[PRP] High School Musical (Eli/Ollie/Horace)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace waited until Sonny had left, thanking them as they went. He looked around the library slash study slash thing and sighed. This seemed like such a big undertaking, but they were gonna have to do it. Lives were on the line, plus he'd kind of dragged the Beaubelles into it. He wasn't sure he liked that name mash-up and so immediately banished it from his mind.

"So what next? We need to find some sort of destruction that leaves nothing behind... Any ideas?" He stared into the ottoman, thinking.

"I bet you could fit inside that ottoman, Oliver."

Library Looks like

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This was the space that filled the turret. It was a two-story library space, done up in whites and greens. The floor was dark wood, the built-in shelves on the second story were white. On the floor which they stood now was an expansive sectional surrounding a square coffee table that appeared to be made of whiteboard material. Tucked up beneath the coffee table was an ottoman that Sonny pulled out and plucked the top off. They unearthed a set of four cups full of dry-erase markers and pushed that into the middle of the table, along with a few notepads and a handful of brightly-colored pens. This left copious space inside the ottoman. Over the apple-green sectional were two windows that looked out over the water.

"Most of the books are up top," said Sonny, pointing to the black stairs set against the right-hand wall. "There's some under the sectional, but they're the really hardcore reference stuff. You probably won't need it. And the computer over there's not got a password on it if you use the guest account."

 

[Melancholies]

It was immediate; Sonny showed them the library and his shoulders were still poised, his expression still pleasantly neutral, a slight curve to his lips like he was invested in her explanations, a thank you dripping with genuine courtesy... and then Sonny was gone, and his shoulders slumped, and his back hunched and his face lost the bright-eyed-busy-tailed motif they had going for him. Professional, utmost respectful Oliver Beaumont was gone.

He dropped himself into one of the seats.

"That was... exhausting." He sighed wistfully, "The tension at the end there was almost overwhelming." And it showed in the way he leaned forward, had his elbows resting on his knees. "The ottoman looks rather inviting, actually."

He reached for his phone in his pocket. "Are... we really going to remove her arm?" He gave them both a painfully worried look. He seemed fairly sold during the lunch, but his confidence was usually a bluff.

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The Semblance of Unity

 

[saedusk]

With Sonny gone, Eli crossed his arms and leaned heavily to one hip. "No ideas yet, I'd like to check the books upstairs first," he said. This whole realm of possibility was new to him, after all, and if they were expected to destroy something of the same caliber as the magical stone Renard himself had been unable to eradicate, then he was sure they'd need to reference ideas from more than one source.

"I must agree, though, the atmosphere shifted quite noticeably." His eyes fell on Oliver, weary and woeful in the chair, and he felt a twinge of regret for their situation. "I worry that if we don't remove her arm, we'll be forced to deal with something much worse." He hmm'd.

"Admittedly, I don't know what that something is. We can still attempt the magical epoxy route if we really want to."

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I just... if we epoxy her arm and it's not enough, then we've put her through all this pain for nothing. The whole reason she's like this is she was forced to have this carved into her bone. In the end, we will just... have to ask her. And hope the blood test is okay." Ultimately, it wasn't their decision, but hers. Horace hoped she'd be willing and wouldn't say 'just kill me'. She'd promised to hold out a bit longer. He did feel a little bad for keeping Melany's presence a secret from these two, but he couldn't have betrayed her confidence like that.

Horace moved to the stairs and began pulling out books here and there with interesting titles. "So - for destroying - we need to make sure nothing's left of paper nor arm. Fire? Acid? Magic nuclear explosions?" A pause. "I feel like I'm gonna die from anxiety."

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[Melancholies]

"The concept is just... a little nauseating, I guess..." Oliver was wringing hisnhands, "It feels like there's too much room for error. We're trying go research this, but what if we mess up? Or it goes wrong? That's blood on our hands."

Way to be a downer Ollie.

"Sorry, I'm not helping." He sighed again. "Supposing the sigil didn't hit her marrow, then removing the bone seems the most absolute method." His fingers were slowly typing out a text on his phone. Not even a beat later it vibrated in his hand. The look on his face was absolutely indignant.

"Shiloh says he knows some people, but he wants to talk to me in person about it." He clicked his tongue against his teeth, "******** figures, selfish p***k." The phone was dropped against the floor. It would've been thrown, but this wasn't his house, and the last thing he wanted to do was cause a ruckus. "Anyway, Sonny mentioned containing the object and then obliterating it, but I suppose that follows under magic nuclear explosion."

He was quiet, but then added, "Why don't you have a seat for a second if you're so anxious, Horace? The books are going to be there in a couple minutes."

The Semblance of Unity

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[saedusk]

Ah, he felt for the both of them. Eli had his own anxieties about their situation, but he held the majority of them quietly to his own chest. The last thing he wanted was their group imploding under the weight of its own stress. He hoped that wouldn't make him seem callous.

"Let's wait and see what Melany thinks before we worry too much." Maybe she'd want the surest solution. "After all, if we can regrow or replace her arm to its fullest extent, then..."

