2020-10-10 - A Few Options Never Hurt

It's a lovely fall day, with big, heavy clouds drifting by overhead, pausing now and then to drop a chilly shower. The sky's a deep, crisp blue, and the air has the familiar bite that warns of winter.

The store is mildly busy, but August is letting everyone else deal with that, because his right leg is in a full bandage and knee brace thanks to Thomas and Margaret Addington. It's healing fine, thanks to Eleanor's continued efforts, but he has to stay off it. So he's holed up in the office much of the time, attending to the kittens and working on orders and schedules.

The kittens continue to grow. They're perfectly friendly and well-behaved, though seem adept and knocking things over. August hasn't sorted out how they're doing it, but hopes to soon. For now, he's content to play with them and watch them grow. The longer he can put off giving them up, the better.

Ignacio is marveling at being the 'healthy one' between them. The cats, for reasons Ignacio can't even explain, seem to adore him and chew on him and he endures it about as well as when Ully does the same to him with questions. Iggy walks with an almost cowboy swagger to compensate for his many injuries that will heal eventually over a lifetime. For now he is bringing August a tea, bag in it and sets it down jsut aiming to not trip on cats. "I should bring TOmmy to the office but I think he's sort of an independant sort. How'd we all adopt cats? Rush on cats, act now." Leaning on the desk he asks with that curiosity enough to listen, "How's today doing by you?"

August glances up from his tablet, sets it aside when he sees the tea. "Hey, thanks." He accepts the mug, has a sip. "I'm getting there. The urge to collapse Margaret Addington's house on her damned head's almost gone." Almost.

Xylem and Phloem leave off attacking the length of rope they have as a larger toy and come to the edge of their playpen, mewing hello to Ignacio. Or maybe these are mews of, 'Treats? Treats??' It's hard to tell the difference, admittedly, without using mind Glimmer, unless one simply assumes hello eqauls a request for treats.

Certainly this is August's take. "You little bottomless pits," he mutters. An eyebrow goes up. "You guys too?" He glances at the kittens, who are watching Ignacio, expectant. "Kittens? Tabbies?" August is very interested in these answers.

Ignacio blinks and scoops one of the tiny nibblersknowing they are pointy on all sides booping their nose with his finger. "That mean stripey? I mean... It's grey and black. Kinda stripey I guess, yeah. KItten but not exactly small." Lighting up he says "There's a little black one too. He keeps taking her food so I started leaving some under the porch for her. Poor thing." He snerks at the crawler, "You act like we ain't got snacks. Yeah that's fine. Chew on me. I see how it is."

Phloem, left without Xylem, mews in frustration. Why does Xylem get attention and not her?? The stapler on August's desk shudders and shifts a half-inch.

August picks her up, which mollifies her some. Like her brother she gently mouths August's fingers. Treats! Treats. "Yeah, tabbies have the black stripe marks," August says, petting her. She sets to crawling up his arm, which he allows, as it typically precedes a nap on his shoulder. Mention of the 'little black cat' makes him frown.

"Little black one," he echoes. "Was she...not just a cat?" His eyebrows go up. "You know--weird, maybe?"

Ignacio lets the kitten play attack the hand. There is a pause and Iggy considers it, squints, "Eeeh now that you mention it, seems so. But ya know, honestly? not way out of the scope of normal anymore." Lighting up a little bit he says, "You missed the Yule Kittens last Christmas. well...Yule...I guess."

From the other room there's a What? heard and Iggy yells back, "Yule. Yoooooooool. Not Ully. Why you gotta make everything about you man?" The call back is Because you ate my fries at lunch, dick! There's a wry grin from Ignacio calling back, "I called warlords first. It's fair!" Looking back to August he clears his throat. "Sorry. So yeah. It's possible. I was seeing a duck attack more than anything. You think they're related?"

August listens to the exchange, amused, as he helps Phloem get into position and settled on his shoulder. She clings there by her little claws, head half in August's hair.

