✧ — peach iced tea.

[boba]

this post is so clean

Comments

[oversea]

Hm? I would never do that.

[ ...

he looks over in the direction of where the clothing show was. ]

I should get a new jacket with larger pockets...

[ don't think too hard on how he made that leap in topics. ]

[transmit]

[ thorns could not be more blatant even if he tried. okay. ]

Say you make off like a bandit. What are you going to do with a bunch of grass? The most we'll need is for hunting and emergency.

[ they are no longer fighting people or monsters every other day of their lives? whack. ]

[oversea]

[ he just shakes his head, clearly disappointed that elysium doesn't just immediately understand the significance. sometimes you bond so extremely hard that you forget the love of your life does not share all of your questionable hobbies since he's normally in the room for them now. ]

You'll see.

[ a threat. ]

[transmit]

What if I want to see it now? [ he huffs, crowding into thorns' space with a loop around his shoulders. ] Explain it to me.

[ he is not so much interested in the science itself (even if he very will commit it to memory), but the asmr aspect of it: cute boyfriend lectures on the logic behind his questionable science experiments and need to blow things up a regular basis.

it's his version of storytime? thorns is such a fascinating specimen. ]

[oversea]

[ elysium this is ill behavior

i don't know anything about plants despite playing more than one ak who would know things about them. but thorns will explain how even the most innocent looking one can actually be quite useful, whether in medicine or toxicology, and while locals may know some uses they might also not have the equipment necessary to discover all of them, so they might be sitting on a goldmine without knowing it.

a goldmine to who, exactly? thorns. to thorns... ]

[transmit]

[ by the end of it he is so sparkly-eyed thorns is so sexy when he is passionate about his experiments and explosions and roaming the high se—

…

there is a brief blip in his enthusiasm, almost impossible to miss. but it's glossed over nonetheless when elysium presses a smooch to thorns' cheek. ]

As long as you don't bully the elderly. It's enough that you already have me, isn't it? —That should be her cottage up ahead.

[ except

the apothecary is all too happy to discuss beyond the medicinal properties of various herbs with thorns. this really is just hospitality: the village. ]

[oversea]

[ he notices, but he won't comment on it. this is definitely not the time to be probing, in any case.

thorns listens very attentively, and he even gets some free samples for it. maybe not the exact samples he personally would have picked, but it's better than nothing. the apothecary would love to have the occasional help from them; there are certain ingredients that grow fairly deep in the woods and it's gotten more difficult to collect them with old age.

it's also mentioned that they should also talk to the village guard at some point. ]

[transmit]

[ this would be so annoying if all they cared about was the main story (money), but there's something oddly fun about being sent all over with thorns.

still, they've done a lot of walking, a lot of work, and at the end of the day elysium is only human—a human who's dealt with both a sore everything for the past half day. he catches the edge of thorns' sleeve before positioning himself against thorns' back. ]

Piggyback me.

[ making it this far should be impressive enough… ]

[oversea]

It took you a while.

[ thorns expected him to give up like four stops ago, but here we are. before elysium can decide to be stubborn again because of the comment, thorns will grab hold of him. ]

You're going to bed early.

[transmit]

[


thorns knows him too well because he does try to pull away before thorns catches him. he glowers. ]

No we're not.

[ he has decided that like many other things that would've been better for him to not decide, he does not like the usage of 'you' as it implicitly leaves out thorns.

he bites at his neck. ]

Stop making it sound as if I'm doing things alone.

[oversea]

[ thorns was going to just creepily watch him actually, which he thinks is still an involved activity.

he sighs. ]

You'd be asleep.

[transmit]

[ my icons expired overnight and i am simply too comfortable to get out of bed for my card… reuses the same icon forever

but first his ability to walk, then to provide, and now to stay up? thorns is attacking him everywhere today, what the hell. ]

Why are you making it sound like I had to do anything today? All I am is sore.

[ to the average person they've already done so much though ]

We can play xiangqi. There was a board for it back at the inn.

[oversea]

You're exhausted...

[ elysium should have been comfortable in bed all day, and instead he was forced to use his muscles and work... his poor abused bbbb. who will look after him if not thorns? ]

But fine. I'll win.

[transmit]

[ they literally could've stayed in bed all day if thorns didn't taunt him. they are stupid all the time. ]

Do you even know how to play?

[oversea]

I'm a fast learner.

[ so the answer to that question is no, he does not. ]

If we had a chess board we could finish our match.

[transmit]

I don't, either. The first few matches don't count.

[ they can probably get a quick rundown from the couple… ]

But how many ongoing competitions did you want to have, anyway? Don't forget the one we made before coming here. I don't want to win against an opponent just because they've been slacking.

[oversea]

It doesn't matter how many, I'll still win.

[ there is no reason for him to be even half as confident about this as he is. but he figures that if he's losing he can simply suck elysium'a d*ck as a distraction to win. ]

[transmit]

[ okay gojo. someone should app him to the fall game so thorns can have the time of his life. ]

Uh huh…

[ they reach the guard! an old man who, by all appearances, isn't doing any guarding at all. he's fast asleep on the job…? but maybe they shouldn't judge considering elysium's currently on thorns' back. he looks just as useless. ]

[oversea]

[ WELL.

thorns is wondering if he really should just skip the rest of this and bring elysium back to their room, but this is a good opportunity to get a better picture of what security is like here. while the chances of them getting attacked is small, it is not zero, and that's enough to make thorns be concerned. ]

Excuse us. Hey.

[ wake up! ]

[transmit]

[ help

the guard just snores… elysium climbs down, crouching to peer at him more closely. he's a breath away from poking the man with his finger when—

a blade flashes up, cool metal kissing the side of his neck. okay. ]

[oversea]

[ wow!

thorns just pulls elysium back instinctively, which probably does not feel great for his butt yet some sacrifices have to be made. ]

You treat guests poorly.

[ he just immediately jumps to criticism because that's his precious pookie. ]

[transmit]

[ the irony of thorns saying this. anyone would be grumpy if their naptime got interrupted…

elysium just sniffles and rubs his ass gingerly. ]

We were sent here to ask if you needed help…?

[ attempts helpfully despite almost dying. except, the guard is already back asleep? okay. they were bound to run into someone difficult eventually. ]

[oversea]

[ OKAY.

thorns stares at the guard, before grabbing elysium and moving him a few feet away. ]

I'm going to try something. Stay here.

[ he would normally take elysium with him, but his reflexes are not where they should be due to his damaged h*le.

but by try something, he means he is just going to try to walk past the guard into his station. ]

[transmit]

[ wow, thorns is about to be so cool. elysium watches! ready to clap with bated breath.



the guard does nothing. he is too tired to deal with rowdy kids, damn. ]

[oversea]

Let's go home. He doesn't need any help.

[ thorns' heartstrings were not tugged by this villager so he is ready to move on to the next side quest. he goes back to where he deposited elysium to pick him up. ]