✧ — passionfruit green tea.

[boba]

Comments

[transmit]

[ was he… the way it looks like he's convinced he was delusional for a fraction of a second before he realises that thorns is way too relaxed holding his hand now for it to not be true.

so, he grips thorns' hand extra tight in retaliation. die. ]

… That's why I thought holding onto you might help. But if we're separated, I guess it's just back to business as usual.

[oversea]

[ ... ]

Let's just think about sticking together and see if that works.

[ he adjusts his hold on nene with his other arm. ]

Vamos.

[transmit]

[ he is still shaking over being gaslight… but he supposes this can be addressed later. or never. ]

Tú primero, capitán.

[oversea]

[ he nods, but doesn't move right away.

... but then he squeezes elysium's hand back. not as punishment, but to be reassuring and to let him know that he's here, before he walks forward to finally leave purgatory behind with his favorite person.

and also nene is there. ]

[transmit]

[ is he his favourite person though… or is he just a fake…

and just because i'm feeling so generous——


as they descend the winding staircase back into their regular lives, their bodies grow lighter and lighter until every sensation slips away, until he can no longer feel what's in his hand, or hold on as much as he might want to. like this, they fall back into the ordinary: elysium jolting awake in a familiar chair, surrounded by familiar books, a pen still resting in his hand.

'mister elysium? are you okay?' ]

—Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. I thought I heard something just now. To— [ … ] —yes?

[oversea]

[ ... well, he can't be surprised that's how it ended up.

with elysium not appearing with him, it almost feels like a dream—but only almost, because the necklace hanging off of him is a strong reminder of all that happened.

and so, when it's later that evening on the same thing, thorns will do something he never does: send a transmission. ]

Elysium? I just wanted to check in. This is Thorns.

[transmit]

[ the way this singlehandedly makes elysium realise that purgatory might've not been a delusion after all with how wildly out there this is. would it be an understatement to say it might be the first time thorns has contacted him this way…? perhaps he has when it comes to the battlefield or their professional life, but incredibly likely when it comes to everything else. it's somehow more bizarre than anything he might've experienced in purgatory, from there being another set of them and finding himself sleeping in a field of flowers.

as much as he wants to voice his surprise, he realises that wouldn't exactly be conducive to encouraging this character development… so after he spends a few minutes by himself going ??????? and squinting at his communicator, ]

Thorns? I just finished with my signing. Can I help you?

[oversea]

[ he just wanted to check to see if he was okay... and has absolutely nothing else to say now that he has confirmed that. ]

Just checking to see if you made it back safely.

[ good talk.... ]

[transmit]

[ THORNS ]

… Ah, yeah. It's like I never left.

[ he is so lucky elysium knows how to carry a conversation… ]

Our next touchpoint should be a month from now, right? Are you sure you don't need anything?

[ any other mystical revelations he's come to in the time elysium was apparently knocked out?? ]

[oversea]

[ thorns is trying so hard to act how they always do together but it's annoyingly hard when they have been getting intimate for the past three week. ]

I don't. I'll see you when we meet up, then.

[ ...

was that normal....? ]

[transmit]

[ the entire basis is abnormal wrap it up

elysium is also thinking the feather he'd seen thorns wearing was also a fever dream of some kind. that is his bro…? he is the top contender of the three people he'd most likely give a feather to, but it's still something he can't really imagine himself doing at this point of time, much less a version of him that's further into the past. ]

… Sure. I'm always just a transmission away. Let me know if anything comes up.

[ ?????? ]

[oversea]

Okay. Bye.

[ this is so stupid when you are unaware thorns is in love with him. sorry elysium.

but he has to try to get back to adapting to life... while also knowing that rhodes is going to explode in the near future. this is how you know thorns has feelings for someone because he considers sending another transmission...

he doesn't. but he considers it. ]

[transmit]

[ JUST OKAY. BYE.

elysium spends another few minutes staring at his transceiver in shock before someone pokes his head into his room and says his ride is here to pick him up. ultimately, he's too busy to really dwell on thorns' behaviour, purgatory more and more of a blip in his memory the further they get away from it.

if thorns isn't in danger, he isn't in danger. he keeps tabs on how thorns and his crew seem to be doing via the grapevine and leaves it there.

fast forward to the day before their touchpoint— ]

Hi, Thorns. It's Elysium.

