daybreakacademy | The sound of your voice, cuts through the noise, It's all that I hear, that I need the most

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The sound of your voice, cuts through the noise, It's all that I hear, that I need the most

Who: Héctor and you
What: Héctor and his daughter return
When: After the day of the dead, month of November
Where: The Inn of Atropos, Soliel, Daybreak Academy
Warning: N/A

A - Crossing the Bridge

He would have liked to simply stay in Mexico. It was hard to shake the fear that if he left, he'd never see it again. But, with the sun rising and others needing to return, travelling along with the others seemed the best choice. And besides, Coco was with him. That was more home than anything in the world.

His room at Daybreak Academy is gone by now, but he's alright with that. He and his girl are saying in the Inn of Atropos, courtesy of Maverick's mother and her not even protesting the fact that he's dead in the day. It's something Coco has to bear with and they've got a lot to talk about, but in those night hours she's awake with him and he couldn't be happier.

He's got a lot to sort out on his own-- apparently, the veil finally dissolved sometime while he was away. This means resisting as an existing member of society, for better and worse, and negotiating his undead status is something that he and everyone he talks to is having to navigate. Still, soon enough, he'll be home. He and Coco will both be home.

He doesn't hide his room address. At least not from friends. They're all informed on where to find him, if they wish to seek him out, and he can be occasionally found in the lobby as well. He's in a good mood, eager to chat.

B - Pestering the Celebrities

"No. Ha, no. No, thank you, no."

Héctor backs out onto the street with a sheepish grin. His hands are raised. Apparently, his newfound fans have found him.

Fame, he finds, doesn't suit him, but fame is what he's found himself with nevertheless after his performance with Coco on Día De Muertos. Some are new fans, some are old De La Cruz fans come around to him, and some are more curious about his undead status than anything else. He hasn't yet managed to change back to his living self, though his energy is gradually returning. He hopes, if it comes back fully, he'll be able to slip into his skin and return to some level of anonymity back home.

Of course, that doesn't mean he isn't willing to play for people. He can be found, later, playing at a fountain in the center of Soliel, where he once heard a girl named Maya Matlin play, not far from the gazebo where he played with Peter Parker. He experienced some terrible things in this town, but there were many wonders too.

C - Dept. of Reunions

He couldn't stay from the school forever. Besides needing to wrap a few things up; telling the higher faculty that he was sorry, but, he just couldn't help them cure blight any longer and then further resigning from a job that forgot he existed anyway. It occurs to him that, with everyone remembering him again, and his own new necromancer status, he might again be able to resurrect himself if they can find a way to rid his body of the poisons. But... that's something he'll table for now. It's something to talk over with his family.

Right now, he wants to focus on his friends, the people who saved him and others about.

"Hey," He says, hovering in the doorway with a grin. "Hope you didn't think you could avoid seeing me forever."

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[Man, adults are embarrassing, but it's still sweet. Love is nice, family is nice.]

Not even one there, huh? Freaky teeth makes sense, but Riveras are a necromancer family and she can't even handle a little cheekbone?

Finally, someone gets it! That's what I've been saying!

[Sort of.]

Not that they raised any skeletons before but I think the family reputation is going to be officially blown out the window with me either way.

[He shrugs and shakes his head in false, exasperated disappointment. Get with the program, Imelda. Come on.]

Eh, we all know it was ruined for some already when she took in someone normal like us. You're just trying to fit their brand better, now.

Ha! That's what I'll say if I'm ever stuck at another mage gathering. I'm revolutionizing the family. Expanding out necromancy repertoire. Oh, I thought I'd never want to go to one those things again but imagining the looks one the pure mages faces when I tell them some nadie like me pulled off a resurrection!

[Though he's hardly a nobody anymore. Still. His head shakes.]

But then, I guess normal is relative in this world now.

Edited 2020-11-04 15:13 (UTC)

[hell yeah, hell yeah, fuck those guys

Cliff looks up with a hum of acknowledgement, glancing at the moon a second before scanning the stars. Like this, his eyes catch and reflect the light, two bright lenses instead of his usual amber.]