He shook his head, playing with his own hair in thought before scaling the stairs to find something to study. "I think you should speak to Shiloh," he called back over his shoulder, though it wasn't accusatory, and that was all he said on the matter. A few minutes later he returned with two books and settled into one of the chairs.

One of the books seemed simple by its title, Sound, and he'd grabbed it by merit of his personal interests alone. The other was a bit more complicated, Mind Over Matter: An Atomic Theory. "This book seems awfully scienc-y, I do wonder why it was upstairs," he commented.

Then, after a short silence on his part, he asked, "We all like music here, don't we?"

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"If I sit down before I grab a book, I won't get back up." He shot Oliver a grin he wasn't really feeling. Grabbing a few books, he hopped down the stairs. Keeping moving, keeping smiling and joking was his best defense against anxiety. Except for, like, cuddling, but that wasn't about to happen any time soon.

Alchemical Reactions and Banishment Circles For Use of Purification. Alright these could work, maybe. He lumbered over the sectional where Oliver was, dropping into the seat next to him. Bending down, he scooped up the phone and set it on the table. If you need an ear sometime, I'm here, okay?

"Yeah, I like music... I mean, you guys are obviously far more musical than I. Why?" Elliot had a golden voice and Oliver played piano like it was a lover's heartstrings (okay, that analogy was cheesy, Horace). He, however, had a good voice, and he'd won some spots in state choirs, but he hadn't perused anything.

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melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"You're forgetting the fact that there's two other capable people in this library. We could've got the books for you." Ollie rolled his eyes, even though he wasn't really moving to get a book on his own. Instead he watched Horace pick the phone up, frowning inwardly as Elliot's comment rang in his head. "Maybe I don't want to talk to him," he huffed, "He's using this situation as an excuse to corner me."

Oliver sighed.

"Of course I like music." He sounded vaguely offended, "Why else would I be a music major?" He started to tap his fingers against his leg.

It's complicated. I don't want to talk about it. Besides, I could be saying the same thing to you too. His gaze was flicking around the room. It was decided: Ollie was going to do what Ollie did best. There was a quick shudder of movement before he shrunk inward, the figure of a tiny raccoon sitting where Oliver was.

Time to crawl into the ottoman.

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The Semblance of Unity

 

[saedusk]

Shiloh was absolutely using this situation as en excuse to corner Ollie, that much was obvious. As much as Eli didn't like the idea of him forced into a confrontation, he also had a feeling nothing would resolve if they didn't just get it over with already. They really needed to talk.

"Sorry, I wasn't out to offend either of you," he assured, "it was a bit rhetorical." Of course he of all people knew about Ollie's love of music, his major, how skilled he was. Likewise he knew Horace adored musicals—if their text conversations comparing their favorites were any indication—and could sing quite well, humility or not. He shrugged one shoulder.

"I just had a thought is all," he began as Ollie raccoon'd and eyeballed the ottoman like some kind of heaven-sent escape route. The stress must've been worse than he thought. "I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to use magic to create a strong enough sound to vibrate atoms apart. It's the same sort of theory as shattering glass with your voice, is it not?" Both books were open awkwardly in his lap and he seemed to be skimming them occasionally between speaking.

Finally, brows lightly furrowed, he looked up at Oliver. "Are you alright?" Not that he could really answer now.

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

And what do you mean by that? I tell you a lot. He frowned at Oliver. Then his brows drew together when Oliver changed into a raccoon. Was he ******** kidding? There was a timeline, they were here to research and yeah, sure Ollie was going to raccoon away like none of that mattered. Horace was anxious, too, but he would fall apart later, when it was convenient.

"Stop that," he said sharply to Oliver. "We're supposed to be making use of your teacher's library." Then he sighed, deflating a bit, and pointedly looked away from Ollie. "I wasn't offended, Elliot. And that's actually.... a really cool idea. Something that can carry vibrations and be magically attuned could work - though I dunno how we'd get only the charter to vibrate and not everything else."

melancholies

saedusk

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver had his paws up on the ottoman when Horace barked at him, ears flattening to the sides of his head immediately. Raccoons didn't have the gift of facial expressions, but the look he gave with his eyes was indicative of a frown, or a snarl, or something unnecessary and upset. He obviously couldn't talk back, so he slunked away with a dejected gait.

When he returned from the upstairs portion, he was blessedly human again. "You're talking about resonance." He said, a book tucked away in his arms, Hyperphysics: The Frequency of Frequencies, "Every physical object in the universe vibrates at specific frequencies. If you manage to match that specific frequency and amplify it, you can destroy it. Or well..." He trailed off, "It's like the glass breaking experiment. Crystal resonates at a very specific frequency, so that's one of the easiest instances to replicate..."