Are we still on track to meet on the coast of Victoria? The caravan's stopping in a major city tonight, so this is your last chance to let me know if there's anything that might be harder for you to get your hands on outside of Rhodes' channels. I have the usual. Over.

[oversea]

[ whoa...

returning back to a regular life after purgatory has been an odd sort of adjustment. while his stay isn't as neatly packed away, there are moments where he has to wonder if it really did happen or not. but he still has the mementos from the stay reminding him it was real.

thorns has stopped wearing the feather as a necklace. instead, he's tucked it into his other hair accessories–still technically visible, but also less noticeable because it blends in with everything else. ]

We should be docking by tonight.

[transmit]

[ keeping his wedding ring visible somewhere is still so bold, especially considering so much of thorns' crew has a good idea of who elysium is. the way he just showed up one day wearing a liberi's feathers… cool. when did that happen.

but, okay. if there's nothing thorns needs him to go especially out of his way for, he tucks his communicator back into his pocket and goes on his way. there's the usual anticipation that comes with meeting a friend after so long, but at the same time he's also filled with an odd sense of confusion.

he's probably overthinking it…… ]

[oversea]

[ he's definitely overthinking it...

and so is thorns. because once they dock and settle, thorns starts overthinking the feather and takes it off and puts it in a drawer. and then takes it out. and puts it back in. then takes it out. this goes on for like ten minutes before he settles with keeping it in the drawer.

his crew, meanwhile, is just happy to be ashore somewhere that isn't iberia. at the very least, they can try to blend in as just regular sailors as long as no one commits a crime. ]

[transmit]

[ HE'S DIVORCING THEM?

this is so mean… elysium is once again being gaslit without knowing he's being gaslit. but he does turn up the next afternoon, caravan in tow as he leans his entire body out of the window and waves as la conquista comes into view. ]

Yoohooooooooooo—!

[ at the very least, no amount of weirdness will stop him from missing his friend. ]

[oversea]

[ he doesn't want to freak elysium out. it's fine.

but the very first person to greet him will be





nene. ]

[transmit]

[ divorce era real this is so tragic. wherever elysium is he's probably still wearing thorns' ring. is that just the other thread… help me.

but he will just enthusiastically greet nene back once he hops off!!!!!! ]

Hola, Nene. Were we always this friendly?

[ holds nene up… the goodest saltfin. ]

[oversea]

[ nene cuddles against him happily!! this is definitely way more affectionate than it was before...

thorns approaches, although he pauses a bit away just to watch the interaction. ]

[transmit]

[ he doesn't know what he's done to deserve this level of affection but he will accept it, nuzzling his nose into its own… he is healed.

this is awfully loose behaviour though and he vaguely wonders if thorns is jealous? after what feels like an appropriate amount of love, he holds nene back out to thorns. ]

You should keep a better eye on it. What if someone kidnaps Nene? You're lucky we aren't in Iberia.

[ nene would be made into breakfast so fast. ]

[oversea]

[ thorns will take the baby back. nene settles comfortably in his arms... ]

It's good at taking care of itself, don't worry.

[ ... ]

We can head onto the ship if you have stuff you want to set down.

[transmit]

[ nene… when will you get bigger you are so tiny. he leans forward to wave it a lil goodbye. ]

Yeah. I'll be hanging around for a week before I need to head back. [ he has an entire suitcase with him… but perhaps unsurprisingly, every time he's travelled like this more than half of the pace is taken up by things for thorns that thorns hadn't asked for. ] You got your guys ready to load everything up?

[ he gestures with his thumb to the storage units. his supplies… ]

If you wanted to supervise, we can talk later.

[oversea]

[ nene... the runt of the litter...

he's about to answer when, at that moment, member of his crew show up. for some reason thorns told them to wait like ten minutes to walk after after thorns had left? weird. the ones who know elysium all greet him cheerfully. ]

... Mm. We can catch up then.

[transmit]

[ A RUNT BUT IT SHOULD STILL BE ABLE TO GROW UP BIG AND STRONG!!! rights for nene…

he doesn't think twice about thorns being the only one here, just that it's nice to see his friend again after so long. head empty. as for supervising rhodes' end of it, there are a couple of other rhodes operators around who promptly shoo him off to relax. he always does too much? go, go. ]

I'll make myself comfortable, then! [ turning to everyone else, he gives as an enthusiastic of a wave. ] Yooooo—! Have you guys been behaving since I last visited?