✧ — passionfruit green tea.

[boba]

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[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?

[oversea]

[ they start chatting excitedly, and the topics vary from talking about how they actually reached the sea to if elysium has a girlfriend. why are they talking about this.

thorns ignores this. or mostly ignores this. he is listening to see how elysium answers the last thing. ]

[transmit]

[ dating is scary… it is probably a coincidence that he glances over his shoulder toward thorns. do they make eye contact?

regardless, his answer doesn't change. he isn't seeing anyone as work keeps him busy. why the interest? is romance in the air around the ship? he starts prodding for details. give them to him. ]

[oversea]

[ they do but thorns does that thing where you try to pretend you weren't just staring at someone. but they complain it's the opposite–being away from land more often than not means there's less opportunities to find it. there are hookups, but since the crew is now much smaller than it once was, there are less chances for it to happen...

thorns goes back to directing where the cargo should go. he got the answer he wanted. ]

[transmit]

[ thorns that one crewmember we used as a plot device is going to come back to haunt you

gossip really is universal, though. back on rhodes it's romance gossip, and now it's romance gossip on la conquista. but, they do eventually move out of range as elysium heads toward the guest rooms where the rhodes operators are usually stowed. out of sheer curiosity, he starts asking about thorns. how about their captain? has he shown interest in anyone? ]

[oversea]

thorns is not aware that guy is a problem in this psl so it's an issue for later.

they explain that he started wearing a liberi feather seemingly out of nowhere one day, but he took it off when they arrived here. they look at elysium with some slight confusion, and one says that they actually assumed it came from elysium...

thorns is unaware of any of this is going on......... his job. ]

[transmit]

[ …

elysium goes through a full internal crisis but manages to clarify that he is not the one who gave thorns the feather. somehow, this only makes the rumours worse! he's the only liberi anyone ever sees thorns getting cozy with, so now they're determined to get to the bottom of it… mysterious. no one has a life on this goddamn ship. news of elysium being single also seems to be a topic, apparently.

he waddles back to his room. sits down. he stares at a single spot on the wall until thorns presumably comes to retrieve him. this is the most uncomfortable he's ever been in his life? so much for getting comfortable. he has so many questions. ]

[oversea]

[ thorns is completely unaware of any of this since he didn't hear any part of the conversation after confirming that elysium is single. life is bliss when you are ignorant.

but he does eventually pop in to check on elysium. he was good and greeted the other operators as well, who all commented that was the first time he said hi to them first... wow, what becoming a captain does to a person... ]

Elysium?

[transmit]

Thorns…

[ why was he left alone for so long with his thoughts. he snaps back to attention, looking almost sheepish. ]

I'm starting to think your crew has too much free time.

[ the irony of elysium of all people saying this ]

[oversea]

They need to entertain themselves somehow.

[ he wants to ask what happened, but he figures it's about something he doesn't care about. little does he know, he should care. ]

Come on. Let me show you all the upgrades Weedy made.