Yeah, I guess. [But still... He'd like to be normal, and not just within the new, wider context of the world. Being like everyone he lived with and grew up alongside of... Fitting in. Not feeling like he had to hide, or hold himself back. It'd be nice.] I'll get used to it soon. Certainly had a lifetime of weird shit packed into just the last few months.

[He notices it, that light. He smiles. He doesn't point it out, looking up as well.]

Ay. You will, I'm sure. Especially when you find the most wonderful people packed in with all that weird stuff too.

Pff. Already did.

[wait. aaaaaa, why. even if it's true, he shouldn't say it! Time to busy himself with that torn hole in his knee again.]

Ugh, jeez. All your sappy reunion feelings are infecting me.

[Definitely Héctor's fault!!]

[Héctor breaks into a wide and wicked grin. A knowing one.

He laughs.]

And I won't apologize for it! You're stuck with them! Until you infect someone else like one of those old dumb horror movie things.

[Deadly serious:]

The real blight was the friends we made along the way.

[Cliff is getting right to this man's funny bone. He actually slaps his knee as he guffaws and cackles. And like a true old man, he says;]

I'll have to tell that one to my outland family! Oh, they'll get a kick out of that one.

[Is this guy seriously a father? He knew that Héctor was going to be miles above anything Cliff had to go off of, but even his mom, who was obviously the best ever because of how hard she tried, didn't find most of his jokes funny. At least he doesn't have to spend a lot of time puzzling over that one.]

What? You have another family?

[A SECRET SECOND FAMILY??? Okay, that would be something shitty enough to make him believe in this guy's fatherhood again.]

Not like that, kid.

[He waves hand. Just get that one out of the way.]

My kind. I mentioned that my sort of undead is rare, but, the thing is, when we were all trapped in the Outlands, for whatever magic reasons, we all seemed to find each other. It's how we survived, stayed sane, figured out what the heck was going on, all of that. We'd stick together and... well, we'd call each other family. Cousins, aunts, uncles. Stuff like that.

We're not really related. You've got people all over the world wandering into the Outlands and meeting a bad fate there. But you go through difficult times with a bunch of people, spend so many years with them, and you grow close to them.

[He shrugs.]

[squint!!! He's got his eye on you, man... Sounds like things check out this time, though. As unfamiliar as it is to him. The most difficult times he's had, the years spent going through them, he was alone. The closest thing to it he can think now is, of course, his fast, genuine friendship with Coco in just the past few months.]

Oh. Okay.

[He picks at the fringe around the hole, wearing it even larger.]

[His head tilts. His smile doesn't fall, but he is curious.]

Were you expecting something terrible?

Dude, a group of people suffering together is kind of still terrible.

[But...hmm. This might as well happen.]

My dad left me and my mom. It wasn't anything like what happened with you -- I don't know what his reason was and I don't care. My stepdad didn't give a shit about me, either.

[He tugs a thread free and drops it off to the side, following its drifting course rather than look over at Héctor.]

You're not even getting on my case about being a bad influence, or whatever. I guess I just still thought there's no way, even though I trust what Coco's all told me.

[He hums. He can't deny that. But he soon falls quiet to listen. He nods. Just nods. He can see what Cliff is going.]

I'm not a saint. I'm not even one of these heroes here. [He gestures in the direction of the school.] I've made mistakes. Some very selfish ones. Leaving in the first place counts as that.

But I always wanted a family. Something... something real. I waited so long and then... then I had Coco. Everything just... fit. I can't imagine any decent father not feeling the same kind of love for his child. I had to go back. I had to reach her. I literally died, and it was all I could think. I needed my family.

In any case, you don't seem like that much of a bad influence to me. No more than I am. I don't see what I'd get on your case for.

[Yeah, see. That's the thing. Any decent father... What's that? He knows Héctor isn't perfect, and he understands how hurt and angry Coco's mother must have been. But he was...good. Better than a decent father, because he never stopped trying.

He has to laugh a little at the last comment, even though it isn't funny. He leans forward even more to pick at his shoe instead.]

