[PRP] Definitely not a cat (Oliver & Horace)

[Melancholies]

Oliver didn't make any comment. Honestly, the only way it could work would be with this Elliot, but that's what made it conflicting. It should be what he wanted, but instead it made him feel sick. He hated it. He hated the old world but at least it made sense to him. He didn't want to rewrite everything, he just wanted to go home.

"It's fine." He said as he came to one of the doors, steadily unlocking it. "Make sure you get in quick. Nosey likes to try and get out." He said this as he held the door open for him.

...inside came the quietest, most polite, most squeaky meow. The entire entryway smelled like tea and those expensive woodwick candles.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace slid into the apartment past Oliver, being careful not to brush up against him. "Whoa, your apartment is, like, ready." He looked around for the source of the meow.

"As much as I need your cats in my life, I should probably, uh, try to unstick this scarf." Horace grimaced. W-where's your bathroom?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Yeah, that's fine." He said as he closed the door behind him, also awkwardly trying to forgo any accidental touching. "It's down the hallway. Only door on the left." The other two door were his and Elliot's respectively.

Chai made her grand appearance right then, short and stout and elongated. Her coat was immaculate and her tail was even fluffier than the pictures. She seemed absolutely enamored at the idea of a new person, but Oliver intercepted her into his arms before she started doing donuts around Horace's legs.

"You sure you won't need any help?" He glanced down at Horace's hand again like he wanted to assist, but didn't outwardly press it. Chai meanwhile was purring loud enough to put a jet engine to shame.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Well, he probably would need help. Cleaning and bandaging one=hand was no easy task. But he started down the hallway. "Nah, you've got issues with your ow hands. Don't worry about me." He paused.

"Is Chai about to explode? That's the loudest cat I ever heard." Shaking his head, he headed towards the bathroom.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver puffed up, "T-That doesn't matter! I can still help!" He wasn't about to be useless. Throw him away why don't you. Thankfully Chai's purring was keeping him from getting too riled up. "I can get over it. It's fine." He followed Horace down the hallway, but stopped outside of the door. Actually, he stopped a little bit before that, his vision of the inside of the bathroom obscured on purpose. Usually he didn't have the energy to put himself for other people, but in this case he felt partially responsible. He looked down to Chai cradled in his arms, her eyes squinted and expression pleased.

"She's just... happy." He said after a moment. At least his cats loved him.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, she's happy because her human is home." Horace turned on the faucet in the sink, letting the water get warm. Slowly, he unwrapped the scarf from his hand and gave it an experimental tug. <********>. It was thoroughly stuck to the wound. He was going to need help.

"Hey," he said slowly. "Can you grab a pair of scissors and lend me a hand? I gotta cut the scarf off..."Cut off the bits of scarf not stuck (most of it - R.I.P. scarf), then soak the stuck bits in warm water and hope it didn't hurt too much to rip off.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Chai produced a garbled, squeaky murble as if in response to this.

Oliver meanwhile sighed. "Hold on." He set Chai down to go rummaging through his room. Thankfully he had scissors specifically for fabric on standby because of his niche interests, but he still felt a little bad that Horace was going to be wrecking his scarf. He wandered back towards the bathroom with them in tow.

Chai was still laying there pathetically where she had been set down. At least he could tolerate the softness of her fur with his weird a** hands. As it was, the scissors were frozen against his fingertips, and he was glad to hand them off. Still, he knew he'd have to get over it eventually.

"Actually," He had held the scissors out, but pulled them back, "Here. I can cut it..." Though he would relinquish the scissors if Horace was still adamant about doing it himself.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace made a note that Chai was made for cuddles. While Oliver fetched the scissors, he took a moment to mourn his scarf. Luckily, he had another with the exact same design. Horace never passed up a sale that include brightly colored scarves. Oliver returned and he looked up. As much as he wanted to do it himself, he wouldn't be able to alone.

"I..uh, yeah. I don't think I can do it myself. Thanks." The water was still running, ready for him to shove his hand under the flow once they freed it of extra scarf. He held out his hand to Oliver.

