2019-11-08 - Ho-petition 2019

Natalia came out of her room, ready to go about her day and what did she find on the couch. Ellis, lying around like he had nothing better to do. Instead of automatically getting upset, she simply passes by him on the way to the kitchen, grunting out a hello. She's dressed in a pair of jeans, an unzipped hoodie and a loose t-shirt.

She starts the coffee maker, pulls out a pan, and grabs eggs from the fridge. Someone is having a bad morning. Grumblegrumble.

"Mommie Dearest!" Ellis exclaims out of nowhere from a dead sleep. He rolls up off the couch and in a ratty old..is that a crop top tshirt that says, "Bitch Please!" above the WWII "We Can Do It" woman factory worker ad showing off her guns.

"Are those eggs? Tell me we have bacon," he babbles as he skates over to start poking his fingers into everything. Are those English muffins? A heel left in the loaf of wheat bread? (Yeah he totally put that back last night, meaning 3am). "Where's the coffee?"

From inside Noelle's room comes a heavy THUMP! and an "OW FUCKER." You can tell it's not an emergency, because her voice didn't go up at the end. There's a rustle, a yelp and a thump as she falls over something and bodies up into her door, rattling it in its frame. "Fudge sauce... WHO HAS BACON?" She hasn't mastered her inside voice before she's had coffee/tea/caffeine drops in water. There's a lengthy pause and then her door pops open and she stumbles out, overcorrecting as she trips over a vintage Doc from the thrift store, and falls hard into Snow's door opposite. At least the door was latched, otherwise she'd fall right on in there.

No peels herself off the wall, wearing a pair of bright yellow boy shorts and her favorite deconstructed vintage Nirvana tee, also from the thrift store. Her blonde hair is sticking up all over, roughly like a squirrel nested in it. She has a smear of red lipstick down her chin.

Natalia gazes up at the ceiling, what has she done to deserve this? She'll figure that out eventually. Instead of answering anything that Ellis and Noelle says, she simply opens the fridge and pulls out bacon. She just wanted a quick fried egg. Now, she's either going to cook or one of them will and her kitchen might not survive the experience. She slaps bacon into the pan, pointing mutely to the coffee pot. "Ten minutes." She puts down the package of bacon and turns to herd Ellis back to the couch, pushing him until he sits. "Don't crowd me in the kitchen or I'm going to slap you with a spatula."

She glowers toward Noelle. "There isn't a boy in that room, is there?"

Ellis could possibly save Noelle from one of her many moments of clumsiness, but bacon is way more important. Having checked on all of the important things in life within two minutes of waking up, Ellis sets up shop leaning back, casually kind of a half-step in Natalia's cooking space. When Noelle comes tumbling out, he tsks, "I was really hoping I'd have coffee by now so I could judge you properly," he holds up 6 fingers. "Not even a sign," he laments as if his world is incomplete while Natalia starts shewing him. He holds up his hands, ducking his head and spinning back toward the couch. He pivots to kneel down into the cushions, leaning over the back of it to conspiratorially wide-eye her. Lifting his chin above the back, he rubs at his chin while looking at his sister, "You've got a little, right..." He's showing her on the wrong side of his mouth...that is, it doesn't match up with what she's got going on. "Is he hot?"

"Does he make you go-" and then the noises start as Ellis flops back onto the couch in 'ecstasy'.

Noelle squints out from behind a rats nest of hair, and her eyes alight on Ellis. "No." She squints, then gives Ellis the eye-over, twin-checking him for signs of what he's been up to the last few days. "Not unless one died under my bed or something." Boys in her room, she means. "Window's latched, panties are on," she points down at her very bright underwear. And then she dives like Superman onto the couch. If Ellis gets an elbow in the kidney/liver, that's just the price of couch surfing around here. She goes limp like a corpse and wipes her face on his shoulder. Slightly muffled, she asks, "Cheesy eggs?"

Natalia is happiest when Ellis isn't in her personal space, she gets twitchy sometimes, like she might need to swat at him to keep him at bay. Now that he's taken over making fun of Noelle she can cook in peace. Another request. She grabs a bowl from the cupboard, cracks eggs inside of it and starts to scramble them with a fork, warming up the pan.

"Cheesy eggs." She agrees, pulling out a spatula. She dumps the bowl into the pan and starts to scramble them. "Please don't break my sofa." She adds on belatedly, glancing back toward the pair.

