[PRP] Pyramid Skein (Horace & Oliver)

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You do sound pretty crazy, Ollie. I'm just saying." Horace grinned. "But honestly, the world's a little crazy so..." Either Oliver was off his rocker or this kind of stuff was real. He was inclined to believe the latter, though he wasn't sure why.

He tapped his thumb across one of Olvier's knuckles. "It's kinda like 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horactio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy', right?" He'd smushed the names together. Horatio, Horace, it was practically the same. "What happened to flip flop you here, then? And, uh.... what happened to the you that was here - did that version of Oliver take your place back in the, uh, alternate world?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Gawk count: 3. "You believe me?" He tilted his head, working himself up only to settle again at the touch. It helped having something to be gentle with—besides the fact that he was the type of person to do lots of nervous ministrations hands when he was anxious anyway. This kept him from tapping, pen clicking, fussing with things, the like.

And though he was still guilty, he was now explaining with a little more exuberance. He only had this knowledge shared between him and Shiloh and the rest of the people in the void—give or take—and there was Nasir too who hadn't been there, but was still aware that something had happened. Either way, he hadn't been able to actually come clean about his actions that he perceived as otherwise... well, wrong. Morally speaking, they basically ended the world, or something.

"That's actually a good question." He hadn't considered the other world actually existing still, but, "I know emphatically that there was another me here. And that I took his place; his life was very similar to mine, but very different too." Feeling a little more adventurous, he gave the hand a squeeze rather than a tap, "He had an entirely different path he was on, completely different memories... As for the other world where I'm from... I'm not sure what happened to it. I'm fairly certain that it got destroyed, but..." He spoke very casually of this.

"Well, that or altered. The events that followed eventually resulted in the creation of this world, I think, or "overwrote the data" of the previous one, so to speak. It's really confusing." He gave the shop a cursory look around, just to make sure there weren't any eavesdroppers. His voice was still quiet to compensate in the meantime; just in case.

The Semblance of Unity

omfg im sorry i keep writing so much DIES

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Why wouldn't I believe you?" Horace was listening so intently to Oliver that the squeeze almost startled him. But it was fine, it was fine, it was fine, he told himself. Oliver was fine. He tentatively squeezed back, feeling faint, but not yet panicky.

His free hand came up to rub at his undercut. "Overwrote the data," Horace repeated, thinking. "Does that mean I didn't exist until you and, uh, I guess there were others, created me?" It was kind of a disturbing thought. "What did you do, how did you switch everything up... and why?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"...because it's absolutely outlandish?" He ventured, but then cracked a tiny smile. "I was using that as an analogy. You might have existed in previous cycles, but if you did I obviously never met you." He shrugged, "But if you can use magic, you're probably intrinsically connected to the cycles in some way-shape-or-fashion. From what I understand, anyway. But the you here—if there was a you before—are different, that I'm sure of." Might be subtle, might be drastic. The trip into the eighties was proof enough of that.

"The reasons are sort of complicated... I think our world was already falling apart. We were scrambling to pick up the pieces to fix it... I guess it's like—" sigh "—there's this thing that we colloquially call the cage. It's the reason why we keep cycling. Someone in our world broke it—the original one, I mean—and s**t sort've hit the fan." He nudged the table leg with his foot, "No one was really sure what to do, so I think we ended up making a new one. That's why the rules here are a little different. That's why magic's starting to leak into the world a little more at a time. Where I was from there was almost no magic, but the world before that—the original one where it all began—"

"Magic was everywhere. Everyone used it. It wasn't frowned upon like it is here. Isn't a secret like it was in my world." He shook his head, "It's confusing... a lot of people want to break the cage so the world stops cycling, but I'm not even sure how that's possible... or why the cage was even made in the first place."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

The idea that things, worlds, cycled was honestly kind of mind-blowing. It would probably take him a while to truly process it. That and the fact that he wanted to crowd-source more information on it, too. Maybe there was a him that had never left Oklahoma. And there was a him who'd died in Florida before even the dream of leaving had crossed his mind. It was kind of scary and he shivered, fingers sliding awkwardly between Oliver's.

