( closed ) life like the unplumbed sea;

[transmit]

WHO: Elysium & friends(?)
WHAT: This is now just a catch-all for everything
WHERE: Everywhere
WHEN: 2024
WARNINGS: Blanket warning for possible explorations of dark themes in general, please tread at your own risk. I will, however, endeavour to include specifics in headers if applicable.

Comments

[transmit]

[ What did someone like him know about holding onto anything? He really shouldn't be special, tempted to echo it in the same sort of tongue-in-cheek cadence that Sampo utilises. Instead— ]

Now that I think about it, it's probably not that big of a deal when a whole world's so small compared to an entire galaxy. Isn't that one of the tactics in your playbook? Not pointing out the details someone might've overlooked? I'm going to have to backtrack and reconsider the scale here, you crook.

[ —he goes with something else entirely, smoothing out his discomfort with a gentle pinch to deflect. If only that was how it really worked, and they weren't, in truth, anchored to so many things beyond their own control. ]

… Say. [ … and this is where the illusion fractures, the word punctuated by an intentionally perceptible shift in tone. Despite the way his body relaxes into Sampo's touch by contrast, the arm around him drops to the mat beneath them. A bird on a wire, but only for as long as the gentle breeze holds steady and the pillars in which supports it endures, talons uncurled and susceptible to free fall. ] What do you plan to do after this?

[ More specifically, and to leave no shadow of doubt: ]

When we head back and when you have to face everyone else. Laying low isn't going to resolve anything by itself.

[lovebombing]

I'm not a crook! I'm your dear friend, Sampo Koski! C'maaaawn. Now you're making a big deal over a tiny little deal! And those kind of deals don't get me any profit whatsoever.

[Elysium is obviously a big meanie - he hems and haws a little, playing it up with a little poke to the side. He's basically confirming what Elysium says - any good businessman never reveals his whole hand. The point is to point out a product's (him)'s values, not flaws.]

[The more serious follow-up gets him to blink for a moment, his expression settling into something a little more blank - before it cracks again into a smile. His eyes, though, are a little overshadowed, like a snake peeking through the grasp.]

Do I haaave to? Really. Maybe its best Sampo Koski stays out of the public eye for a while.

[transmit]

Even crooks can have people who cherish them, dear friend.

[ Flaws and all, his tone carrying a wry acknowledgement of the absurdity of his own words—a blatant, unspoken irony he doesn't bother to mask. After all, it had been that very behaviour of his, the kind that others often condemned, that had, in its own twisted way, saved him more than once.

But enough about that. He's more than eager to leave the subject behind, brushing it off with practiced ease when presented with the next available topic. ]

Not really. If you don't care too deeply about resolutions, then I suppose it doesn't matter. But to some extent, it does, doesn't it? Since this is as much for you as it is for me.

[lovebombing]

Mm. I suppose you speak from experience.

[He mutters - and yes, the irony of it all somehow touches him sincerely all the same. It sends a little butterfly flutter through his heart, flummoxed, and he nestles his head against the crook of his neck.]

[He actually frowns at the last part, pensive - before heaving a sigh as those emerald eyes close up.]

See, you got me there. I do like a good resolution. A play is only good as its ending. I just...don't know how to go about doing it, friend.

[transmit]

[ And here he is, tucking the culprit underneath his metaphorical wing despite himself. As much a shelter from the rain as Sampo had been, for him, resting his cheek atop the crown of his head. ]

… Just do what you usually do. [ with a casual gesture, he traces a small circle in the air with his index finger, a lazy yet purposeful motion that underscores his irreverence, a quiet dismissal of the resolution itself. It's not so much the outcome that matters to him so much as

ensuring the other's comfort, at the end of the day. ] If a resolution is too hard for the time being, you can leave it open-ended, come back with a sequel when you're ready. Even if it's shitty, even if the sequel might never see the light of day, I'll still watch and wait for it [ 'I'll still support you,' ] regardless.

You're good at them, aren't you? Surprises, deflection, and all the rest that entails. I'm sure you already know people don't blame you. [ … unlike how Elysium had been so deliberate, on the other hand. ] More pragmatically, they aren't in the position to blame you when it's as much of our fault as it is yours.

Heheh. [ … ] See? Even crooks have their cute sides.

[ Lifting his head a little and taking a hand to angle Sampo's jaw upwards, just to make eye contact from up above. Trailing that same hand upwards, he'll brush his bangs temporarily out of eyes. Have a forehead kiss while he's at it. ]

[lovebombing]

[He'll watch and wait for it. Elysium, audience of one, standing and clapping in the wings of the empty theater. Is that enough? Should he consider that enough? In a way, he does. Because what does the rest of the world mean to him? His heart resides in snowy Belobog for now, and it wants to stay awhile under this little roost he's made for a sad little bird. Does anything else matter?]

[Unfortunately, he knows it does. Even as Elysium tries to reassure him, his heart feels, still, like its dangling heavy, unsure which way to swing. It's comfortable here. He doesn't like to just put it out and get no return except further reminders of his own guilt. True happiness doesn't involve making people feel down, but...]

[He scrunches up his face a little at the kiss, but he's exhaling a laugh, rubbing his nose against the man's face with a bright smile.]

"Our fault"? Gee, that doesn't sound right. But I get it, I get it! I just...have to jump in the deep end with my eyes closed! [And now, a sigh as punctuation.] Really, though, I appreciate it. I do.

[Everything you do for me.]

[transmit]

[ None of it sounds right when there are multiple elephants in the theatre that remain unaddressed. For one, how he's the last person to make any guarantees, and yet here Sampo was, accepting them as they were. ]

Do you? I don't think I've said anything you don't already know.

[ And then Sampo's leaning in, and Elysium retreats, just a little, to briefly stare at the bright smile on the other's face before he flicks his gaze upwards. ]

… I just can't leave things unpaid, is all. By the by, I know you can't, either. So if I end up having to fish you out again, don't think I won't charge you extra for it. I'm not that selfless of a guy. [ Teasingly, and with the charged undercurrent of something else: ] Is that really something to be appreciative of?

[ being the recipient of both his shallow and deep whims, and having certain debts forced upon him, in kind. in "kind." ]