2019-09-27 - We've Got Some Work to Do Now

It's been a rough few days for August. His flu is progressing apace, and as expected, he's developed a fever. It's still in the early phases, where he feels okay crawling downstairs to have grouse soup with rice for lunch, along with a mug of tea, while curled up on the futon under a pile of blankets. But he's miserable, that much is clear: he's exhausted, he's overly pale, his voice is rough and hoarse by turns. He's also cranky, but doing his best to not inflict that on anyone else. Mostly. Occasionally, he tries to use his tablet. It doesn't get far, because his attention wanders, or he nods off for a few minutes.

And, since he told Eleanor not to worry over him, of course she does. The sound of her 2008 Honda Element can be heard pulling up, and then the geese going honking crazy as they usually do. "Oh shush! It's just me!" she chides them. She has a basket full of teas and medications in one hand, with some muffins as well. She doesn't know if he'll be up to eating, but if so he has them.

The redhead zips into the cabin quickly, still feeling decidedly uncomfortable under the canopy of trees without August being right there with her. She's not needing to pull off the side of the road to drive there anymore at least. It's progress. "August?" she calls, knocking lightly on the door before opening it and stepping inside. "It's me." She's in jeans and a purple sweater, with her hair in a headband.

August makes a sound of surprise when the geese sound the alarm, startling away. He half-sits up on the futon. "Oh, hey hon." He winces, lies back against the pillows he's stacked up. "You didn't need to come all the way out here. I'll just get you sick." He watches her through bloodshot, half-open eyes. Eleanor can see his Glimmer's much fainter than usual. Still there, but at nowhere near the strength she's familair with.

He takes up his mug of tea, almost fumbles it. He manages to recover without spilling it all over (a little on his hand, though), has a drink. "Hope it hasn't wiped out half the town," he mutters.

"Don't be silly. I have a great immune system and I had my flu shot. I don't get colds." Not mundane ones anyway. Poor Eleanor, what she has to look forward to in a few days. She moves to set the basket on the kitchen island. "I brought you all different kinds of tea bags for whatever suits your mood, some honey, Nyquil, DayQuil, Theraflu, Tylenol Cold, and Zicam. Which do you want to try first? And are you up for eating a muffin?"

She sets the contents of the basket out neatly on the kitchen island and fusses to get a small glass of water for him to take meds with.

August is slow to reply. "Theraflu," he says, eventually. "That's been helping some." He coughs, which makes him wince as it jars his aching, well, everything. "And I'll give it a shot. Should be okay, the usual...brat diet's been holding steady."

His head lols against the pillows. "Not sure if this is a regular thing. My Gift's been all...weird, last day here. Really weak." His voice drops to a murmur. "And I can't seem to heal this from other people."

Eleanor brings over the theraflu, water, and a blueberry muffin and sits on the edge of the futon. "Well I haven't done any studies, but I'd imagine any real illness would make it hard to focus enough to use Glimmer. And this flu sounds like a doozy." She hands him the little dosage cup of the Theraflu, she got the liquid Max cold and cough stuff.

August knocks the dose back like a champ, makes a face. For the taste, or his sore throat? Probably both, in all truth. He hands the cup back in exchange for the water, of which he takes a healthy drink. "Thanks sweetheart," he murmurs, and rubs at his eyes. "Been having all kinds of nightmares, making it hard to sleep." He thinks over what she's just said, stares at the muffin a second before trying to eat any of it. "Yeah, that'd make sense. Sort of like how your sense of smell can get messed up from a bad enough cold."

There's no sound of a car pulling up. The Tesla is crazy like that. It makes a noise when she closes the door and again when she knocks. She is SUPER dressed for autumn! Fitted jeans that have been cut and tailored to accommodate a more subdued appendage today but still love her ass as Old Navy somehow can always do. Thank you Old Sailors. There's a brown tank and a loose drapey slouch sweater in a russet orange and sunglasses that could stab someone at 40 yards.

She has a bag with her and has the grim audacity to look healthy. "Hullo? Are... people here?"

"You're welcome," Eleanor says, bending to kiss August's forehead, both because she wants to, and to check the state of his fever. The call from Hyacinth has her pulling the blanket up more over him and rising to let the woman in. "Miss Addington, hello! August is pretty under the weather. Did you need him for something?"

Hyacinth smiles in that manner that's positively glowing and unaware of the impact or context of the words coming out of her face. "Well before we went to go take care of that issue with the box and you gave me the good wood I realized you know, this was really putting you out. SO! I've got some ideas for what to do with the rest of that wood and wanted to measure to fit."