"I'm glad I'm here," he said with feeling. Then, in a much lighter tone: "So maybe, in some cycles, there's two of me and then it could be sandwich time." There were so many jokes he could make about multiples of him, but he zipped his lip after the one quip. "So don't break the 'cage' because the world kind of breaks and ends, don't remake it just as terribly, but.... what are you even supposed to do?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

There he went again, letting his guard down, focusing too much on their stupid hands and the serious conversation with this idiot had to go cracking inappropriate jokes. "I-I—! I don't think two of you exist at once." He looked thoroughly flustered. "I-In the same cycle I mean! Maybe it's possible— but—" He huffed loudly.

"I—Anyway. I don't know what we're supposed to do, honestly." He was still pouting a little, "As far as I'm aware, it's just going to reset again since the cage still exists. Unless it starts breaking again..." His shoulders shrugged and then proceeded to sag slightly. "It's confusing. I dunno. See how it plays out? Honestly sometimes—" He paused, looked around; there was that guilty as hell look again, "—I wish that none of this happened, that we hadn't remade anything. I feel like s**t taking over someones life that wasn't really mine." Pause. "I can't really say that to anyone. Everyone else is picking up the pieces too, but I feel like they're all adjusting a lot better. It's frustrating that they can take all this magic s**t in stride like it's just another whoopsy-daisy. I only helped because I didn't know what else to do..."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He grinned at how easily flustered Oliver was. It was terrible of him to tease, especially when they were having a serious conversation, but it was also irresistible. He tapped Oliver's hand with his thumb again.

"You can say it to me." Horace paused. "It's gotta be frustrating to come back to find parts of your life aren't the same. Maybe enough is the same, but it's like looking into a mirror and not quite recognizing yourself. Maybe; I dunno. I'm glad you're this version of you here, though." The phrasing was confusing, but Horace hoped his point got across. "It sounds like maybe this remakes was to, um buy time, maybe? Enough time to figure out a permanent solution. Why was the cage made in the first place? Does it... does it, uh, cage something?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"I still can't believe you believe me." He sounded incredulous, but relieved all the same. "I'm really not certain on that, but I think it is something like that. The were trying to cage someone, but I'm not sure why." He didn't know much about Renard in the first place, save what he knew from Shiloh, which was even less. "You'd have to ask my brother about it. Or someone who's been involved a lot longer than I have."

"But that's sort of my point. It seems so stupid to do these things without having a full grasp on what we're doing." He sighed, "But I digress. There's no point in ranting about it now I guess." He swallowed, tapped his finger back, "But I'm glad I can confide into you about this. It's been eating at me."

He was silent for a minute before continuing, a wry sort of smile coming to his face, "I do wonder if the you from my world was as much of a charming dickass." His voice was absolutely dripping with dry sarcasm, but it lacked any substantial venom, especially since it was followed with "I'm not holding you up, am I?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace made a mental note to ask Shiloh or maybe the police chief about things. He'd also heard there were alternate Ashdown denizens whose brains he could pick; Gloom was a mild example. But he wasn't sure how safe that was. "You've already told me a lot about things I didn't know. And, I dunno, you seem just kind of trustworthy, I guess." Anything and everything truly was possible. Horace felt kind of warm at the idea that someone was confiding in him. Despite his outgoing appearance, it had been a while since he'd had anyone to really talk with like this outside of work. There were a few, but... that didn't make Oliver any less important.

"If I happen to find anything out, I'll let you know. I mean, obviously, I'm Ms. New Boots here, but now that I know this much, maybe it'll be easier to find out other things." The phrase was actually Ms. New Booty, but at the last minute he couldn't bring himself to crack that joke.

He clutched at his heart with his free hand. "I should be mortally offended, but you did just say I was charming, so all if forgiven." Horace couldn't help it; he ended the sentence on a snort of laughter. "And I've no place I'd rather be. I'm not on call tonight. Do you often come here?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Color him humbled; that was a rare emotion for Oliver to feel, but he took it in stride regardless. Trust wasn't something he played around with after all. Trust was something he seldom gave out and as a result seldom got in return. "I wouldn't lie about it..." He shook his head, "No reason to. Like I said, I kinda wish it just hadn't happened in the first place. Any of this." Him being a moonwalker was stressful, and Shiloh being nobility was stressful, and magic in general with his school and his job was stressful.

