daybreakacademy | Las Mañanitas

Entry tags:

clifford norman: wilde life

Las Mañanitas

Who: Teto and Cliff
What: It's a birthday
When: November 30th
Where: Around Daybreak and Soliel
Warning: N/A

The sounds of music fill the hall. A gently strummed guitar and a boy, singing quietly to himself.

"Estas son las mañanitas~ Que cantaba el rey David~ Hoy por ser día de tu santo~ Te las cantamos aquí..."

Apparently, France is ahead in time compared to home. It might not even be morning yet in Santa Cecilia. There's a faint hope in his heart, but he doesn't want to give it too much life. Really, it's better just to celebrate by himself. If he hopes for more, he'll be disappointed, but if he just makes this his day, it'll all be fine. Hopefully.

With a candle taken from a spell class and a lighter he most definitely didn't knick off anyone in particular, he stops his playing for a moment and lights the candle up, set beside a random bit of sweets that isn't really cake but close enough. He stares at the flame and then hesitates. He laughs at himself.

"Geez. What am I, a little kid?"

He blows the candle back out without wishing.

He sees someone pass by the door and he calls out.

"Hey! Cliff! I... uh... found your lighter! Hah, yeah! You dropped it, right?"

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"What's a DVD?"

Time shenanigans.

His confusion turns to a different topic, but he's quick to work it out. He actually jumps up a little when it clicks.

"Oh! Oh yeah! Of course! I didn't, ah, know that was today..."

Oops.

Oh, what the fuck. DVDs were old by now, even! Everything was all blu-ray and shit...but here this kid is really telling him with that clueless tone that he didn't know what DVDs were. Logically he knows that there was a time before them, where everyone watched those black tapes instead -- he's seen the things. It was just weird that the reverse wasn't true, too.

"Like... A movie CD?" That sounds stupid. Accurate enough, though.

Fair's fair -- it wasn't like he'd known 'that' was today, either, until he wandered past here by chance. Cliff shrugs, searching idly around the room more to mentally gather things up while he didn't look at Teto. "It's not like you have to know." The less people thought about it, the better. Especially after that...thing with all the undead.

Ugh. Was he even going to want to hang around him, now?

"It's not a big deal, anyway." Coco would be disappointed in him, even though she shouldn't worry about it. "Got your phone? Other phone?"

"A movie CD," He repeats to himself, a note of wonder in his voice. CDs had only just gotten popular. He'd still had music cassettes. Had.

But that's unimportant.

"Yeah, I do," He says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "You're my friend. Friends look out for each other. I gotta have your back, even for that stuff."

Was it too bold to say they were friends? He hopes not...

He digs through his bag of stuff and pulls out the other phone, lifting both. "Got it."

Why do the Riveras gotta do this to him... It's a weird feeling to have someone...care? That doesn't seem quite right, but it's the only word he can come up with for it, so -- care about something so intimate and offputting. Wasn't like werewolf business was fun to think about. But they were friends, and friends have each other's backs even for that stuff, huh...

Guess he'd never been a particularly good friend to his group back home, for all the fun they had. It'd been easier for all of them to keep a lid on anything beyond bitching about the mundane. He hadn't had anyone's back like that because he hadn't wanted anyone trying to have his. Coco and Teto were just more stubborn than him, somehow. He awkwardly shrugs the subject off rather than give a proper response beyond, "Uh... Yeah. Okay," since he doesn't know how to word the weird feelings.

The phones are easier to handle, with a, "Great." The other Héctor might give him an earful, otherwise. Cliff would kind of want to give him one right back... Obviously he should be out enjoying the day with his wife and daughter, and sure, there was a time difference... And the fact that he's pretty sure Coco's dad was actually just a regular, dead skeleton during the day...

Okay, so maybe the guy could be let off the hook. He doesn't really want to be mad at the ladies, either. Hrmgrmn.

"Let's get my wallet and head out, then."

He doesn't have a lot...but his mom had given him a credit card for emergencies. Hopefully he remembers to tell her what the "emergency" today was so she doesn't worry too much, but the odds aren't great. Hopefully she understands, too.

To the streets of Soleil...! Stores and shit, yeah. Something interesting for the kid to do on his birthday...

Cliff seems to stall for a moment. He can't begin to try and guess what's going through the other guy's mind, but he smiles in what he hopes is a reassuring way. And he notes, at the least, that Cliff doesn't look bothered by any sort of overstepping.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" He says, prepared to follow along. "It's kind of crazy. I don't think I ever had this much money back home except after busking. Like, all day busking. But everyone here just seems to have stuff."

Some of the kids here, in fact, appear to be loaded. It's a little unnerving, even as he tries to laugh it off.

