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“Weedy. A question.”
Weedy shrieked and whirled around, managing a perfect 540-degree spin on one heel. Unfortunately, she had no time to dwell on her sudden feat of athleticism—it was Thorns in the flesh, in her lab. “Why are you—the rules are literally posted on the door! Do you know how to read?”
“I washed my hands,” Thorns said.
There was literally enough ash caked onto his coat that it had formed a faint circle on the floor around where he was standing. She refused to even look at his hair. “And the rest of you!?” How the hell did he get access permissions?
He sighed. “It’s just one question. Do you think Elysium is attractive?”
The absurdity of said question snapped her out of her righteous fury. “…What?”
“Elysium. Is he attractive.”
“I heard you the first time.” Which was surprising in itself. “You…do remember I’m a lesbian, right?”
“No, I forgot.” Weedy briefly considered the ramifications of using her new water cannon indoors. “That was a joke.”
“That’s not how jokes work.”
“But the question wasn’t a joke,” Thorns clarified. “I just thought you’d be able to give an objective opinion on this.”
That…was so dumb it almost looped around into making sense. “Er…” Was Elysium attractive? He’d joined Rhodes Island only a couple weeks after her, but in all the time she’d known him, she’d never considered this seriously. Of course, the Liberi loved to prattle on about his status as a “once-in-a-lifetime hottie”—how he could say that without cringing himself to death, she’d never understand—but that didn’t really mean anything either way. Objectively…
Wait, why was she even entertaining this? “Get out of my lab!”
“Weedy.”
She froze, then slowly turned around with trepidation fitting of the first victim in a horror movie.
Across from her, Glaucus waved. “Hey, Thorns. Wanna join us?”
Weedy had gone to eat lunch in her usual location, and invited Glaucus as she’d seen her on her way out. It was a secluded break room with just a couple tables—that was still cleaned regularly, of course—so how Thorns had found her here…
Before she could conjure up any truly absurd explanations, she remembered; they’d eaten lunch together here before on Elysium’s insistence. It was a minor disaster for reasons she couldn’t quite recall now, but that wasn’t the point.
“I don’t have a lunch.” He was holding nothing at all, actually, not even his usual structurally unsound tower of lab notes. Why he couldn’t at least invest in a notebook, Weedy never understood.
“Oh, you came here after lunch.”
Thorns shook his head.
“…So, you’re on your way there?” Weedy asked. Though that sounded unlikely, with how out of the way this place was.
“I forgot. I’ll get it later.”
“Well, we could go now?” Glaucus offered. “Uh, if you’re good with that?”
That’d mean having to go to the main cafeteria, which was always bustling with other people during this time, food scraps strewn everywhere while one of the hapless new staff on-duty tried to convince Catapult down from her impromptu (and terribly off-key) table performance of some Lungmen pop song before Orchid reached her limit and threw a bread roll at her head, startling the Kuranta into kicking Spot’s half-finished meal three tables across, where—
…Well, it was as good an opportunity as any to get used to it. Ugh. “Fine. But we’re coming back here to eat.”
Thorns blinked, his brow furrowing like he was about to object, but followed them outside without a word.
Since she was there anyway, and it was thankfully much calmer than last time, she figured she might as well get one of the pastries available today—it was a Lateranian special today, so she was practically obligated to. And then Blaze had seen her and invited her to join them for lunch, and Weedy could hardly reject her for no real reason when she’d been going out of her way for their training sessions, so…
She quickly wiped down her table area and seat. Glaucus was already there, greeting her when she sat down, and Thorns joined them a moment later, taking the empty seat right across from her. He’d gotten a delicious-looking cheese pasta dish, and made no acknowledgment of anyone before digging in.
“Is this the first time you’ve been here?” Blaze asked. “‘Cause I seriously can’t remember seeing you here, ever.”
Weedy had known Blaze long enough to learn her bluntness was usually just that, and replied, “No, but I usually take lunch on my own.” She was still considering just waiting until everyone finished to leave and eat on her own somewhere else, but that’d be a waste of time and these fresh cannoli.
“Makes sense.” She turned to her side. “And you—aren’t you always with Elysium? I didn’t know you two got along.”
Thorns shrugged, unhelpful as ever, and Weedy interjected, “We don’t.”
Like she didn’t hear her, Blaze continued, “Shit, right, he’s out somewhere with Mantra. Dunno if it’s confidential—hey, you know anything?”
