, she can't help but let a small laugh escape her lips. For a brief moment, she lets herself take in the ocean and its shining waters. The view of it was just as nice as the view from the lower deck. She notices that she is close enough now to accidentally bump into him. As she went to pick up her glove, she did just that.
Her shoulder lightly bumps into his back; she walks off right after.
He feels this and turns his head to look over his shoulder and eye whoever had just touched him. Instead of a face, he sees the figure of the redheaded woman, the one that caught his attention before, walking downstairs.
"Tch, no apology?" he mutters to himself.
"What was that, Mr. Ackerman?" the man beside him asks.
"Nothing. Continue with your story, Erwin."
Dinner, Levi thinks, among his companions is quite boring. At first it was exciting, but over the years of earning money, watching others around him go bankrupt, and meeting "new money" that most people didn't seem to approve of for the first few months, he finds it bland. Bland like the food he was more or less eating. But he did ask for light seasoning. He doesn't know why, though. He needs some flavor in his food. Being on this ship was probably getting to him. At least the wine they served wasn't shitty.
"Thank goodness the silverware is clean," he mumbles to himself. No one hears him, but that isn't usual since he didn't want anyone to hear him anyway.
The ones surrounding him right now are talking about how amazing the ship is. He could say he agrees, though there are many faults, but he would rather not engage in the conversation at the moment.
It takes him a while to decide if he wants to dismiss himself and have a smoke outside. He ends up going, brushing off the pleas of the others telling him to stay and enjoy their company.
It's cold. Maybe he should've grabbed his thicker coat, but his room is too far and his cigarette makes the outside feel a little less chilly.
He looks down towards the ocean, then his eyes sweep the lower deck.
The woman is there again, wearing the same clothing as the last time. He takes notice that it is the exactly the same thing because she has no coat around her. It's fucking below zero out here. He also takes notice that her hair is still shining, even when the sun is down. The moonlight could be blamed for that.
He finds himself going downstairs heading towards her, and suddenly he feels rude for smoking so he throws his almost finished cigarette overboard.
Her back is facing him and though he is not close to her she speaks.
"I can smell you, you know."
Levi stops walking and clears his throat. Turning his head slightly to the side, he inhales and exhales a few times, trying to get rid of the smell.
Her whole body turns around to face him, using the rail as a support to lean on.
This made him nervous. Is she stupid? She could fall of the rail and into the ocean.
A part of him wants to step closer and pull her away from the edge, but another part of him tells him to stay where he is standing.
"You're going to fall."
She raises both eyebrows at him, a sly, amusing smile forming on her features.
"I am not," she replies and leans further back, tilting her head even further out.
If she's trying to be funny, he doesn't laugh. Instead he takes a step closer, just in case he needs to grab her if she does fall. But after his step she straightens herself and steps away from the rail. He didn't know he was holding his breath until he let out a sigh of relief.
She's looking at him and he can't help but see that her eyes are a golden amber, the color almost as bright as her hair.
"I caught you staring at me," she tells him. "Isn't that rude for a gentleman to do?"
"You bumped into me without an apology. Isn't that rude?" he says back. He thinks that she must be a little daft because she laughs at that. He was sure what he said wasn't that funny. But, he would be lying if he said that that wasn't the cutest thing he had heard since being on this ship; and cute wasn't a word he often used.
The wind picked up then, and the temperature was noticeably dropping. What was also noticeable, at least to him, was the silence after her laugh, like she was waiting for him to speak. They were just staring at each other now. She was smiling at him while he was still standing there.
He figures it was his turn to change the subject.
"It's cold."
"Why yes, Sir, it is. That's what usually happens when the sun sets and the moon rises."
He could tell she was teasing him. He could also tell she was quite brave because who would ever speak to a stranger that way? Who would speak to a man of his status that way? Especially someone like her. He found it amusing and felt a smirk tugging at the corner of his lip, but he didn't let it break his own straight face.
"You aren't wearing anything to keep you warm." Yes, Levi, state the obvious.
"Neither are you," she retorts, stepping towards him. It takes him a moment to realize that she was walking past him, not to him.
His eyes follow her and his body turns to face her walking away from him. He opens his mouth because he wants to say something else, but he closes it when she turns around and brings her hand out for him to shake.
"I'm Petra."
Instead of shaking her hand, he takes it in his own and turns it over, bringing it to his lips and kisses her knuckles.
"Levi."
He doesn't know why he offered her his first name or why she bothered to give him her own name, but while she is walking away he decides in his mind that he wants to see her again.
