( 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]

Yeah, yeah.

[Life isn't fair. Life isn't fun. Life should be full of joy, but it isn't. A bird is cursed to end his life in suffering.]

[So yes, you have to roll with the punches. Find little bits of happiness. And if something doesn't have it, turn the trash into treasure. Things don't need to sink.]

[But maybe, if they can't fly, they can float on the endless waters, and stare at the sky above them in their splendor.]

[His ears are burning with the little bite - what a minx this guy is! - and he can't help but hold him a little tight, afraid with the jump. Now, they're on solid ground, but he doesn't let go for...a moment, as if afraid to lose more than just his life, now. He relents, though, settling on his feet, and-]

[Their hands intertwine. He stares at it for a moment - the anchor binds him, too - before he grins ever brightly.]

Follow me, and we'll see!

[To the great unknown! Or rather....on the train to the outskirts. Ruins stand in their wretched state, but close to the temple there are some flowering trees, wandering cats, and little places to camp out under the stars. And sure enough, Sampo has brought a nice tent to set up here, along with the necessities. Snacks, a nice pot to cook some stew and such over a little campfire, and comfortable blankets to rest their heads.]

[Just them, and the world, and no one else to enter this little bubble. As if time could still, and they could simply exist, with no worries or fears. Of course they're there, but...]

[Everything on the backburner. He'll make sure to be the best distraction he can be.]

[A night comes, and he's settling against Elysium on the blanket here, emerald eyes reflecting the glitter of the stars as he knocks his forehead against the other's shoulder.]

Do you like it here, Elysium?

[Is this what he wanted?]

[transmit]

[ It's an unfamiliar feeling—being led, following in the footsteps of someone else. Yet, he moves in perfect lockstep, almost mesmerised by it. The location, the setup, the meticulous planning and preparation—it's all so foreign to experience from the other side, these things he's used to taking upon himself, either for himself or for other people. Now, watching someone else take the reins, he feels a strange mix of awe and disorientation, like a part of him is untethered, somehow.

It isn't unpleasant, per se… but if he had to give a name to the feeling that arises,

he doesn't think he wants to. Rather, he thinks he doesn't need to.

But does he like it here, specifically? The thought lingers just as Sampo's head tips onto his shoulder. Instinct takes over, and he adjusts without thinking, tucking Sampo closer with his arms wrapping around his waist. There's a quiet hum, soft and thoughtful, as if he's genuinely mulling over the question. But he doesn't need to, not really. The answer is already there, settled in the last bit of distance between them. ]

If I say I don't, are you going to take me to more places?

[ … a slip of a hand underneath the other's cloak, but it isn't so much purposeful as it is to close that last bit of distance between them for whatever a piece of cloth would amount to. If that same hand touches skin, it isn't his fault? But Sampo probably feels and hears the smile from above him, the former in Elysium's head rested against his and the latter in the form of a mischievous sigh. ]

Should've heeded my warning about travellers, Sampo. We're greedy, greedy people, so if you give me the option, I'm going to say just that, until we've exhausted the world and then some. [ hehe. ] But if you're asking about another form of 'it,' [ as undefined as the quiet thrum of his heart, this companionship—until the end of the world, or perhaps the end of some world—however long it, or they, may last, ] you could say that.

[ Is this what Sampo wanted to hear? ]

How often do you do this, hm?

[lovebombing]

[Maybe that's the point. Maybe when you let someone in so close, you become like them. Another mask to add to the pile. Here, he's everything Elysium has shown him. The traveler. The one to make others happy. The one to put himself aside when there's a star to follow in the sky.]

[He doesn't need to think of it, either.]

[Elysium's hands encircle him - its funny, to think that someone can trap a slippery little man like himself, but here they are. He settles against him, pleasantly shivering at the brush of fingers against skin, and he smiles in reply, like a mirror, to Elysium's own.]

Well, of course! The customer has to be happy, after all. [He says, in that tongue in cheek way, giving him a squeeze.] But jokes aside, yeah. Of course. The world's our oyster and then some.

[A little smack of a kiss against his neck.]

Pot talking to kettle here, pal. At least, if other people have to say something about my greed. Maybe they're right! Who knows. But...

[Yeah. A little pause, as his breath catches in a little laugh, his fingers tracing up Elysium's spine.]

Not often at all. Really don't remember the last time when. Aren't ya special?

[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." ]