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The beginning. [ okay. ] Why would you be interested in someone you hate?

[ he glances at the shift. elysium is.... getting comfortable? ]

That's what he started off with?

[ He is also learning things about Isabeau now. Okay.

And yes… he is… He even scoots a little closer, totally not unusual at this point considering they're two friends comfortably chatting while comfortably holding hands. ]

I mean… technically, the worst you can feel about someone is indifference. If you hate them, you're still spending energy thinking about them you wouldn't otherwise. But that's a hyper-specific edge case.

The way I'd explain it is that there are two main categories of crushes: infatuation and comfort. Hate would fall in the former.

[ the funniest thing is that thorns' takeaway right now is that elysium does this with his other friends but not with him, since it took amnesia for this to happen.

that's fine. ]

Huh. What do you consider the difference?

[ That is probably not wrong. There are plenty of things he deliberately avoids bringing up with Thorns, whether because he knows Thorns would be entirely uninterested or because it veers into dangerous territory.

Thank you, Elite OPs, for serving as his fellow gossip girls…… ]

One of them hits harder, at least superficially. They're usually built on first impressions or a few curated ones, and you're pulled to them without really knowing why. You kind of end up building a fantasy of them and what the two of you could be.

The other kind… you can go years without realising it's even a crush. It's familiarity, trust, comfort. Easily qualities you'd assign to close friends or family. The main thing is, there's no sense of urgency. You're just happy to be with them.

It's, um, easier to identify the first one because the physicality of it gives it away. Are you still following?

[ they're bumping shoulders now. ]

Yeah...

[ this still seems complicated, but relationships always are. he only recently started having to be more open because of his role as captain forces him to get involved in the lives of his crew in order to build trust, but it's still a learning curve when that isn't his default state of being.

but adding a whole other layer to it? crazy... ]

The second one sounds nicer.

[ suddenly becoming obsessed with a person sounds weird. thorns would not work as a twilight protagonist. ]

[ pascuala would be like imagine wanting to bang anastasio ]

Right? You don't seem to care that much that a super handsome guy is sitting next to you. That rules out the first entirely.

[ she would single-handedly forever turn thorns off from the idea of dating with that statement.

but okay, at least elysium is sounding more like himself around thorns... he knows he still doesn't remember, but some of that initial awkwardness is gone. and now replaced by this. ]

I sit next to you all the time.

[ By this. Whatever this is. ]

Mm. [ half-hearted acknowledgement. ] Was there anything else you didn't get?

[ he looks at him curiously. ]

I didn't understand how you'd realize when you find someone like that.

[ He closes his eyes, resting his weight against Thorns'. He doesn't see anything. ]

That's more ambiguous because it changes from person to person. But from where I stand, it usually comes down to how much you want to matter to them and vice versa. Do you want to know everything about them? Do you want to be the first person they turn to? The one who hears things before the rest of the world does? Things like that.

[ 'Things like that,' meaning there's more. The way he puts it sounds kind of nebulous, like he doesn't particularly subscribe to any of those categories. ]

[ they are never going to talk about any of this ever again.

Hm. You know a lot.

[ granted, this seems like a popular gossip topic so he can't be too surprised.

... ]

Do you still have my coin?

Did you know my Captain's the biggest gossip onboard? She looooooves it when romance is in the air. Next time you see her, chat her up about it! She'll look like she's really enjoying herself.

[ That's his excuse!!!!! Her pixel smile to match Thorns' pixel smile. But at the question, he starts rummaging through his pocket. ]

Oh! Right. I guess I can give it back now. [ holds it out flat on his palm. ] It served me pretty well.

[ thorns still doesn't care about gossip but sure. maybe he can fight her (delusional).

he carefully picks the coin back up. ]

Why did you need it?

[ He's immediately back to making himself comfortable. ]

I used it to figure out what to do with you.

[ ?????

what does this mean. ]

What does that mean?

It means exactly what it means? I'm here.

[ ...

wait. ]

Did you flip it to decide if you'd talk to me or not?

Something like that…

[ Well, more accurately, it was to determine how annoying he should be about certain things but that's close. ]

You didn't seem happy with me.

I was concerned. You were dying one moment, fine the next, but acting oddly. Of course I'd have questions.

[ the safety of those he cares about will always be a top concern. ]

And then you kept running off on me without a word.

[

okay that is not as unusual but it was weird because of the timing of the ditching. ]

[ sorry but he has one (1) meaningful thing to say here ]

You walked away first…

[ Waking up at the river counts as a formative memory, ]

[ OKAY.... die actually. ]

It didn't seem like you wanted me around.

[ Well. Since his head is conveniently where it is, he just knocks theirs together. ]

We were thinking the same thing.

[ he is so amused by this. ]

Do you feel like everything's been answered now, at least?

Mostly...

[ anything he's still curious about would have to wait for when elysium regains his memory. if he regains it? hm. ]

For someone who knows so much about that other topic, you must have experienced it.

[ if… what a big if. ]

Hm? That's just people on the landship coming to me with all sorts of troubles.

Do you feel like you're more curious about it now?

I'm not sure about curious. I've avoided this sort of thing so far.

[ it's very easy to not date when you are busy chasing after sword techniques and everyone always thought you were an asshole. ]

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