2020-02-12 - Enter the Dollhouse

Eleanor stops in her tracks, blinking repeatedly. She'd just walked through the door into her office at Espresso Yourself and now here she is someplace decidedly not that. She has her hair in one braid over her shoulder, her glasses on, wearing jeans, boots, and a sweatshirt that reads "First I drink the coffee, then I do the things." Blink blink. "Oh come ON!" she grouses. These things are happening more and more frequently to her. She looks around to see who else has been dragged into the Dreamscape of this lovely little house.

One foot already lifted and placed on a step, Leon seems frozen to the spot as he realizes the footing was not the concrete facade that would take him to his own front door, but... this... whatever it was. He blinks slowly, then immediately looks around, then down at himself, taking stock, checking for threats, movement, anything. An intake of breath and a quiet muttering of, "What the f-..." slips from his lips. He was still dressed in the warm clothing from his work: jacket, jeans, Red Wings. His eyes land on Eleanor as the first thing he heard, answering her frustration with some of his own. "Yeah, basically."

"She's a maniac, maniac on the... what the heck!" Tara was kick step dancing out of her bedroom of her RV with her eyes closed, unaware that things had gone pear shaped until the music died. She starts at Eleanor's sudden shout, "Whoa.." Then Leon, "Whoa! What the heck! This is... not my RV.. is it?" Her nose wrinkles, spinning around in a circle, "My RV got really big.. My RV is a Tardis."

Hyacinth is pacing an d on her phone, eyes closes and had over her eyes, "When I say that it needs to be done right now I mean why didn't it occur to you already that this might be a need? This is why we need better people." There's a pause. "...Marle...Do not you hang up on..." she peeks between her fingers and blinks "...me." Oh. That's why she's disconnected. There's a moment of her clearing her throat and fixes her sweater and very professionally puts her phone away. "Hullo." Spotting Eleanor she smiles, "Oh! Better people." She heads this way. Leon and Tara? Oh they're assessed and the jury is out. The house though gets a curious look. "Why do I feel like I know you?"

Eleanor makes her way over to the others with a frown. "They do not know with what They are messing, today. If my coffee bean order goes in late, the entire town may come hunting for Them." She huffs, folding her arms over her chest grumpily. She shakes her head at Tara in the negative. "New to town? Get used to this crazy shit." She hasn't had much sleep in the last few days, since August has been pretty badly messed with by Them. She moves to give Hyacinth a quick hug. "Maybe they have those cute demon goats," she mumbles.

"Cute demon goats..." Leon mutters incredulously, because of course, all the words made sense, and far be it from him to assume what people found cute. Tara and Hyacinth both get a side-eye, but Leon, for his part was just as curious as Hyacinth. Not speaking, he takes a few of the steps up toward the house, a hand reflexively going to the back of his shirt and... Yep, of course his piece was gone. Just as he had started carrying again. Wonderful. Creeping forward, he tries to peer into the first room, hesitating to enter a house that could... explode, eat him, sing at him... It was all horrible possibilities.

Tara is surprisingly okay with it once the initial disorientation subsides. There's a natural period, an expected interlude, of not sure what the heckery, but following that? All smiles from the blonde, "Oh, yeah, totally. People have told me.." Kind of distracted because new place, lots of stuff to see, places to explore. "For some reason I have ''Reading Rainbow'' stuck in my head." She doesn't know either, "Butterfly in the sky... I can fly twice as high.." Hands in the pockets of her overalls, bebopping along with the others because seperating in horror movie dreams are bad. "I'm Tara." For the group. "Incase I die." Grinning with all her teeth showing.

Hyacinth leans and gives Eleanor one of those wrinkle-free hugs. patpat "Oh we can only hope. I got a sweater for the one but it's not with me." Next it'll be little FAO Swartz toys. Looking to Tara she offers a hand to Tara and then Leon. "Hyacinth Addington. Rennovation specialist, city hall> Pleasure to meet you." This said her hand is careful to not mar the texture of the wood. "Oh curiouser and curiouser thought Alice. This reminds me of my house."

"Eleanor," the redhead replies to Tara and looks to the others. "I own Espresso Yourself downtown." Thus the coffee bean order and ironic sweatshirt. She moves behind Leon to peek inside. "So, do we open the parlour door or wait in the sitting room?"

"Oh sweet. Ms. Addington." Tara takes the offered hand with a big, entirely too happy given the situation and strange big housedness, grin. "Is this your house? This is a great house.." She also nods to Eleanor, but really house. "I love your coffee." Distractedly, she's bouncing off to go draw on the froested glass, climbing up knees first on the window seal to do so. Still humming reading rainbow.

Leon takes the handshake a bit distractedly, making eye contact only briefly. An afterthought, as his jacket would already tell them his name, his eyes meet each of the others' as he says, "Leon." The Locksmith, or so his parka tells them. He goes back to checking the entranceways to the house, moving in slowly first. It just made sense, of course. Tank first. Or maybe he just had some traditionalist views on marching order. "I'm open to suggestions, but door's open, so we go in?" He's already checking corners, watching for movement, staying alert.