Ellis gets socked in the solar plexus, which has him curl up with an, "Oof!" affording Noelle the advantage for couch real estate if she please. For once, he doesn't smell like mothballs or thrift store clothing from a third rate rack or nice things or sweat or cigarettes...or anything else vaguely shady...just SUSPICIOUSLY CLEAN. He has a scrape on his elbow. That's new. "Eww," he looks down at possible sleep spittle mixed with makeup on his beautiful beautiful shirt. "Stop it!" he says, aghast, "How dare makeup touch her muff munching lips!" he exclaims as he pulls the shirt taut and gives the faded and cracked figure a great big "Mwah!" Then he kiss his hand lazily and shoves it lovingly in Noelle's face undiscerningly for a hot second, or tries to. "I want cheesy eggs too," he sing songs as if his presence CAN'T die down in a room. "So...my lovely beautiful talented wise, every so wise, sister. Do you think I could maybe rest my head here for a few days?"

There's a limp noodle cackle from the prone blonde (BOTTLE BLONDE), and she's laughing before Ellis finishes talking about muff munchers. She flails a little, probably smacks her twin at least once, then gets a hand to the side of her face.

She moosh-face says, "Yaaay cheesy eggs." Noelle cheers softly as she slides off the couch and onto the floor. Whump.

No sprawls out on her back, and looks over toward the kitchen. "If you promise you're not gassy, you can stay with me for two nights. The couch is up to Nat." She turns her head back to the couch, looking up. "Why do you smell so clean?"

Natalia is scrambling eggs, sprinkling grated cheese over the top. "You can stay as long as none of your good for nothing friends turn up." She glances toward the couch just in time to see Noelle slug to the floor. Her eyebrows raise and she clears her throat, turning over the bacon as it sizzles on the stove. "Did you just ask why he smells clean? What is he supposed to smell like?" Why did you ask that question, Nat?

She rolls her eyes, turns the heat off of her eggs and pulls the coffee pot, walking toward the kitchen table. "Foods nearly done." She announces, making it seem like she might want them to come into the kitchen now.

Ellis all but ignores the smacking, sporting an invincible grin. "Cleanliness is next to godliness. He reaches up and tries to rake his fingers through his lengthening curly hair. Lost cause. He blossoms his arms out dramatically. "Rebirth!" Bullshit. He's full of it. He shoots Noelle a wink. He lolls his head kitchen-ward to Natalia. "Whiskey, cum, coke...or rum...day lilies. You know, whatever I rolled around in the night before," he smirks, obviously fishing for a rise or even a smattering of attention.

"You. Are so gross." So says Noelle from the floor. She turns her head toward the kitchen again, without getting up. "Cheeeesy eeeeeeggs." She love cheesy eggs, and Natalia makes the best ones. She smacks her hands against her belly in an offbeat rhythm. "Yeah, he smells clean and usually he smells like..." At the list of things he smells like, Noelle nods in agreement. "Yeah, like hookers and bad decisions."

"Ellie, did you ask Nat if we're gonna try to do that thing where we rent a lodge in the woods and invite people we like for a camping adventure, or if we're gonna try to do Christmas here with everybody all jammed in dropping crumbs on our floor?"

More gray hairs. She has to have more gray hairs now.

"Well you're clean so keep the hookers and bad decisions outside of my trailer." Natalia glances over at Ellis, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I don't know what you did to Yule the last time you crashed there, but he's politely requested we find you a different place to hang your hat."

She makes a face at Noelle's question to her twin, heaving out a put upon sigh. She scoops up cheesy eggs on two plates, adds bacon and puts them on the table. "Come and get it." A beat. "I'm not serving you in the living room, not until I get a decent paycheck."

"I'm a boy," Ellis shoots back to Noelle with a rolls of his eyes, as if this explains away all of his grossness. "Sometimes I think you really are blonde." Despite his words, there's a fondness behind it, dressed with faux reluctance. He snaps his chin upwards slightly to set the record straight, "Like amazing Saturday nights."