Carl would've thought you were blind. What wasn't there to get on my case for? Such bullshit...

[It still makes him feel angry to think about. Angry and lost, because he can't really think of what he'd done that first changed things, even if that moment was stuck there like gum on a shoe.]

Anyway... I guess I'm just waiting for you to majorly fuck up, and not try to make it up to people.

I don't know who this Carl is but it sounds to me like I've got better eyes than he does. And considering my Coco thinks well of you, I'm even more sure he's wrong.

[He says that pointedly.

With that though, he sighs.]

I'm going to screw up. Screwing up is... what I do best. Or up there, with the music, maybe. I imagine it'll be catastrophic. At the least, I'll be screwing up until the end of my unlife. But, when it comes to my family, I'll do everything in my power to make it right.

You can keep waiting. It's probably good to keep me on my toes. But I didn't climb out of my grave on a whim.

And hey. Coming from an actual dead-end foster system kid? Don't let jerks like that Carl make you believe what they say. They don't actually know what they're talking about.

[Ugh. He's Coco's dad, definitely, but the assurances hit differently when it's an adult freely admitting to their mistakes and reminding you of your own. Your values. Cliff props his elbow on his knee and his chin on his palm while he waits for enough of his feelings to ease up for him to look over to Héctor again, eyes flashing and making his adjusted gaze obvious.]

No... I know Carl was full of shit. Figured it out a long time ago, so...don't worry about it. [It was just rare that someone else believed him. Believed in him, as he tentatively hopes with these crazy Riveras.] Shit, it was basically my divine right, as the 'redheaded stepchild'. Not much I could've done there.

[Mm... It's nice knowing that this was apparently another secret of his that Coco was keeping. She's a good one. He's going to miss her, even if it ends up feeling okay to accept Héctor's offer to fly him around for visits, or whatever.]

I believe you. Both about doing everything in your power and your inevitably screwing up. Shit happens sometimes. You knowing you aren't gonna be perfect now is just another way you're a better father figure than anything I ever had, seriously.

[He casts a sympathetic look on Cliff. It doesn't do much to help but, well, sometimes it was nice to be listened to.

His smile quirks a little, Cliff not arguing his inevitable disaster. He nods and then stops.]

Well... Thank you. That's probably one of the better compliments I've ever gotten.

But, that being said, I hope you find more than just me. And if not... well, the way I always saw it, I know all what not to do and all that I'd want. As a father or just as one person talking to another, that's what I try to keep in mind. For every terrible time, you're specially equipped for being way better.

[And that makes his grin rather rueful.]

[It sure the fuck is nice to be listened to, yeah. Cliff sighs loudly and looks back up to the stars. His voice is instantly kicked from its more contemplative, open tone.]

I come to you seeking beer and instead you tell me I'd make a good dad someday. Okay, man. Just disregard my deepest desires. It's cool.

[He laughs.]

There it is, you've found my terrible flaw! Not providing minors with alcohol.

But also, you're wrong. You came to me because you heard my music.

[And for that, he pulls up his guitar. His guitar, in it's gleaming white glory reflecting the moon nearly as well as this boy's eyes.]

[He's got him there. Like a fiddle, Clifford's attention is pulled to the guitar as they're both played. It's pretty -- the music and the guitar -- and even without saying anything, his admiration is clear. After listening for a bit, though, he does speak.]

Seriously the coolest guitar I've ever seen. Not that I've seen any up close before.

My wife got it for me. Way back, years ago, as a wedding gift.

[He moves it in his arms so Cliff can take a full look.]

Kind of prophetic, huh? But I've always just been really into skeletons.

[His wife... For their wedding. He can imagine how much of a slap in the face it must have felt like when Héctor walked away with it and didn't return.]

Well, yeah. Skeletons are cool.

[He thinks that's prophetic, just wait until it comes out that he's Clifford the big red dog. Actually, don't wait around for that, even the mental joke makes him a little anxious.]

Plus Day of the Dead must be pretty interesting at the Rivera household. Coco mentioned ghosts. Did they look like you, or more, uh, normal?

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