He took a seat, though it wasn't by Horace or Elliot, his eyes blue and soft and fixated on the book. "It's much harder—impossible probably—to do the same thing to paper or bone or flesh. Even hitting the natural frequency of a glass doesn't disintegrate it, it only shatters it. Of course, it might be possible to obliterate it with magic, but you're talking about some seriously destructive sound waves, and especially if it's enough to decimate bone—we could destroy ourselves in the process. Unless we made an instrument to contain it, but it would... have to withstand a tremendous amount of energy."

He was rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"I suppose if we could create a literal soundproof box, we could contain it. It'd only have to be big enough to house the document and the shoulder blade, correct? I'm sure anything in possible in the realm of magitech." Now he was fidgeting with the hair by his ear. "I'm not necessarily worried about the amplitude part; it should be fairly simple to back build, especially with... multiple people—" He avoided saying three "—and a small enough container. We'd have to come up with some of method to find the resonate frequency, or... I suppose for lack of a better word, tune the objects to a frequency within our realms of accessing, if such a thing is even possible."

"I do wonder if there truly is a way to completely wipe something from existence." Oliver was murmuring to himself, "Matter cannot be destroyed, only displaced. Even if you broke it down to atoms... Though I suppose once you're reduced to electrons there's really nothing binding you into a specific thing." He was overthinking this, and it made him sigh. To make something into nothing, huh.

Rather than entertain Elliot's question on his well being or answer Horace's sharpness, he cracked the book open delicately and began to read.

The Semblance of Unity

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

It was a bit harsh, but Horace was technically right. There were times and places for moping and now really wasn't one, though he'd been content to let Ollie have his moment. They would make progress one way or another, it seemed, as the lumbering raccoon disappeared up the stairs.

In the time he was gone, Eli gave Horace a short look—quizzical, eyebrow raised—then went back to his reading. Only when his now very human roommate returned did he look up. There was a sulk in his everything if Eli had ever seen one. No doubt he'd seen a hundred Oliver-moods in the time they'd known each other, after all. Sitting all by himself was a bit of a childish touch, though.

"Magic may give us a little more leeway in how we can work with things that don't normally have an easy to replicate frequency." Or so he assumed, he didn't know for sure what the limit of magic was in his brief experience. "And I can only guess that our best option is breaking the charter down into the smallest form possible, like you said, seeing as you can't eliminate matter entirely." Ah, science. Not his strong suit.

"I still think this may be a viable option."

Melancholies

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Has he been like this a lot lately? Horace thought at Elliot, worry and a bit of exasperation creeping into his mental voice. Maybe Oliver just needed to decompress, even if he was being a bit dramatic.

"It stops being what it was when you make it something else," he said. Horace stood up and headed casually over towards Ollie. Then, he plopped down near him. Oliver could sulk all he wanted, but it wasn't like Horace was actually mad at him. "It makes sense to me. Ellie, do you think it would work if we made a soundproofed box, put the things inside and make our magic resonate to the right frequency? Less sound, necessarily, more being in tune with the Charter's magic? Or, um, create a stark enough dissonance to ******** it up." He tapped his finger along his thigh.

"Maybe we can use the thing Renard gave us to see... didn't magic look or smell a certain way to you, Oliver? What if you see if Melany's shoulder sounds magic-y and we try to replicate that?" Did that even make sense....

melancholies

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[Melancholies]

Oliver purposefully didn't look up, even though he heard Horace coming over. He pointedly ignored him when he sat down too—all the way up until he called Elliot by Ellie anyway. That made his head snap up, made him look between the two, and then as if he was ashamed by the reaction he decided to bury his face in the book again.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of magical frequency too, or something..." He was mumbling as he leafed through pages, not really reading anymore at this point. "Even if Melany's magic had a certain sound, my perception of peoples magic is a..." His brow furrowed, "Very specific form of qualia. It's like explaining the color red to a blind person. Suppose it makes a sound? My pitch is precise, but not to the point of picking out an exact frequency." He supposed there was some merit to Horace's theory though; if it was a magical frequency—if there was some sort of frequency that someone hit whenever they would cast...

But how would you replicate that?

He'd stopped turning pages, "I can try for you. If that's what you both want." His face was turning over and over with thoughts, but any sort of projections were silent and contained, his voice left to stew within his own head.

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

 

[saedusk]

There was no way for Eli to answer Horace without speaking out loud, but the look on his face might answer that question. It had been a long week and with s**t going down it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Ollie probably did need a moment to decompress, but hopefully he'd last until they made it home.

"We should definitely test our idea first. If it works out, I'm confident we'll be able to replicate it." They could use the stone Renard had given them, or anything really, as long as it was completely destroyed by the end of their testing.

Having gleaned about everything he could from them, Eli finally closed both of his books and set them next to him on the sectional. "If you could at least give it a try, Ollie, anything may help." Even if the unexplainable discoveries of his magic didn't solve the problem for them, they could very well open paths to other options. They were best served trying everything and anything they could.

"Before we go any further, though," he looked between the two of them, lips pursed, "are you both legitimately interested in this idea? If you aren't sure, it may be best to research other topics before we leave."

Melancholies

The Semblance of Unity