Hyacinth wanders and curiously looks around letting her eyes follow the interior. "Something's distinctly odd. I don't think this is my property?" Shouldn't she be certain? It' snot a haughty claim but she's curious all the same. "We should see if the owner is home. Breaking and entering is frowned upon from a real estate resale perspective you know." She's being helpful!

Eleanor moves to the closed parlor door and takes in a breath, before she puts a hand on the knob to see if it's open or not. "Hello? Anyone home? We seem to have arrived unexpectedly." She wrinkles her nose at the smell of paint and fake flowery perfume.

"In fairness..." Tara is peering inside through the glass upon which she's drawing with the tip of her finger, "I was in my RV.. so this feels like an invitation to come inside... or something, I don't know I'm new to ethical details of teleportation." A brief, very brief pause, "Oh you know what? It's like Clue." Helpful, she finally drops down off the window seal to join the others at the door, ducking and craning to peer inside with them. "On second thought, I hope it's not. It didn't end well for /any/ of the blondes in that movie."

Wanna see a guy get real uncomfortable? Take something from his profession and do it just slightly wrong. The muscles in Leon's jaw flex as he hears the squealing hinge, eyes immediately snapping to the offending construction. Regardless, he moves on into the room, fanning out wider, looking all around. Pastries are avoided completely, the Alice reference earlier all the hint he needed. "Yeah, I don't see a lot of people clamoring for real estate here... Or we're gonna have a real angry HoA, if they are."

Hyacinth turns a look to the pink. ALL THE PINK. One eye twitches. "Sadly... this is period accurate. This is what you get for buying what is expensive and not what is tactful." till she eyes that hinge with some accusation. "Okay well we're here. Eleanor?" She turns to follow her friend there and squints at the creature on the wall and just asks it, "Where's the owner of the house?" Her expression softens as she tries to memorize detail and wonders out loud, "And who built you?"

Eleanor steps inside and her eyes land first on the basket of tartlets. They do look good, maybe she'll take a closer..."AIYEEEEEEEEEEE!" The stag head freaks her right the fuck out. She bolts back out the door to hide behind the others. "Is it real? Is it alive? I think it looked at me!" Her heart races, her eyes wide. Doesn't matter if it's just a damned fake dear head, the antlers bring back all her worst memories. She took months to even be able to look at August's back tattoo.

Tara slips inside with her hands tucked behind the front of her overalls against her sweater, "Oh shit, tarts..." Because follower. She walks over towards the basket and peers down at them, "Are these communal?" Glancing up and around wiggling a finger... Oh wait a minute, is that head following them around looking at them.. The blonde blinks at it.. then at Eleanor's reaction to it.. then down at the tarts.

A jump-scare is probably something Leon was already waiting for, as foreboding as this house was so far, but one of his own Dream companions's screams has him almost jumping out of his skin. He whirls on Eleanor just in time to see her scrambling off again, no idea what had spooked her. He does... something. Anyone in the room with some Glimmer would probably sense it, mostly since he was not great at subtlety. His mind immediately reaches out to their surroundings, trying to identify any consciousnesses outside their four.

Hyacinth stares at the head on the wall, squints, and looks back over her shoulder at Eleanor having a 'moment' as the polite gentry call it. Mmhmm. Her handgoes out and pats her on teh shoulder and with utmost compassion says, "Stop." Realizing (maybe) how that sounds she adds, "We're here it's tacky but it's fine. It's not like it can chase you."

"We're in the Dream. It might be able to float around and take chunks out of us for all we know!" Eleanor calls from the sitting room, where she is shaking and peering from behind one of the pink couches.

"Would you like me to get rid of it?" Tara asks Eleanor with a glance up at her crouching behind the pink couch. She's reaching for one of the tarts, though. They do look delicious and she is awful hungry, it had almost been dinner time. Maybe just a nibble. That's the responsible thing to do, especially in creepy dream houses with moving mammal heads. She reaches for them and breaks off a little piece, tossing it into her mouth.

Leon's eyes dart all around as he tracks the things his mind tells him are there but he can't see, his face whirling on the window, the curtains. His hand had lifted, fingers out, looking about to do something, then deciding against it, lowering the hand. Of course he only has to lift it again as he processes what Tara is doing. He hadn't warned her away from the horrible pastries. Paul Hollywood would be so ashamed. "I'm sure it's no surprise, but we're not the only minds in here... The weird thing, is there's a lot of them. I think. They keep moving and changing..."

Hyacinth pats Eleanor's shoulder and then that turns to a vice grip. Heart racing, but with enough control over herself not to scream or slap it. Very calmly she reache over and very ladylike, jabs the Queen Anne's end table it it. What her pinkies are out this is totally elegant! Her eyes are large and frozen asking catching her breath, Leon? Tara? Are...we okay?"