"But thanks. I appreciate it." He smiled again, even going so far as to finally play along with Horace's antics (another rarity), "I just told you I speak nothing but the truth! I could die at your implication otherwise." He snorted, "I'm either here or in a classroom or at Micheals, honestly." He seemed sheepish to admit the fact he was so crafty. "Or home obviously. Or the music hall they have at the school. That's a lot better than the classrooms."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"It sounds incredibly nerve-wracking. I think I mighta holed up in my room for a good long time if it were me. As it is, even just having the tiny involvement in magic I've got is weird enough." Horace could zap plants and make sparks dance.

He tossed his hair back. "But that means you also meant the 'dickass' part. Hmph." This conversation was definitely a step up from screaming in the car. "I usually chill at home - kind of wish I had a roommate sometimes. Or a dog. Does the yarn stuff, I dunno, help with stress?"

melancolies

 

[Melancholies]

"That doesn't sound bad though. I have a roommate, but sometimes I wish I had peace and quiet." He laughed. Elliot was terrible, but he was pretty goddamn eccentric. "I have a cat though. Two of them—and a dog, I guess, but he isn't really mine." He slowly untangled one of his hands away to reach around for his phone.

"It does, yeah." He answered idly as he fished the aforementioned phone out, scrolling through the pictures, "I like having stuff to do with my hands when I'm watching TV or listening to music and stuff. I'm kinda uh—" He looked around, shyly almost, "—really into scrapbooking too. I guess they're both kinda niche hobbies, but I think they're fun." He turned his phone over then to reveal a picture of two cats; one was a long-haired munchkin with the fluffiest tail imaginable, and then in direct contrast the other was very long, very spindly with narrow legs and black as absolute pitch.

"That one's Chai," His thumb awkwardly tapped the floofy one, "And the other one is Nosey. You can scroll through if you want." Every single picture in his phone was of his cats, with maybe one or two reserved for the dog and the seldom selfie (which were usually taken with said roommate, or his brother). Needless to say he had nothing to hide.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Oh my god," he breathed out and flicked through the pictures of the cats. "Do you ever just bury your face in Chai's fluffiness?" Nosey looked lovely, too. He scrolled to another picture.

"What kind of things go in a scrapbook, anyway?" Horace didn't really understand how scrapbooks work. He got that maybe you put big events in there, but... His exposure to crafts before cross stitch had been quilts and crochet.

He glanced up at Oliver. "I actually have a three bedroom row house to myself," he admitted, feeling oddly sheepish. "But if you ever needed to hang out in quiet, you could text me and come over. I'd promise to be quiet, too." While Horace came off as very out-going in public, at home he was kind of a quiet person, usually with his head stuck in some romance novel.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Right?!" His voice rose for a second before he cleared his throat, calming down, "She's amazing. I love her." His face melted into something wibbly and warm and pathetic, "But Nosey is so damn funny. They're both great."

He was still leaning in to watch Horace scroll the pictures, "You can put pretty much anything you want into them, that's why it's great. I usually try to catch all the big picture stuff, but I like to make photo collages too. Like— Like Chai has one for every year that I've had her, and one time she got lost so when I found her I made one too, and there was one time she fell asleep on me and I took like fifty pictures." Horace would probably find them if he kept scrolling.

This was obviously one of Oliver's favorite topics. His cat.

He cleared his throat again, "I kinda find it similar to having a journal or a diary, just in a visual form." He nodded vigorously, "And it gives me something to do. How come you live in such a big place by yourself though? I mean, I definitely appreciate the offer."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace grinned at a particularly contorted Nosey. "All good pets require excessive documentation. One time, if I give you a ride again or something - can I meet them, please?" He wanted to be surrounded by fluffy things. "Whait - what if you're a cat? You can play with them!" His fingers tightened excitedly around Oliver's before he deliberately relaxed them.

A small frown crossed his face as he thought about his house. "And, I dunno... I just got a big place because I wanted to understand what it feels like to be alone? I'm sorry; that sounds silly." He thumbed to another picture, ducking his head down a bit.

melancholies