chatime | ✧ — peach iced tea.

Mm.

[ he reaches over to grab his hand again, seemingly refusing to let go of it.

they really do seem to be swinging back and forth over a cliff whenever things have even the possibility of going wrong. it feels like one wrong step could send them toppling over the edge, and then... what? what happens after that? ]

Let's go. You need to get looked at after.

[ this is not the right vibe for going to tell a group of friends he just murdered one of their besties but he at least has the whole way there to think about it.

elysium's grip is loose by comparison, but about halfway through the way back—

thorns will feel… blood trickle onto him… the shirt he's tied around his wound soaked entirely through. does elysium notice anything, though? nope. he just continues onward, deep in thought. ]

[ ...

he stops walking, pulling elysium to a stop. ]

We're treating your wound now.

[ he vaguely remembers seeing what looked like a sign to a clinic along the way. he could also do this at the hotel since they have first aid materials, but he's worried it might be a lot more serious than he thought it was. ]

… Your priorities are all messed up. Is this really more important than getting back to the others? They're worried sick. Probably running themselves ragged trying to find their friend.

[ he thinks to how much thorns had dropped when he'd come back from zeruertza critically wounded. his gaze drops to their joined hands before flicking back up to thorns. ]

I see. [ … ] Okay.

[ if elysium hadn't relented, thorns really would have said it's more important. the logical side of him is aware that might not be the case because, if anything, they could tend to elysium's wounds at the same time as breaking the news. but that still requires getting there, gathering everyone together, going to a secure spot... a lot of wasted time.

so thorns will direct them to the clinic. it's not unusual for them to see people with weapon wounds, so they won't pry too badly into what happened other than to get an idea of what caused the damage in case they need to look for things embedded into the cut. ]

[ the attending physician looks aghast enough when they uncover his wound that elysium very belatedly remembers to express his pain…… it's deep, exposes flesh, and covers almost the entire length from his shoulder to his elbow.

he asks if they want help cleaning the mess he's made and they just look at him like why are you so abnormal. elysium needs a mental reset so bad. now that they've already wasted time taking a detour, they may as well keep wasting time… ]

[ meanwhile thorns is standing there radiating murderous vibes because he refused to not be in the room. when they say it's not really protocol he just replies that they're married.

but he is taking mental notes of the injury. oh elysium, when he gets his hands on you. ]

[ thorns you are making this so awkward

he shoots the physician an apologetic look… they clearly want him gone as soon as possible because of this, but the pressure of thorns' scrutiny makes it feel like he'll kill them if the job isn't perfect. it's hard to focus under that kind of intensity, but they do what they can…

meanwhile, elysium thinks to say something but doesn't. sometimes you are just a guy riding on the high of being called husband. ]

[ they can't argue against it because they have items that make it look like they're married.

thorns will at least not make comments as they work, but he's watching so hard. once it looks like they're done, ]

How should we look after it.

[ he asks as if he's threatening them ]

[ they'll have to change the dressings at least once a day for the next while, and when the wound looks like it's healed up some they can pivot to once every few days. if the pain is bad they can prescribe painkillers that aren't available over the counter, to which elysium kindly declines.

in the meantime, they suggest not to strain it or to put pressure on it at all. it is extremely liable to reopen; just a few inches deeper, the wound would've been bone deep. given he'd just carried an entire adult man a sizeable distance across a city, elysium just

looks away at this… hehe… ]

[ he feels such rage towards the love of his life.

thorns just nods and then will take elysium's hand to get him out of there. he is squeezing his hand? it can perhaps be because of how much thorns loves him, but also because he is imagining squeezing his head like this. ]

I'm going to kill you later.

[ he lets thorns tug him along… ]

Will you follow after me? I'll get lonely otherwise.

[ the things that come out of his mouth just progressively get more concerning. he sees nothing wrong with this.

a little more quietly under his breath, ]

We've been through worse…

It doesn't matter. You shouldn't be getting injured at all.

[ elysium may have gotten through worse but thorns doesn't want him to be going through anything bad in the first place. ]

I'm going to keep you safe. Ignoring when I kill you.

Hmmm. If it's by your hand, I could accept dying.

[ he squeezes thorns' hand back. he doesn't know… he still thinks they should've done the clinic later when he's about to get beat up by their rookies, but oh well. ]

How are you going to kill me?

[ thorns would really love to give a normal response but he's still having flashbacks to that remote village in iberia, which was when he actually did have to kill elysium. thorns looks ahead. ]

With my sword.

[ this sounds like such a 'well, duh' reply but it's the only thing he can manage at the moment, when elysium getting injured is still a very recent event. ]

[ okay. sure. that tells him so much. it falls so flat he doesn't even want to attempt to recover it, so they can just walk in this awkward silence together.

…

thankfully, they don't have to deal with it for long when the hotel is a short few blocks away. he looks at their hands, wondering if thorns will let go, shoving his other hand into a pocket before taking a quick peek into the foyer. ]

Looks like they're still out searching. [ unsurprising. the very first incident that set all of this in motion had left him searching for days. he thinks he could've kept going for weeks and even months, if he'd had to. ] It's been, what, couple hours now? Are you calling them back, or me?

