[PRP] A Sound Idea (Eli/Ollie/Horace)

[saedusk]

Getting out of the car and making their way up to Horace's house was when the full extent of what had happened over the past few days hit Eli like a ton of bricks. Realistically, it was one thing, it was how what seemed like a moderate issue suddenly exploded into a flurry of Ollie and Shiloh duking it out until they were both (presumably) ********. He hadn't been privy the actual fight and he hadn't even realized what had happened until his roommate came home looking like absolute s**t. Things were beginning to heal, but Ollie still looked like someone had punched him in the face (for obvious reasons).

At least his mood hadn't been quite so sour anymore.

"You're sure today is alright?" he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. "I'm sure we'd be okay waiting a few more days."

Since their last meeting at Renard's, Eli had kept in touch with Horace in their group chat, updating him on anything new he might've learned and coordinating schedules. Today was a day they were all available, but he wasn't totally sure if Oliver had felt like leaving the apartment in the first place.

Eli's eyes lingered on his swollen, busted lip, but he said nothing else.

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"It wouldn't've mattered." Oliver was kind of mumbling around the swelling of his lip. A few days might've helped with that, but the main problem here was not visible—the gigantic bruise along his ribs—and that was going to take weeks to heal. He could still walk, still talk. Sneezing sucked really bad, but he was functional, and being up and about was better than laying around in a myriad of uncomfortable positions. "I'd still feel like crap. Might as well be productive about it."

He was leaning a little on Elliot though.

"Shiloh's a lucky b*****d." He said, "He heals s'damn fast."

Oliver lifted his hand to knock on the door—winced audibly when he tried to raise his arm—and settled for ringing the doorbell instead. "Do you think he's gonna make a fuss? You told him what happened, right?" He gave Elliot a pathetic, wimbly look. "Sorry, I guess now isn't the time..."

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace was at the door in seconds. It... it wasn't like he was sitting right near the door waiting for them to arrive, no, never. Melany had stepped out briefly to the nearby store and maybe that meant she wouldn't try to play wing-man.

He opened the door forcefully, and it was truly fortunate that it opened inwards or he'd have smacked Oliver's head clean off. "Uh, hi," he said lamely. "Come in." His eyes were locked on Oliver's busted lip, but he didn't say a word. not yet.

melancholies

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"Don't worry, I told him the details." Which was to say, he'd told Horace Ollie had brawled with Shiloh and had gotten pretty roughed up. There were plenty of dots to connect when it came to Ollie's reactions to the text messages and to the idea of being forced into a confrontation. Pent up stress, a boil over, he supposed it was inevitable, but that still didn't change how surprised he'd been by the extent of it.

Hopefully all of this would be a good distraction.

"Hello, darling," he greeted Horace as the door swung open a bit too quickly. If Ollie were still using him for support, he'd feel the ever so slight way he jumped. "You seem a bit tense. Everything alright?" he asked as he stepped inside.

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Oh, good. It's just—" His words were cut off when Horace swung the door open with a surprising amount of vigor, his sleepy eyes looking up at him carefully. He did feel the subtle jump, the slight tense, you alright there Elliot? He always knew he wasn't as put together as he looked, but...

"...Hi Horace." He didn't smile; facial movements were possible, but limited due to the state of his lip. Still, his tone was pleasant, if not a little soft and wheezy and tired. It was time to toughen up though, and he leaned away from Elliot as he walked inside to step in himself, his movements slow and deliberate.

He started to inspect the interior of Horace's house first. So this is where he lived? Pretty spacious for one person; though he supposed there were two now. "Is Melany out?" He'd feel awkward seeing her after the presumable 'hey can we cut your arm off' conversation she must've had with Horace. "I mean, it's okay if she's not, ugh." He took an awkward breath, "Sorry, is there somewhere I can sit down?" His gaze flicked to the side.

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Hey, sweetcakes. Hi, Ollie." It seemed as though Horace would use a different nickname for Elliot each time he was called darling. Maybe he'd eventually find one to stick to, he mused. For now, it was just amusing. "I'm okay; just nervous like always. I haven't had anyone really visit in a while." Unless he counted Melany.... Maybe he was just counting a certain type of people. He wrinkled his nose at Ellie.

Horace looked at Oliver worriedly. "She's out, yeah. C'mon." He took Oliver's arm gently. Lean on me a bit? You're hurt. "Living room is this way, bu I can show you Nugget's closet later if you want to see."

He glanced over at Elliot. Next time we meet up, let's do it at your place so he doesn't have to go anywhere. I'm sorry; I wasn't thinking. Horace really, really wanted to pry more details out of Oliver, but that could wait a bit. "I made a cake," he said, abruptly.

melancholies

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

This week's nickname raffle winner garnered the same sort of reaction from Elliot as the first one had. It didn't quite fit, but that was probably a side effect of how outrageous Horace was trying to be, and it made the corner of his mouth quirk up into a smile all the same. It lasted about as long as it took for Oliver to decide he could walk on his own and Horace to just as quickly decide he didn't want to let that happen. As long as Ollie was alright, it didn't matter who he leaned on for support, not really, but Eli missed the gentle weight already.

"Cake sounds nice," he commented, "I cook, myself, but don't do much baking. What flavor?" Because honestly, it was easier to keep on with normal pleasantries than worry if he could manage it. After all, it's not like he could answer Horace without god and everyone knowing he'd been sent a message privately. He would've nodded, but it still would've looked suspicious.