Blithly she tells Eleanor, "I want to make a bench to hold boots to drip and sit on t for the mud room. He didn't have one and there are... bits of... nature all over out there I thought it would help and he could keep part of his tree." Yeah far less exciting than how it first sounded. Pausing she asks Eleanor, "I want to make something for you and Julia tooooo but i don't know you well enough to know what. I thought something of a tea or coffee cabinet?"

"Oh that is very kind of you Miss Addington. I really don't need anything, but you can ask August what would work best for me from that wood." Speaking of her beau she looks over at him. "What's wrong, August?" Eleanor asks, looking every bit like Daphne Blake from Scooby Doo. Must have been her red hair, the headband, and the purple top she was wearing to influence that. She plants her hands on her hips, much like a cartoon character would, and arches a brow as she looks at him. "Well, um, something here is definitely not right. You don't look right or...or is it me?"

She looks down at herself, in that mod 60s purple dress, headband and shoes, pink tights, and bright green scarf. It seems normal in that second of just seeing herself, but then she looks at August again and remembers she's a person, not a cartoon. "Oh this is really weird."

Hyacinth is a killer, raven-haired Judy Jetson... oddly yeah it's super hard to tell if anything's at all changed. Stepping in, not dissimilar her clothes have angles and heavy line weight and painted on eyelashes that shouldn'textend a few inches off the corners of her eyes and make tiny bicycle bell sounds when she blinks at Eleanor confused...but they do.

pa-ting pa-ting

"Wrong?" And the thud and the moan. She squints and says, perhaps too blunt but also unapproving, "Someone's having a good time up there and did not invite you." Wait... is that a very distant sound of a laugh track? Yeeees? yes it was!? In the same vein of the haunt she asks, "WhaaAaAaAAAAat di you waaaAAaAAaant?"

"Jeepers! What was that!?" Eleanor asks regarding the thump and moan combo. She's back to accepting that she's a cartoon character again, because she's looking up towards the loft and not at August. Her hand goes to her mouth in a Scoobylicious pose. Goddammit he's gonna want her to cosplay this in the bedroom later, isn't he? Wait, that wasn't a G-rated thought at all. She blinks. This is too weird.

Hyacinth proudly and triumphantly declares, "Slim to none!" Hyacinth is one for critique and is not overly known for her sense of humor. In Hanna Barbarialand however there's a disturbing amount of causal glib commentary, "It seems someone's not yet ready to throw in the towel, August." Oh yeah she's... probably not going to be proud of that one later. Still there's a laugh track somewhere behind the eerie ambient music (We have music!?) and she can't help but murmur, "Who are those people?" Seriously who is doing the friggen laughing. (Friggen? Really!?)

Eleanor points her arm, finger out, at the thing on the balcony railing. "What is THAT!?" she yelps, then moves around August's form to LEAP into his arms with perfectly comic timing. "Its eyes are glowing!"

Hyacinth squeaks and pulls her one foot up to stand on one toeand without looking (she can't look. Oooohhh eew there might be moths or dirt on it!) her hands thrust at it, palms out to roll a ball of lightening that looks like a white circle with squiggle doodles orbiting it... the studio did not pay a lot to render special effects for this episode and Sailor Moon she is not.

Ellie keeps one arm around August's broad shoulders as her other hand snaps out to wave in the air at the creepy cloaked thing, and her Physical Glimmer lashes out to YANK the hood off the cloak. "Oh honey are you ok! Am I too heavy? I ate a muffin earlier." She climbs out of his arms.

Hyacinth goes wide eyed. as the laugh track chuckles at the Jerk in teh cloak. "Oh no! Nono," She gets a little angry. Her feet shuffle in place on the rug and she nose boop zaps the interloper. "That is for making the viewers at home laugh at you. That's my laugh track, buster." It giggles again ambiently and the Hya Jetson preens so proud of herself. Then there's squeeling tires.

Is it normal to have an exclamation point above your head?
- ! -
(0.0)

"Egads, August, they really got your goat this time!" And again with the laugh track. She's going to need a drink after this. Good lord the bad jokes. Who wrote this episode!??

Ellie puts both hands to the side of her face, her mouth in a horrified "OH" expression made adorable by, well, the medium. "NOT THE GOATS!" she hollers, and begins scrambling, with accompanying scramble sound effects and a little puff of dust in her wake as she dashes outside.

"Damned right not my goats," August grumbles. He makes to follow Hyacinth and Eleanor, stops after a couple of steps. He blanches, says, "I'll--be--" And then he runs for the bathroom.

Outside, it's just as cartoony within. The forest is a suggestion of trees in a large, bright green wall, with painted undergrowth and random triangles pointing up to make them seem like pines. The truck is still visible, despite the squealing. The reason is they've gotten stuck in a patch of mud on the dirt road just off the gravel. There seem to be two men inside, arguing over how best to escape. The goats have been tossed into the bed, and are bleating in terror.

