At least the windows were heavily curtained, precluding the possibility of stray sunlight. Too bad Metody didn't have an air conditioner.
"Right down here - I gave you guys the room in the basement because there's no windows and it's a little cooler."
The basement door was one of the few flat, calm areas in the housel he'd hastily painted them all a cool, pale turquoise. Judging by the raised lines of previous coats of paint, the doors had been decorated in a houndstooth pattern.
Downstairs, it was musty but cooler. Cinderblock walls divided the basement into a series of rooms, most of which were filled with materials for future work on the house. The floor was linoleum, and horrible.
"If you guys don't like it, I can totally change it any time," he assured them, swinging the door open.
The room beyond was black up to shoulder height, with silhouetted buildings along the top of the black. Some were from New York, others were copied from post cards of New Orleans. There were musical staves ruled out on the black, each line a different, electric color. The sun was setting on one side of the room, wreathed in pastel-edged clouds that continued on to the ceiling and down the opposite wall, where a silvery moon was rising. Here and there, rhinestone stars glimmered.
Perhaps best of all was the carpet and the bedspread. Both were a nice, calm, sane beige. Metody had picked up on that much about people from Hans' world. They liked beige.
"It's, ah, blackboard. The black. So you can write music or just draw."
Ellis stopped again in the middle of the room, looking around him at the faux buildings and the decoration. Slowly he smiled.
"This musta taken you a bit, mister Met," he said quietly. "It is just splendid. You gone to a lotta trouble make us feel at home."
Never mind that the viole(n)t hues of the staves, or the rhinestone stars, weren't exactly "home" in any particular sense. Ellis could tell Metody had put in some effort.
He set the luggage down in the center of the room, and turned in place, looking at the staves, lips twitching a bit. "Where's th' chalk?"
Val turned a small circle as he came into the room, to take in everything. It's quite possibly the most amazing place he's ever been - in that it's all done with him and Ellis in mind. There's the sun, and the moon - contrasting and complimenting each other somehow much as he and Ellis did.
"We can... we can draw on it?" he asked, incredulous. That made it even more exciting. He threw his arms impulsively around uncle Met, and gave him a warm hug. "That's so cool-- this is-- it's so-- wow. Thank you."
At least the stars were small, roughly the same dimensions as the kind women would sometimes glue on as jewelry.
"There's a box, uh - oh, over on the nightstand." It was a six color box, with pigments far more intense than the chalk commonly available in their own world. A box of white sat beneath.
He grinned, hugging Val. "I figured you'd like it - and - this is better than something more fashionable, right? If you guys find it oppressive, we can hang up fabric while you're here so you don't have to see it."
Ellis smiled a little to see Val hugging his uncle, as he inspected the chalk. Lordamighty, neon as Vegas.
He took a piece of blue chalk in a shade that could only be described as 'electric' and idly surveyed the staves before moving to one and idly drawing a treble clef.
"Oppressive?" he echoed, arching his brows at his own handiwork. "Nah, I think Val gonna love it from th' sounda his difficulty with grammar there. An' I find it kinda charmin' an' innovative my own self."
He paused. "...no, Val, we ain't redoin' th' basement like this. Or anywhere else."
"I wasn't going to ask," Val said, a little defensive. At least he's not going to ask now anyhow. It might've occurred to him if Ellis hadn't cut it off before he could form the thought.
He wasn't particularly worried about it though- instead he just padded over to the chalk. He examined the color choices, and picked a neon green out of the pack.
"... after you, sugarpie," he said to Ellis, quietly, standing somewhat awkward by him with chalk in hand. The thought of being allowed to -- even supposed to draw on walls was just a bit unnerving, even as exciting as it was. He didn't want to go first.
"You can make it in any color, actually - you just add a little grout to the paint, then lightly sand afterwards." And oh, it'd been ever so much fun sanding the tops of the buildings. Some of them were a little rough.
He leaned against the doorframe with a grin, watching them. "I really like it. I used some in the kitchen to make a message board."
"Huh," said Ellis non-committally to the explanation of how one achieved the effect. The house in New Orleans was not going to acquire any such chalkboard.
"Hey look sugar, 's ol' St. Louis," he said with a smile and nod at the silhouette of the St. Louis Cathedral that Val was standing next to. "Thass neat, shoot."
Ellis absently filled in a time signature and the first bar of 'Summertime' as he spoke, then set the chalk down and used his handkerchief to wipe blue dust from his pale fingers. He smiled over at Metody.
"I got a feelin' this place gonna have Val's scrawl on about alla it by th' time you get sick of us an' send us home," he drawled. "Well, he got time-- Val, how about we see th' rest of your uncles' place?"