"Yule kittens," he repeats. Ully appears in the office window, annoyed expression on his face. August raises his eyebrows at him in a classic Roen expression of What, and Ully holds up his hands and vanishes. August sighs.

"Okay, so. This...could be a problem. A nurse at the vet's office, she has the Art, and she said she, ah," his attention shifts to Xylem in Ignacio's hand, "they had a kitten come in that bit off part of a table."

Ignacio slowly grins watching the exchange. When Ully leaves again he glances back to August and murmurs, "I can have fun with that all day." Looking back to August he listens for a long quiet moment and comes up with "So they're low in iron?" A longer pause then IGnacio follows with "Lo siento. Yeha. That sounds like it could be problematic. Sooo uh... they're Veil cats or...?"

August snorts at the iron comment, smiling a little. He appreciates the attempt at humor, really, because the subject of maybe needing to return the kittens to the Veil is a sore one for him. He strokes Phloem's chin; she curls up on his shoulder in response. "Probably," he says. "If you...look at them, with your," he taps a temple, "you can kind of sense it. That they're more than just a cat. Or, could be."

He clears his throat. "There were also some which apparently have too many teeth." He grimaces. "These two, and Latte, haven't shown anything like that. Although," he watches Xylem roll around on Ignacio's hand, "I kind of wonder if the way they're always knocking stuff down isn't related. I find something new in that playpen every damned day. So maybe that's related."

Ignacio warms a grin to August. He can make him laugh just a little. It's a different sort of super power. "Tommy, found this Tom Cat so... ya know. In teh back yard when Doom Nugget got out. Lil guy took down a duck. Just needs some shelter and some food and a blanket. Sometimes he comes and loafs next to me while I'm writing" Xylem gets belly scritchies and head scritchies at the same time. "Aaaanyways I keep finding shit in the back yard all over but likekittens are gonna be kittens. GOnna need some parenting on this one though...I mean... we cna try to shut down the office but I dunno if that'll injure them so I am remiss to try."

Phloem shoves her face into August's neck and falls asleep. August carefully settles back into his chair, wincing at his leg and knee protest some. He sighs with relief to be off it for the moment. "Mmmm. Wonder if Tommy's the proud papa of these little ones. The black one, though--she's from Over There. Or, like them, in part." He sighs. Well, they'd always wondered what such a thing might be like. Now they know.

His expression grows a bit more serious. "Did you hear about the woman in the dumpster?"

Ignacio hrmmms "Maybe? I'm not a cat expert, but come on over later and meet em. he's usually prowling the barn." There is a pause then, olive skin going slightly asken, "I... no. Oh god. What... who? Monster monster or people-monster do it?"

August takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly. He holds his hands in his lap and looks out the office window at customers coming and going. "She looked like she'd been chewed to death. By...small cats." He looks at Ignacio, lifts an eyebrow. "Or kittens." He lets that sit, moves on. "When I found these three, there was a skinny black stray. She told me to go check on the person who abandoned the kittens. I did; the guy said his wife did it." His mouth flattens. "So. Sounds likely that...if not these ones," Phloem mews in her sleep, and August pets her gently, "then maybe the one with the jaws of steel. Or the ones with too many teeth."

Ignacio looks...concerned. He looks at the kitten noshing on his hand sna frowns, "She hurt you, kiddo? That you? It's gonna be okay." Omnomnomming the top of its head he looks up to August. "In the wild things usually only get hostile when basic needs aren't met right? So we make sure we have food, water, good wi-fi. Should be fine."

August coughs a laugh at good wifi, manages a smile. Phloem complains, opening her eyes and trilling; he rubs her head until she goes back to sleep. "Yeah, that's kind of my thinking. Keep them happy, probably they won't get, you know...dangerous." He pulls a face; dangerous has a whole new meaning where Veil creatures are involved.

"Worst case scenario, we find someone to foster them Over There. Itzhak should know someone, or know someone who knows someone." He shrugs with his unkittened shoulder. "Probably the safest solution, long term."