But these don't look like August's goats. These appear to be...demon goats. Or baby demon goats? They're sooty black, with little red runes glowing on their foreheads, black-red eyes, and a third horn that curls counter to the other two. And they're very unhappy, their echoing, otherworldly baaa'ing filling the chilly night air.

"OHMYGOSHTHEY'RESOCUUUUUTE!" Eleanor squeals at the demon baby goats. She reaches out her hand to direct her glimmer towards the back of the truck to try and pluck up one of Shub-Niggurath's adorable itty bitty red-eyed spawn. But her magic fizzles before she can grab the cute little nugget of devilish chevon. "NOOOooooOooooOoooOo!" she wails.

Hyacinth scuttles out of the building behind Eleanor. Then... tiny baby demon goats. Her eyes get HUUUUUUUUGE and sparkly, "Oh, Ellie, They're so," (Don't you dare) "Sooooo..." (Dammit don't do this to us, Hya) "bleating cute!" (Somewhere the script writers walk out like it's Heroes Season 2).

Ans since they are little black sheep (No, no they are not. Goats are not 'Sheep' Hya. Don't be Sheepsist) "Excuse me, Baa Baa, haaave you any wool? I think we're supposed to ask. You huuuungry? I can have my PA order something for you."

Eleanor makes a comical frustrated noise and she spins like a dervish in place, with all due whirlwind effects. When she stops, she's in a white gi with purple accents, barefoot, it a cartoon karate pose. "Now you're really gonna get it, bad guys! Stealing is wrong!" She runs at them and leeeeeaps in a flying kick to the face of one of the bad guys.

Hyacinth gets a flashing look in her eyes, curls her fingers into clutches, and hovers 8" off the ground as a mystic wind kicks up her hair. And then, unfurtunately, it ocurrs to her that this is not at all how her ability works. She hits the ground with a thud and a wobble. "Well dang."

Inspiredand undaunted (okay a little daunted) She pulls up one foot and her arms back as if she is going to sprint towards them... And high speed shuffleshuffleshuffleshuffleshuffleshuffles at them building up all the static with two index fingers out and... a large bolt of lightening streaks out of the sky and KAZAP!!! He stands there sooty and singed. She pauses and looks at her fingers murmuring, "Woah I didn't know these were fully loaded."

Earl--that's what the other guy's name is according to the label on his overalls--is no match for Eleanor's fists and feet and everything. The wrench swings wide, misses by a country mile, goes flying out of animation range. He raises an arm helplessly, and Eleanor sends him flying.

Meanwhile poor Carl just stands there, sooty and sparking. "Damned--kids--" He staggers back into the truck to hide.

The goats bleat, happily now, and start hopping out of the truck bed and jumping around their saviors. Why couldn't they do that before? Uncertain.

August sits in his doorway, looking confused. "I'm not sure those are my goats," he says, voice distant.

"Oh who cares? They're adorable!" Eleanor crouches down to hug one of the little demonic critters with a girlish giggle. "Who is a cutey wootie death goat? Who is? YOU ARE!" she coos to it.

Hyacinth as going to require a LOT of whiskey and be banned from cheek smoochies from her BFF for a week after the today. Little hearts form above her head and she smooches the little demon goats and starts naming them That smile turns to Eleanor "Let's adopt them. " Turning to August she proudly announces, "Because your'e feeling terrible we are having the yard mowed for you. It's okay. The kids don't charge much."

Blink. Blink. Blink. Eleanor looks down at herself, then at Hya, then the goats, then the passed out August. "WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?" she blurts out, before she rushes over to help August back to bed. "Miss Addington, can you, uh, tell the goats to get back in their pen and close it? Are you able to do that?" she calls.

Hyacinth looks like she might cry. However, she is Hyacinth Yvonne Addington has learned after years of people trying to humiliate her never, ever do that. You consume that moment and own it. Gathering herself up she gingerly brushes her palms together and gathers up her remaining dignity and says, "Yes I... think we can manage that." Clearing her throat she announces to the goats, "Kids... come along. That's quite enough. Oh! They're listening, I mean it's alright they're listening." This is a new captive audience. So much potent- oh they smell like goats. Well we'll jsut put them back.

August stirs enough that Eleanor doesn't have to use Glimmer to get him up. He frowns at his hunting rifle sitting out, picks it up. "Why's this out?" he asks her as she guides him to his bed.

One of the goats, a dark gray one, pauses to gently butt her head against Hyacinth's leg as she guides them back into their pen. She glances up at Hya, auburn eyes glinting with amusement, then heads in after the others.