![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
( closed ) life like the unplumbed sea;
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.
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.
no subject
[He always has himself to blame for everything. He sought him out, he reengaged him. So many opportunities to leave and dust off his hands and go. Just go. He's left a million times before, he'll leave for another million times.]
[In a way, it feels like he's in the audience, yelling at the protagonist of the movie to get a move on, already!. Elysium's words are chipper and not...meant for him. This whole thing isn't meant for him. They're pantomiming something nice and normal, something meant for lovers in some fairy tale. Which they're not. A Fool and a dying bird. There's no story that should be about that.]
[He lets out a little grunt of a sigh, more exasperated than anything. Elysium sinks in deeper.]
[Sampo, out of sheer and honest spite, kisses him. Once on the shoulder, once on the neck, a string up to his jawline to nibble slightly over the line there.]
Have you caved, my dear Elysium?
no subject
Out of the many other reactions he's restrained himself from exhibiting thus far, this is one that Elysium allows himself to express without inhibitions: this one is easily explainable as visceral, nothing quite as earnest being its driving force. He shudders under it with a contented sigh that verges on being a hum—physical attraction, chemistry. They're far simpler to think about and maybe
they'll be able to convince themselves that this is what their intensity is ultimately meant to lead to, nothing more, nothing less——as it appeared to be leading up to, before things had taken such a dive. Elysium presses a kiss against Sampo's temple, as the hand that had been in his hair slides down to his hip, threatening to go lower. ]
You sure you want to see it? I'll be even more annoying and persistent than I usually am.
[ Really, the opposite couldn't be more true. What definition of 'cave' Sampo's using most likely matches up with his own—but they (Elysium) can simply just not go with it when they're both being so purposefully vague, and that suits his purpose fine. ]
no subject
[Physical is easy.]
[No need for tougher things. No need to dwell on the specifics. Have your fun until the sun comes up, and then some. A game will always be a game. When would he ever engage in it for anything more than getting a high or snatching things under people's noses? In any case, Sampo knows its a distraction, and its one he plays well, even if
this feels like running too.]
[Once a coward, always a coward.]
[The hand drifts lower. He welcomes it, but it surprises him a little how much he wants to mold into it for more than just a simple rush up the spine. As if he is one of those things, melding into flesh, twisting until they can't recognize each other and
maybe this is the same thing one feels at the edge of an abyss.]
[His face falls a little.]
Of course I do. I really, really do. But....it's been a long day. [He finally says, a little dully. It doesn't feel fun in the way he wants. He places a kiss against the corner of the man's mouth, but he's obviously starting to withdraw a little, mentally.] I want a drink.
no subject
It really isn't the time for this. ] … I get it though.
[ Was it a matter of a night that flipped their dynamic upside its head, or was it a lifetime? Nevermind the time and place, even Elysium finds it difficult to return to how they were. But that's where persistence came into play, and how one could fool themselves told a lie enough times. The real question of whether he wants to make that lie—that's a different story.
Sampo kisses the corner of his mouth, and his resolve shakes just a bit from the hollowness of it—clinical, distinctly missing the charged magnetism of their first encounters, and the … desperation of their last. He feels sick, so with a second attempt to force said feeling into a locked box that's miraculously more successful than his last, he puts on another smile as he re-establishes their distance, hand on Sampo's shoulder to maintain it. ]
That reminds me. I haven't forgotten about the drink I still owe you. I was going to message you about it before this whole thing happened, but I managed to pick up a few things here in Las Vegas, so it might've even worked out for the best. What say you to a celebration once we're finished up here? [ a wink. ] To us. For getting through this long day.
[ …for getting through that long nightmare. For many other things too, that makes throwing away that key so hard specifically. ]
no subject
[So why does it feel like his chest is still tight?]
[His gaze flits down like a wounded little butterfly, before he manages to collect himself, reach up to place his gloved hand over the one on his shoulder.]
That's right. You DO owe me! Sampo Koski will always be around to collect his debts....hehe, though I have a debt of my own to pay.
[A quirk of a smile to the side.]
In all my haste...I did never get you that birthday gift. My bad. It's on the list, now. Signed, sealed, delivered...it will be yours. Along with that celebration.
[.......He has half of some idiotic thought to throw himself back into the other's arms. What is he, fifteen? He bites his tongue, and keeps his words steady.]
A celebration of us.
no subject
I wouldn't call that a debt. More of a playful demand, really.
[ He's smiling, but there's none of his usual enthusiasm, more subdued. Saying that he wasn't expecting Sampo to remember feels like it would be a little revealing on its own… but the fact that he can't even begin to summon the same whimsical disposition he'd used back then says just as much. ]
Isn't there some kind of statue of limitations on these things? [ two months and some change later, sheesh. ] No need, my man, unless you're willing to disclose the date of your own. I wasn't being that serious; we're more than enough cause for celebration.