He sighed lightly, he really needed some kind of telepathy to match the two of theirs. Who knew what they were talking about without him. Ah well... He followed to the living room.

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Sweetcakes? He gave the two of them another look, but it was relatively neutral, somewhat curious. "I-I'm okay—" But Horace already had his arm, and he wasn't pulling away. "It's not like I broke anything. It's just bruising." He did lean on him though, despite having pushed away from Elliot. It didn't really matter once he got to the living room, considering the first thing he did consisted of flopping down on the couch (gently) and pulling his book bag into his lap.

Thankfully, Elliot was inquiring about the cake, so it helped take some of the attention off of him. He busied himself with plucking the contents of his bag out onto the table, most of them about complicated physics, quasiparticles, that sort of thing...

"Cake sounds good. You'll like Horace's baking." He told Eli quietly. Why'd you sigh? His head tilted at his roommate, Oh, I guess you can't answer back... why don't you sit with me instead?

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He sighed when Oliver sat on the couch, but it looked like it didn't hurt him too much. You want me to call you a cute name, too, cupcake?

"It's a hummingbird cake. Do we wanna try magic here, or try to take it there?" Regardless, Horace turned to ooze his way into the kitchen and cut slices for the both of them. "I tried insulating a box, but I wasn't sure if we'd need something insulated from magic or from sound or have to imbue it with magic or something...."

meIancholies

saebusk

 

[saedusk]

That was all the invitation Eli needed to take a seat next to Ollie, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. The answer to his telepathic probing was nothing more than a small half-smile, but even so he kept up with the group's actual conversation with ease. Being social was easy, it was what he did, and all the better if he actually enjoyed someone's company on top of it.

"Hummingbird cake? Lovely." Except Eli didn't actually know what that was. He'd pretend with the best of them, though, and when it came to food he was easy to please.

"It might be best to work on the box in Other Ashdown, "he continued as he tapped his fingertips against his knee. "I'd be worried about potentially ruining something here if it gets away from us."

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver considered this, "If we're breaking down a structure at a molecular level with magic, we'd probably have to safeguard the box somehow, reinforce it, something..." He was debating this internally, "We might be able to make a sigil for it? Or imbue it with enough of our own magic to keep it stable. It's a lot easier to work with magic in Otherworld, though."

He tried to stretch, but the movement was visibly awkward. Cupcake...?

"What's a hummingbird cake?" He didn't pretend like Elliot, but he also had no real reason to doubt his knowledge. Maybe it was a fancy thing? You can call me anything so long as it isn't Sholliver. "Oh... this looks tasty..." He had his phone out with google open, eyes wide like dinner plates as he perused the pictures, his shoulder leaning against Eli's as he obviously favored one side.

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Alright, sweetheart. Horace grinned when he turned around, cake uncovered. Then, he thought to Elliot: You can be sunshine.

"If we're going to other Ashdown, do you want to hold off on the cake? I can go grab the box and maybe if we, uh, think really hard, we can make our way over there? We definitely need to test it over there." Horace wandered back over and sat on the coffee table gingerly, facing them. He didn't want to sit on the sofa with them and jostle Oliver.

"I can go grab the base metal box I was using?"

saedusk

melancholies

 

[saedusk]

Sunshine. That one wasn't so bad. After all, Eli was rather radiant wasn't he? He puffed up a little. No wait, he puffed up very carefully, because Ollie was leaning on him and he didn't want to hurt him.

"If you're both ready to go right now, then maybe we could save the cake are out prize for a job well done?" Quite honestly, he wanted a slice now, but he could be patient if everyone else could. What did that hummingbird cake taste like, he wondered? Maybe not wasn't the time to be wondering so hard about food.

"Bringing your box as a base is a good idea, Horace. I don't know much about sigils, but I'm willing to give whatever a go. Even if it's just..." Raising one hand, he willed his fingers like he was shooting imaginary magical laser beams from them. Focusing their magic on it, that's what he meant.

The Semblance of Unity

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Sweetheart??? Oliver made a face, but it wasn't a disgruntled one or an angry one; just a raise of the eyebrows, the subtle way his nose twitched when he inhaled. "I mean, I admittedly don't know much about sigils... Renard taught me one to help negate my deathsense, but it was a brief lesson." Still, he had taken notes when he got home, and you better believe he had those on him still. "I can find my way into the Otherworld at will, so... if we all focus, then I don't see why we couldn't just magic our way there from where we're seated."

He cleared his throat.

"I really want the cake though, so let's make it quick." He was rummaging around in his bag again. "I know in the void we... sort of... made a cage, I suppose, but it was on a living being." His lips pursed, "Which is what caused this cycle mess in the first place, but I digress. Three focal points representing three individual things... maybe we could make a physical cage, albeit a inorganic one." He had a notebook out on all the textbooks, and now Oliver was busy making a box shape with his hands, tongue sticking slightly out in thought.

saedusk

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Then pick an endearment, Oliver. This was sent over with a positively cheesy amount of deliberate affection behind it, all the while Horace's expression didn't change. He hoped Eli like sunshine though - it was cute.

"Oliver was there when a bunch of aliens made the new sigil, but neither of us were, Elli." His lips twitched. Elliot's finger gun was cute and so was Ollie's tongue sticking out. He got up and grabbed the box. It was large and square and presumably large enough for an arm. It was also made of metal. Horace had used some green glue on the inside and some MLV on top of that. The materials were expensive, but he'd found the green glue at least in his attic.

"Take us away, stickybun," he said to Oliver, wiggling his eyebrows a bit.

saedusk

melancholies