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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[He touches a hand to his ribcage, where his heart would be.]

Why thank you.

[He laughs at his own dumb joke, then hums.]

Ghosts all look different. As much as there are different varieties of undead. But I didn't see any ghosts until I died. I assume some showed up on Día de Muertos but Coco was young and Imelda didn't do any summonings when we were minding a little girl so they would have stayed invisible to us. Of course, now I see the Dead so clearly I can't even tell who's not alive sometimes.

Oh, but día de muertos! We had one here last year, Imelda and I, when we were still trying to bring me back to life. It was amazing. All the offerings... and she let me put my own photo up, just kind of tucked in and hidden. I haven't eaten much since I died as you can imagine but that day, I could get the essence off things and, ha, I definitely indulged! But it was also just... nice, you know? Being acknowledged and part of things. Remembered. It was nice knowing that it hadn't just been built up in my head.

[Listening to Héctor is strange, even if it warms his pessimistic teen heart. The ease with which he spoke of these things and his acceptance despite such wildly different beginnings -- humble, comparatively normal beginnings -- is just...amazing. Cliff is attentive, a small smile in place, happy both to learn about something so weird and...to feel like maybe someday, he could be like this, too. Not dead, ideally. He really doesn't think he could handle the attention that came with being a skeleton out in the world. But happy, loved, and feeling like there's a place where he belongs and he isn't so different, even when he's himself.]

Sorry you missed it this year... I mean, you were definitely remembered, so there's that, but we didn't have any food or flowers waiting for you. Next year's will be awesome, I bet.

Ah, it's alright. [He waves a hand.] I've got everything I wanted now and, like you say, next year will be great. Like having a second birthday! And I get to be at home, I can get a whole pile of cempasuchils and lay in them if I want to, and--

Ay, dios. My in-laws. My dead in-laws...

[There's a momentary look of horror. Then he shakes himself.]

Ah, but, I'm sure it'll be fine! I have a pretty good excuse. And it'll be Día de Muertos! Who can be mad on Día de Muertos? [Don't answer that.] But it'll still be a good time no matter what.

Cempasuchils?

[Sorry, Héc, he's laughing at you.]

Hey, at least they can't kill you no matter how pissed they are. Like you said, hard to kill a dead guy.

I think that's the part I'm afraid of to be honest.

[He deserves to be laughed at. He is also being dramatic.]

Anyway, Cempasuchils. The really big bright orange flowers. Marigolds but not the tiny little french kinds. Cempasuchils smell amazing to the dead. Everyone uses them on Día de Muertos to make paths and things, decorate the ofrendas... It's really nice, even from a living standpoint. It's got to be at least half nostalgia that draws the dead in, I think.

I'm from Oklahoma, man, I don't even know what a french marigold is.

[But he thinks...maybe he saw the kind Héctor means, from the little he saw of the vibrant Mexico City life through his exhaustion. If so, it really does sound nice. It sounds nice even if he can't accurately picture it, really.]

Only real interesting flower we got in Podunk is some blue rose. Never seen it anywhere else, not that I really look.

A blue rose?

[He lifts a "brow".]

Well, if it's not dyed somehow, or some other gardening trick, it might be magic.

There was this kind of flower in the Outlands, mi familia and I would always get excited when we found one because it had this sort of... nectar I guess that we could drink from despite being dead. Really, really, really hard to find, but then, it turned out recently it was kind of a key ingredient in helping me be like, well, this. And not just a corpse.

Your blue rose might have some kind of property to it. I'd bring it up to the Daybreak staff sometime, they might send someone out to look at it. Could be useful. You never know.

Edited 2020-11-05 15:55 (UTC)

Pff. Dude, no. The place is literally called Podunk, weird shit just doesn’t happen there. Nothing happens there. It’s just some local thing someone grew.

[Cant fathom it any other way, despite having been there when he became a werewolf and the fact that he’d been rescued by a talking bear. Totally normal place.]

[He gives Cliff a very pointed look. The most pointed thus far. You could open letters with this.]

Chamaco. I don't mean to freak you out, but nobody goes to Daybreak Academy because things are normal. I'd have said the exact same thing about Santa Cecilia until I found out my wife was a mage. This world? Is weird.