"I'll... try not to shock you."

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"S'fine. I won't take it to heart." Not that he still wanted to be shocked, but he'd deal with it. After finagling the scissors into position on his hand (ugh, ugh, so gross) he went forward with it. His free hand scooped up Horace's from underneath and the other worked towards cutting off the remaining fabric. "Sorry about your scarf." He said after a bit of cutting. Strips were falling to the floor with dull thuds.

Chai was absolutely bonkers over the falling dangly things, and had taken up rolling in the strips that collected on the bottom. Another (less squeaky) meow was sounded from the hallway, followed by the spindly apparition of a black cat with wide yellow eyes. Nosey did not react as enthusiastically as Chai, and continued to stare in a shell-shocked sort of way.

"Better?" He pulled his hands back a little too quickly, scissors dropping onto the sink-top like it was iron hot.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I've got another." The snip snip of the scissors cutting fabric made his teeth stand on edge. Horace looked away, focusing on Chai and the cat's utterly silly antics. Nosey appeared as well and Horace clicked his tongue at the cat, trying to get him to come closer.

The clack of scissors in the sink startled him and it was good that Oliver was already pulling away because Horace's skin crackled with static. "Um, yeah, that's good. Why is Nosey named nosey?" There was a patch of scarf stuck to his palm. "Oh, but do you have any vaseline or like gauze?" Horace was trying to give Oliver an out while he pulled the fabric away. He'd already stuck his hand in the water in the hopes of loosening the scarf. Maybe he should have just gone home, saved Oliver the trouble. He frowned.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Yeah, we have everything." He said, but didn't elaborate. Instead he started to fumble around in the towel closet outside of the bathroom, eventually coming back with rolls of gauze and other such necessities.

"She's Nosey 'cause she's nosy." He said matter-of-factly as Nosey tried to stick her head into the bathroom again. "Also it's short for Nosegay. How's your hand?" He tried to peek and winced slightly. A quiet boof boof came from one of the other rooms in the hallway.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Nosegay - that's damn cute," he said, a little distracted. Horace peeled at the edge of the cloth. It had loosened quite a bit from the water, but the middle was still stuck. Taking a deep breath, he yanked it off. And immediately cursed loudly, fingers curling in on themselves. Blood swirled down into the drain of the sink.

He focused on breathing, but past that first flash of pain, it wasn't so bad. If he could just dry it and wrap it... He had experience in treating flesh wounds, so this shouldn't be too hard. "Hey, did you get the stuff?" Horace asked, voice sounding a little thin.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"You think?" He actually dropped the grimace in favor of a small smile. The wince returned yet again whenever Horace ripped the scarf off of the wound too, but he was nosy enough to peek even though he knew he'd regret it. "It doesn't look too bad at least..." He said slowly.

Better than a lot of the s**t he'd have to patch up on Shiloh.

"I grabbed some gauze, yeah." And a few antiseptic wipes. He was popping the first one open already when Horace asked, the nausea rising and falling in his throat as his finger tips fumbled with the package. He accidentally touched the wipe inside and shuddered at the feeling. "Is it alright if I see your hand again?" He held his own out for permission.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, it just hurts cuz it got stiff." It'd hurt more if he let it get infected, too, but it might scar anyway. He uncurled his fingers slowly and held out his hand.

"Okay, but like, if your hands are being funny, I can do it."

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"They are." He didn't hide the fact, "But I told you I have to get used to it." He couldn't let himself be like this one week out of the month, even if it felt like his mouth was full of cotton balls as he handled the wipes. Oliver took the hand just as gently again, diligently cleaning up the wound.

"I know what I'm doing, you know, if that's what you're actually concerned about." He fell silent for a second, "Shiloh got into lots of trouble when we were younger. Never wanted to take the time to clean up. Idiot." He snorted, "You're an idiot too, idiot." One he was done he reached for the gauze.

"It doesn't look that bad though, you're lucky." He sounded a little too genuinely relieved at this.

The Semblance of Unity