bursts into tears

[oversea]

Comments

[transmit]

Half and half. If you don't swap with me, I'll start training the Doctor to bite you on command.

[ … if there's one thing they've gotten better at, it's this, returning thorns' kiss before motioning back. ]

Be good.

[ (thorns voice) ]

[oversea]

[ he would use his own son against him...?

but thorns just snorts before settling down. ]

Okay. Sleep as much as you can, then.

[transmit]

[ weaponised children… ]

… Yeah. Catch you later.

[ sleeping alone… is hard… truly one of the few and only downsides to being insanely codependent. ]

[oversea]

[ yes. there are definitely like no other downsides to this at all, of course.

thorns will keep watch then, while routinely checking to see if he can learn anything new. the problem is that the general area they're in is so large that trying to pinpoint where people are when you don't have an idea of where they could be is more distracting than not, and he can't really be distracted while on watch.

...

he finds another one of the groups though. nowhere near them, so it's fine, right? but that still leaves a few unaccounted for. ]

[transmit]

[ is it fine… if one of their sensors gets triggered? elysium has the alarm itself on his person, and it doesn't matter whether they're months or years removed from active service—he jolts awake all the same, immediately poking his head through the curtains. ]

Thorns.

[ thinks about how they've discarded their names but we're still too much of cowards to use them. he says it quietly enough not to wake docybara. ]

Do you sense anything?

[oversea]

[ the way we can't ever fully commit to no code names until we find out what elysium's real name is because it would be insane for only him to legal name thorns and not the other way around. ]

Where was it tripped?

[transmit]

[ i keep joking around that it'll be diego watch it be diego and we go back to pretending it doesn't exist

go diego go ]

Northeast from here. It could be wildlife…

[oversea]

Give me a second.

[ ...

a moment passes, ]

... It's a person. Adult. But only one.

[transmit]

What do you want to do about it? We could get the preemptive strike and knock them out.

Or if you didn't want an altercation, it's still possible for them to miss us.

[oversea]

... We can see if they move anywhere.

[ ugh the chances of them getting involved grows if they move... ]

[transmit]

[ all they want to do is live their blissful marriage life but the world won't give that to them for some reason? crazy.

but he will nod… and then flit his gaze over to docybara…

…

he has one of those snooze bubbles. ]

[oversea]

[ at least SOMEONE is going to be super well rested. ]

... Go back to sleep. You still have time.

[transmit]

[ HELLO ]

It's better that I'm fully alert if something happens. What if there are people behind him? Or if something else gets triggered?

[oversea]

[ thorns is so mad he wants elysium to have his beauty rest so bad. ]

... Fine. At least close your eyes though.

[transmit]

[ help

he kisses thorns in attempt to take away the anger. this is better than any rest… ]

[oversea]

[ OKAY.




unfortunately this distracts him because he starts to kiss him back ]

[transmit]

[ he also wants to keep kissing so badly. alas, he knows how the corazonix functions to a certain extent, so he pulls back after their quick (quick????) five minute makeout session. ]

I can't distract you too much…

[ like this takes great restraint. ]

I'll be okay. I'm going to try listening in again to see if they might be communicating with anyone.

[oversea]

[ sad... elysium at least succeeded in distracting thorns enough so that he is no longer annoyed.

but the two of them can work in comfortable silence as docybara snoozes next to them. ]

... Anything?

[transmit]

… I'm getting a lot of interference, like everything's getting jammed.

[ his immediate guess? they've set up equipment to mess with the communications between the town and now, presumably, lungmen. he frowns. ]

Give me a bit longer and I can probably get through. Nothing I haven't seen before.

[oversea]

Right.

[ ... ]

There's a few more people around, but I don't know if they're just passing by or if they're involved.

[transmit]

As long as we keep our options open and don't let ourselves get boxed in, I think it's safe to say they're related. What are the odds of people moving around at this hour? Pretty unlikely.

[ he focuses on something—and then unfocuses. a tap against the device in his ear, and then he leans closer to thorns, lowering his voice. they still have to be careful not to wake docybara… ]

They're trying to make sure nothing gets out of town when they start their process. [ … ] That includes sweeping the area to make sure no one stumbles across it, too. I think their success depends on how big of a unit Lungmen plans to send. It sounds like they're aware of them, now.

[oversea]

Mm. If we try to leave they'd notice us. They're settled around most of the paths we could take.

[ they could also stay where they are, although there's no guarantee they might not get found out... but it's the safer option over trying to head out.

there is, of course, the other option of actually trying to get involved. but elysium made it very clear he wants to avoid that, so thorns won't suggest it. ]

[transmit]

[ they can get involved, but only to the extent that it's to cut a path forward. but even then— ]

If we do, we'll have to take into consideration that they're persistent. It's easy for us to slip away, but travelling with the Doctor is a big giveaway.

[ how many people travel with a giant creature… ]

Worst-case scenario, I can work on counter interference while you take them out. That should keep them from spreading any identifying features.

[ at best, they'll have the doctor's footprints to work off of. but they can obfuscate that by placing something under his feet. ]

[oversea]

[ docybara snorts in his sleep... ]

The clearest spot is to go down that southwest path. It's the furthest away from the town, so it's not as highly guarded as the others.

[ not as highly is not the same as not at all, but it would be their best bet to not get swarmed as they go. ]

[transmit]

How long do you want to give it before we resort to it?

[ thorns has the tougher job here. the constant monitoring can't be easy for him, can it? ]