DINNER BELL!...err, breakfast. Ellie's eyes widen as he watches the plates land. He rockets up and over to plant a peck on Natalia's cheek before she can escape and slink down to start eating. "I was going to," he forgot...or he 'forgot.' "I thought we were on the same page about not leaving Huey, Dewey, or Luey out of the festivities this year." 2.5 legendary mice that were so named by Ellis in their youth. He glances over to Natalia, scoffing with one of his shit-eating grins, "Good luck with that."

"Yule's just an old man who needs to get laid," Ellis jabbers...with hand motions...between bites of egg.

Noelle glances up at Ellis and mouths 'politely requested' while making air quotes. She laughs softly after that. She crunches up into a sitting position, then rolls up off the floor, right into a smooch to the cheek. "Augh," is what she says, but she doesn't even wipe her face off. That's probably because Noel smells clean, and she perhaps wrongly assumes that means his mouth hasn't been anywhere questionable recently.

No gets to her feet and shuffles to the table, dropping into her chair. She goes for the bacon first. She glances over at Ellis at the mention of mice. Her eyes narrow and she shoves bacon in her mouth. She laughs, though, about Yule. "S'true." Her gaze flicks to Nat, bacon smile. "Plans for the day?"

Natalia gets her own food, drifting toward the table to join the twins. "Let's figure out something nice to do for Christmas this year that doesn't involve knocking around this tin can for a week while we get on each others nerves?" She says, digging in to take a bite of her eggs. She doesn't even rise to comment about Yule, shrugging. "I have a few repairs to knock out and someone wants to see one of the empty units. So after I do that, I figured I might stop by and see Rusty, see how he's doing and then come home. Why?"

Ellis nods with knowingly wider eyes to Noelle's silent embellishment. He pushes up to pour himself some milk. It's a wonder he didn't try to sneak a gulp straight out of the gallon, but then, maybe, just maybe a part of him has civilized. He drops two ice cubes into his milk and returns, flopping down bonelessly back into his chair. He shrugs as Noelle snubs off Huey, Dewey, and Luey, with a muttered, "Dirty speciesist..."

"Oh my God, can we go to the beach?!" the exhausting man stares to Natalia then to Noelle, trying to send her visions of fruity drinks loaded with alcohol, beautiful bodies, WAVES, those sexy sunglasses I shows you three weeks ago..like he has telepathic laser beams coming out of his eyes. LISTEN TWIN DAMNIT! This is just Ellis' 'special' sort of shine.

"I think going somewhere together is a good idea. Somewhere with space and room to dump the bodies." What bodies, Noelle? "Like somewhere with water and beachiness and roller skates." What bodies?

"Oh, maybe we can drive down the coast and find a pier?" Piers are good for fishing, hanging out, eating nachos, doing lines, and dumping bodies. Win, win.

"Hey, yeah, let me know how he's doing. He seemed nice. We can make him drive us down to SoCal. I bet he's a good driver and knows you have to stop at every Cracker Barrel for candies and pie." Just imagine, if you will, the entire Duchannes brood on the road, locked in a van of some variety, ROAD TRIP, for like... seventeen hours. Give or take five hours worth of 'I have to pee' and 'I need some Doritos' and 'Somebody puked back here.'

"Ellie, juice." Ellie, you brought back milk but no juice for your delightful twin sister.

Natalia keeps her eyes on her plate, grunting occasionally as her siblings talk of hiding bodies, beaches and sunlight. This all sounds good to her, but if she agrees with them, next thing she knows they're rolling over her and she's agreeing to things that she doesn't want. She glances up at Noelle and shakes her head faintly. She didn't raise that, did she?

She takes a bite of bacon and wrinkles her nose. "Okay, we'll consider a trip. Everyone get together any savings you got and we'll see what we can afford. Yeah?" She knows better than to try to bankroll something like this on her own. "Oh and Ellis, if Winter comes in and needs a place to bunk down, you need to give him the couch. He has a job he has to be up for."

Just purses his lips at his twin, but doesn't draw anymore attention to the whole dumping bodies subplot she knows nothing about right? Right? "Rustyyyyy. Rust, Rust, Ruster-y. Rusty," he works his mouth over the name, bastardizing it like someone doing mouth exercises while the women talk.

