Door 15: Encounter

                                    

                                          
Super duper special thanks to my friend Funky for betaing this fic (AGAIN) for me! 
As usual, check him out on AO3! The @ is "funkyteet_h".






Figure had indeed not accounted for his inability to communicate in the same way that the new entities could. He'd realized it too late indeed because by the time he did, he was already sitting down on the floor next to El Goblino and another entity apparently named Bob. The trio idled in wait as Jeff brought out sandwiches.
Just moments before, he had looked forward to this, but it was simply so loud in here. What was that irritating string of sounds?
To his right, the goblin's heartbeat was irregularly fast, and to his left (at least that's where El Goblino had explained him to be) was another entity named Bob. Despite the goblin's constant referral to the entity, all Figure could hear from Bob's sitting place was the buzz of circling flies. The prospect of such a creature made him nervous. He had never met a creature without a heartbeat. Even in his concern, Figure, of course, said nothing.
"So! Macho meat düd!" El Goblino's voice appeared next to Figure, devoid of the stress that was beating in his chest. He took a bite of his food. "Pretty special occasion we're having. I usually have to pay for my sandwiches. Not this time though. Eheehee!" 
"I hope my presence does not change your routines too much." Figure awkwardly adjusted his knees slightly. The table space where he was sat squished him up against the wall and made it difficult for any breathing room.
"Ehhh-I'm not sure what you're saying, hombre. Are you saying anything?" 
"This language barrier is troublesome." Figure admitted the obvious. His mind was elsewhere. El Goblino's voice was hard to process when there were so many clashing sounds in the room. 
El Goblino cleared his throat. "Uff...so! Here for that introduction with Jeff?"
Figure, of course, responded with a polite yes. Yet still, he could not focus. That sound across the room...that absolutely vexing sound wouldn't stop. Was it music? It had to be. No matter how nice it was, it was too head-splittingly loud to enjoy.
"...The guy behind the counter's him," El Goblino continued. "Mi hombre Jeff here's waving, by the way!" 
Figure faced the direction of Jeff across the room, taking note of the three separate hearts that the entity had. He could barely hear the soft woosh of a thin limb moving side to side in the air amongst the other layers of noise. 
 He could hear the creak of the chair from the gentle swaying of the goblin. He could hear the creaks in the walls from the hotel settling. He could hear the muffled pounding of rain strike down onto the rooftop. He could hear the chewing of food. The heart beats, the flies, the breathing-it all. Every sound that he had tuned out with ease had come to front and attacked his focus all at once. To state that he could hear everything around him as if it were reverberating like two microphones together playing back and forth would be an accurate description of the situation. 
Then there was that sound. The sound that caused him to lose the ability to drown out the others. That incessant synchronizing sound of harmonies that paraded itself as music beat against his ears and sung its tunes opposite to the sweet symphonies of sirens.
"Please, turn it off!" Figure curled up his clawed fingers and pressed them hard against the sides of his head. He wasn't able to stay silent about it anymore. Even if he tried to avoid the sound, the vibrations of it still sung through the air for him to catch. 
"What-what's he doing?" El Goblino whipped his head and whispered to Jeff for help, but the other could offer no solace in an explanation, also confused himself. He faced back to Figure. The Goblin's eyes were wide as a bug's, more so than usual. "What's wrong, düd?!"