He finds, roaming the streets of Soliel, that feelings not bound to leave either. Everything is shining and spectacular. He notices more now. But he also notices some familiarity.

"I was here before," He muses aloud. "Señor R, Tía Bruja, The chocolate guy, Ricky, and Imelda. We all went out together to find stuff. We found these cool skeleton sweaters. We were going to match, but with different colors. I helped Ricky figure out the colors he'd like. And we all made Tía Bruja laugh too. It was nice."

Oh man -- Cliff makes some sort of noise that approximately translates to 'FUCKIN', RIGHT??' because this subject is less awkward. There's probably supposed to be some level of shame in talking about money and shit, but whatever?

"No, this whole place is nuts. I mean, even though my mom says she just had me and the clothes on her back when she came to Podunk, and she's worked hard to get where she is, it wasn't like what you had going on. But it's way closer to that than this." He gestures to the everything around them. "It isn't normal for most kids here, I think, but the fact that it's normal for some kind of pisses me off."

He was benefitting, sure, but that was thanks to being teen wolf: Oklahoma edition, and it was still weird as hell.

The memory makes Cliff look away from his idle searching and over to Teto. It did sound nice...even if he has to roll his eyes over skeleton sweaters. Of course they were skeleton sweaters -- not in a bad way. He can't blame them, though. It might have been a private joke to Héctor or something, but he stands by his opinion that skeletons were cool.

"Good a place to start as any. You need more clothes anyway. Seriously, dude."

Teto needs more everything, really.

It's reassuring, hearing that Cliff is someone in it with him. He wasn't expecting the other boy to be half street rat like him, but it's still, as Cliff says, closer to him than to these guys.

"I guess I don't always mind if they have it. Imelda was pretty rich. But it's kind of annoying when they act like jerks or don't care about anyone else."

Also really embarrassing to not measure up. Not even close. Even Cliff can tell and he colors just a little when his clothes are pointed out. He hadn't thought it was that bad.

"How many do you think I should get?" He asks, pushing through those front doors. It's a little overwhelming now, with the adults around.

He looks around those front racks and finds an old tank top that's been purposefully shredded. Of course, he gravitates to things that are already torn up.

"This looks cool."

Right... There had been that whole class division aspect of their forbidden romance, on top of everything else. Suddenly it strikes him that Coco is also obscenely rich? Whether she was before or not, her dad had gotten so much thanks to being rightfully credited for his work. Enough that he'd offered to fly Cliff around basically just for being Coco's friend.

Weird.

Clothes shopping isn't something he knows anything about, since his mom always took care of it. He could trust her to not get shit he wouldn't wear, especially since it'd be a waste of money. He pushes around the hangers, browsing out of lack of anything else to do rather than actual interest, but when Teto finds something he apparently likes, Cliff looks up.

Well, he can't judge too much. He was wearing skinny jeans torn up in the knees right this second. Still... He marvels a little at how it was almost...shameless? It wasn't so ripped to be lewd or anything, but being willing to show skin at all felt like a foreign concept to a shy kid self-conscious about himself like him. Besides, wouldn't he freeze? Not practical, especially right now, but far be it front him to do something that would so obviously and needlessly crush Teto's mood.

"And here the adults in Podunk thought I was a punk." Mostly Carl. Fuck that guy. "I think it suits you." Now he had a better idea of what he should be on the lookout for, too. "I'm gonna go look for a jacket or something to put over it. You got a favorite color?"

"You? Punk? Pff, barely."

He laughs then grins wider, holding it up to himself. Suits him, huh? It's certainly not something he ever would have been allowed to wear before. Especially not when the so-called "nice" families wanted to see if he was worth taking in or a social worker wanted something else from him.

"Oh! Uh! Orange, maybe? Or green! No, pink! Oh, wait there's also red... and blue... uh... I don't know! Every color is good!"

On that note, he goes digging. He probably should find something that's warm. This place is no Santa Cecilia.

"A punk," he clarifies, "not punk rock. A troublemaker. You're both, I guess."

More hapless and silly than the guys back home, tripping into the trouble sometimes, but Cliff remembers well Héctor talking about sneaking through windows. Teto's got a mischievous streak.

...And a rainbow streak? Or something? That's so many colors and not helpful at all. There's coats in all those colors, some puffy that would be worth giving a try that Cliff carelessly drapes over an arm until his hands stop on something thinner and more sleek.

"Ha. Wouldn't help with the cold, but..." Cliff takes it from the rack, lifting it to show Teto with a gentle swivel and a raised brow. "This do as a gift?"

He flashes a bright and crooked grin from behind a rack. It's one that doesn't deny his trouble status. Not like Cliff's going to get him in trouble.

In that sense, anyway.

