synflux | ( open ) foolishly laying our hearts on the table, stumblin' in

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( open ) foolishly laying our hearts on the table, stumblin' in

WHO: Elysium, Wriothesley, and YOU!
WHAT: BACHELOR PARTY
WHERE: Various locations in Las Vegas
WHEN: May 15th-16th
WARNINGS: Copious consumption of alcohol, unsafe and insane behaviour probably (it's a night out in Las Vegas, standard warnings apply), I'll add more as they come up

[ On the evening of May 15th, all characters will be receiving the following text. Unless you're you know who, who it's been purposefully filtered away from. ]

🎉 You're Invited to Wriothesley's Bombastic Bachelor's Bash!!! 🎉

Date: May 16th
Time: 11AM — ???
Locations:
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Dress Code: Casual, swimwear

Join us for a day of exciting adventures as we celebrate Wriothesley's last hurrah as a single man, jam packed with activities to make it a time to remember! From aerial rides to skydiving, to a poolside lunch and bar-hopping with party games, it's our time to let LOOSE!

Bar and general venue expenses will be covered by yours truly, but for everything else please plan your budget accordingly. For any questions, contact me here @ hottie.

Whether you know the man or not, the more the merrier! He'll be happy to have you.

Can't wait to see you there!

Your new or old best bud,
Elysium

( OOC: This is an open log, so feel free to thread jack and top level to your heart's content! Characters may join for every prompt or the select few they'd be interested in, assume the locations field contains a detailed timeline of where the crew will be and when. For the bar and clubbing prompt, characters ages 21+ only, please!

No one's actually getting married btw (probably), Elysium just wants an excuse to party. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Considering they're on a bus with other people at the moment, Elysium probably should've caught onto his supposed exhibitionism kink from this conversation alone, wow. Good thing the music's probably amped up in the background. ]

From how you talked about enjoying dangling bait in front of other people, that does sound like the kind of messed up thing you'd be into. Metaphoric because you'd prefer it that your prey wouldn't know they're trapped until it's too late, huh?

Too bad. I think it's more fun when someone consciously makes the decision.

My prey. Golly, I'm no predator...little old Sampo Koski finds himself being chased down by the authorities more often than not. I keep getting into positions its so hard to squeeze my way out of! Wonder why that is.

[He heaves a little forlorn little noise - clearly a model citizen finding himself being accused of the worst with no evidence to prove it. Though he knows Elysium isn't referring to him in that vein. Messed up...maybe he is. Its not something he'd just talk about with anyone though, even his mirror
]

Makes the decision to do what, though? Chase after what they want?

[ Elysium is not the person he needs to convince of his innocence, lbr, nor is he about to be convinced that he is. The difference between him and someone who would protest his defense is that he's knowingly playing with fire, and it's what makes it so fun. ]

I wonder? [ So, let's say one of the mini-bars is next to Sampo. There's probably no shortage of them all over, and Elysium could easily reach into one where he wouldn't be impeded by a whole ass person. But why do that when he has the option of brushing past him during this specific juncture in their conversation? His hair might tickle Sampo's face, leg halfway on his lap. ]

Provoke the wolf willingly? See what it'll do when its dragged out of its sheep's skin? I can't say I'd ever wait around long enough be in that position to start with, so who knows.

[ aaaand there's his cooler, tyvm. ]

That sounds dangerous. You could be biting off way more than you could begin to chew.

[Playing with fire. There's a certain madness to it, he thinks. A child once burned will avoid it. But there are those who want to test themselves, dance close, tread the line. Fools would do that. And he, being a Fool, would know that too well.]

[Who knows? Elysium says. Nobody knows. His eyes flit down to rest on the other's jaw, recalling the brazen exposure of the man's neck during their moment in the bar.]

Heh. Well! Sometimes a train is to pass us by if we sit and think too much about whether to take it. Life doesn't wait for indecisive people.

[A little tilt of the head, a smirk on the lips - like he's playing a constant joke, and waiting for Elysium to laugh.]

I really didn't take you for one, but see, we're learning a lot about each other, here.