"So it is," Val said, looking up at it when Ellis indicated it. He checks out the other buildings, and grins. "Oh look over there on the New York side-- we got the Empire State."
He turned his attention back just in time to see Ellis filling in the last of the bar. He hummed the notes, and laughed as he recognized it as one of their favorite tunes. "That's a good thing to be up on the wall," he said."
He took the green chalk, and knelt down to reach by the baseboard. There he tentatively sketched a few blades of green grass and a few small flowers. Never mind that the cities didn't properly have those things - he thought there should be some greenery down there.
"Oh--- the rest of the house. Yes, that's a good idea, sug."
Val smiled a little sheepishly and replaced the green chalk carefully in the package. "Lead on, uncle Met. We're ready."
He bounced a little on his toes. "Okay! Um - okay, upstairs, first - " Metody bounded up the stairs, happily babbling. Under their feet, the steps groaned and creaked. He all but flung himself across the tiny hall to open a door.
The bathroom was orange.
Burnt orange. Nearly every surface was burnt orange, including the bath tub. The white toilet seemed unnaturally clean and bright against it. The ceiling was covered in some sort of gold foil, spotted with permanent marks from mold, which would probably make Hans curl up in a fetal ball when he saw them.
" - so! Uh. Here's one bathroom, and this isn't my fault, okay? Um, some of the grout is kind of - kind of skeezy looking, but I bleached it all so it's all safe to use. Just to warn you, the hot water will kind of scream when you turn it on, so don't be too startled."
Ellis took a few moments to blink at the roast-pumpkin orange that permeated the bathroom. Ow. His retinas. He eyed the ceiling, then let his gaze drift back down again.
"Alright," he said, then stopped. "...okay, when you mean scream you mean like a high-pressure noise from th' pipes, or you mean there is some water spirit or somethin' or other that actually cries out in a voice or such?"
He'd heard just enough about Metody's world to not discount this latter idea.
The bathroom looked to Val like it was already screaming. He blinked at the bright orange color, then shaded his eyes.
"Wow. Um. Well."
He didn't know what to say, but figured he should try for something polite. "It'll... be real nice, come October?"
He was a bit nervous about that whole screaming pipe issue-- and listened carefully to see what Metody would answer. He reached for Ellis's hand. If that was a literal kind of screaming the water pipes did here, he didn't know if he'd be able to take a shower.
"Wh - oh, no! No, I cleaned out almost everything bad here like, a week ago! That'd be kind of funny, me having a screamer in my pipes." He grinned at the thought. "No, I think it might be air trapped in the pipes somewhere, or a vibration I can't get at."
He reached over and turned on the hot water. A loud bang came from the wall, and then an eerily climbing whine.
Ellis's face remained calmly neutral as Metody first confirmed his theory of there being 'screamers' anyway, and then assured him it's not the case.
When Metody demonstrated the pipes and the sound, though, he cocked his head in interest. "Hummmm," he said thoughtfully. "Sounds like it could be a loose washer in th' faucet..."
Offer him tools, Metody, and you might get the noise fixed.
Val jumped slightly at the noise the pipes made. He hung on to Ellis's hand, a little intimidated by the thought of showering in the tangerine room with the screamy pipes.
Maybe they could take a bath, and he'd let Ellis draw the bathwater. That could work.
He eyed the rusty orange toilet warily. "Um... toilet doesn't make any funny noises, does it?"
"Right down here - I gave you guys the room in the basement because there's no windows and it's a little cooler."
The basement door was one of the few flat, calm areas in the housel he'd hastily painted them all a cool, pale turquoise. Judging by the raised lines of previous coats of paint, the doors had been decorated in a houndstooth pattern.
Downstairs, it was musty but cooler. Cinderblock walls divided the basement into a series of rooms, most of which were filled with materials for future work on the house. The floor was linoleum, and horrible.
"If you guys don't like it, I can totally change it any time," he assured them, swinging the door open.
The room beyond was black up to shoulder height, with silhouetted buildings along the top of the black. Some were from New York, others were copied from post cards of New Orleans. There were musical staves ruled out on the black, each line a different, electric color. The sun was setting on one side of the room, wreathed in pastel-edged clouds that continued on to the ceiling and down the opposite wall, where a silvery moon was rising. Here and there, rhinestone stars glimmered.
Perhaps best of all was the carpet and the bedspread. Both were a nice, calm, sane beige. Metody had picked up on that much about people from Hans' world. They liked beige.
"It's, ah, blackboard. The black. So you can write music or just draw."
Reply
"This musta taken you a bit, mister Met," he said quietly. "It is just splendid. You gone to a lotta trouble make us feel at home."