The last part of her question was directed at the final occupant of their table: Elite Operator Logos, who carefully finished chewing before responding, “If it was confidential, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Damn, knew I should’ve asked Elysium before he left.”
“It’s not, though. He’s just helping a branch office deal with an… industrial accident.”
“Accident,” Blaze repeated, the sudden venom in her tone making it clear what conclusion she’d drawn. It was a reasonable one considering how many Oripathy outbreaks happened due to businesses cutting costs by sacrificing the safety of their workers.
“Where?” With mild surprise, Weedy realized that was the first word Thorns had spoken since he’d sat down.
“Columbia, near the eastern border.”
“The one Mayfly manages?” Glaucus asked. At Logos’s answering nod, she elaborated, “I’ve been there. It’s pretty out of the way, so it’s hard to coordinate things.”
“Yeah, sounds like an Elysium job. And Mantra’s… what, the hired muscle?” Blaze guessed.
“In a sense. The governor does officially allow Rhodes Island to operate in the area, or the office wouldn’t exist in the first place, but she… does not particularly appreciate our unasked-for ‘meddling,’” Logos said, air quotes included. “Mantra should be more than enough to smooth that over.” Having said his piece, he forked the last of his lunch—and entirely missed, sending a grape tomato flying onto the table. Blaze picked it up and tossed it in her mouth.
Weedy instinctively grimaced, but refrained from saying anything. At least it didn’t land in her food…
Only two hours later did she realize she had no idea why Thorns had shown up in the first place.
When Thorns next appeared, Weedy almost expected it. Seeing Thorns again, that was—she had no clue why anyone would be in the secondary training room this early. She’d gotten into the habit of exercising here near dawn so she couldn’t use other people’s gross sweaty bodies as an excuse to get out of it, since most everyone dedicated enough to get up at dawn for this would cluster in the main room.
Also, she had a vague impression that Thorns wasn’t much of a morning person. “Do you… usually come here?” Weedy asked, then flinched at how awkward that sounded. At least she hadn't said come here often?
For once, Thorns seemed equally at a loss. “I…couldn’t sleep,” he finally said.
She remembered Elysium fretting about Thorns's sleeping problems so much it had carried over to even his conversations with her. It was somewhere between sweet and overbearing. Probably both?
Still, it couldn’t hurt to show some sympathy. “Hope you, uh, feel better?” …Or she could reconsider talking ever again.
Thorns fidgeted, seeming uncomfortable. If Weedy didn’t already know Thorns was categorically immune to it, she’d call it embarrassment. “No, not—it wasn’t—nevermind.” Clearly unwilling to elaborate, he resumed his set of pull-ups.
Well, that was fine with her. Today was Tuesday, which according to the meticulous schedule Blaze had drawn up for her was… strength training.
She surreptitiously glanced at Thorns, who hadn’t so much as let his feet touch the ground since he’d started, then remembered how she couldn’t even do a single proper pull-up when she’d started training for the field operator exam, and failed not to feel a pang of envy.
Some Aegir have all the luck, Weedy lamented, briefly thinking on Andreana’s ability to haul cargo around like it was full of nothing but air. But feeling sorry for herself wouldn’t get her anywhere; she had to start with what she could do first, and build from that. Those were Blaze’s words from when she’d tried joining her on a run for the first time and gotten exhausted so quickly she’d almost burst into tears from frustration.
Really, she owed her too much to count. But she was never letting that get to Blaze’s head.
“Congrats.”
“Thanks,” Weedy replied on reflex. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Elysium insisted.”
She could’ve guessed that herself. Thorns was never one for social events, which was one of the rare areas where they were in agreement. Still, Blaze insisted throwing her a celebration for finally passing the physical exam, which felt a little pathetic, but she was so earnest about it Weedy relented as long as she promised to keep it small.
She’d kept her word, too, and the deck had just ten people occupying it. If Closure wasn’t so busy, it might have been eleven, but this was enough. It felt like Ace had simply invited everyone over for dinner.
Speaking of which, he was heading over with two plates of grilled meats and vegetables. “Good work, Weedy.”
It was impossible not to feel proud when getting a compliment from Ace.
“And you better keep up—our Weedy here might just take over your elite op spot!”