[He straightens up.]

Besides. Blue roses don't happen naturally.

Edited 2020-11-05 17:19 (UTC)

[He doesn’t need letters opened, he’s got email. And the internet tells him “fuck what Héctor says”, so that must be what’s up.]

Uh-huh, sure. You’d see if you went. I’m the closest thing to weird shit Podunk’s got, and I was there for all of a fucking half-day when I last went. [Aaanyway.] Did you know she was a mage before or after she became your wife? Because holy shit, that’d be some revelation after.

[He hums in that absolutely doubting way. The mmmhmmm of amused adults who are vaguely humoring.

But he lets it go. Kid can find out for himself.]

Before. When we were dating in our teens. I... think I was sixteen? No. Maybe seventeen. Yeah, she told me she was a mage, and, to be honest, I didn't get it. I bought her that dragons board game and a bunch of dice. Real smooth. But, after that, she more or less decided it was better to just show me her magic.

I think as far as existential crises go, that one wasn't too bad.

[HUH, FINDING LOVE AT SIXTEEN-SEVENTEEN? NOT BEING SMOOTH? THE LADY IN QUESTION HAVING TO BE PROACTIVE TO MAKE UP FOR IT? Not making mental note of these things at all, nope.]

Duh. Who doesn't want a magical girlfriend?

[ha...ha...]

[He snorts and shoots Cliff a wry, amused look. But then he shakes his head.]

I wanted her well before I knew she was magic. She's beautiful, passionate, sharp as a whip, and she's got a heart full of love. You see it in her eyes, whenever she looks at her family. And when she sings, I swear to you, the world stops around her.

[He turns a dreamy look up at the sky.]

I knew already I wanted to marry her. I'm just amazed she said yes. As soon as I turned eighteen, that's what we did. Way too young, really, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

[YOU DON'T KNOW HIM also wow Coco's dad is really embarrassing!! Who can actually say this shit and not want to rush-dig their own grave and hop right in, never to be seen again? Cliff is feeling warm just listening to this, even if it's very sweet and...ideal. He wants that, sigh.

But! He's just a normal teen guy thinking normal teen guy thoughts!! Nothing romantic or lonely going on in there.]

Yeesh. Even more reason for her family to be pissed -- you just gave that your all, huh? You're seriously unbelievable, you know that?

[And now he outright cackles, head thrown back.]

Oh, it gets worse.

[He says while grinning.]

Her family was wealthy, see. Most mage families are. And most mage families like marriage to other mages. And yet there I go, moving in with my music to woo her, this non-magic, native foster kid who was living on the street half the time, always getting into trouble, barely a dime to my name until I started saving up for a future with her.

They were so angry. They tried to say I was a good-for-nothing that'd be off just like that, but she didn't listen. She loved music and she loved me. They told her she'd be cut off if she married me and she took the money allowed to her and she got a place with me. I'm pretty sure she had already spent the last of her money on this guitar. Good thing I was starting to make fair money by then.

We got married, she let me take her last name, and then a year later we had Coco. [He laughs helplessly and scrubs at his face.] Her parents came back around, especially after Coco, they still loved Imelda and she loved them too. But dios mio, It was only just starting to be less of a mess before I died. I could not have screwed up harder unless I'd actually tried to.

[And yet, he's got very little regrets about everything before the dying part.]

[This is...so embarrassing... He wants to hide in his hoodie, but the hood is already up and that hasn't been doing jack shit for him so far. It's too much!! How is his shy heart supposed to handle listening to all this? Let's focus on not the disgustingly good parts.]

Bet they weren't too happy when you came back for Coco's birthday... Do you think knowing you were dead the whole time and not just ditching Coco and her mom is going to help at all?

Oh. Yeah... That...

[He winces at that memory.]

Imelda told them more or less what we'd been telling everyone. I fell into the Outlands and got sick. It's... mostly true, if out of order. They didn't trust me, but it was kind of hard to deny. Even when I pulled off not being a skeleton I didn't look the most healthy. I imagine knowing I'm dead will just explain a lot more. It'll be rocky but it'll work out. My brothers-in-law are already on our side with things.

