[COMPLETE] Heartbeat, Heartbeat

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You gotta let me past," he repeated to the fetch on the stairs. They were only doing their job, which was to keep ill-intent out of the casting area. Horace felt a little bad about bringing such a thing down there, but it was probably the only way to destroy it, short of somehow calling Sonny to come along and nuke it.

"Felt, Silk? I need to get down there - please! I've got something to show you - something to do," he called out.

mela1ncholies

saed1usk

 

[Melancholies]

Ollie was still wheezing as he clambered down the stairs—damn near tripped even—as he stumbled right along. It sounded like he couldn't catch his breath. "T-Time—" He was trying to tell Horace, "Time, we're running out of—"

He held the watch over, which had surely ticked away from the five minutes and thirty seconds it had when they first found it.

The Semblance of Unity

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"We found-" Eli puffed, stopping next to Ollie. Having a pretty face and a yoga-toned body didn't mean he was built for long distance marathons. "-what you saw in your scrying..." He waved a hand at the watch, the most critical piece of information at this particular moment. Whatever it was counting down to, they didn't have much time left to prevent it.

"The stone, too, and the wild sheet music..."  

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace whirled. "Oh thank <********>," he said with feeling. "I knew you guys would do it. I found this." He turned the sheet with bloodied fingerprints on it towards them briefly. "I think... if we can get to the box we made, then... maybe." For a moment, he allowed himself to hope. Shooting them a tremulous smile and pushing out a wave of affection towards them, he turned back to the fetch.

"Do you see?" If they could destroy the bits somehow, some way, it would work. It had to. "There's a time limit, so we need to be let through now."

shibrogane

melancholies

saedusk

 

[shibrogane]

The fetch was only doing her job, but it clearly made her uncomfortable to be resisting a visitor's demands. When Silk and Felt responded to Horace's shouting of their names, she gratefully ceded the stairs to them, darting away from the war going on on the third floor.

Felt looked at the watch. So did Silk. 4:45. 4:44. 4:43.

"Alright," said Silk, "but we have to protect the casting space, as well. Do you understand?" She looked at the three of them. "Are all three of you necessary for the box you made the function?"

saedusk

Melancholies

The Semblance of Unity

 

[saedusk]

"Absolutely," said Eli confidently, even if it wasn't necessarily true. "The three of us together had the best luck when we were testing the box. The more people, the better the resonance, the easier it is to eliminate something, especially when we already know how to harmonize together."

shibrogane

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver nodded, still breathless, "I'd rather we not change the formula, given we were successful before."

His hand--the one holding the stopwatch--was starting to tremble noticeably.

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Three was a magic number and three could harmonize their magic in a way one could not. Horace was glad Elliot and Olivier were there. He wouldn't have picked no one else, even if he still felt horribly, horribly guilty over dragging them into this further than they needed to be.

He sent Oliver a short of mental bump, the kind that would involve him resting his chin on Ollie's shoulder if it had been possible. They both got a dazzlingly white smile before he swung back around to face Silk. "I understand, Silk. But if we don't do this, there probably won't be a casting space."

shibrogane

melancholies

saedusk

 

[shibrogane]

"I was afraid of that," murmured Silk. "Felt, please--hurry." The younger fetch bolted down the stairs. "You'll need to change." Felt was already coming back up the stairs. He was a fast little ********. "Here--" she handed over black robes that tied at the waist, and turned her back. "We will go remove the box from its storage space. Meet us on the casting floor when you're prepared."

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You're fast," he said. Horace wondered if Felt did the whole Naruto-run thing and decided that, even if Felt didn't, Horace wanted to believe he did. "Will do, Silk. Do we carry our clothes down or leave them?"

As soon as she turned her back Horace began to strip. This wasn't exactly how he wanted the other two to see him naked, but that was unfortunately out of his control. His shirt was wrapped carefully around the stolen consent. It had been all gross and drippy on it, anyway, so he figured they'd have to destroy it. Then he shucked off his pants, carefully folding them. His boxer-briefs... that was where he felt a bit reluctant. 'EAT ME' was scrawled across his a** next to a piece of cake and he honestly liked this pair. RIP.

He turned back to Oliver and Elliot to grab a robe (not to catch them in half-dress, oh no, not Horace Nokoni, he would never). He yanked one over his head, set his shoes neatly next to his folded clothes, and sighed.

"You guys ready to cult it up?" Another look at his clothing. "I liked those underwear..."

saedusk

melancholies

 

[saedusk]

"Goodness," Eli said, though he honestly didn't sound all that passionate about it, at least not in a negative sense. Truth was, he had no issue dropping his drawers, least of all in front of Oliver. And honestly, Horace was climbing the ranks on the list of people who could look at his d**k without consequence faster and faster each day.

Of course, he did have the decency to turn around while he stripped, but not until he'd gotten a quick eye-full of those 'EAT ME' shorts. He was probably going to hell for all this.

"They're cute. Hopefully they won't have to be incinerated." Eli was mid-change and paused as he thought about it. "Oh wait, that's only when you've been in contact with something like a super virus right? Or radiation?"

Absolutely not looking at Ollie or Horace, he too slipped on his boring black robe.

Melancholies

The Semblance of Unity

 

[Melancholies]

Unsurprisingly, Oliver managed to be the most ******** mature about this entire experience by keeping to himself—even though the thought did cross his mind of 'well, if I'm going to die, might as well make the last view worth remembering', but he was too deep in rampant anxiety for that. Hell, he didn't even need the stopwatch at this point, because his mind was counting down the mental seconds to total obliteration or whatever the hell.

That being said, despite his obviously trembling hands, Oliver changed the quickest out of all of them. He was marching down before the both of them too—or well, was—since he stopped at the top of the stairwell.

"Um, whatever ends up happening," He knew he didn't have the time to draw this s**t out, but he looked over his shoulder with the guitar in one hand and the watch in the other, "Thanks for everything you two."

He descended the stairs rapidly.

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

At the bottom of the stairs, Felt showed the trio into what seemed to be a small storage space under the stairs. Their box rested on a table separate from the other items; the table upon which it rested had small symbols painted around the corners in a neat and sure hand. "You may only put your items on the table," said Silk, "and please do that quickly to minimize pollution. How much time do you have?"

3:13. 3:12. 3:11...

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Wait, Olliebee. Horace hopped after Oliver, stripping off his last pineapple-covered sock. He'd almost forgotten. 'Thanks for everything?' That sounded too final, too ... he didn't know. But he didn't want a thanks from Oliver. Horace swallowed.

"What's gonna happen is we're gonna destroy this." He moved quickly towards the box, glancing over at Silk. "Not very long, is my guess." Horace opened the box, shoving both the gross paper and the gross shirt inside. It was not a good day for his clothing. At least the robes were nicely breezy.

"We gotta shove it in and go. No time for foreplay." Just vibration. "Just like we did before, though."

saedusk

melancholies

 

[saedusk]

"I'm going to have to agree with Horace on this one." They were definitely going to destroy these things and that was it. Nothing else. Nothing to get this level of goodbye sentimental over. At least that's what Elliot had to tell himself to keep his spirits up and his manufactured self-confidence in check.

Besides, belief was how they were going to end this. If he gave up now, he'd be giving up on Oliver and Horace and goddamn everybody.

"You always have time for inappropriate jokes, don't you?" he asked Horace, but he brought a smile to his face regardless. Into the box went all the papers he'd shoved into his pockets—he double and triple checked—and the opalescent stone.

Melancholies

The Semblance of Unity