I'm not in the habit of gambling with my life. What's a little harmless fun?

[ He says it with a certain amount of finality. Or so it goes, but it's a little more complicated than that when there's a flicker of something else in his gaze for that brief second. At least, if one were to take his words at face value, the distinction is made clear: there's his life, then everything else. Unaddressed are the things he would weigh as heavily as the former, tangible anchors that have kept him from crossing said line.

So he sits back. There's a pause. ]

I never liked that analogy. Either you just take another train, or the train itself will eventually circle back. [ for once, he thinks the technicality matters. ] Lightning in a bottle. A comet passing by. Even a rainbow after a storm—they're much rarer occurrences.

[ Like Elysium himself………. Sampo can have his laugh. ]

Focus too much on the small stuff, you miss the big picture. Or do you truly lament such minutiae?

That's smart of you. I would raise a glass to your intellect. There are too many others who have given their poor, poor lives in search of Elysium, hehe.

[Yes, of course he'll take the low-hanging fruit of the other's name as a pun. Why not? It makes sense. It makes no sense at all.]

[The mention of the train makes something vague settle in his face. No. There is a specific train that won't just stop for anything.]

[A train like that has to make its journey without interruption.]

I do, sometimes! Like...when you are in a dark place, you focus on the little things. Sometimes, something as stupid as a joke seems small in the moment, but can ring out throughout the universe. But me...? Hm. Maybe I am a big picture sorta fella.

[ unfortunate that i play a character that wouldn't judge the hell out of that and would instead enable it

but alas,

Elysium only looks faintly amused, smiling the same clandestine smile Sampo might come to recognise from their first encounter. An on the nose codename as it were, but one he'd chosen himself, a silly, little thing no one had ever picked at save for its theatrical quality, at least, to his face. ]

Everyone has those moments, no? Even the best of us. Me, you. What matters is what we decide to do afterwards. [ A beat. ] I'd like to think Elysium is what we make of it. Something we only find in ourselves, hm?

[ Anything could be argued as transient if you looked at it through the lens of intending to do so, anyhow. Say, their bus ride. Their exchanges. There's the unspoken irony in how they've established their tenuous connection based on picking up their minute cues. ]

Learning plenty about each other we are! But enough about all that. Are you acquainted with the man of the day or are you simply here to use this as an excuse to see lil ol' me?

[ we're going back to clown town or so help me ]

That's a real big philosophical thing you're saying there. Would you be the kinda guy who'd say stuff like "happiness is not something we create, but something we achieve"?

[Well, of course, everyone's idea of Elysium must be different. He has some vague wish that the Elysium he has here is his personal one. Has he been like this with others?]

[Well, maybe its not important. It could be transient. It would be something to sink one's fangs into to not let go.]

[The question makes him laugh, leaning against his own hand as he leans forward.]

No, no, I don't know the guy! And while I could boost up your ego, this Sampo Koski will be honest as he always is. I didn't know you were here at all. If I wanted to play around with what you're saying, though, maybe I should say you set this all up as an excuse to ensnare me?

Put it the other way around and I'd say you got me. It's important to talk about these things every so often, don't you think? That's why you asked. Get into someone's mind a little.

[ Achieving is awfully final. A single-minded chase, and then that's done and you move onto the next. Or, as Sampo had mentioned earlier—you lose sight of yourself in pursuit of it. It can be exciting and he understands it, but making the most of any sitation—that's Elysium, a free spirit who seldom allows himself to be tethered to any one thing. ]

But, I can't say I'm surprised that you're the sort that likes to seize things with your own hands. The satisfaction of obtaining something, is it? And doing what you want with it after. Or maybe you don't do anything, and that's the point.

[ Yeah, he sees Sampo and all his predatory analogies and how everything he's said and alluded to might tie each other. His beatific expression remains steady in place. Now for where Elysium himself fit into the puzzle—he might still be thinking it's an entirely casual affair. For his definition of it, anyway. ]

If I wanted to do something like capture you, trust me, you'd know. I don't care to do things nearly that roundabout. [ He wears his confidence with pride, please, the grin of a man who looks the part of 'never lost' in his life. ] I'm an honest guy. If I want something enough, I'll take it no questions asked.

