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The manor is in deep shambles. Matches are paused for the time being until the air conditions and fans work again, since the heavy rain from the week before shut down the electricity. The tech people are forming a temporary team to find a solution, but until then, everyone else has to deal with heat.
Eli, being one of the survivors with the most clothes on, has to strip down to his slimmest wear for the first time. That includes taking off everything except his boxers to wear a plain shirt and shorts. The only thing he kept on was his blindfold.
“I can't believe this,” he says grimly, “I've never done this in my life no matter how hot it is! The temperature is outrageous here!”
In 110 °F, or 43.3 °C, everything around the manor is either fried or dried up. It made the brown grass even crisper than before and he doesn't know how that's even possible. The mud in Sacred Hospital is a solid dirt, the ocean by Lakeside has decreased so much, the shore is extended by 20 meters, and the nature in all of them turned brown or yellow.
For the hunters, the ones who take the most hits are Naiad, Dream Witch, Evil Reptilian, and Guard 26. Naiad has been in a constant state of being a sun dried fish, so the manor has to constantly give her large doses of water to stay moist. Dream Witch and Evil Reptilian are reptiles and they need some form of humidity or else their scales will continue to peel off. Guard 26 is made of mostly steel, so he is continually overheating to the point he's on the brink of exploding. This forces Mad Eyes to shut him down sometimes.
However, this leaves one hunter in question.
How is Hastur not drying up like everyone else?
Eli clenches onto his shirt with Brooke comforting him on his right shoulder. For the first time in a long time, both factions decided to ease up the tension between them and work together to counter the heat. Hunters and survivors have their own domain and rooms far from each other, so the walk to either factions are far. Eli takes this chance to meet up with Hastur to see how he is holding up against the heat.
Eli stares up at the big door with the Yellow Sign carved on it. Just when he is about to knock, the door suddenly opens making Eli jump, and a swarm of purple tentacles shows up. They grab Eli by his waist and drag him in, closing the door behind them as well.
“Lord Hastur!” Eli yells. Inside the room of the King in Yellow is none other than Hastur on his throne with many, many tentacles lurking in his room. His never blinking red eyes stare at the seer in amusement.
“What brings thou here, dear prophet?”
“Uh.. uh…” Eli squirms against the tentacles holding him. He is afraid of meeting, or seeing, such a large evil god in front of him. With a closed door behind him, anything can happen and there's a chance no one will know about it. He could very well walk into his demise without knowing it. The other reason for his wiggling is the fact that he is drenched from his own sweat and the tentacles holding him absorb it as if it was nothing. He doesn't like the sensation of his clothes sticking to his skin, even more so, having something else to increase the pressure of it.
Biting his lips and gulping, Eli musters his courage and squints his eyebrows in confusion. “Lord Hastur… I have a question.”
The god hums, gesturing to him to continue.
“How do you deal with the heat? Everyone else in the manor is not going great against this season. Especially Miss Grace…”
Hastur snaps his finger and places Eli on his floor. When Eli is placed on his knees, he realizes the wooden floor beneath him is very, very cool. He instinctively moves his hands on the floor, giving him more of the cooling sensation. However, this makes his position appear to be semi-bowing at Hastur, who continues to observe the seer in entertainment.
“Indeed, how does one deal with this severe warmth? Is that all you came for, Child of Man?”
Eli nods, making some of his sweat drip to the floor. At this rate, he absolutely needs something to cool down because the heat is too unbearable. Waking up in sweat, walking around in constant sweat, even relaxing makes him sweat. Eli had tried many techniques to relieve himself from the hot temperature. Drinking cold water, dousing himself in semi-cool water during baths or showers, even self-fanning himself are all nothing but temporary solutions.
He puts his head down to the floor and forms his hands together in a form of a prayer. He knows he is making a rash decision, a rather big one at that, to be praying to an evil god who is known to suck their victim's brain through their ears, making humans lose their sanity, and causing mass cults. He knows there will be a price to pay for wanting instant gratification, but he'd rather do anything than to experience another day of extreme scorching. Eli shamefully scrunch up, ever knowing and yet, he always puts himself in situations out of his control.
As if the god in front of him is content in his decision, Eli feels a large tentacle wrap around him and lifts him up in the air before throwing him towards Hastur. He screams before landing on a pile of mushy, slimy tendrils.
“Huh!?”
Eli has to process what just happened. He looks around him and sees himself on Hastur's lap. He gazes up but realizes the god's eyes are gone but the tentacles around him are moving esthetically. “L-Lord Hastur?” He asks.
The silence is only met with the slimy tentacles as they curl around his limbs, causing him to make surprised noises, and under his clothes. Eli violently struggles from their grip, unsure what they are doing to touch him in places where no one but himself does, until he realizes what Hastur is doing. Once the tentacles have settled on him, Hastur moves his large red hand and pets Eli.
