[ thorns can experience the joy of living with another person when his 3-in-1s keep going missing. there is only shampoo, conditioner, and cleanser all in their separate bottles. likelier is thorns only bothering to use shampoo and forgoing everything else while elysium keeps wondering why the shampoo keeps running out well before the others, but that's a future problem! ]

Maybe. But you don't put your chemicals in all at once when you're experimenting, do you? There's an order to these things. One reaction leads to another—skincare is as much a science as anything else…

[ funny, elysium could say the same about intimacy. the moment thorns is in his arms, he's immediately mollified and wonders why he was even angry to begin with? this is a good excuse to keep thorns in one place and touch him. wow.

he gently slaps thorns' cheeks with toner. plap. ]