Ellis had already sat down, taken a bite of bacon, reached for his milk... He doesn't bat an eyelash at Noelle's demand. He just points down at the milk, hand crooked downward as he leans on his elbow. "Oh the cow juice isn't good enough for you?" Beat. He gets up and mock dashes to /actually/ pour the juice. He ends up back at her side and squats down, putting the juice down on the table. "Twin tax. Bottomless mimosas for lunch," he demands, not quite yet taking his hand off of the glass. It's business as usual until Noelle acquiesces as he casually turns his attention back to Natalia. "I have a job...I need to be up all hours for-I have a pager!" he waves his bacon, "I'm on call. Like a doctor...I could save your life one day," he insists.

Noelle looks over at Natalia as she agrees. She blinks. There's a beat and then she looks across at Ellis. 'OMFG she agreed' is the look on No's face. The twins were probably just winding up for some lengthly convincing. Oh, but then the second flippin' shoe drops. They need to pony up some cash. She looks at Nat again, then back to Ellis. "Aw, thanks, big brother." She reaches for the juice. Twin tax. Of course. "What do I look like a bartender?" Her brows tick up at the mention of a pager, "When did you become a drug dealer from 2002?" She sips her juice. "I'll get you three orders of free dumplings later. You want shrimp or pork or veggie?"

Natalia listens to them both, but again, she's not going to look at them That is when the trap is spring. She especially doesn't respond to Ellis asking about Rusty in his way, because that just won't do.

When Noelle agrees with her there is a ghost of a smile on her lips for a brief moment before she takes a bite of her toast. "I'm sure we can go south a little bit to get some warmth in our beach if that's what we want. We might have to road trip it to save money. Let's see what Snow, Winter and Yule are doing, you two need to text them or catch them around." She raises her eyes, pointing her fork between the pair. "No excuses, this isn't Natalia plans everything and then has to pack everything and is too stressed out to enjoy the trip time. Got it?" She eyes Ellis for a few moments after Noelle mentions drug dealers and pagers. She could touch that, but .. there is coffee to drink. Sip.

"Noooo, come with me," Ellis rolls his eyes and flops back down, releasing the drink. "Oh yeah. Didn't you get my memo? I'm a total stoner now. Power to Cheech and Chong, the only church I know," he presents with a cherubic choir boy face, hands folded one on top of the other just under his chin. "No we wouldn't do that. Never," he crosses his heart, mouthing 'hope to die,' to Natalia before flashing an excited grin to his twin. "Pork. And I'm not a drug dealer. I'd have way better clothes. I'm trying to get into pimping." Just another one of his outrageous outright lies.

Three of the Duchannes, Natalia and the twins sit at the table eating eggs, bacon, and drinking coffee while they tolerate each other like champs.

When Yule's mentioned again, a sly little smile curves Noelle's lips. She glances over at Ellis. Poor Yule. Noelle doesn't say it, but she's definitely thinking about how he must have saved up a bunch of money and living in Gray Harbor is just so much cheaper than New York. She's still looking at Ellis, making almost imperceptible twin-faces when Natalia keeps speaking. Her brows twitch when she says 'save money' and then her mouth thins a little at 'no excuses' and she presses her lips together to keep from smiling at 'plans everything' and then there's the whole 'pack everything' to which she shakes her head ever so slightly. She points at Ellis and says, "Got it?" in exactly the same tone Natalia just used.

She leans in a little and asks, "You got pot right now?" Not a whisper, No, more of a stage whisper. She shoves a huge bite of cheesy eggs into her mouth. The Duchannes are having cheesy eggs and bacon for breakfast. Noelle looks like she just got up, hair a rats nest of blonde mess. She looks dressed (Nirvana tee) until you see she's actually wearing boy shorts with that, no pants. There's a good chance it won't be noticed until such time as she stands up. The only thing that betrays she and Ellis are twins are very similar eyebrows. "Nobody would ho for you. Try something else." Not even a pause.

Natalia glances up at Noelle when she asks Ellis if he has pot. "Can you wait until I'm not here to do that?" She asks, clearly exasperated, but what can she really say it's legal here for the most part. "I swear, I would toss you both out, but then you'd go over and drive Yule insane and he'd blame it on me." She glances at Ellis, wincing and then she just lets her face fall into her hand. "You would think that the adopted siblings would be the ones who make me dye my hair, but no, it's the blood relations. Go figure." Nat gets to her feet, moves over to the sink to rinse off her plate. "No, take him to work with you today, see if you can get him a real job in the kitchen, part time to whatever he's pulling around right now. Yeah?"