The Riveras are a good bunch. They'll all want to support each other when it comes down to it. I have faith in that.

[Cliff acknowledges it with a short hum, feeling more relief than he would've thought. It wasn't really his business...but he likes Héctor well enough, both as Coco's dad and as a person. He was weird. He was likable. And it would be better for Coco to have everyone be a happy family around her, too. He's glad that it sounds like things are going to work out.

But he's totally not thinking all those things right now.]

...How many of their whacky hijinks did you get in on?

[He returns again to bubbling laughter, spilling over and making his shoulders shake, his ribs rattle.]

They were just kids when Imelda and I started dating, young teens when we married, but...

More hijinks than I can count. I love those guys.

[Concern!!! He doesn't think ribs are supposed to do that...........]

Kid hijinks are the best. [They sound a little like they're still kids, after all these years.] They don't know it, but they've helped me out a couple times, so hey. I'm a fan, too.

[Probably not, oh well!!]

Oh, I'll let them know. You have my word. And Imelda is going to curse me into the ground trying to wrangle them after the encouragement.

[She'll also be endlessly grateful to her brothers through her exasperation.]

She's gotta learn to just go with it.

[Buuuut that's too close to saying something detrimental about Imelda for him to feel real comfortable about it. He doesn't know her, but she's been hurt more than anyone should have been, and she's surrounded by amazing people that love her. Talking with Héctor and listening to him describe her, it really does feel like Coco is the perfect mix of her parents.

So no more of that. Instead, he's going to lean a bit so he can point past the guitar to the man's ribs.]

Is that something that's going to get better...? [And all the cracks and brittle-looking bits... Héctor was super busted looking, for as vibrant a man as he seemed to be. This was him tired, even.] Does it hurt?

We'll get her on board someday.

[Because he's still enjoying the game and he knows that she loves it, loves her brothers. And indeed, she's been hurt far, far too much.

His smile slips down a little, not vanishing right away but turning a little rueful before his mouth presses. He looks down at his ribs, at the cracks and hair fractures. He looks at his hands, his fingers cracked all through them.]

... I'd like to say it doesn't, but... [He shrugs.] I used to look worse. I had way more breaks than this. Had to run on them even. Got a lot of them magically healed but some pieces are just out of place or missing. [Like that one rib and his bad leg...] I should probably see about getting my hands fixed. I used to heal, when I was newer, but I'm a good few years dead now so I need help for that. It's alright though. It's bearable, all things considered, and I can still move. I forget a lot of the time.

Oh.

[Just...oh. Hm. He's quiet for a while, but it isn't like there's anything he can do to help. One of this guy's friends was some magical doctor dude and he was still like this.

It's bearable. It's fine.
I can still move. It's not a big deal.
I forget a lot of the time. Don't worry about it.

Cliff feels like he nods, but really his head lowers and his thoughts drift off enough that he stays that way.]

It's just like that sometimes. [There are things that happen, and life keeps going. They don't heal or stop hurting, you just get used to it because you have to. Yeah.

His eyes cautiously slide over to Héctor again. He's curious, even if he doesn't really want to be, and it's strange to have a conversation with a near-stranger and feel like you aren't being lied to. Cliff doesn't trust easily, especially adults, and he knows Héctor's lied plenty before, but there's an openness there he isn't really sure how to deal with except to nudge even more until the boundary is found.] When you're strong enough to look alive, is it still all...you know. Rattling around in there?

[He feels like he should say something, do more to comfort this kid. He's clearly made the boy uncomfortable. Maybe if he said less...

But ultimately, he just nods.]

Yeah. That's just how things go at times.

[He can tell Cliff is curious. He's not even pretending not to look. For a moment he hesitates, a part of him wanting to hide, but then he sets his guitar aside. He manages the smallest of laughs.]

It's a real body. My body. Not an illusion I wear. Lots of muscle and things to hold stuff in place, though that also means the things that do move tend to hurt more. [He lifts his leg and shows that slightly loose fibula wanting to pop away.] I got a cane for this while I was working at the school. Helped a lot so I'll probably get one again. Maybe a really cool one this time.

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