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[oversea]

HELLO

"What do you want?"

GOODBYE

TEXT | VIDEO | VOICE | ACTION

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[transmit]

I can't give you the other Elysium's forgiveness. All I can do is make things equal. We're living in this life, Thorns.

[ His gaze flicks to the splash of red trickling down Thorns' neck, stays there, then looks away. ]

You said that in past tense. What do you want now?

[oversea]

[ he isn't sure how to answer.

logically, he is aware the elysium in that world was fake. but he can't help but think of what other ways he could have handled that situation, that would head lead to a different conclusion. he was confused and trying to figure out how to formulate his thought returning here, and that simply grew over the past few days. ]

The same thing. Not to leave.

[ his hand covers the wound again, and he finally gets up to his feet. ]

[transmit]

[ There are things Elysium still blames himself for, too. Things he'd apologised to the people here for despite them having no recollection or knowledge of. It's not that he doesn't understand—it's who it's coming from that makes it so frustrating, toting that sense of powerlessness along with it.

His gaze flits back to Thorns. ]

Okay. I won't. [ He holds his hand out, palm up. ] … I'm still alive. Just like you.

[oversea]

[ he looks at the outstretched hand, before carefully placing his own over it. sorry it is bloody. ]

Okay. I'm going to the river.

[ he is being really casual about this but he is bleeding from the neck. ]

[transmit]

… It's that bad?

[ Okay……

Drops his hand again. ]

[oversea]

[ he wordlessly grabs his hand again. he didn't say to let go. ]

[transmit]

[ Oh.

They can both go to the river then?? ]

[oversea]

[ they can... it's a short walk. but once they're at the edge, he looks back at elysium. ]

Stay here.

[




and then he just hops in. gooby ]

[transmit]

[ i'm crying

He just continues to hold onto his hand? Unless the river doesn't let him for some reason? He will stay… ]

[oversea]

[ i have no idea how that works but it's fine





but like always, he will eventually come back up from the surface. it will at least be easy to tell what the loss is, considering the entire corazonix is gone. ]

[transmit]

[





does this mean he has two normal arms or is he just one armed thorns now ]

[oversea]

[ just one arm. it is not bleeding. francy is free from trying to figure out how to use this thing in threads for at least three days. ]

[transmit]

[ OKAY.

Considering Elysium did this to him he is just going to keep holding Thorns' hand until he says something first. He really does not have the pep in him to do another introduction like before, so this is a good thing… in the context of this situation…

He waits. ]

[oversea]

Let's go.

[ he is... wet. ]

[transmit]

[ He follows with the energy of a puppy that feels as if it has done something wrong but refuses to leave his side nonetheless. One word and he might be frightened off, though.

Still, now that I no longer have to fear either of them being emotionally vulnerable: ]

I was ready to turn on my companions during our expedition. I probably would've turned on you too, if you'd been there. But you weren't—you were in a coffin at the top of the mountain. [ … ] All our most important people were, and we had to take all of you back.

There was a choice we had to make before that. Whether we wanted immediate vengeance for the circumstances we were put in, or if we could endure to understand why. If I weren't stopped by the people I was with, if I weren't reminded of you—I would've gone for the former.

[oversea]

[ oh.

he really wasn't expecting him to explain it more in detail. his grip tightens for a moment before returning to a more relaxed hold.

So that's what he meant... ]

... Like I said before, we woke up at a brothel. We each had a different identity and memories. I was... someone who spent a lot of time there, apparently.

[ yaywon assigned him whore. but it's also why he got flustered when the topic was briefly touched on, because it was such a 180 from how he actually is. ]

We remembered someone killed us but not who, and we had to figure it out to settle the karmic debt. You were the one who killed me. You did it because I was trafficking humans to be experimented on.

[transmit]

… Where we were, people were divided into Humans and Puppets. Puppets were former humans, and while they had their own will to a certain extent, they're ultimately controlled by their creators. That was why every expedition before ours failed.

[ … He exhales, soft and controlled. His grip reacts instinctively in tightening his hold. ]

I was reminded of Seaborn. I thought… maybe I could at least save Reirin if I took out Siffrin and Yosuke. But neither of them blamed me. We just kept going.

I thought about it after. About whether I could kill you as one, or whether you would kill me. You're not someone who accepts two options when you hate both of them. You would have found a third way. Without meeting you, I would've never came to that realisation. If you'd been in full control of your situation from the start, you would have in yours. I have no doubt about that.

[oversea]

[ that does come down to the root of his problem; the belief that there must have been another solution and he failed to grasp it. it makes him worry if he'd flounder in real life like that, and it feels like he should remember something that isn't quite there...

but there's no point in dwelling on that. ]

... I don't know where I'd be if I never ran into you.

[ ...

they reach their room. thorns will have to let go of his hand once inside to go get spare clothes. ]

[transmit]

We were both lost when I found you, but you're the one who ultimately lit our way. Don't ever forget that.

[ Anyway.

Thorns is going to have to be the one to the one to let go. Sorry. ]

[oversea]

[ help

well

he will take them to where he keeps his clothes and proceed to demonstrate the most pathetic attempt at changing your clothes while you are missing an arm and the other one is attached to a person. ]

[transmit]

[ Unfortunately




he just watches this happen until he starts bursting into laughter. ]

You don't want to let go of me that much?

[oversea]

[ he's going to k word you (real)

but he will let go of his hand out of pure stubbornness so he can get undressed and changed into fresh clothes. he's still wet but whatever he's an aegir, he can use the moisture. ]

Brat.

[transmit]

I was going to help you.

[ And in fact, he still will by adjusting his clothing and toweling parts of him more dry. By the end of it, he just watches for what Thorns decides to do next. ]

[oversea]

[ he's not sure what to do next, really.

there's still things they should talk about. he thinks back to when they were talking at the simulation, and... he blinks. the conversation doesn't really make any sense now, looking back on it, like there's pieces missing.

thorns just grabs his hand again. ]

Was there anything else you wanted to know?

[transmit]

Fia got angry at me earlier when I told her we don't really tell each other anything. That you probably told others more than what you told me. Whatever you choose to tell me is what I hear, and the I just sort of fill in the blanks around it. It's been like this for a while now, hasn't it? So when you ask me that, I honestly can't give you an answer.

[ Elysium looks down at their hands. He wonders whether this is a symptom of something else, or if it brings Thorns genuine comfort. Or if it's simply a way to make sure he doesn't leave.

His smile is the most uncertain it has ever been. ]

What do you want me to know?