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[oversea]

HELLO

"What do you want?"

GOODBYE

TEXT | VIDEO | VOICE | ACTION

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[oversea]

[






in the water ]

[transmit]

[ Waits like Hachiko… ]

[oversea]

[ ...

he eventually breaks the surface. hi. ]

[transmit]

[ Hauls him to shore and immediately swaddles him in a towel… ]

[oversea]

[ it takes a moment... before he blinks his eyes open, confused about his whereabouts before realization hits. ]

Elysium...?

[transmit]

Yeah! It's Operator Elysium of Rhodes' 3rd Combat Squad, vanguard and communications specialist extraordinaire reporting in. I'm from Iberia and I'm the one who recruited you to Rhodes Island. We've known each other for the better part of a decade, I help you with your lab experiments, we play chess, and we get up to the other Iberian's businesses whenever they start getting lonely.

You like me thiiiiiis much [ extends his arms out wide ] and you listen to everything I say.

[ Did he have this entire practiced speech ready for this moment


maybe. ]

That's me. Your best friend.

[oversea]

[ well

he nods along, his expression neutral but slightly exasperated like he thinks this is ridiculous? he's fine.

... although, at a certain part of the speech, his microexpression turns into a slight frown before he nods slowly again. ]

... Right. I don't listen to everything you say.

[transmit]

Yes you do. [ scruffs his hair. ] I'm older. The river messed with you…

[oversea]

I don't think that was it messing with me...

[ he thinks elysium is just lying? perhaps?

although he still seems a bit uncertain. ]

[transmit]

[ sees this and immediately relents… clears his throat. ]

… How are you feeling otherwise?

[oversea]

I feel okay. The river works.

[ he stares at him. he really does stare at him a lot lately. ]

What were you saying before?

[transmit]

[ He is so preoccupied with so many other things he does not really notice the staring. His hands are on Thorns, patting him down where all his injuries had been. Literally where all of them had been——he remembers them all. ]

Do you feel like anything's missing?

[ overrules thorns' question asking ]

[oversea]

Not at all. But–

[ hm.

well, there's no point in dancing around it. ]

Some of the things you were saying didn't make any sense.

[transmit]

[ Well.

He can't say he wasn't ready for this. Nothing about his smile or demeanour drops. ]

Which parts?

[oversea]

[ well, he remembers elysium, and isn't that what his main concern had been before?

so it shouldn't matter what his answer is. ]

What's Iberia?

1/2

[transmit]

[transmit]

It's a country that doesn't have much to speak about. It's boring, depressing to no end. Grey and drab. The streets are empty and everyone there's as quiet as if they're ghosts. The most memorable parts of it are its humid breeze and the saline taste it leaves in your mouth.

When you think about why you went on your pilgrimage—why you want to sail the seas—what comes to mind?

[oversea]

I've never had interest in the sea.

[ oh. is this because of the river? it's odd; he isn't sure how he would have ever noticed this if elysium didn't happen to mention it right away. ]

You're from this Iberia, then? You don't sound as if you like it that much.

[transmit]

[ i'll kill you ]

Not at all. [ … ] But it's the home I'm responsible for. What do you last remember before coming here?

[oversea]

I was on a journey to train in swordsmanship. I even ran into you.

[ ... somewhere...

... ]

Huh. I thought if I forgot something, it would be something more important.

[transmit]

No. You did forget something important.

[ But… he would know best that it isn't something you can just push. He helps Thorns to his feet, keeping his hands on him in case he slips. ]

… For now, let's just get you back to our room and get you changed. What happened to you while you were away? You looked awful. I told you all about mine——so you better do the same.

[oversea]

[ ... getting changed is probably for the best; the clothes he's wearing, to them, look like yanese robes that are definitely long and flowy and terrible to walk in while soaked. his hair is still long, so he'll need to cut that as well. ]

... Right. [ elysium did not tell him the version of events after he remembered thorns again, but that's fine. ] We were at some brothel and had to get revenge on a person who had killed us.

[transmit]

[ he told you like 90% of the plot shut up ]

Can you do a better job of explaining. Top to bottom.

[oversea]

[ he thought his explanation was perfect???? ]

The four of us woke up at a brothel. We still had our regular memories, but we also had a second set from the place we were in. We all remembered dying in different ways but were brought back somehow, and we knew we had to kill whoever it was that killed us.

The whole thing was basically figuring out who did it and tracking them down to settle our karmic debt.

[transmit]

[ he's going to track down everyone else for their account ftr ]

Did you have to deal with the people here filling in the rest of the cast?