[ The enough says it all, doesn't it? Incentive. A free roaming bird and yet he very much has restraints—it's complicated. Their little dance around each other continues to prove fulfilling enough. ]

Gosh, and you were calling me demanding not too long ago.

You're absolutely right! [He winks, cheeky, his mouth wide like a grinning moon.] I'm getting to know ya, bit by bit. And maybe along the way, you get to know me bit by bit! And they say I'm not a fair businessman.

[Who's "they"? He doesn't explain. It doesn't matter. He says a lot of things that seem to not matter.]

[Bit by bit to find out everything he is, he says.]

[Good luck on that one, he's undoubtedly thinking, behind it all.]

[The notion that Elysium provides only make him close his eyes, fox-like and heavily amused. One does not simply hold out a hand and ask a bird to alight onto it. You have to give it something it wants. Even birds have their hungers, their needs.]

Hahahhaa. Wow. What can I say? I can't help but like sales. The negotiation is alright, but the end deal where everything falls into place and everyone gets what they want is a moment like no other.

[He drums his fingertips against his cheek.]

I haven't demanded anything of you, dear Elysium. Maybe your time alone? But you have chosen to share a few little thoughts to me with barely any prompting. Haha....no, we have to agree on something, here. You and I? We're on a similar level. I place one card, you put another. I think you want what is at the end of the game, too, regardless of what you say. Curiosity killed the cat!

[ It's been like six days since they'd met and here Sampo is, carelessly waving every red flag he has in his arsenal in Elysium's face. It's almost impressive, really, the many ways in which he's expressed them. Know him bit by bit, he says, like there's singular "him" to know.

Anyway. Time alone? Context matters. And how much time? Undefined. The optics of a host disappearing in the middle of their own party is ridiculous—and how they're surrounded by so many of their teammates that it'd they'd be pressed not to take notice of something going on. ]

It's a good thing, then, that I'm not a feline! [ He'd said in no uncertain words that he wasn't willing to gamble his life, hadn't he? Whether Sampo intends it in the literal or figurative sense, Elysium considers them both nearly as important—and this will be him holding himself accountable. ] But I don't think that's quite what you want to say if you want to continue claiming to be tame.

[ And there it is: verbal acknowledgement of what they'd been doing and that they're toeing is a precarious line. Several times already, Sampo has willingly brought up the objectionable that Elysium is willing to ignore so long as it goes unaddressed. What a guy. ]

That's a little mean of you. Already thinking about the end when we'd only just become friends. We could exhaust our finite amount of cards eventually, or——we could not. I'm just looking for a little fun along the way.

[ Like a bird about to take flight: ]

I know we toasted to a new venture, but your analogies have been a bit much, haven't they?

[He smiles.]

[He really just keeps smiling. Aha would want that. The man says all of that, and internally, Sampo does wish he could bite his own tongue, hold back like an average regular person of the universe whose experience of happiness is quiet and calm and- haha, now, what is he thinking? Calm? Really?]

[Happiness. Mirth. Enthusiasm. Fools would do anything for it. Extremes are cards they put in their own decks.]

[He sort of hates it. (Sparkle has a deck of all extremes. He wouldn't suppose to ever be like her, he couldn't, he wouldn't, but-)]

[He smiles, but he sighs, as well.]

I'm a guy who says a lot of things. I ramble. I'm a sort who likes to fill a conversation with just about anything. You shouldn't hold onto too many things. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm saying in the moment.

[His eyes close now.]

...Haha. Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to worry ya. You're a friend, and I hear you loud and clear. I like a little fun, too. That's all.

[Another sigh.]

I really don't want to scare you away. I'll behave.

[For you, I will. But. Will he?]

Edited 2024-05-20 07:49 (UTC)

[ what a 180° turn

And really, there's no other way to put it. Wings still, and a head tilts in thought inquisitively. The bird doesn't move from its perch, but there's no denying that it's made that much warier from hopping down from its branch. ]

Relax, bro! I don't hold grudges. Life's too short for that.