Rusty is coming. The angle of things makes it easy to see him coming over from number 17. Followers of his social media know he's been under the weather. His last podcast featured him sniffling and coughing and there was an Instagram photo of the tissues he had gone through in six hours. It was gross but oddly fascinating. Now he's wandering over and he just lets himself in. He looks awful, like a person with a vicious flu. Just the person you want standing over you while you eat. "You got any leftovers?" He asks Natalia while glancing at Ellis and Noelle. "I get woozy at the stove." He coughs, turning away and covering his mouth with his elbow.

"I will have it when she's not looking," Ellis stage whispers back. /She/ knows who she is. Natalia. Ellis then blissfully ignores the twinrays being shot at him by Noelle. "What? I /always/ pay," cough cough couuuuugh. He rises up and takes the dishes of anyone who looks done, one of those patented eyebrows raising for each of his sisters. Before they can respond, he's off to start cleaning the skillet and spatula, first dumping anything left into some tupperware container. "Been there, did that," Ellis quips with one hand over an imaginary Bible and the spatula in the air as if this joke still held merit at the age of 26. "Oh please. Like you could do better," he teases Noelle.

"Maybe I should stop calling you Mom and start calling you Granny," Ellis muses when Natalia comments about dying her hair. Then his eyes stnap back toward Noelle at Natalia's suggestion to bring him along. "Eww."

Then he notices Rusty. "Yeah. Right there. Go crazy Tiger," he nudges the open tupperware on the table with the spatula .

Noelle presses a finger to her lips and nods like 'later' to Ellis. She goes back to scooping cheesy eggs into her mouth to eat them before they get cold. Warm cheesy eggs are the best, cold ones are like stringy glue. She grins, gaze turned to her plate, at the crack about the adopted siblings. In truth, No & Ellis really are the odd ones out in terms of temperament. All the rest are pretty much high functioning, social individuals, at least when Win isn't talking about his bats. That gets a little weird sometimes.

When Rusty shows up, she grins, but slides a little closer to her brother. "Hey, Rusty!" She gives a little wave. In an aside to her brother, she says, "I could do better." She finishes her last bite of eggs, then asks, "You suggesting we have a ho-off? I will ho your ass into the ground."

Natalia breaks at that point, picking up something to throw at Ellis, but then Rusty appears. She aims a very apologetic smile at Rusty, pointing to a seat at the table. "I have some leftovers, yeah. You look like you could use soup more. You want some soup?" She pours the man some coffee and aims a fiery look at Noelle, shaking her head slightly. "Not in front of company, if you two are going to ho. Do it where nobody can see you." That makes sense, Nat.

She chases Ellis out of her kitchen, bringing the leftovers to the table in case Rusty actually doesn't want soup, there is eggs, bacon and toast for the having.

Rusty waves off the idea of soup as he digs a tissue out of his pocket to blow his nose. He points at the eggs and sits down to help himself. After a few hurried bites, he says, "A ho-off? Who can catch the Clap the fastest? Not my idea of a fun competition." Beat. "And herpes is forever." He looks to Ellis. "Hi. I'm Rusty. I live down the way. Natalia opened her door to me and I told her I would use it. Her mistake." He sounds hoarse and stuffy, which makes his soft spoken voice even softer. He has to strain to be heard.

"We should totally have a ho-off. What would the terms beeee. Light hoing like whose girls earn the most at amateur night at the Platinum?" Ellis grins like a loon as if his lifeblood ran on shenanigans.

Ellis ducks back toward the sink to put on some flowery rubber gloves to finish off the dishes now that they'e had a good soak. Then he mimics Natalia, mouthing 'Oh soup? A pillow? Want me to suc-' behind Natalia's back, okay more like in her peripheral view."I'm trying to help clean up! Jesus!" he exclaims as he's chases back out of the kitchen, the gloves still on, spatula in hand. He seems untouched by the crack at their stability, as unflappable as ever.

