The clock is ticking.. Thankfully they weren’t far from the Destiny City University campus, nor the student housing apartments the Finn had been calling ‘home’ since he began attending the college. Both men had made the journey in silence, not quite comfortable because of how keyed up Archer was but not uncomfortable either.
Inside Pasi’s apartment, Archer’s eyes wandered over the space that was familiar but seemed naked with none of the furnishings he’d come to expect when entering the Finn’s space. “Do you even have a bed?” As snide as the half-youma’s tone was, he had to admit he was impressed: it was very clear that Pasi - Aue - had been preparing for the loss of his current identity and life for some time.
“Yes.” Actually, what he had was a folded over foam pad with blankets, but that counted as a bed. It was also something that could be rolled up quite easily and taken to storage without much effort, which was why he’d chosen to go with that route. Plus, it was more comfortable and also more stable then one of those inflatable air mattresses. “You’re not here for the decor.” Normally he would have added something snarky to his statement, but he could almost hear the tick tick tick of minutes and seconds going by, so Pasi wasted no time before giving his companion precisely what he wanted.
“Three hours. Interesting.” Wolfeite - not Archer - was snarling, thrashing, spewing vitriol, dire promises, and vulgar epithets, and yet obediently didn’t break free although every muscle thrummed with rage and repressed violence.
For that, he was rewarded.
And after, Pasi contacted Tourmaline so that she might meet him without the Order aura. He’d made quick work of putting everything but a backpack with clothing and toiletries, his bed, and his laptop into Lauri’s storage unit thanks largely in part to Wolfeite’s being able to teleport.
Tourmaline arrived as herself, a pretty woman with wild eyes that Pasi found familiar yet not until she spoke to introduce herself. It was strange to see one another without their magical - or physical - enhancements. He ordered pizza and shared the beer he had in his nearly empty fridge with the pair while going over the rather extensive preparations he’d set in place for his eventual corruption.
“All of my life is saved on two drives, with printed documents verifying the new identity. Those are in two locations as well. My belongings are in storage and I have procured a place to live already.” Pasi would tell them about the rather spacious building - a former warehouse - he’d gotten fairly cheaply due to the fact that it needed an incredible amount of work to be livable. Work of the sort which he’d been doing while he waited to become Lauri. The space had been set up with several rooms up on a second floor level, the underspace sectioned for work and living; it was a conversion that the Finn was quite pleased with. Multiple levels, clean lines, plenty of convenient storage for media and tools, the entire space was engineered to make his life as easy and manageable as humanly possible, while also being comfortable as hell. He’d even managed to include a proper sauna.
Kat seemed rather impressed with how prepared he was for the transition to the Negaverse. Wolfe sneered and called him a ‘nerd’ before stuffing another slice of pizza into his mouth, his fang-patterned bandana getting small spots of grease on it (not that he gave a s**t, when he transformed next it’d be cleaned magically). Despite the praise given, eventually Kat fell into a thoughtful silence; it wasn’t in his nature to press or question, so she was left to her thoughts during the impromptu ‘celebration’.
Hours into the gathering, a massive orange Tomcat appeared and clawed the hell out of the door until Pasi let him in. Bob had a sixth sense about when beer and pizza had been brought together, and the Mauvian made himself quite at home in the emptied apartment. It would be very obvious that he was familiar with the space and with the resident Finn himself - there was even a plastic bowl for Bob to drink his beer from among the mostly disposable flatware sitting on one counter.
The fact that there was going to be a massive Negaverse aura centered on his apartment didn’t phase Pasi in the slightest - it was his last night there, what was the worst thing that could happen? Bob could have been persuaded to mask the energy signature if any of them could have been arsed to ask, but for the most part there was a complete lack of concern due to the circumstances. Pasi was nice and toasty from drinking, eating, the satisfaction of knowing that his dog was still leashed - if barely - and the fact that in less than a day he would be getting precisely what he wanted.
What he’d prepared for.
He had very few ******** to give about auras, Chaos or otherwise.
None of his ‘guests’ were required to spend the night in the apartment, as a matter of fact, once Pasi passed out on his makeshift bed he had no idea if Wolfeite, Kat, or Bob had remained. He woke in the middle of the night to piss and found Kat curled up against him in the bed, she woke briefly and only returned to sleep once he’d settled back into the bed with her.
In the morning he’d put the foam bed into storage and take his backpack into the storage as well. Since she’d stuck with him the whole night, he’d given Kat one of the thumb drives and the key to Lauri’s storage unit to hand him after he was corrupted, the other items were in the storage unit, waiting for him.
There were hours between closing out the apartment and becoming Lauri, hours filled with emails and phonecalls, with notices sent to friends and family. Everything was in place, there was naught more to be done - he just had to wait.
Word Count: 1107