[ Will there be a subtle paradigm shift, though? Yes. Unlike the charged and deliberate motion from before, the reach around of Sampo's shoulder to pat him several times on the back is simpler. Pat, pat, pat.

Or, read: attraction is there, but attraction is all there is. He sets his boundary with a final squeeze of his shoulder before he withdraws, restraint in full display. ]

Just continue being your regular old self; I'll keep being your friend regardless. I'm a pretty tough guy to scare away, so you've got nothing to worry about. We all get carried away sometimes, yeah? [ Hehe. They could call it that, sure. ] I can't deny that I tend to have that effect on people.

[It should be all the better for it. Sampo Koski is a man of masks and all. He shouldn't let them slip. Not for anyone. Not for inquisitive young birds.]

[The squeeze to his shoulder, though, makes something rise to the surface - a bubble from the glass of metaphorical alcohol. His eyes open. He looks...almost a little weary, now.]

Myyyyy regular old self.

[And back to a creased smile - and something makes him pull forward, his hand finding the other's cheek to cup it to stare into the other's eyes. Its not a harsh glare. It's almost plaintive.]

[Nothing firm with the grip. Its light. He also, after a moment, pats it once, twice.]

Now you're saying stuff that's scary. You just have that effect on people?

[And then the hand is drawn back, tucked away, like a merchant putting away his wares at the end of the day in his suitcase.]

Do you want to...have that effect on people?

Edited 2024-05-20 09:17 (UTC)

[ Maybe he's aware of it. Maybe he's not. But Sampo is being watched closer than ever. It might not be saying much considering the amount of time that they've known each other—but he is.

But look, to show that they're all fine and dandy, Elysium will teasingly nuzzle into Sampo's hand while maintaining eye contact. ]

What, you don't think it's natural? [ Elysium stills to laugh; Sampo can probably feel it as much as he hears it. ] A hottie like me's bound to turn heads all the time.

[ Like it's a fact of life. Rather than it being something he wants—it's just something that is. Is he serious or is it a joke we just don't know, help, but there's the added levity. ]

[He's accepted that. Everyone does become like that around him. In an instant, after a few meetings. There's been no one more suspicious than Sampo Koski. That's a guy to watch your back around.]

[The nuzzling is only for a monent, because Sampo has already retrieved his hand like a wayward dog. No more contact. He likes the laugh, though - despite the coils of darker things under the surface, he likes the noise. What a wonderful thing it is.]

...No. Your laugh is more attractive than anything. [And more softly:] I mean it.

[ The warmth of Sampo's hand had been nice. What a shame. Elysium doesn't chase after it, though, nor does the ghost of it leave any lingering imprint for him to rue.

But his words elicit an instinctive reaction: how his mouth parts just the slightest bit and how he wants to laugh again to expel his surprise. There's no guising the former; the latter he swallows halfway through. ]

… That so. [ Well, well. That's new. Elysium stalls on the intonation of it more so the compliment itself; was it his good hearing influencing it, or did it just tickle his ear? ] Lucky for you that you get to hear it so often.

Haha, yeah.

[Now that gets him to laugh, in turn - and this one is sincere, glad to catch the brief twitch of the other's mouth.]

[Whatever this is, whatever it turns to be, if they leave each other at the crossroads, meet intimately in the darkness, struggle for their lives, put knives to each other's throats, or so on, and so forth, it'll just be nice to hear him laugh throughout it all.]

...What's happiness to you, Mister Elysium?

[ sampo's already out here thinking about whole timelines while elysium hasn't gone as far as thinking about what happens past the day…

Well. That isn't entirely accurate. He acknowledges the vague anticipation over what the future might hold, but he can't say he's particularly consumed about it, or so he tells himself when he's clearly stoking and fanning its flame. There's a timeline out there where he peers into "Sampo Koski" and finds himself unable to look or draw away. ]

That would depend on what manner of answer you're looking for. Are we back to debating philosophy, Koski?