“Shut it, old man.” Blaze smacked his shoulder with enough power that Weedy knew she would’ve been sent sprawling, but he just smirked. “You know better than me that’s not how it works”
“And you should know I’m hardly considered old.”
“Old enough to trick me into running errands for you to save your creaky joints, yeah,” she groused. “So, uh, Weedy—enjoying things?”
Blaze sounded uncharacteristically nervous, so Weedy nodded and heard her breathe a sigh of relief. “The food’s really good,” she added.
Thorns made a sound of agreement. He’d cleaned his plate, leaving just a few shellshrimp tails to show for it.
“Wait, I thought you were a vegetarian.”
“I’m not.”
Blaze waited for an explanation Weedy knew wasn’t coming, and after a few seconds, just asked, “So what’s with… Elysium said you don’t like meat.”
Thorns glanced at Elysium, who was sharing some anecdote with Mantra and Blue Poison by the drinks. Drink, singular, actually—the dispenser was filled with an unsettling shade of bright magenta, courtesy of the Anura standing next to it. “It’s fine if it’s cooked properly. But if it’s not, it induces intense nausea.” Thorns looked down at his empty plate. “To confirm, I ran a few experiments on myself—definitively uncontaminated samples of different meats, raw or cooked rare, but each one had the same result. So I tend to avoid it.”
“Huh? That’s way worse!”
“Maybe he thought it was a simpler explanation.” Abruptly, he asked, “What do you think of Elysium?”
Weedy was reminded of that last time Thorns had barged into her lab, and stared at him. At least it wasn’t about his looks this time.
The others didn’t seem fazed, though. “Seems a bit rude to talk about him behind his back, no?” Ace gestured to where Elysium was. With his back turned to them… was that supposed to be a joke? “I’ve never been on the same operation as him, but Mantra trusts him with her life. So that goes for me too.”
Stated so plainly; having been with Rhodes Island for a while now, Weedy only grew more curious of the bond between its elite operators. Blaze had only recently become one, and the sudden change from what she thought was just a promotion had been striking.
“He is pretty reliable,” Blaze added. “Though he sure doesn’t look it.”
“And you’re any better?”
“Uh, yeah?” She flexed. “Elysium’s got nothing on this.”
But she was still Blaze in the end.
“What do you think?” Thorns’s golden eyes were staring her through. Intense… “Weedy,” he added unnecessarily, or maybe like he’d forgotten her codename.
“I’ve only just gotten approval for field missions, so…”
“I wasn’t talking about that.”
She’d guessed as much, but why…? “He’s… nice,” she started uselessly. “Er, when I joined, we were the only operators from Iberia, and everyone thought my...condition”—she winced at having to describe it like that, though that was what it was—“was just some weird cultural quirk. And I hated dealing with people already. But he was just happy to meet another Iberian, so he insisted on getting to know me—and you know how he is, so I got to know pretty much everyone then.”
“He likes being helpful,” Thorns said, an unreadable look on his face. No, if she squinted, was that a smile? “Elysium’s like that with everyone.”
“Singing my praises without me?” Elysium appeared from nowhere, slinging an arm across Thorns’s shoulders. “Bro, you’ll make me blush.” He was clearly not blushing.
Thorns said nothing to refute him, or even push him away. Instead, he only turned away from him slightly, eyes fixed firmly on some point on the ground, like he was thinking on a particularly complicated subject, or perhaps avoiding thinking at all.
If it wasn’t for Thorns’s odd questions earlier, Weedy wouldn’t have thought twice of this, or even cared enough to notice it in the first place, but now…
Something clicked.
So the next time Weedy heard her lab door open, she was prepared. “What do you want, Thorns?”
“You knew I was coming.”
Thorns had a habit of asking questions like they were answers. “You’re not that hard to read.” She sized him up—he was dressed sloppily as usual, but not post-explosion. Barely acceptable, if she lowered her standards in advance.
“Then…” he trailed off.
…Was he actually embarrassed? Was that possible? How much had he gotten away with by being too dark to blush? “Then what?” she prompted.
“What… does Elysium think of me?”
…
She’d expected a stupid question, but this… Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly. Thorns seemed to be legitimately concerned, which almost made her feel bad. Almost. “Why… don’t you… ask him?” she finally managed through gritted teeth.
“Because.”
“Because…”
Thorns looked to the side. “…Reasons.”
Weedy took a deep breath. “A dried-up piece of seaweed would have more emotional intelligence than you.”
