✧ — passionfruit green tea.

[boba]

Comments

[oversea]

[ this is beyond stupid. thorns isn't even feeling a doki from this he just wants to beat u elysium. ]

Absolutely not.

[ objectively speaking, elysium is, but thorns will not give up. ]

[transmit]

[



this is so ridiculous that elysium also gives up arguing and just stands up. okay. no arguing with a mourning man… no arguing with a mourning man……

… ]

You said you had a few things to do in the morning, right? Is an hour enough to finish up?

[oversea]

[ HE'S NOT IN MOURNING not that he is aware of what elysium is thinking about. thorns will simply accept this as his victory because elysium yielded first. ]

I can try. Do you want me to meet you somewhere?

[transmit]

[ THORNS IS ACTING SO WEIRD (WEIRDER THAN USUAL) what is he supposed to think? he's not in mourning?? ]

If an hour's too tight, you can always get more time. But yeah, in the canteen probably's easiest.

[oversea]

... I'll make it in an hour.

[ he has no reason to believe this other than pure stubbornness. ]

I'll catch you later then.

[transmit]

[ :)

he will go check up on his fellow operators before going out to socialise with the crew. he is going to subtly ask around about thorns' lover without outright saying he had a lover… what does he find out…

has he exhibited any strange behaviours recently? this is important. ]

[oversea]

[ some of the crew says he's been normal and they haven't noticed anything strange. some note that around the same time he started wearing the feather, he'd wander off to be by himself more often...

someone adds that for some reason he is suddenly much closer to nene seemingly overnight? ]

[transmit]

[ NO… ALL THORNS HAD FOR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT WAS NENE?

after the investigation, he ends up day-drinking to take the edge off the stress. and when the crew asks if he's okay, he tells them he is. he really isn't planning on getting drunk…. ]

[oversea]

[ elysium imagining thorns venting to nene at night in tears...

thorns, meanwhile, is making his rounds. since they're not traveling at sea at the moment, he doesn't have to do the entirety of his usual check, but he needs to at least make sure no tomfoolery happened overnight that might have damaged the ship or the contents in it.

it takes slightly over an hour, especially considering he gets stopped by his crew multiple times to chat, but he hurries to the meeting spot when done. ]

[transmit]

[ if he's not venting, he's clutching nene to his chest through the darkest hours of the night. his emotional support creature.

but, when thorns finally finds elysium, he isn't doing anything particularly notable. he's roped a few others into day-drinking, but it’s still early enough that nothing too unhinged has come of it yet, lifting a hand in a lazy wave toward thorns. ]

Ready to go?

[ for whatever reason, everyone is watching this interaction very, very closely. the others whisper amongst themselves as elysium's back is turned to them. okay. ]

[oversea]

[ this is kind of weird, but thorns will just assume that everyone is really bored and elysium is a fresh face to lighten things up. ]

Yeah. Did you drink water?

[ this is so much drinking two days in a row ]

[transmit]

[ he picks up a glass of water and presents it like it's the greatest gift known to man. of course he has water? and of course he's drinking it? a little sloshes over the rim, but that's fine.

after downing a big gulp, he immediately presses the glass into thorns' hands. ]

Yeah! You too! Stay hydrated.

[oversea]

[ okay he is holding this glass then. thorns does not need it because he has not been day drinking.

he sips the water. ]

Did I miss anything interesting?

[ what's with the stares ]

[transmit]

Not really. [ but give it a moment, and… his eyes widen. ] —Oh.

[ getting to his feet, he slings an arm around thorns' shoulders, already steering him away. he can put away his glass on their way out by the dirty dishes. there are things to be done that don't involve an audience, a collective sigh trailing after them. elysium pointedly ignores the peanut gallery. ]

They were telling me Nene's taken my place as your best friend. Is that true?

[ he sounds faintly huffy. ]

[oversea]

[ out of all the things elysium could have said, thorns was not expecting it to be this dumb. ]

Nene the saltfin?

[ there is so much disbelief in his tone. ]

Yeah.

[transmit]

[ isn't it funny that they're having this conversation twice. some things never change. ]

Why are you adding its species like that bears any relevance to how you feel about it?

You probably feel more of a kinship towards it than some of your crew members…

[oversea]

[ BECAUSE THE IDEA OF IT REPLACING ELYSIUM IS INSANE ]

Well, yeah. Some of them are annoying.

[ thorns would risk his life for them but that doesn't suddenly make them all pleasant to be around.

[transmit]

[ elysium doesn't know that… he essentially annoyed his way into thorns' life. others could do that too? he can't just rest on his laurels. ]

It doesn't give you access to your chemicals…

[ is he seriously building a case right now

perhaps ]

[oversea]

[ thorns is realizing that this is not a bit and elysium is actually competing against a creature without thumbs. ]

I can probably teach it to.

[ don't egg him on... ]

[transmit]

[ …



he pinches thorns' side. ]

No you can't.

[oversea]

[ he really is treating this so seriously... no wonder everyone was staring. ]

How much did you have to drink?

[transmit]

[ crawls back after getting peppersprayed at the goddamn mall ]

Just a bit. It's easier to get things out of people when they're loosened up.

—Wait. Don't distract me. I have thumbs.

[oversea]

[ NOT PEPPER SPRAY

but it is indeed easier... thorns is learning so much right now actually? he reaches out to cover elysium's mouth with his hand. ]

You do. What did they tell you?

[transmit]

They told me about how you've been pi—

[ …

THORNS!!!!! he has made a vow to himself to let thorns talk about his dead lover at his leisure, he cannot be forcing his topic like this. visibly, he looks how anyone might after nearly putting their foot in their mouth and catching themselves at the last second. ]

—cking Nene up and carrying it with you everywhere. Don't you think you might be spoiling it too much?

[ this

is not entirely a lie. which is why it's also not as shitty of one as it could be. ]

[oversea]

[ it is obvious that is not what elysium intended to say but thorns has absolutely no way of knowing how that sentence was supposed to go.

but nene is his baby... thorns does not even consider what it looks like from the outside that he went from treating this creature like the ship mascot to his actual pet. ]

You want me to ignore Nene?