[COMPLETE] This carousel takes us round and round

[saedusk]

"I think- Yeah, this is the way..." Eli muttered, head turning this way and that, eyes glazing over as he took in the room that was familiar only because of what he'd seen in the mirror. The compact was back in his bag, though he was unsure if attempting to scry again would even do anything. It didn't matter, though. For now he followed his memory.

Honestly, it was funny in a sad and ironic sort of way. Eli never imagined he'd be all that useful here, deceptively low self-esteem was harsh that way, but here he was leading Ollie on a quest to find the watch. A timed quest, no less.

Time for that manufactured, Elliot Labelle brand confidence to take the reigns.  

[Melancholies]

Ollie was following close behind; hard not to when Eli had a vice grip on his hand like he did. He wasn't sure what to say, where to start, what to do other than follow... and honestly talking probably wasn't the best, not when Eli was trying to concentrate. He wondered for a brief moment if the other Elliot, given the same position, would react this way. He wondered what he was doing. He remembered the vision of being alone.

"I asked the mirror what was going to happen," he blurted out, the weight of it too heavy in his head to apparently bare, "It showed me Shiloh and Melany, laughing and studying and happy. It showed us too--with Horace--we were at someone's wedding..."

He chewed his lip. Maybe that existence wouldn't be so bad... for Eli anyway. And Horace. He didn't see them wandering the veil alone. Would they know any different?

But Oliver was so selfish.

"I asked about me specifically, who I am now." His voice sounded tense and hurt, "And I was alone. Half shifted and alone..." he squeezed Eli's hand. "Sorry, I'll stop talking."

He focused on his magic senses instead.

saedusk

 

[shibrogane]

Quote:

Please roll 1d10 on each post. When u hit 20, quote me in smile

 

[saedusk]

It would've been easy to let it go at that. He'd been listening, of course he had, and his stomach turned knowing Oliver had seen more than just the impersonal antics of Ezra and the Burning Man. To have seen something close to home like that... Elliot wasn't sure he'd be happy, either, especially recalling what they'd talked about the other night.

Except, well, just like that night Eli turned to him—he'd stopped walking abruptly—and said, "I don't want anything to happen to you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You." For emphasis, he squeezed Oliver's hand right back.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," he said with an honest, awkward laugh. "But like hell I'm going to let that b*****d do whatever he wants. I'm Elliot Labelle, Oliver. I'm the master of my own goddamn universe."

It was a haughty, full-of-himself persona that Ollie would probably recognize. The way he spoke was outrageously pompous. And yet, he was different than Ollie would remember, too. This time Elliot spoke not only for himself, but for those he cared about. It was selfish, but selfless. He was a goddamn mess, but he was trying.

"We're going to do this," he said as he turned back to the path and focused on where to go next.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver looked a little incredulous as they stopped, and he was silent up until the moment they started to walk again. "But what if... what if we got your Oliver back?" Where Elliot had covered up his shortcomings with his haughty persona, Oliver's anxieties were rapidly bleeding through. "And your Shiloh. You said you two had been friends, right? All the people you used to know..."

His grip on the hand loosened.

Total: 14

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Okay, so that hadn't quite been the response Elliot was hoping for. It was dumb, but he'd been banking on determination, on belief, on anything that wasn't misery and heartache. Maybe, he thought briefly, he just didn't understand the situation they were in. Maybe it was foolish to hope.

Even so, he held Ollie's hand tighter and refused to let go. He didn't sound as confident this time, but he tried.

"I already lost everything once," he said as they turned a corner, "Lost it right under my nose without even noticing. I'm not going to let that happen again."


Total: 15

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Ollie blinked slowly. But you could have it back, he wanted to say, but he didn't. It was selfish, because he liked this universe and he liked this world and he liked this Elliot. He liked the other Elliot too, but he knew whatever emotion he got reciprocated wasn't love. This was different, this--charging recklessly through the halls of a magical Court, trying to save lives, trying to save each other--he couldn't even fathom it. Had it not be occurring in real time, he'd say it never occurred at all.

"I sense something up ahead." He told Elliot, his voice soft and somber. As they nearly came upon their destination, he jerked Eli to a halt again. "If we live through this," he sounded suddenly adamant, "You better take me out on a date then, okay?"

saedusk

shibrogane

hit 20

 

[shibrogane]

It's the same door Oliver had passed through to find Ezra the first time.

Opening the door, there is no sign of the watch, or the opalescent stone, or the bag they had been in. There's nothing inside the room at all, except Ezra's discarded guitar.  

[saedusk]

"Absolutely," Eli said. Relief was palpable in the air, in his voice, in every movement as he turned to face Ollie, totally unruffled by the sudden stop. "I know just the place. You'll love it." It was a date, because there was no way in hell they weren't getting out alive. Eli was all in on that bet.

"Well... let's see what he left for us."

A guitar. Eli had the voice of an angel, but he sure couldn't play an instrument to save his life. "That must be what Horace saw when he was scrying," he told Ollie. "He wrote down part of the sheet music, but I didn't recognize it. Whatever song Ezra was playing, Horace said it made the fire in this, this..." he made a circle with his hands, "this opal colored stone get bigger and bigger."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Sheet music?" Oliver squinted as he entered the room. "This is where we found Ezra the first time. He was holding the guitar, but it was making this... strange sound. Normal but not. There was a strange timbre to it."

"There's no stone though. What else did you see?" He didn't know how to play a guitar either; his talents stood solely with the piano, but it didn't stop him from picking the instrument up. He gave it an experimental thrum.

saedusk

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Something about the sound the guitar made was deadened, flat. That same odd whining sound Ollie remembered from before, but now that he held the instrument itself there was clearly something wrong with the instrument.  

[saedusk]

"The stone isn't here from what I can tell, no. I saw it when I was scrying, so I at least know what it looks like." With a small sigh, he shifted from foot to foot anxiously. "I saw him set down that watch, too, after setting it for thirty minutes. I thought for sure it would be here." Who or what had come by and taken it in the interim?

"Man, that guitar sure does sound awful, though."  

[Melancholies]

Oliver grimaced at the sound too, "You're not wrong..." He started tuning it out of habit, his hands gently turning the knobs at the top. It was more or less something to keep him busy while his anxiety bubbled under the surface. "If the items aren't here, then they have to be somewhere." He thrummed one of the strings, adjusted it.

"Maybe it's hopeless after all. I mean, suppose we find the watch, the rock, the sheet music. What then? Destroy it all?" Thrum.

saedusk

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

No matter how Oliver tries, the guitar doesn't sound better. The sound is deadened somehow.  

[Melancholies]

Oliver made a face before checking the inside of the guitar.

shibrogane