[ He takes the same hand on top of Sampo's to pinch his cheek. Isn't that embarrassing? What kind of grown man would clamour for a birthday celebration so long after the fact, helloooooo? ]
No need to tack on anything else.
[ let's not put him on the spot here ]
no subject
[A distant sort of statement. What is there, really, of "Sampo Koski" that should be known?]
[But he seems to come up with something, his eyes twinkling with mirth.]
You know, you could always celebrate my birthday on the fourth month and the first day of the- hEY!
[STOP PINCHING HIS CHEEK he is IMMEDIATELY batting him AWAY, BINCH]
Hands off the merchandise, buddy! This handsome face isn't to be marred even by the likes of you!
[Now he's returning the favor, putting his hands on either side of Elysium's face to squish up his cheeks.]
Hehe, are you the shy one, now? Someone doesn't like getting gifts? Never thought I'd meet a person like that. [He laughs at that, placing a little silly peck of a kiss against his nose. Just for whim. Just because. The path of Elation continues, no matter what.] Then I'll make sure to really embarrass you. How does that sound?
no subject
He wouldn't be surprised. At the same time, he really isn't given the chance to think about it, face scrunching and his nose wrinkling at the kiss.
Ruining his face is a larger crime?? And beyond that: bro, what. He scowls to immediate effect, and yet… he doesn't bat Sampo away, even as faint colour dusts his cheeks. ]
Oh, please. I'm sure you've already noticed, but there isn't much I hang onto. It's a part of having travelled for so long, because it isn't that practical to carry non-essentials with you.
[ He's maybe amassed a respectable collection now in the four years he's stayed with Rhode Island, but the fact remains.
He sighs, listless, placing his hands on top of Sampo's. What he does next? It's also out of pure spite. This is what he tells himself before, during, and likely after as he leans back in to steal another kiss on Sampo's mouth.
It doesn't contain intensity or desperation as it doesn't need to, but it is unlike the brush of their mouths previously. It lingers, and with an annoyed huff, Elysium deepens it by pressing closer then pulls away near instantly; a step into fire is a step into it nonetheless, and there's only so much a living being can override its own survival instincts when it burns regardless of how long one's been exposed. ]
… That's why, I prefer making memories instead! [ this is what SAMPO gets for being so INSISTENT it takes a binch to know one ] Thanks for the belated birthday gift.
no subject
[He doesn't have a chance to finish that thought. Elysium makes his chessboard move, and its a doozy of one, equvalent to a check. Not a checkmate, yet, but the kiss lingers, and there's a sudden rush of warmth in his cheeks that feels a little too much to handle.]
[Elysium sets his foot back into the water of the sea, and the waves want to lap against it, a tide returning forevermore. He stares at the man for a moment, eyebrows knotted together with obvious conflict.]
Memories, huh.
[He manages to say, with a little noise of contention. Mm. He needs to sort himself out. This is unbecoming of him. The flustered expression is wiped away - focus, focus - and he smiles now, languidly.]
[Here's a proper kiss of his own. It won't last as long, but he sears the man's lips into his. And that's it. Like a taste.]
Thank you for the memory, my friend. Now, that's some good luck! I'll use it for that big ol' worm. I think Sampo Koski can take it on, don't you?
[Now he is well and fully detaching, almost dancing back with a laugh. He has to keep his heart light. If he lets it sink, that will be too far.]
You'd better take care of yourself, you hear?
no subject
That's… his mask askew again, isn't it? Isn't that what Elysium had been trying to taunt out of him all this while? Yes. No. What had been underneath the entire time from their first meeting was and is supposed to be something that threatens to consume him whole—something that would be equally as willing to spit him back out too the moment he'd grown tired of him, not this apparition of someone who genuinely
cares. ]
… Would you have preferred it if I used the word "moment"?
[ The words escape his mouth, unbidden, and there's a brief second where his own face scrunches in response to it. Quickly replaced with a dry laugh, he watches as Sampo retreats. Elysium runs his tongue over his own lips, as if chasing the ghost of what was previously there, purposeful. A pang in his chest has him wanting to turn on his heel—the same pang has him wanting to drag Sampo back by the collar to kiss the mask off completely.
oh brother. although his gut instinct has technically yet to be wrong, still—he really should have questioned what kind of danger he may have signed himself up for. it's a bit too late for that. ]
Just kidding. Semantics. They're both the same at the end of the day.
[ No, that hadn't been the case at all. Not then, not now. A feeble attempt at driving another wedge between him and the approaching deep-end. ]
But you always know just the thing to say, don't you. [ wry. it's not a compliment. ] Better do the same for yourself, seeing as neither of us will be able to celebrate 'us' without the other. Give some other people a chance to shine, okay?
[ ——and then Sampo gets the last hit, because of course he does. ]