He sighs, considers Ignacio anew. "How about you. How's the leg."

Ignacio shrugs and gives the most honest answer, "Bout the same as always. Right one's still hurting on and off from the Bus. Wrist too, but I'm alive to bitch about it." Taking a deep breath he pauses on the cusp of saying something and has lost phrasing. Carefully he approaches it with "So just before the accident I went out for my sister's wedding with Finch- she's doing good. Marissa and Tony- but he told me,"

There's a pause. This part is hard. Taking a deep breath he wraps an arm under the kitten scaling his t-shirt to headbutt his chin. "Thanks. He um... He gave me a check saying it was what he set aside to start a restaurant with. And I thought at the time this was a guilt thing. I think he's just resigned that I'm not coming back and I want to be here. But he gave me that and it's not a small amount. I'll say that much. He's been squirreling away for a while. And I thought... I can't do this. Cause Raf, cause pride and principle... but"

The expression turns and he takes a deep breath and says "What if I did? Raf has something set aside for him. Won't touch it. Or talk to dad or any of them. If I take it is it blood money? Is it betraying my own principles? I don't... know what to do. I mean I could take it and use it for restoring Mallard house and savings and... maybe... I dunno go to school" Something he's never talked about before . With a murmur he gestures to the door, "Ully thought maybe I could go local. Maybe go into psyche counseling and maybe... he's not wrong but never tell him I said that."

From the other room Ully yells 'I heard that!' Looking up Iggy sighs and murmurs "There'll be no living with him now..."

August listens to all of this, toying with his beard, head tilted. He grimaces when Ignacio asks if it's blood money, though doesn't interrupt, just lets him go through the thought process. A snort for Ully, and a shake of his head. Then, "Well, first--glad to hear the leg's holding up. And," he sighs, eyes narrowing, "I don't think that makes it blood money. Sure, your dad might not be willing to accept your brother, and you've got a position on that, but..."

He falls quiet a time, finally shrugs. "It's your brother's choice to not touch the money. Just like it's yours. I can understand why he refused it, but you're not beholden to that, and you're not failing him if you opt to use it. Not in my opinion anyways." So, then come the possibilities of what to do with it.

"Of course I would recommend school," he says with a wry smile. "Even if it costs an arm and a fucking leg compared to when I went through. Psychology might be right up your alley, too--a lot of writing in a major like that, a lot of thinking about people and their motivations." He wrinkles his nose. "I don't know it'll help, but I can write you a recommendation letter."

Ignacio doesn't hide that its's weighing on him. Looking up he cracks a half-smile back at him. "That'd... that'd be great honestly. Thought about getting a recc from my publisher too. Maybe. That'd really help." There's a certain ease that seems to settle his nerves when August stamps him as being off the hook.

The tension drops entirely as those almond brown eyes snap to the doorway informing, "I can hear you hearing me!" Looking to August: Yup. No living with him after this. Still the bit of a grin holds. "I just want to be a good man and I don't... know how to be that good person some days, jefe. I dunno that anyone else really has it figured out either. Maybe this will help em figure it out or... someone figure something out."

Taking a deep breath he mumbles something in New Yorkeese. "I mean I feel bad on one hand. Starting that restaurant woulda been nice but he gave it to me so I can start over, be my own person. I think if I maybe go to school it'll still do some good ya know? Better than round one."

"Publisher is a good idea too," August confirms. He stroks the kitten on his shoulder absently. "And, first off, you are a good man, but secondly, it's true that what that means varies from day to day. It's not surprising you don't feel like anyone has it figured out, yourself included, because honestly I don't think anyone does. We do the best we can, with what we have, and no one can ask you to do more than that."

He shrugs his unoccupied shoulder. "It would have been nice to do the restaurant. And it's okay, to feel bad about that, and upset about it. You're allowed to mourn losing something." His eyebrows go up. "Just like you're allowed to move on from mourning it. If putting the money to some other use helps with that process--helps you with the wound your dad's rejection of your brother made--then that's just another good reason to do it."