2021-06-24 - Carousel No Worky :(

Fern was feeling a little nervous with the storm coming, but she wanted to get one last look at the carousel before having to hole up while the storm passed. So she called up Conner to see if he was free to come with her. Now, walking up with him towards the carousel, she winced. "Gods, it looks so much worse in the day light." She murmurs to him, seeing their handy work in the unforgiving light. She doesn't feel bad about the manticore though, aside maybe the missing eyes. It did try to kill her after all.

Fern's hair is pulled back in a ponytail and she's wearing a navy blue, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of dark jeans with sturdy sneakers. Clothes she didn't necessarily mind getting dirty. Just in case. The only real question was...where to even start.

Conner is always in clothes he doesn't mind getting dirty, so there's that. He looks truly upset when he sees the animals by the light of day, and he heaves a sigh. "I don't know that we did the right thing here," he murmurs back to her. "We did it with all the best intentions in the world, but what if we really screwed up? Even being temporarily blind has gotta be pretty traumatic."

He rubs his arms against the oncoming storm. He's been staying busy, trying to help, but busy isn't enough to make him feel like he's really done enough to do anything about...much of anything. It's comforting that there are other people in town for that reason though, who do all sorts of things about all sorts of things.

He can't stay in. Not until the storm's really here. Joe's walking, but it's not his usual leisurely stroll. He moves like he's trying to burn off energy, even though his path is apparently aimless. Like he knows he has somewhere to be, but not where it is.

There are things that need to be done before Hyacinth finishes packing up to go huddle down in the beach bunker. Still this is her memory and she's arrived in her high cut jeans and red dotted tied blouse with matching head scarf in Rockabilly style with toolbox in hand. Her fabricated gait brings her to stop with the others. "Conner. Cavanaugh." Fern get a look and a nod.

She turns to Vyv walking with her, in this case Vyv having driven, "Maybe we should move them until the storm settles?"

Vyv is virtually never in clothes he doesn't mind getting dirty. He is, however, consciously in clothing he thinks can withstand the elements should the sky break open early and emphatically, which means that he is wearing jeans. They're dark, perfectly-fitted jeans that he probably gets drycleaned, admittedly, but they are jeans. The boots are 'chelsea' rather than 'hiking', but with sturdy leather and a sole that can reliably handle slick ground, and cashmere sweaters are actually quite good for warmth and rain. The classic wool peacoat is good that way, too. And, he has an umbrella. Prepared!

He gives a faint grimace at the current state of the carousel animals, gaze pausing particularly on the owl for a moment, and nods to Hyacinth. "Possibly so, though you might want to call in some staff for that. And a truck, because they're certainly not fitting in the Jag." She knows him better than to expect he's going to volunteer to do a lot of hauling things about himself in any case. A leather-gloved hand lifts lazily in a small greeting to the other trio nearby.

"I mean we still have them at least? I can just call Ravn to get them...after the storm passes. We can put it all right again." Fern promised, keeping her voice quiet. "Minus that one crazy gem." They could find a new one. Fern's been primarily working on different H.O.P.E related projects. Making sure the high school is sufficiently stocked with stuff being one of the priority jobs. She gives his upper arm a brief squeeze before advancing a few steps closer towards the carousel.

Spying Joe wandering near, she lifted her hand in a wave to him. "Heya Joe! Long time no see." Then Conner and Joe are both being addressed and she is being nodded at. Hyacinth Addington. Fern may or may not remember her from growing up since the Addington woman was only a year younger than she was...and, well, she's an Addington. "Fern." She offered up by way of introduction to Hya and Vyv.

But there's little time for more than that when she feels the air change. The hairs on the back of her neck raise and she unconsciously shifts a bit closer to Conner as she turns to stare at the girl. Conner can handle that one.

"You broke one of our friends," Conner tells Muriel, kind of sternly. "You put a gem in his eye that made him go crazy. Or made some kid do it, anyway. What did you mean, doing that?"

He's never had kids, but that has never stopped him from going all Dad on anyone, and Muriel seems a prime target for that right about now. He...just isn't about to own up to popping all the gems out of there. Maybe, right this second, the lack is a good thing, because maybe what she really means is I need to sic an army of carousel animals on the town now!

T here's a wave for those he knows....but it's only an instant before that change in the air. The little girl appears, and Joe's eyeing her, head cocked. "I'm sorry, I don't have any," he tells her. Without a betraying shift of his gaze to Fern.

