( 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

[lovebombing]

[That distance restablishes. He finally can get his breath of fresh air, unstifled.]

[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.

[transmit]

[ Elysium's compelled to retreat a little further into himself, but he remains rooted by the hand on top of his own. Glancing at it with a small smile, he slides it out from underneath to put it on top of Sampo's to give it a few pats. ]

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 ]

[lovebombing]

The date of my own....heh.

[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?

[transmit]

[ If it looks like he isn't paying attention when Sampo mentions the date, it's intentional. The date is squared away and he distantly contemplates the meaning of it—Sampo had said something along the lines of being a fool, and it's seeming to go a lot deeper than merely being a jester.

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.

[lovebombing]

Now that just makes you sound like a party pooper. A gift can also be essential, y'know-

[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?

[transmit]

[ Things that Elysium anticipates from his little gambit: the stunned silence into the flustered expression, into some sort of retaliation that comes in the form of another kiss or verbal rebuttal. He isn't wrong——but he isn't right, either, as if Sampo has decided to shift several degrees away from what Elysium envisions exactly. A harrowingly tender kiss back, a look that's seemingly reminiscing of a time they'd both agreed that does and doesn't exist, the context of which Elysium doesn't even have to guess.

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. ]