Never mind that the viole(n)t hues of the staves, or the rhinestone stars, weren't exactly "home" in any particular sense. Ellis could tell Metody had put in some effort.
He set the luggage down in the center of the room, and turned in place, looking at the staves, lips twitching a bit. "Where's th' chalk?"
Reply
"We can... we can draw on it?" he asked, incredulous. That made it even more exciting. He threw his arms impulsively around uncle Met, and gave him a warm hug. "That's so cool-- this is-- it's so-- wow. Thank you."
Reply
"There's a box, uh - oh, over on the nightstand." It was a six color box, with pigments far more intense than the chalk commonly available in their own world. A box of white sat beneath.
He grinned, hugging Val. "I figured you'd like it - and - this is better than something more fashionable, right? If you guys find it oppressive, we can hang up fabric while you're here so you don't have to see it."
Reply
He took a piece of blue chalk in a shade that could only be described as 'electric' and idly surveyed the staves before moving to one and idly drawing a treble clef.
"Oppressive?" he echoed, arching his brows at his own handiwork. "Nah, I think Val gonna love it from th' sounda his difficulty with grammar there. An' I find it kinda charmin' an' innovative my own self."
He paused. "...no, Val, we ain't redoin' th' basement like this. Or anywhere else."
Reply
He wasn't particularly worried about it though- instead he just padded over to the chalk. He examined the color choices, and picked a neon green out of the pack.
"... after you, sugarpie," he said to Ellis, quietly, standing somewhat awkward by him with chalk in hand. The thought of being allowed to -- even supposed to draw on walls was just a bit unnerving, even as exciting as it was. He didn't want to go first.
Reply
He leaned against the doorframe with a grin, watching them. "I really like it. I used some in the kitchen to make a message board."
Reply
"Hey look sugar, 's ol' St. Louis," he said with a smile and nod at the silhouette of the St. Louis Cathedral that Val was standing next to. "Thass neat, shoot."
Ellis absently filled in a time signature and the first bar of 'Summertime' as he spoke, then set the chalk down and used his handkerchief to wipe blue dust from his pale fingers. He smiled over at Metody.
"I got a feelin' this place gonna have Val's scrawl on about alla it by th' time you get sick of us an' send us home," he drawled. "Well, he got time-- Val, how about we see th' rest of your uncles' place?"
Reply
He turned his attention back just in time to see Ellis filling in the last of the bar. He hummed the notes, and laughed as he recognized it as one of their favorite tunes. "That's a good thing to be up on the wall," he said."
He took the green chalk, and knelt down to reach by the baseboard. There he tentatively sketched a few blades of green grass and a few small flowers. Never mind that the cities didn't properly have those things - he thought there should be some greenery down there.
"Oh--- the rest of the house. Yes, that's a good idea, sug."
Val smiled a little sheepishly and replaced the green chalk carefully in the package. "Lead on, uncle Met. We're ready."
Reply
The bathroom was orange.
Burnt orange. Nearly every surface was burnt orange, including the bath tub. The white toilet seemed unnaturally clean and bright against it. The ceiling was covered in some sort of gold foil, spotted with permanent marks from mold, which would probably make Hans curl up in a fetal ball when he saw them.
" - so! Uh. Here's one bathroom, and this isn't my fault, okay? Um, some of the grout is kind of - kind of skeezy looking, but I bleached it all so it's all safe to use. Just to warn you, the hot water will kind of scream when you turn it on, so don't be too startled."
Reply
"Alright," he said, then stopped. "...okay, when you mean scream you mean like a high-pressure noise from th' pipes, or you mean there is some water spirit or somethin' or other that actually cries out in a voice or such?"
He'd heard just enough about Metody's world to not discount this latter idea.
Reply
"Wow. Um. Well."
He didn't know what to say, but figured he should try for something polite. "It'll... be real nice, come October?"
He was a bit nervous about that whole screaming pipe issue-- and listened carefully to see what Metody would answer. He reached for Ellis's hand. If that was a literal kind of screaming the water pipes did here, he didn't know if he'd be able to take a shower.
Reply
He reached over and turned on the hot water. A loud bang came from the wall, and then an eerily climbing whine.
"See?"
Reply
When Metody demonstrated the pipes and the sound, though, he cocked his head in interest. "Hummmm," he said thoughtfully. "Sounds like it could be a loose washer in th' faucet..."
Offer him tools, Metody, and you might get the noise fixed.
Or you might not.
Reply
Maybe they could take a bath, and he'd let Ellis draw the bathwater. That could work.
He eyed the rusty orange toilet warily. "Um... toilet doesn't make any funny noises, does it?"
Reply
"Is that hard to fix? I've done renovation work, but I've never really done plumbing. The whole idea makes me a little nervous, really."
Reply
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