Noelle sinks down a little bit in her chair, to finish her last piece of bacon. "You feeling ok, Rusty?" Obviously he's looking a little less than tip top. She smirks, either at the clap or waiting to ho until no one can see them. "You are on brother. Biggest pool of tips at the Platinum amateur night. Boom." She reaches over for a pink swear to seal the deal, because no matter how old they get, the twins are always twelve. "You smell clean," she says to Ellis. It's true. Much usage of soap. He doesn't smell like a dumpster or a dead person. "You're welcome, Rusty. Especially if you bring Doritos." She wipes her bacon greasy hands down her legs and then finishes her juice. "I'm bringing Thai home tonight. What do you want Nat?" She looks over at their croaky guest. "You? I like the noodles, Ellis likes the pork dumplings."

Natalia is bright red, and later she might kill Ellis. Hopefully there are no witnesses. She turns to finish the dishes now that her little brother has been chased off. "You should take her up on the Thai, Rusty. She brings home the good stuff, not the leftovers. I'll take whatever you're having No." She waits for a few moments and wrinkles her nose. "Dumplings too, please?" She pours herself a cup of coffee and carries it like a weapon as she approaches the table, settling down near enough to the guest to be polite, but far enough away that she might not get sneezed on. It's a delicate balance. "Oh, you know Noelle." She gestures to her little, blonde sister. "This is her twin brother, Noe..er.. Ellis." She makes a face at the latter, a 'please stop embarrassing me' face. It probably won't help.

"Never had Thai before. Dumplings sound safe." Rusty whispers. "And some kind of soup too. My throat is ragged." He reaches for Natalia but hesitates and retracts, considering he is a ball of germs. "You need to relax. They are just being young and having fun and it probably won't kill them. You should worry less. It'll make you gray--give you wrinkles too." He winks at her. The formal introduction to Ellis gets a little nod as he says to Noelle. "Naw, I got this fluish thing. I'm still fighting a fever which is why I'm here. My brain's boiling and trying to fix food was going nowhere. I get light-headed."

Ellis seems unconcerned for the other man's health. "Cool Ranch," he informs Rusty. At Noelle's comment about his smell he just gives her a look. "I'll make sure I get back into my usual dizzying musk soon. Don't worry," he says with a flip of his cleaning glove. This man would seem at home with a hairnet and probably has had to wear one or two thus far in his life.

Ellis ends up back next to Noelle, staying close yet still cavalier. When he's introduced almost by his first name, his lips bunch up into a pouty frown, his gaze souring. "Soo, Rustifer, you thought you'd come over and infect my sisters? Or did you already infect my sister?" He leans forward, gloved hand at his chin. "For /sustenance/?" He tilts his head and then comically. "Okay. Nice to meet you."

Noelle nods, seconding the good stuff. One of the perks of delivering all over this weird ass town after 10pm is brave and comes with all the dumplings and noodles. All the noods. "Check." Dumplings and noods for Natalia. "Pause button. You've never had Thai? Dude. You. Are. Gonna. Love. It." She throws some horns when Rusty comes down on the side of Natalia needs some pot brownies to relax. That's not at all what he says, but that's exactly what she hears. "We're immune to everything here." She reaches over and pops Ellis in the shoulder, or that's the way her hand goes. He's quick like a bunny so she might miss. She's also not looking at him, so she might miss. She rises to carry off her plate and cup to the dishwasher. At least she does that! She's not a total heathen. Mostly.

Natalia smiles over at Rusty, her eyes rising to her bangs, which have shown signs of gray lately. She shrugs and lets out a soft laugh, which fades away when she regards her siblings. "You two are lucky that he's being so nice." She mentions, and then she settles back and lets them talk about the shenanigans that they tend to get up to, she ignores them for now, her eyes on the guest.

"So how is streaming going with your voice gone?" She taps the table with the tips of her fingers, offering him a smile. "How about I bring over some soup and crackers later, a few bags of tea? You can make them tomorrow, see if it helps your throat."

"I'm being nice because I would rather Natalia not worry herself to death over her family's silliness." Rusty says after a few covered coughs. "They're grown for the most part, right? You deserve to take care of yourself. Dye your hair and bake for yourself and fuss less. The best mamas take care of mama." He clears his throat. "Mm. Not so good. I did record my podcast because it was an interview for the most part. Everything else is on hold until I don't look so bad. Not that I can look super good or anything..." He smiles, hoovering up their leftovers. "Mm. You need help with your hair? I can help. I'm not covering gray, just darkening, so a few missed spots isn't a big deal."