"Lock it in another room maybe? Please?" Eleanor requests from her pink velvet hiding place. She pulls up her own personal shield to protect herself just in case that thing comes for her, or reports to Him about her and summons Him. She yelps at Hya's touch as she glances at the curtains, frowns, and goes to move one to look out the window.

Leon moves carefully toward the window where he'd felt the minds, rolling his feet in an attempt to sound quiet, or as quiet as a man his size can. He would have been reaching for those curtains as Eleanor touched them, moving them, and then they were moving on their own. Eleanor may have been the type for a screaming fit. Leon was the type for a lightning fit. There was one problem though, there were civilians in his firing line. With one beefy hand, he would try to grab Eleanor roughly by the shoulder and yank her back and away from the unfurling arachnids. His other was already raising, fingers curling, but it would take him a moment to reach into his powers again for that sort of thing.

Tara blinks as the table goes a flying at the wall, "Whoa, the tarts!" Well that's too bad, at least she got the little piece maybe, but really it's a big waste if anyone cared for her opinion. Which they clearly don't... She's sucking fingers and staring at the broken base when the voice calls out to her from the other room.. Xanax.. cheer? Yeah, that all tracks. "Uuuuh.. Guys..." Taking a step back away from the next door in the direction towards her compatriots by the spider curtains, "I think it's evolved to spoken word.. It's definitely talking.. I've seen Species a hundred or so times and I'm pretty sure this is a bad thing."

Hyacinth turns trying to steady her hand after dealing with the whirring of saws grinding in her ears. Too much. it's just too... she's not being crammed in that thing again. It's Tara who mentions Species that has the too put-together Addigton wired tight like a spring loaded revolver. As if she took Palpetine for a mentor she turns (shuffles her feet on the high pyle rug) and zaps the shit out of the curtains. "They're not... laying...their eggs in you today, Tara. No. Just... no."

Eleanor moves back from the curtains, and she puts her hand down on the couch arm to give the newborn spiders a place to go that isn't her. "Um....there are...um...a whole lot of spiders in here. They're all in the curtains," she calls back to Tara. She's got her shield up, she's not worried about their itsy bitsy fangs cracking through that armor. Then Hya fries them. Oh dear.

Leon is immensely thankful to Hyacinth, which is communicated by a deeply meaningful look in the woman's direction, wide eyed, nodding once. "Ok, so that can solve things." His eyes go from Tara, toward the new voice, as the threat he had been most shaken by was now dealt with. "Stag's gone." He notes with a glance, "Spiders gone." He was making a brief guess by the way Tara had backed up there was something she might be afraid of in the next room. He doesn't even look in that direction. His mind reaches out, finds the source of the voice, and summarily fries the ever loving shit out of it.

Tara frowns when all the things start catching fire or electricating around her. It's a lot of stimuli! Even for her. "Why are we destroying this amazing house?! First tarts, then the table, now the curtains made of spiders..." It's a lot to unpack. Truly. She shivers a little and smooths her hands back over her forehead, then widens them out a little. Eyes wide, not smiling, definitely very UnTara like look of apprehension. "Okay.. okay this is all okay. This is fine." She's fine.

Hyacinth takes a deep breath and says to Leon shaken (maybe a tad stirred). "I find it can solve a lot of things, just often not how people wanted them solved. It really does do the trick though." She checks on Ellie- oh good she's ... whole. "Jenkies that was creepy." Old habits, yo. Looking to Tara calmly she says, "Look between he and I can work it out with their insurance people. Burning a whole house do is a legitimate way to rid it of spiders so I'm told."

"I think 'nuke it from orbit' has been used in the context of a house with spiders before," Eleanor admits. "But this isn't reality. This is the Dream. And I'm not sure any of this is real in a permanent fashion. Just made of...stuff...from...Over There."

Tara takes a deep breath and lowers her hands down from her forehead to clinch down at her sides. Standing with her feet apart slightly, she hardly tries to be subtle about the amount of energy she's drawing in around her... It's like Fantasia, except there's no magical brooms and dancing buckets. The house, burnt curtains, broken tables.. shattered walls.. they begin putting themselves back together. "You should leave a place the way you found it." Her eyes open suddenly, "It's cool." To Hyacinth. "I fixed it." Then the woman is standing there by the counter, "You're welcome.. Sorry we fucked up your house, but you kind of have to admit that was really messed up shit back there.. anyways, you have a love home and your tarts were fire." Before she steps through the doorway back to her RVs chicken, she turns and waves at those remaining. "Nice dreaming with you guys!"

"I mean, I definitely agree with a Tac Nuke. Maybe a MOAB, if we don't want the fall... out..." Because environmentally safe is the concern here. Really. His voice had trailed off as the door opens, watching the result of the countering of his electrical mayhem. He stares at the Creepy Kitchen Barbie for a moment, taking it all in, then... the click. Leon is started from his hesitation, taking careful steps backward. He watches as everyone has their chance to get out. First In, Last Out. He waits for everyone to be clear, then opens the front door and hops out onto his porch, "Not if I can fucking help it," he mutters to the air. Back in the real world, his front door senses his phone and the lock whirs open.