[ Given he's mentioned happiness twice in relatively short succession, it feels as if they're standing on some sort of precipice. At the core of every individual as it is, it is a choice to raise the topic after an apparent display of vulnerability. ]

As a favour, [ 'as a way for us to truly make bygones be bygones,' ] why don't you answer that one for me first? Give me a stellar example so I don't let you down with mine.

Sometimes this ol' brain of mine is used for a lot more than just money!

[But sure. He expected the ball to be back in his court, anyways. It's something he can readily answer, too, as he nods and fires back like he's been ready for this question every single minute of every single day. In a way, he's putting down a card to reveal. Just for Elysium, as almost a peace offering. The man deserves that for all the strange vague torment he's been shuffling under the table that may or may not still be there by the end of this conversation.]

"True happiness always entails the manifestation of the dignity of mankind."

[He says, in a different voice, like he's quoting another. A click of his tongue, and he continues.]

Now that's a quote I live by. I'm not the type to engage in...y'know, antics of vanity just to get a little joy. The twists and turns of fate, like on a stage with a real large crew working together as one...there's nothing like it.

How profound. Now that sounds like something that would come out of a philosopher's mouth. [ He looks thoughtful. Closing his eyes, he mouths the words from the quote as if to give it shape within his mind. ] But, I think I get it.

[ So, an olive branch. Because the bird has yet to fly away, it'll continue dropping cards down from its beak. ]

Let's see. I don't have anything quite as thought-provoking to share, so… I'll just piggyback off of everything we've already gone over. It's in greeting the sunrise every morning. Seeing the smiles and laughter of others. My happiness should never take away from others, and I want to do what I can, when I can. So that would be——… the manifestation of my dignity, I guess? [ A cheeky, lop-sided smile. ] Cheesy, no? Except, that's how it is. I'm really not a complicated guy.

[ Elysium might not be complicated, but he can't claim he's been living in perfect accordance to his own words, either. Still, he could say he was trying. Was it enough? Well. The pause tells half the story. Moving on. ]

… Especially not when compared to you! Stages are entire productions by definition. That does beg the question of what roles you find yourself fancying. The main lead? That of a supporting man? Or, perhaps… The playwright?

No, I don't think it's cheesy at all. It's a good notion of happiness. I like it.

[And he means that. People like Sparkle rub him the wrong way. All they care about is their own selfish impulses and little else. He might not be some shining paragon of virtue, but he's not a Fool that would muddle the pot too much. Here and there, yes, but in the end, its about the overall success of the many versus dancing in the destructive aftermath of what is left.]

[The pause makes him blink, but the question makes him settle back where he's sitting, smile playing on his lips.]

Oh, I could answer that...but! I want you to guess. Go on! See if you can figure it out.

Hm. Making me work, again?

[ A smile plays back. And yet, with no hesitation:

( Sampo Koski voice ) ] "The end, where everything falls into place [...] is a moment like no other."

[ He might've exchanged one analogy for another, but if he had to fathom a guess—the underlying themes are the same, aren't they? ]

The one person that'd be the most significant to——it can only be the person who'd brought the production together.

If I don't make you work, who will? It builds character.

[Maybe literally, to a Fool.]

[Hearing his own words parroted back to him makes him grin, now, but there's a mischievousness in his eyes that feel like someone holding a valuable thing above one's head, tempting to grab it.]

Sure. I could see that. But! There's a lotta parts behind the stage. The director! The choreographer. The set designer. The guy who makes the costumes! You might have to be more specific.

[ He says that as they're being made to work in the next day by their monster fighting overlords… alright! Cool! Another double entendre, another day. He isn't touching that low-hanging fruit. ]

Convenient that what I'm thinking of is one of the ones we've both left out. Intentional on my end and yours, I presume.

[ They could grab it, sure, but they could also continue to leave it up there in the air along with everything else they have. How much weight can a ceiling hold before it caves in, or are they dealing with something as boundless as the open sky? ]

We'll just have to be left hanging! Unless, you want to guess what's in my mind, but I think I know the answer to that, too.

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