Hyacinth stops when Fern gets to the get them back from Ravn part. He'd not mentioned that part. She squints faintly and says to Fern, "Hyacinth. And this is... " Ooooh how to put the discomfort, "My cousin Muriel. Yes I came to fix it. The fuck happened to these animals and what maniac blinded them?" Oh yeah so much she's not been told! Joy of joys.

"Vyvyan Vydal," the chef notes to Fern with a small tip of his head, "Vyv, generally. How do you do." A greeting, not a question.

The air changes in a non-stormy way, and, ah yes. Ghost child. Vyv remembers her. He flicks a glance around at the assembled. Among the number of things he is not is 'town genealogist', but as far as his knowledge does reach, this impromptu gathering seems to lack a Baxter (again). Is this is a positive or negative for the moment?

"All right, what is going on with eyes and gems and related craziness?" Also not told things. Which is manifestly an indefensible state of affairs. "And, hello again." That to Muriel. Doesn't hurt to be civil to ghost children. Probably.

Mum's the word on all that mess. She is perfectly happy to let Conner take the lead for now with talking to the little girl. Instead, she looks towards Hyacinth. "Muriel. Right I've heard of her." Sort of. Only what Conner's told her. As for what happened to the animals? Innocent face is innocent. Thank you natural deer in the headlights look.

But she relaxes some when Muriel iterates that she doesn't care. "Well if that's the case I mean, couldn't we just use some, ah...rocks or something until the storm blows over?" She asks. A glance is shared with Conner briefly. They'll have to look even closer into the weird gem now. "Where did you find that gem? If you don't mind me asking."

She looks towards the priest when he arrived. "And why did it stop?"

"You told that kid that she should take the animals for a walk," Conner insists, calling bullshit. Still, he won't leave the others in the dark. He glances over his shoulder.

"I removed the eyes." He can deal with the consequences later, should anyone here choose to press them. As Fern makes her Innocent Face is Innocent, he just leaves her out of it. She was backing his decision anyway. "Muriel here gave one of the children in the park a green gem that made the manticore come to life and start attacking people. I wasn't sure if they were all messed up, so I took them out. They're not here, though I certainly would like to see the carousel up and running again. Safely. "

Joe just looks increasingly bewildered. "I'd wondered who did," he says. "I was there when the manticore woke up. I don't remember seeing her, though."

Then he turns that bemused blue gaze on the priest. "Father," he says. "Who're you? How are you involved?"

Hyacinth takes a deep breath but withdraws slightly at the plead from the child. It's really not winning points here, but she DID come to perform a task. It's this or run a haunted sawmill so sucking it up seems to be on the menu. "I brought paint." There's a pause and she looks to Conner with grace and dignity and then to Fern and back nodding amicably, "That makes sense. I appreciate your honesty, thank you."

And the good graciousness continues so long as she's not being pawed at by freshman adults. Looking to Joseph she says, "He's her guardian. If I recall your parents had a doozy of a time protecting you and... Father you've been set to charge since am I correct?" Looking to Muriel she sets the case down and opens it, "We don't have a lot of time. Are you going to tell us why the carousel though?" There's a pause, "These ponies weren't people people before were they? Like no one's dad's cousin's nephew's former roommate stuff?"

Vyv arches a brow at both Conner's admission and the bit about the green gem. "Mn." The priest gets one of those little head-inclinations of greeting, and he eyes the nearest of the carousel animals. "If really anything will do and the previous eyes aren't currently an option, I may have something that might work at least temporarily. It's not elegant, but I'm reasonably positive none of them are cursed or otherwise a further metaphysical issue waiting to happen."

He shifts position, studying first the carousel and then the girl and priest for a breath. "Where did you find that particular gem, then? And what is the other issue with the carousel?" As if there were only two, or they were all about its function...

Okay, well now Fern feels bad! Conner can't take all the blame sooo she compromises. Sort of? "Conner brought the gems to me and we looked at them together and he saw Muriel giving the gem to that girl who was protesting us fighting it." She offered to Joe. Implicating herself adjacently at least. Especially since the majority seems to be accepting of the reasoning behind removing the gems. "And we wanted to make sure everything else was safe and figured out before putting the other gems back. Just in case."

She listens closely otherwise but of course, that only brings up more questions. "...What are you going to replace it with?"

He's shaking hands with a ghost. Somehow, this is one of the weirdest things he's ever done in Gray Harbor....and the oddity of the situation is not lost on Joe. He's got that look like the conflict between what he knows should be possible and what is actually happening is making him queasy.

"That seems sensible," he ventures to Conner and Fern, before looking back to the little girl and the priest. "Sick how?" he wonders. "And when you say something else, what do you mean?" A bewildered look at the other living humans, but he doesn't press them with questions.