“Ask and thou shall receive.”
Eli blushes immensely, creating a hotter temperature on himself. There is no way he could escape from this when all his limbs are locked in place and his mind only craves one thing. He opens his mouth, looks away pathetically, and says slowly, “Please… help me cool down…”
With a command, the tentacles on him become a lot colder. Eli makes a short gasp, embracing such a cool temperature after a long week of enduring the extreme hot weather. He sighs in relief, adjusting his body slightly to feel more.
Well, that answers his question. The god can control his own body temperature, much to Eli's envy. He moves his eyes up to see what Hastur is thinking or if he is looking at him, but the eyes remain gone and a voice rings out to him in his mind, “Relax. Nothing will come up any time soon.”
So the seer does and wiggles his body once more before easing up. Has Lord Hastur always been this kind? No, that's a ridiculous question. However, in this scenario, the one time he sought out for an answer, kindness is what he received and a reward is given delicately. Was this a form of a calm before the storm?
Some smaller tentacles rub themselves on Eli, clearing him from his own sweat, and carefully take off his sandals. Eli tensed up when another coil around his neck cools him there. Eli shivers and stiffen at the thought of Hastur choking him. Fortunately, Hastur senses this and moves that tentacle to playfully rub itself on Eli's neck instead.
Immediately a wave of exhaustion sets in and Eli lays there, covered in many tentacles. He has never imagined such a situation would play out like this, expecting some huge sacrifice to be made, or doing an evil deed to be granted a favor. Though, this is also very nice. Eli rests up and closes his eyes, feeling sleepy from the chilling tentacles because their presence resembles a large, cool weighted blanket. He unknowingly smiles before slipping off to slumber.
~~~~
When Eli wakes up again, he finds himself in his own room. He notices his room is a lot cooler than yesterday. When he gets up from his bed, he sees his pair of scandals by his bedside.
“How long was I out for…” he mumbles. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, Eli slips on his sandals and opens the door, only to be met with an awful heatwave once more. His body tenses up and he walks out to see his teammates melting by the benches in the hallway.
He observes around a little longer before going back to his room and locking the door. He softly whispers, “...There's no way I'm getting out of here.” A question then forms in his mind. “Why is my room cool all of a sudden?”
A squishy noise emits from behind. Eli quickly turns around and sees a tinier version of Hastur on his bed. Eli yells and backs up to his door. The slits on its giant red eyes blink at him before curving up. It makes a gesture at him as if to say, “Carry me!”
The seer sweats profusely. What on earth is that thing? Where did it come from? Petrified at the tiny being, Eli continues to stand frozen at his door. He wasn't sure if it's a decoy left behind by Hastur, a prank, or a punishment for receiving an award. Eli's mind races thoughts after thoughts.
The tiny Hastur tilts its head in confusion after seeing the seer remain afraid. It hops off his bed and slither towards him with its hands reaching out. Eli tries to open the door he just locked, but the doorknob won't budge even after unlocking it. He stood pressed against the door, closing his eyes awaiting for the horrid, but nothing came other than a pressure on his chest.
When he opens his eyes again to look down, the mini Hastur makes a happy gurgling sound when it hugs his chest. “What…?” He asks. It looks up at him with sparkling red eyes and nuzzles at his chest. His heart thumps loudly from fear and the cuteness in front of him is making him confused as hell and back.
Once time has passed and nothing else really happens, subsiding his fear, Eli holds onto the tiny octopus monster creature and looks at it intently. The mini Hastur wiggles its tentacles at him and makes more gurgling noises. It blinks and moves with no hostility.
Eli finally asks, “Where did you come from?”
The mini Hastur points at his desk. He gazes towards it and moves to put the mini Hastur by his desk. What he sees is a black letter with the same yellow symbol he saw on Hastur's door. The envelope has been selected with a golden wax stamp with the same symbol. Eli shifts his eyes to look at the mini Hastur, who seems to be playing with its own tentacles and falls over on the desk.
Darn, that thing is pretty cute.
He focuses back on the letter and opens it gently. Inside holds a folded letter written by Hastur.
“Greetings Eli Clark,
The night was nigh when thou slept, so I brought thou back to thou room. As a parting gift, I shall leave a piece of myself behind for thou. Consider it as a welcome.”
Eli gulps when he feels a tentacle snake around his neck. He looks to the side and sees a happy mini Hastur clinging onto him. It is making many joyous bubbly noises. Eli turns around and blushes.
“A gift… huh.” He gently plucks the mini Hastur off his shoulder and hugs him. The tiny thing wraps itself around his torso.
“Maybe I should go see him often…” Eli mumbles.
And the mini one lets out a jovial gurgling.
The end.