He's distracted, again, from digging as Cliff lifts up a jacket. His jaw drops. His eyes go wide. He sucks a breath. And then, with a shout, he's scrambling over to grip the jacket's edges and get a closer look.

"¡Una chaqueta de cuero! ¡Este es muy chido!" He smoothes his hand over the back of it, feeling the texture of it out. He blinks then and looks up at Cliff. "A gift?"

The day's still young! Cliff's cooking up some way for them to get into trouble, potentially... It should be fine, as long as he gets the time to check with some of his older friends and they can tell him what he needs to know. Shouldn't be hard to find them today.

He doesn't understand half off the Spanish, but the blanks between what he does know are filled in enough by Teto's joy. His own smile only grows as his confidence does, too.

"Come on, dude, don't treat me like I'm an idiot." He's, like, 85% certain!! But he'll relax his hold on the jacket so Teto can examine it more closely, really get a feel for it. "Like you said, we're friends. Of course I'm getting you something, so if you like it, it's yours."

He looks confused a moment. Then surprised, sheepish, and finally mixing in is a terrible attempt to hide the swell of joy. He laughs and then stealthily scrubs at his eyes.

"It's really cool," He says again, looking down at it. "I didn't mean to... I don't think you're... I'm just kind of used to people forgetting. It seemed easier to not say anything. I mean, it's not really a big deal. It's just a birthday."

But Cliff noticed anyway. And cared.

"Thanks," He says.

Oh, yes. Very stealthy. Cliff absolutely didn't notice. And he doesn't understand a little better Coco's personal beef with how he says things aren't a big deal, either. Nope. He shrugs, because that's the least embarrassing way to respond for the both of them, he's pretty sure.

"A different wardrobe should help you stand out more. You can wear whatever you want now that you don't have some shitty foster family telling you what to do. Pretty sure the more you're you, the harder it'll be for anyone to forget things about you, even if they want."

Teto is kind of one-of-a-kind, even as a fragment of someone's past given life.

He grins and the grin grows and grows with each thing Cliff says.

"You think so?" He considers the jacket again, laughs, and then goes about trying it on then and there. "I never thought about it like that. But that's what big-time musicians do right? They find some kind of style or something? So if I stand out, they'll see me and my music!"

And that thought, he has to admit, is pretty thrilling. He goes to find a mirror, to stand from of it and take a look at himself. His reflection grins back, hands in the jacket pockets.

"... Hardcore..." He mutters to himself.

And then, suddenly, the phone rings. He yelps and scrambles to try and find the phone that's ringing, immediately ruining the so-called hardcore look. Between the moment that he finally manages to swipe it, and just before he lifts it to his ear, the phone, somehow, blasts a spray of glittering sparkles out the screen like a confetti popper, raining upon him.

"Que...?" He lifts the phone to his ear a little hesitantly. "Hello...?"

There are voices on the other end, a chorus of them. There are a series of questions firing off from what seems like one voice except for the fact it sounds closer and further away in alternation. There's an older woman's voice, snapping, sighing, then immediately softening as she speaks to Teto. Then another man's voice, a familiar one giving a quiet but warm greeting. A younger enthusiastic voice follows, chattering, and finally there's just one call from a girl who merely says the one thing he wanted to hear. Feliz cumpleaños.

Rather than address them all, He says, "Gracias. Estoy en una tienda ahora mismo... sí, con Cliff... Ok. Sí. ok. Haha. Adiós."

Edited 2021-01-06 04:56 (UTC)

Something like that... There were those old guys with all the black and white makeup that were iconic still, and even in a smaller capacity, there was Héctor himself. He'd been easy to recognize, being the only skeleton going around. Rather than point that out, he thumbs through a few more hangers of clothes and lets Teto enjoy thinking about the possibilities. Jacket was a little big, but honestly that's for the best, at this point. He should get good mileage out of it.

At the bizarre burst of confetti, his attention is brought fully back to the boy. With his werewolf hearing, it's easy to pick out the different voices and who they probably were. Hearing Coco's voice makes his smile -- one that had crept back on his face as he listened, satisfied that they finally called the dang kid -- grow even more fond. Ugh, he can't help it...!

Before Teto hangs up, Cliff leans over, voice slightly raised, though not enough to grab too much attention from anyone around the shop. "Later, guys! Happy birthday, Mr. Rivera." Teto gets a raised brow to suggest a silent, And the same to you.

Good... Good. They hadn't forgotten him. The Riveras continue to be a good, loving bunch.

Cliff appears over his shoulder, joining in on his life of his own volition. Something about that is familiar but in a good way. The warm nostalgia latches on to the moment that's already so much.

He laughs again, sheepishly, at Cliff's raised brow while Señor R calls his thanks through the phone before the family hangs up. He takes a moment to just smile down at the phone.