Conner glowers right back at Muriel. "Do you think the manticore being turned into an attack dog? Those guys like helping people, they don't like hurting people. Whatever gets put in anything, I don't think you get to pick!"

He exhales though, and shoots Fern a look and a slight nod for her solidarity. He frowns though, and pulls out his screwdriver. A glance at Hyacinth. "I dunno, should I go have a look at the engine? It sounds like there's at least a small chance something might try to bite my face, but..." He shrugs, helplessly.

Hyacinth looks to Vyv and goes slightly wide eyed and says, "Oh please tell me you made those little ju-ju bee things that we won't break our teeth on. Those are a seasonal delight." Aww a compliment and a demand. How very thoughtful Hya. Conner's asking about looking at the engine and her mood picks up though she looks to Muriel, "Well what's done is done. If they could be taken then the design was flawed and they'll get an upgrade. Besides, it pushed for us discussing refurbishing the whole thing so some good is coming of it. There's a couple folks very skilled at buffing those poles that'll get them shiny too." She mutters something about it might be cheaper to call Platinum for this but refrains from going further looking back to Conner and Joseph, "you think you could look into that and, Conner, Fern? I appreciate you doing what you could with what you had." It's clearly opposite day in teh Harbor. "But stop breaking the animals now." there she is.

"Well, I did say temporarily," Vyv replies to Hya, "but not quite sugar-based levels of temporarily, this time. The original eyes ought to be restored when possible. But for now... well, as it happens I have," a swift glance over the animals again, perhaps taking count, "an adequate supply of bouncy rubber balls about the correct size available. Likely even enough matching pairs. They might suffice, and it wouldn't take long to get them." Why this is a thing he owns, he does not appear about to clarify.

Muriel gets eyed a bit more sharply when she speaks about what powers the carousel. "Mn. What exactly is it that makes it run, and will whatever's being put in instead be volunteering for the position? I'm not inclined to participate in enslaving anything sentient for the sake of rotational motion." Bax would be proud. "Will this endanger the... souls down there? But I would, otherwise, like to see the carousel repaired."

Father Wakefield isn't spared a question either, though this one is, "What was the foolishness, Father?"

Fern tilts her head up briefly to see how the storm is gathering here, Veil-side. Remembering Conner mentioned that was a thing too last time they talked. And if she had to take an educated guess? The storm was probably going to break loose at the same time in both places. So they had to try and get this fixed before all that mess happened. She looked to Hya with a wry smile. "I'll try my best, but I make no promises. But - when the storm passes. I'll get the gems back and we can restore them." That? She can promise.

"Good luck with the motor." She says to Conner, looking just a touch concerned. And then she looks to Vyv. "I'll help with the eyes."

"I'll come along and look at the motor," Joe says, as if that might be the closest thing here to something he can actually understand. "Hell, maybe if it's just sick or tired we can heal it or pep it up, rather than replace it." The whole affair is unnerving. Hya's comment about the staff of Platinum buffing the poles makes his lips quirk, but he suppresses the snicker as best he can.

Hyacinth says to stop breaking the animals, and Conner looks down and clears his throat. "Yes ma'am," he says, and nods. He'll help with whatever, though he doesn't make a move towards the engine, still awkwardly holding his screwdriver as if not sure what to do. Muriel says have a look at it and it will be fine and he considers her to be a real unreliable narrator, after all. Joe saying he'll look at the motor produces some relief. Maybe Joe knows what to do about the little creature. Little creatures in motors are way outside of Conner's comfort or knowledge zone.

You know. Like most of this.

Hyacinth looks dryly to the Padre commenting flatly, "Apparently they don't like us impregnanting little hobo fortune tellers either." There's a lot of edge in her voice on that one but she expounds no further. Looking to Fern she asks, "That...seems a sensible plan. If you can Vyv can get teh balls in I can hop to giving them pupils so they can see?" Team effort and all. Looking up to Cavanaugh and Conner she offers, "Take the tool box. I only really need the paint since it's a temporary patch." She digs out jar, brush, and the acrylic before passing the rest to the boys.

"Ah. That sort of foolishness." Vyv gives a slight nod to that, and a somewhat firmer nod to Fern as she offers to help with the plan. "Should be... just a few minutes, then." Repair is not really his Thing, particularly the more mechanical (metamechanical?) sorts the carousel needs, so it's probably not much loss for him to dash off briefly. Placing and painting things is going to be the best bet for him, and surely that can wait a few.

