// Oh do u've images of the new skin ?

"Can I be part of the future? I don't think I'm like your Charles..."

"I suppose now I'm appropriately adorned for the festivities"

He turns his head slightly, speaking over his shoulder.

"You're chaos incarnate in raccoon form, my ... friend."

He hands instinctively twitching as if to summon a neural shield—only to freeze when the familiar voice reaches him, he exhales through his nose, resigned yet faintly amused, as the flower necklace lands around his neck.

"You're fortunate I deactivated my auto-defense protocol for island mode"
{+}

"Throwing me in the ocean would merely trigger hydrophobic plating and pressure recalibration."

Then a soft grumble from his stomach.

"Yes ... Tell me—" His head tilted slightly "Is it sanctioned nourishment, or can anyone retrieve it without diplomatic consequences?"

"My nanosystems regulate internal temperature by dynamically adapting to environmental conditions, in essence, I don't sweat because the suit compensates before heat becomes a physiological concern."

He paused, eyes flicking briefly toward her drink.

{ + + }

No threats, no politics, no magnetic temperaments."

Then his hand shifts, briefly resting atop Erik's.

"But perhaps I should have known better. .. You have a habit of destabilizing all my carefully balanced systems ... Including the ones in here." He taps his own chest lightly.

A rare softness edges his voice as he leans in, brushing his thumb against the reddening skin

"Stay under the canopy with me for a while . . . I rather like you unsigned.

Besides, I refuse to share you with the aloe Vera bottle tonight."