To his credit, Thorns didn’t argue that. “So I’m missing something.”
She nodded.
“And you won’t tell me what it is.”
She nodded again, slower.
“Hm.” He stood there, pondering over what she'd said, then seemed to come to a decision and turned to leave.
“Wait, what are you going to do now?” There was no telling what someone as strange as Thorns would do left to his own devices. She had a brief delusion of being slipped a truth serum—okay, now she was really getting carried away. Thorns was not nearly skilled enough in Arts to manage that.
“Talk to Elysium.”
That…was surprisingly normal. Huh. “Good luck?” she offered, but he was already gone.
“And… time!”
At Blaze’s call, Weedy dropped from the bar. Her arms burned from exertion, but she heard her own voice say, “I…can keep going.”
She could?
“That’s the spirit!” Forgetting herself, Blaze squeezed Weedy’s arm. “See?”
She looked at her arm, which looked the same as her arm always did. Blaze caught her look and jumped back, stammering out an apology.
Right, she’d told her not to touch her without warning. Blaze was physical by nature, but after that, she’d backed off. Sometimes Weedy regretted that. “It’s not that,” she reassured. “I just don’t see anything.”
“Well…” Blaze's cheeks turned faintly pink. “Okay, maybe. But you remember the first time you tried this?”
“Do I have to?” Somehow, she’d pulled a muscle and when Gavial asked what happened, she’d been forced to admit she couldn’t even do a dead hang properly.
…Thinking back on it, Gavial hadn’t even made fun of her then.
“See—that’s my point!” Weedy startled. “Weedy, you’re amazing. It’s just constitution, okay—some people build muscle easier, some people are stuck as twigs forever, you get the deal—but you’re still dedicated to this, even after passing the operator exam. And this is on top of your usual engineering work, like you weren’t already doing enough for Rhodes—you’re not even Infected! Not that you have to be to care, but I’ve never seen someone work as hard as you for us, so—” Finally running out of steam, she paused to take a breath.
Weedy could only stare, a whirlwind of emotion rendering her mute.
“So don’t… ever sell yourself short,” Blaze finished, clasping her hands together like she’d wanted to grab hers and restrained herself at the last moment.
Weedy was convinced she was moments away from spontaneously combusting.
So she set herself on fire first: “A-are you flirting with me?”
…What is wrong with me?
“Huh? No!” Blaze jumped back, almost tripping in her shock but managing to grab onto a barbell rack to keep herself upright. “U-unless you want to?? Shit, I mean—wait no—This has nothing to do with that!”
Her face was red enough it looked like a tomato, which unfortunately reminded Weedy of seeing her eat a tomato off the table. That was when she’d eaten lunch with Thorns… Against her will, she recalled the last time she’d seen him. She had no clue what happened with his talk with Elysium, or if he’d even done what he said he would, but if it kept him out of her lab, it was enough.
And she refused to follow in his footsteps.
Blaze was still sputtering increasingly incomprehensible excuses, but Weedy stopped her with a shush. “So… you are into me,” she said, mostly to confirm it to herself.
Still with her lips pressed shut, Blaze nodded.
“Oh,” Weedy said, and leaned in to kiss her.
Then froze halfway.
“Weedy? You don’t have to—”
“No! I want to! Just, I’m gross, and sweaty, and I don’t know what I’m doing, so—” She grabbed her bottle and took a desperate gulp of water. At least she knew that was clean. “Can you…”
“Wait?” Blaze guessed. She smiled warmly, the same way she had when she’d offered Weedy her hand after their first disastrous run together. “Of course I’ll wait for you.”
It was Blaze; she knew all of Weedy’s peculiarities, and was still here anyway. Despite her previous panic, Weedy couldn't help but smile as well.
So it was this easy…
(Idiot.)
Thorns sneezed.
Don’t think faking illness is getting you out of this.
“I don’t know why you’re accosting me.”
You said something to Elysium. Now he’s annoying me about it, but still refuses to tell me what it was. Fix it.
Something he’d said? But last time he’d seen the Liberi, it was only… “But all I said was that I thought he was attractive?”
…
“He talks about his own face a lot, so I didn’t think it would do anything.”
Mantra stared at him for long enough to make even Thorns squirm, then suddenly left, stomping down the corridor with enough force anyone she passed sprinted to get out of her way.
…Maybe he should find Elysium before she did.