...even so, he's going to hurry. Hopefully this change in the air does not mean an equal change to the contents of the drawers in his flat, but he'll probably be taking all the shortcuts Glimmer allows in any case.

Once Vyv returns, Fern readily gets to work helping put the rubber balls into place. She isn't really the crafty sort either but she does her best. Maybe she's extra motivated because she feels bad about removing their sight. Even if it was for the greater good in the name of caution. Once that's done, she'll try and help putting the Manticore back though carousel animals are heavy! So it's probably a multiperson job. She's glad, at least, that this is getting done before the storm hits. Hopefully the temporary eyes will last and Joe and Conner are able to figure out how to fix the motor.

Joe leans in and examines what he can see. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and he doesn't touch anything. A thorough look, and then he's making sure to move aside so Connor can do the same. No opinion offered there, as yet, though Joe's also conscious of how time and tide are running, by the glance he gives the sky overhead.

The little spark Muriel cradles, though - Joe cups his hand high over hers, without any contact, as if he might shelter it from a stray gust of wind that could blow it out. Whereupon he reaches out with his power, a delicate tendril of it, to see if his own ability can revive it, at least a little.

"Well. My opinion is. That's a mess," Conner drawls, shaking his head. "I don't even know what to make of that, man." Let alone touch it. He did take a toolbox, but he's definitely reluctant to start messing with the thing until...well. The magic seems to be the thing here, not the screwdriver. Later, maybe, there will be things tools can help with.

Hyacinth is trying not to make the wincing face and smiles tersely. She can't change it. "Is it though? Is it really/" There's something about being 'in charge' so called so much as it should be called 'now responsible for being at fault, congrats. You win ancient dramaz!' Le sigh.

Fern gets a thank you and she does look at the priest asking, "Can you help her move those?" It's a simple request and if she learned anything about ghosts it is there's enough physical aptitude the ghost can borrow from to make it do a 'move'. She figures anyways. Vyv and Fern get those eyes in and she hops right too getting white circles on glad she grabbed the paint and primer basecoat acrylic so it can dry fast enough she can put in pupils. It'll DO. It's not permanent but it'll do.

Vyv makes good on making it quick; the town's small, after all, and that's helpful here. So is being able to cover part of the distance with his mind instead of his feet, frankly. As a result he's back after not terribly long with, indeed, a bag full of bouncy-balls about the right size. Glittery ones, in a range of translucent colours -- green, yellow, blue, orange, pink. The fit isn't perfect, but they squish into the larger eyeholes without too much trouble, and the slightly smaller ones, it only takes a little bit of shaving a bit of plastic off to make the difference. Vyv is fairly definite about making each pair of new 'eyes' match, and picks which ones he feels clash least with each animal's pain job, because of course he does. Care is taken in helping to paint the pupils into place once assignment is done.

As for the firefly... well, that he doesn't seem to have a proposed solution for, though he does watch enough to try to decide whether it seems as though it wants to escape. The workings of that motor are even more opaque to him than a standard one; at least with a standard one he can assume normal physics is in effect.

"I'm so, so sorry you guys," Conner says softly. "I thought I was protecting you. I'll get your normal eyes back to you, I promise."

Still, he frowns. "I have something," he says. He withdraws...well. It looks like a fig. Except it's definitely not. "But putting it in there could be unpredictable. It would work. I just. Don't know what else happens. I was kind of hoping the firefly would be up to the challenge after Joe gave him a little juice."

He's sort of looking guiltily down at the fig and the ground and yeah. But there is the solution, right in his hand. "They hatch weird, these figs," he adds.

Hyacinth is busy hatching her plan and painting little peepers back in. But look they're happy and licking Fern and not her! Awww! Yay! Best case scenario. Then the Padre says something and Hya goes just pale. Spine straightening with her imperious self she looks to the old ghost and says "WHOM...did you hear that from?" Her eyes arrow as all matter of important news is now afoot. "Who told you of that discussion? WHO IS he?"

Her focus looks to Joe and Conner who are valiantly making plans to fix the thing though she spares a supportive nod. her focus goes back to Vyv to remind, "Remember when I had my cards read in the park and I read the cards?" yeah. THAT reading.

Overall, this is acceptable. Eye replacement is going as intended. Carousel animals are waking with a feeling of things being improved rather than awful. Good. Vyv touches up what little bits of non-eye paint he can, as well, and is faintly relieved by the fact that the firefly does not, when feeling a bit better via Joseph's work, immediately try to fly away. Escape is not foremost on its mind? That's a good start.

