→ (signpost) wrote in repose, @ 2019-12-03 03:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | *log, holly nicodemo-webster, noah nicodemo-webster |
[Immediately after this, Holly is called into his commanding officer's office. He's supposed to be going through some more endurance training that afternoon, followed by some standard endurance testing. The trip through the portal is scheduled for the 6th of January, at 0800 hrs, and he hasn't been told that's changing. But is is changing. It has changed. He sits in the office, across from his superior, and listens to the new timeline. Breathe. He tries not to freak, right? I mean, he tries really hard not to even think about it. He even hums in his head, because he knows Noah's gonna be back home losing it, and he's trying to minimize that as much as he can. Which, yeah, is probably minimal. And his commanding officer probably knows that he, that Holly, is freaking out over there, because two armed guards escort him back to gear up. And, I mean, he's as ready for this as he's ever going to be. He knows it's coming... knew it was coming, but he just thought he had more time. He's sitting there, putting on something reminiscent of a hazmat suit reproducing with some astronaut gear, and he tries to keep the fear at bay by listing off all the stuff he has managed to accomplish: The bar has been deeded over to Noah, and his life insurance has been changed so Noah's the beneficiary. No, no, no. Noah has the place at the B&B, so Holly's not worried about the guy going back to his mom. Gramps, he should've left Gramps a note, but he was too busy thinking he had time and being upset Gramps disappeared how he did. He never got to see his mom, but maybe that's for the best, right? Losing someone twice would suck. Somehow, at the end of all that mental addition, it seems so fucking insignificant. Panic. Such a waste, but he's dragging his heels, and he's pretty sure dragging his heels is going to make shit a million times worse in the long run. So, right. He finishes, and he's singing some stupid Christmas song in his head, because he reasons it'll make Noah chill? Soothe the guy, right? As if nothing's wrong. He does that throughout the whole walk down to the basement, past so many fucking checkpoints he loses track, and to where they're tethering him to a chain, like any chain is going to help someone in there. Spike. But he's armed, at least. The weapon in his hand is huge and it's not some standard issue gun, but he doesn't expect it to do much. Anyway, the ringing he always hears in his ears is louder right now, like this thing he can't tune out, and the men in the room, the ones hooking him up and monitoring things, they're starting to argue, but he's not really listening. Thump, thump, thump. He's staring, and then he's walking, and then they're barking orders at him. Right. Right. Thumpthumpthump, faster. One foot in front of the other. He intends to keep doing the singing-in-his-head thing, but the entrance to the portal is gross and wet and he can't even explain how it stinks or how the air feels, and for a second he thinks he's going to burn up in that suit. So, right. Good intentions? But, as he steps into the snowy darkness on the other side? He slips up on the singing and the chill that probably doesn't actually slip further than skin level. It's cold, somehow, even with the suit, and he's tugging at it before he even realizes it. It's like he can't breathe inside the thing, and the ringing in his ears is insane in... whatever this place is. He's freaking, and he knows it, and the mental reach out is automatic? He's trying not to reach out, even as he pulls the helmet off the suit in some kind of suffocating fear. He thinks it's like paroxysmal undressing, and maybe this is his personal Dylatov, but then he laughs. Because, come on, that's fucking insane thinking. So, right. Not deliberate at all, but it's definitely there:] Noah? [And in the room behind him, the operators? Yeah, all those guys? They're turning on each other with increasing anger and increasing force, but Holly's unaware of that too.] |