Owwwww, Ellis reaches up to rub his arm, mouthing, 'What?' "Children can be on their guardian's insurance until they are twenty six. It's a really rough job market out there right now," Ellis expounds, apropos of nothing. As the conversation unfolds between Natalia and Rusty, he gets a mildly disgusted and paranoid look. He glances over to Noelle, squinting slightly, but she's already off to take her dishes to that stinking dishwasher. Once Natalia seems thoroughly distracted by Rusty, he tries to sneak back into the kitchen to finish the dishes.

Noelle is waiting in the kitchen for Ellis. She dunks her dishes in the dishwasher and stands there leaned against the counter. "It's true, twenty six is the magic number." Of course they know this. She nudges Ellis if he comes near enough, watching Rusty and Nat at the table in there. "I've delivered dumplings, pizza, people, nar — Christmas lights, groceries, and once almost a baby, but that was a Lyft incident and I stopped working for them after. It took like three weeks to get the smell out of Natalia's car." Oh so that's what that smell was last summer. "Job market's rough for sure."

"Oh.. well the other three siblings aren't quite so bad. They usually help me with these two." Natalia chuckles softly and she leans in against the table, smirking toward Rusty. "Yeah, well, once these two go to work, I'm going to take care of me. Bubble bath and a book. Then I'm going to make you some soup. Soup that you're going to eat. We have some chicken thighs in the freezer somewhere. No, can you take those out for me?" She turns her head toward the twins, giving them a suspicious look while they hover near the kitchen sink.

"That was what smelled in my car?" She opens her mouth to say more, realizes that she probably should just take a deep breath and let it go, so she does. "You want to help me dye my hair?" Does she look surprised? Maybe.

Rusty nods slowly. "Yeah? Is that okay?" Rusty clears his throat again. "I better go. I'm feeling all woozy again. But if you need help with anything, just ask. I have a lot of random talents. Remember, Natalia, I'm old." He smiles a little, winks and gets up from the table. "It was nice to meet you Ellis?? And you again, Noelle." He makes his exit then, as suddenly as he appeared. Just walking off.

Job market is especially tough for those who can't seem to hold down a job, and it's no wonder why. "Eww. So that was pine scented afterbirth?"

Ellis makes a dramatic exasperated noise at 'going to work,' "How many times do I have to tell you guys. I have a job." He finishes up with the required dishwashing and then quietly reaches into the dishwasher to pull out Noelle's plate and hopefully wash it behind her back. "I was really hoping to get a good nap in today," he grumbles mildly as he rinses the soap away. "Enjoy those fever dreams man!"

Noelle jostles Ellis on her way by to pop open the freezer door. She digs around for some chicken thighs she tugs the package out to set it out to thaw. She tucks it into the empty side of the sink to thaw them in cold water. "Yep." She doesn't respond to the smell thing. She totally didn't hear that. Nooope. She turns just enough to thumbs up at Rusty, hiding a little smile. "Take care of you."

There's a pause from Noelle when Ellis brings up the Lyft baby. "Dude, I tried to use floor cleaner, ok. I for desperate." Noelle is bad at cleaning. "You didn't answer you phone and then it was too late." She turns around but has no idea the plate in her brother's hand is hers. "I'ma go put some pants on. You get bored, I have a bunch of laundry." She leans in to give El a squeeze on her way by. Nat will get one too when she makes her way over there.

"I'm going to go take a shower and then work on defrosting that chicken." Nat says, getting to her feet once Rusty makes his way out. She narrows her eyes at Ellis but changes her mind and smiles. "You hang out here, try to behave yourself. If I come back and the place is burned down, I'm going to be upset."

She walks toward her bedroom. "Remember, no friends over unless they're as clean as you are now El." She calls out.

"Use the pager. Half the time I don't have any juice in my phone." Nomadic life is hard on the charging situation. Ellis just shakes his head. He knows he could have gotten rid of that no problem. Why he has experience in cleaning up the smells of childbirth too? It's nobody's business. He cleans the sink after, and the counters.

Ellis salutes to Natalia with a grin. "Yes Ma'am." He's taking off the gloves and resting them over the side of the sink to dry. Then he looks back at the last bit of news. "Oh goodie! I get to have a sleepover!" He rolls his eyes and then a moment later, cocks his head to the side and grins. "Don't worry. I've got business to attend to." HE NEEDS TO RECRUIT SOME HOS.