chatime | ✧ — passionfruit green tea.

Yeah, sounds good.

[ and this way thorns can watch elysium to see if he actually is secretly interested in this and if he is he can throw himself into the sea. ]

We can meet up later.

[ what is romance… elysium hallucinating that a version of him gave him his feather, apparently, and everyone else corroborating that thorns was wearing one up until today. he resists the urge to glance over his shoulder as he leaves, finding most of the operators now in the room, in the middle of settling themselves.

in the end, most of them come along simply to pass the time, elysium showing up at the docks with the group. as far as appearances go, he looks a little tidier than when thorns left him, hair styled, though only in that distinctly nonchalant way…?

jk he looks try hard as he always does. ]

[ why did elysium fix his hair... is it because he wants to find a boyfriend??????

thorns is spiraling but he just nods his head at them when he sees them. the pirates have found a neat little tavern that agreed to save enough space for them; sailors tend to like to get drunk which means a lot of money for them yippee.

but they'll lead them there... everyone is chatting excitedly! the mood is good!!!

thorns makes sure to walk slightly behind elysium on the way there so he can watch him... and then see what he does about seating... ]

[ wow maybe he just wants to find a girlfriend… have you considered that? he is in his het era for real.

but no, he's just being his vain self, wanting to look presentable for what he's treating as any other social event. thorns' crew knows not to be cringe, right? that's the hope, not that elysium's actively worrying about it when no one's given him a reason to.

anyway, unfortunate for thorns: he doesn't actually get to see what elysium does about seating on his own volition, as the moment they walk in, someone's already waving at him, excitedly, gesturing for him to come sit next to them. he figures sticking too close to thorns would just make him annoying, so he sees no reason not to go along with it. ]

[ OKAY.

thorns watches his not boyfriend go... before just picking any random, empty seat. the spots next to him take a bit to fill, half because some of the operators don't know him well enough to not be intimidated by a pirate captain, and half because his crew mates are unsure about being next to their boss.

life is hard.

the ones who organized it all immediately start to order drinks once everyone is situated. thorns looks to see what elysium is doing. ]

[ thorns would not be in this position if he did not divorce his wife

also

what else is there to do but drink and make merry? if he notices thorns being too much of a wallflower, he'll make his way over first chance he gets. otherwise, he does not have work… so it's fine to get a little buzzed, isn't it?

alcohol on someone else's dime!! yippee ]

[ he hates it here so bad.

elysium is having fun so thorns is just going to try very hard to not act like an ex who can't move on, which is very hard because that is essentially what is happening here without the ex being aware of it.

after a while he just wanders off to talk to the bartender about what trade is like... he turns this into a work event... ]

[ okay, but.

is he really going to let that weirdo they saw in the lake approach elysium. has he not had enough romantic drama in his life? he is slowly inching closer while elysium remains unaware, simply just taking shot after shot while encouraging everyone else around him to. it isn't everyday that they get to gather like this… wow!!! ]

[ it's fine... thorns is watching... he just isn't hovering annoyingly.

after a while he wanders back after getting information he needs. he stops in front of elysium to deposit a glass of water he got from the bartender in front of him. ]

[ looks at this glass of water

picks up another shot glass and puts it in thorns' hand, simultaneously taking another one for himself. ]

We haven't done any cheers yet, Thorns!

[ the crew member in the background pauses… thinking he will have a chance after they finish this exchange. he waits patiently while pretending he is just in the general area for some reason. ]

[ unfortunately the only person who exists right now to thorns is elysium. he holds this glass. ]

You need water, idiot.

After! Toast me first!

[ well

even if thorns doesn't want to clink their glasses, elysium goes ahead and does it anyway. what is water when he can just become 80% alcohol instead? he's having a great time.

others are, too, if them starting to get risque is any indicator. ]

[ oh my god the hookups are actually working...

thorns wants to shield elysium from this, which is insane since they aren't dating. can't believe that he pretended for two seconds that he would have been okay with elysium hooking up with people to satisfy his libido if needed, that was such a lie.

but okay. thorns will drink this...... ]

[ people are starting to wild out… elysium is none the wiser as he shares this shot with thorns.

or he would be none the wiser. what's faster: thorns' trigger finger or some person tapping elysium on the shoulder to get his attention. it is up in the air what they want from him, but it is unlikely to be anything good from thorns' perspective…

this is true debauchery hours. ]

Yes—?

[ the guy has given up on waiting and is just full on trying to interrupt now. okay ]

[ so here's the thing.

the reason that thorns hadn't done anything about this guy is that he did not remember it's the same one from the visions of another life. is this his fault for not paying close enough attention to other people? perhaps. he was so focused on keeping an eye on elysium it did not occur to him to keep an eye on anyone else...

he watches the interaction. unfortunately for the guy, thorns is still standing very close to elysium so he is going to have to try hitting on him like this. ]

[ HOW CLOSE IS VERY CLOSE? IS HE BREATHING ON HIM?

either way, it is probably uncomfortable enough that he asks if elysium minds stepping away to talk to him about something. elysium remembers him as someone he's seen and helped on occasion the times he's been aboard la conquista, so he has no reason to say no or have his guard up…

still, for whatever reason, he looks over to thorns like he's asking for permission. it feels like the right thing to do!

¿¿¿bueno??? ]

[ thorns, clearly annoyed: ]

Go ahead.

[ oh

upon seeing this, he completely sidelines the other guy. he might be pleasantly buzzed at this point, but he's still very much himself. ]

… Do you mind if we raincheck? I forgot there was something else I needed to do.

[ offers no additional context to anyone and just

latches onto thorns' wrist to lead him outside, ignoring what anyone else might have to say to this. bye!! ]

[ thorns realizes he is being a brat.

but he also cannot hold his alcohol, and the amount he has drank is enough to make him careless enough to forget that he's supposed to be Normal. he lets himself be dragged away. ]

Elysium...

Hm? I wanted fresh air.

[ thorns* looked like he wanted fresh air. that, and he seemed oversocialised. in elysium's world, he was hoping the alcohol would help loosen him up, but perhaps not. ]

You'll keep me company out here, won't you?

[ willingly defaults now as this is just the vibe ]

Yeah...

[ a part of him will feel bad later for making elysium leave the festivities for a bit, but he is not thinking about that at all right now. ]

He wanted to talk to you.

So?

[ genuinely he could not sound more nonchalant about it ]

If he wanted to talk back there, it probably wasn't that important. I'd rather be out here.

[

animal crossing flowers ]

It is a nice night.

[ animal crossing flowers back… ]

Should we sneak out even further?

[ he debates, wondering if it would be good or not to take elysium away from everyone else considering how much fun he was having.

... ]

Yeah. We can explore.

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