"They're gonna call back," He says. "Tía Bruja's hermanos did some magic thing and the... the... um... the phone stuff broke." Nailed it. He's quiet a moment longer, pondering the surreality of a family paying mind to him, even like this.

Then he laughs, a sputtering and nostalgic giggle. He shakes his head.

"Discúlpe. I was just thinking about her hermanos. I remember them, when they were really little and they messed things up a bunch then too."

He has to snort a little at that. Of course it was the twins doing some whacky experiment causing trouble... He's glad that's all it was, but still, what bad timing for things to go wrong. At least it was fixed... And, "The confetti thing? That was pretty cool, but it would have been annoying if you'd had it by your ear already."

Store maintainence would argue that it's already annoying, probably. Sweeping confetti is one of those things that's much more difficult than it by all rights should be.

"Guess some things do stay the same... They sound fun, from what I've heard about them. I guess it's gotta be weird they're so much older, now..." Like coming home to Kevin and his friends being adults before him. Way too weird to think about. "Anyway. Do you want to get going to do more stuff before they call again?"

He laughs, "Yeah, I was kind of worried some more would get in there. I could hear Tía Bruja saying something about that."

Yelling at her brothers. He remembers that too.

He nods his head. The fact they're older is really strange. A little like being left behind. Something that Cliff isn't about to do, and so he's quickly grinning.

"Yeah! We just got out, we can't stop now!"

Great! Cliff gestures for Teto to follow so he can actually buy the jacket, along with the impulsively added bag of gummy worms and a handful of silicone bracelets. Good extra goodies to split between them. If Teto puts the shirt and any other clothes he finds along the way on the counter along with the jacket, he's not going to bat a lash or complain. He's not really sure on the kid's money situation, even with the other Héctor being rich...

Once they've left, he shows a few of the bracelets and is about to ask the other boy which ones he wants when something catches on his senses. A smoky, wild smell and a familiar voice. What was that about Cliff not leaving Teto behind? Because he passes the bag of stuff over with a, "Be right back," before he half-jogs over to a pair of guys older than him, but barely out of their teens, if they even were. One acknowledges him with a lazy grin and an offer of a cigarette while the other looks past him to Teto and cocks his head. They seem mildly surprised when Cliff seemingly refuses the offer.

A few more gestures and words exchanged later, and back he comes. "Thanks, guys! We'll hang soon, okay?" he calls back to them with a smile of his own before he returns his attention to the birthday boy.

"Okay. Sorry about that. We're gonna go this way, but we can stop wherever you want on the way."

Delightedly, he does follow. The gummy worms get his approval (and a comment of longing chapulines) while the silicone bracelets get a question of what they're for (to be answered later of course). He might grab that shirt and another thing or too, but he's hesitant to grab too much. Even being treated, he doesn't want to be burdensome.

He feels giddy, almost dizzyingly so. He decides the bracelets are cool and he's about to say more when someone calls out to Cliff. This... this feels familiar too. But, not in the good way. He manages to keep his face from falling until Cliff is well away.

Cliff is older. He's going to have older friends. He can't be that surprised.

He can when Cliff actually comes back though. He glances from Cliff to the older boys then back.

"Uh. Okay. You don't want to hang out with them?"

Cliff wears a series of his own colorful bracelets almost every day, so even with the fact that he's all bundled up to counter the cold, he has them ready as an example. Fun friend thing, and a splash of color for the kid's more gothic new look.

The question earns a confused look in response, the sort that suggests the answer to it should have been obvious enough it could continue going unsaid. It's just a touch more scathing than usual, thanks to blight agitation. "Uh, no? I'm hanging out with you, man. I just needed to ask them if there's a place around here that doesn't care if someone's too young to get pierced. Figured Luke would know."

Duh.

It might be obvious to Cliff, but it's certainly not obvious to him. He ducks his head a little.

"O-oh. Sorry," He says quick. Then he blinks. "Oh! A piercing! Right! Did he know place? Are we gonna go now?"

Boy oh boy is he not pulling off that "pretend to be older than you are" thing.

He sighs a little, mentally grumbling about the apology, but he knows that if he comments on it, it'll probably just make Teto apologize even more. Better to move on to this better topic.

"Yeah, I thought so. You still want one, right?" So he gestures down the street and starts off again. Let's gooo. But when they're solidly on the move again, he looks over with a furrowed brow. "You seriously thought I was going to ditch you?"

"Sí! Yes! I do!" He's hurrying alright, he's hurrying.

Or, he was. Until that question. He falters a little and looks away. His shoulders hike and then drop.

"I don't know. Maybe. They're your friends, right? They're closer to your age and stuff. You can probably do more things with them or you might see them less. It'd make sense."

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