I can.

[ they might move slightly faster if it's thorns due to bias. but he does so, and then waits as they trickle in one by one. he holds onto elysium's hand the whole time, his grip only tightening when he sees each face.

of course, every time one shows up they ask for an update, and thorns just tells them to wait until everyone gets here. once they do and make sure their location is secure. ]

We found him. Unfortunately, he was captured by an enemy and drugged. We are still investigating what they injected him with, but it made him hostile. [ ... ] He was killed in the struggle.

[ they watch them cycle through the stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. acceptance never comes. instead, they circle endlessly through the first four, sometimes separately, sometimes all at once, until it's pure anger that finally settles in their bones. fingers point first at the defender, until realisation strikes:

what struggle? between him? elysium? there's no way death was the only option.

the caster advances first, grip tightening around their staff. the defender just stands there, shell-shocked, almost catatonic. only last night, they'd both been laughing together, making plans to celebrate their graduation from trainee to full-fledged operators. the guard was this close to mastering the destreza. that'd explain elysium's injury. ]

… If you need someone to blame, blame me. I'm the one who made the call. But you already knew, even the other night, that we were being pursued. This mission was never as simple as it was made out to be.

It's a lesson. A brutal one that no one should have to learn, but one that happens to the best of us nonetheless. Out here, anything can happen. And tearing each other apart? That's how you all end up dead. What you should be doing now is supporting each other, not breaking each other down. They'll let us know when he's cleared for visitation.

[ what he says isn't wrong. but now is hardly the time.

it's like looking in a mirror, almost. there isn't much more to share than that, but more importantly… the difference really is that they have each other. ]

[ at the very least, it seems like they're not going to attack elysium. that's not to say that they won't want to fight him later, but they have at least accepted that they should talk amongst themselves first to try to figure things out. whether or not they'll still be angry or not is another thing. ]

Rhodes Island is sending more staff here as backup. Until they arrive, you all need to stay in the hotel and stay together. While it is not impossible to get attacked while in a group, they likely would prefer not to. It draws too much attention, especially in a city.

[ it's likely why they had to get them drunk first before moving in to separate them. ]

You'll get further orders once we know more on what's happening.

[ they argue about having to stay inside, because of course they want to go and hunt down who did this. thorns ask them if they know who to look for, they say no. thorns asks if they have ever been here before this, and they say no. he sends them back to their rooms, and then sends one of his lil constructs after them so that he'll know if they make a break for it or not. ]

...

[ there are so many possibilities to think about, so many what-ifs he has and hasn't explored. but there is one road he's gone down where there's no going back, and it's this— thorns' hand in his.

when they're finally left alone, he turns to face thorns again. ]

Are you going to listen to your own words?

[ in reference to staying in the hotel and together. it's worded like a question but it isn't really one, especially after everything they'd already talked about before. trick question. ]

[ this is where thorns is torn about this.

this group, whoever they are, keep showing up again and again. at a surface level, everything seems completely unrelated to each other, but every time it points back to them. if their plans are to keep traveling around together, then there is a chance they may run into this again. it makes thorns wants to investigate so that they can better avoid the tragedies that they keep getting thrust into.

but how can he say that in a way that doesn't come off as this is more important than being with elysium? from thorns' point of view, it's to assure that they can, but it requires finally having that Talk. ]

... I said we can run away together.

[ he tells himself it'll be rhodes' problem, not theirs. the real concern is that their faces are already known, but if they just keep their heads down and make like civilians since they will be civilians, what reason would there be to go after them?

plenty, considering elysium's killed more than a fair share of their people by now or lead to them, but surely they won't expend resources on chasing a random guy… ]

Is now already later?

If you want it to be. Any time can be later.

[ he looks over at the door, his grip on elysium's hand remaining firm.

they should stay for when the other operators arrive. ditching the rookies right now is possibly the absolute worst move they could make for their mental health. but if elysium suggests they should leave, thorns will follow. even though he's aware it may be a bad move. ]

[ every part of him wants to take thorns and run. but it doesn't take critical thinking to know that it isn't the wisest choice; even if they wait for the other operators to arrive, it's too optimistic to think they could simply slip away without anyone's notice. he would not be surprised if they were being monitored since their arrival. inevitably, by sticking around they'll be pulled into the mission, and after how dangerous zeruertza had been… he doesn't think it's wrong to be wary.

… ]

Let's wait for the situation to play out. I'll get roped into surveillance at most, but at least that doesn't put me on the field.

[ his fingers skim over thorns' knuckles, a quiet touch, almost pleading touch. ]

Will you stay with me?

Of course.

[ the last thing he wants to be is away from elysium, anyway. even with all the abilities the corazonix gives him, he still can't be in two places at once. ]

It'll give us time to plan out our next steps.

[ so many of their decisions and actions the past few hours have been reactionary, so what they might genuinely need is a chance to actually sit down and think instead of immediately leaping to an extreme. ]

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