The mention of a seed sounds even better -- plants don't care, do they? -- and he looks to Conner with some interest when the not-fig is pulled out. "How do they... hatch?" he asks, "And where did it come from? Because 'what else happens' has historically been a bit of a thing around here..." Ask Us About Homicidal-Ghost Burials.

The Father's remark has his brow furrowing, even before Hya confirms the reference he recalled. "The smoking hot tree dude?" he asks, glancing to her and then the priest. It is a phrase that sounds very odd in his accent. The words perhaps didn't start out as his. The focus on the priest is sharper, then, though the remark is to Hyacinth: "Good questions."

"Yes, from tree dude," Conner says ruefully, as Muriel just...goes right for the kill there. But at least it seems to be working. For all that he's shooting the hummingbird a slightly apologetic gaze. He exhales sharply and watches the carousel start to look newer, and lifts his eyebrows. "Huh. At this rate...well, maybe the eyes they've got now will turn even better than the ones they had?"

He looks around at the others, running his fingers through his hair until it sticks up every whichway. Baffled.

Hya looks to Vyv amazed he remembers, yes! This is why he's her partner in crime! "Smoking hot tree dude yaaaaaaas him!" Attention snaps back barely restraining from threatening 'Dish, old man! give us the gossip!'. He's the storm. She blinks. "Is this storm seeing anyone? Asking for a friend. They might be cumulus-curious." Still it's a lot of information to take in and she looks to Muriel and then what the guys with the engine are doing, "What is that?" Oh it's tiny! Awwww "It's like... Vyv did you feed that? It looks hopped up on sugar."

For over two years now, Vyv has been trying to figure out how to approach all these things with an appropriate amount of caution -- an amount that lets them make progress while not, you know, basically destroying the world as a teensy little side effect. 'Just toss the fig in' does not feel like it really hits the right spot in there, and yet--

-- after the impact to his Glimmer that feels almost physical, the burst of light and following goo --

-- that hummingbird. It's beautiful, as he peers back at it, and as it settles in to take the firefly's place, he watches a moment before a soft breath escapes. It looks happy enough to be where it is, doing what it's doing. No sign it wants to be otherwise. It's not a plant after all, but... it all seems to be falling together happily enough. He nods, once, and looks about at the slight changes in the carousel. "Well. That looks... surprisingly all right. So far."

The idea that tree-dude IS the storm is an interesting one, and the look he gives the priest absolutely backs up Hya's barely-restrained demand. Enquiring minds want to know! Enquiring minds also give a soft breath of a laugh at their best friend's suggestion of cumulo-curiosity. "Brings a whole new meaning to 'Riders on the Storm'," he murmurs toward her, before more audibly saying, "No, hummingbirds are just like that. Anyway, if he's got enough of a self to give warnings, could we just ask the storm not to come destroy everything?" A glance at the sky. "Swiftly?"

Hyacinth takes in this information with a grain of- Oof! She's related...and already dead soooo this is the part on Sprockets where Hya just awkwardly patpats Muriel on the shoulder and endures. "Iiiintereting. Well. We're going to get through this and then he an have a conversation like a normal person or...pretend." There's a sigh and the pony noses her. And then Hya shifty-eyes to the others and forgot the part where you're supposed to wait for people to look away before cooing at the pony and giving it a smooch and playing it cool like it never happened. (Hint: that just happened). Forty bucks and next round says she also had a Lisa Frank trapper Keeper as a kid too.

That young man made his wish.

Vyv's memory flashes to a sudden, abrupt shift of Winter to Spring, and the appearance of an ecstatic purple-haired skater barely later. "You made a wish," he remembers saying, story after story flashing through his mind and telling him this never goes as planned.

There are some days it's less satisfying than others, being right.

Maybe all this has something to do with his failure to see that hug coming swiftly enough to find a way to dodge out of the way, leaving him fully and thoroughly hugged by a ghost child. His muscles are so stiff at impact one would think he were the dead one, but thankfully ghost-child is indeed less sticky than standard ones. The lack of ectoplasm or mud or melted ice cream has him relaxing just a touch, even if the hug is not returned; his hands are instead held about shoulder height as he looks down at her, expression otherwise stoic. One hand lowers just enough for a brief, awkward head-pat. That's a good signal for 'end of hug', right?

The nudge from the peacock afterward is far less fraught, eliciting a faint upward curl at the corner of his mouth and a small counter-bump in return before that feeling in the air lifts, replaced by just the growing scent of ozone that heralds the oncoming storm. Nothing left to be done but the last few bits of preparation and holding on tight.

We all have to open our eyes, now. Whatever that means.

Bax... what did you do?