Las Mañanitas

[skeletones]

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?"

Comments

[skeletones]

"Oh! You're going?"

That surprises him. Is he jealous? Or is he even ready to see his not-home? He decides he'll think about it later, instead pondering Cliff's question. and then laughing.

"It's busy. There's festivals of all kinds in spring, in the streets and around the churches. Then all the tourists showing up too. It's the hottest time, so everybody's going to the beach. And, if you go south at the Equinox, to Yucaton, there are more people going to see the sun shine through Dzibilchaltun. The only times it's not busy, is when you are going through the normal streets, because everyone has left for some place else."

[awooligan]

Well... "I mean, Coco's my best friend." And ??girlfriend??, but even if Teto's alluded to thinking that was the case, he doesn't want to just out and say it. Besides, he doesn't know when it will be that he actually does get to visit! He's just throwing the thought out there! Not a big deal!!

Man, Teto's good at this sort of thing. He supposes that going around to where the people were and working to appeal to them meant that he'd know the routines better than most people who just went through it. Héctor observed and felt it. It's...interesting. It makes him remember all over again that this goofy, awkward kid had a lot more going on inside than his impression gave off.

One more gummy, then he drops it back into the birthday bag.

"I don't want to be like every other tourist, but...it still sounds nice. I'll have to ask and see."

He'd desperately need sunscreen, though. Redhead problems... But maybe Coco would do his back, and he could do hers? Wow, now's not the time to think about that one too much. COUGH, ANYWAY. Just gonna clear his throat and pretend that didn't happen, oh look!

"I think this is the parlor up here? I thought it'd be farther than that, but that's the name on the window."

[skeletones]

Gotta know where the people are if you're going to busk to them! And with enough tourists passing through, eventually, he had answers for them. The world had a pulse, he thinks. There were rhythms just as any string of music.

"You might look less like a tourist, if you're hanging out with Coco, but you'll probably still get people thinking it a little. Sorry." He smiles apologetically, as though he could help it at all. "But, you probably won't get into the beaches anyway. Too booked. I always just went out to the hills. It's an hour or two away, but there's a stream out there."

Personally, he likes that much better. Even if he hasn't really been to the oceans himself and wouldn't know.

If there was any thought to tease Cliff over his crush, it's gone. He breaks into a grin seeing the parlour, even as his heart gives a little jump for fearing pain pre-emptively.

"All our talking made time go faster," He says. "Come on, come on, let's go!" He hurries for it.

[awooligan]

PHEW, thank god, nothing was noticed. Because there had been absolutely nothing to notice! Yeah. Just getting some kid's ears stabbed up! For fun! Having gotten his tongue pierced, Cliff's not concerned in the least, and his stride says as much.

Some activity, but not busy, that's the ideal. "Hey! You guys take walk-ins? My friend Luke told us to come here."

The a chubby man with strong, tattooed arms seems amenable to this -- gives Teto a doubtful eye, but money's money, and his friend there has a piercing so it's probably fine. Plus, he's got the namedrop thing down and everything! Well, okay, more than just being Luke's friend, it's that he can tell Clifford is a fellow lyncanthrope, that runty russet wolf he'd seen around just the other day, and crows think it's funny to play around. Let's! Pierce! Some! Ears!

[skeletones]

He holds his breath and the whole time, he grins way to wide to be innocent. They are doing an illegal thing and while that is not technically something he's never done before, the openness of it becomes another added bit of nervousness.

But, things move along and he's settled down in the chair and he's made to sit still and procedure is mostly followed. The needle goes through and his smile freezes.


Much later, with the deed done and two new holes in his ears, he will insist that he didn't tear up. Or yelp. or cringe. He was totally cool and calm and collected. Totally.

He is checking out his appearance in every reflected surface they pass, however. Quite obviously.

"How long did your tongue take to heal?" He asks.

[awooligan]

Cliff may have laughed in the moment, but what happens in the salon stays in the salon. No one will know, at least not from him, that Teto wasn't anything but stoic and excited.

"A month." Where he basically didn't talk at home so no one would know he had it. At least Teto doesn't have to worry about that. "Mouths heal faster than the rest of the body, though. That Jay -" Funny, a crow named Jay. "- guy gave me a paper for you, hold on... Looks like six to eight weeks?"

And lots of care and keeping rules, which he'll let Teto read on his own, passing the paper over.

[skeletones]

"Six to eight weeks?" He repeats. He looks as though he can't decide whether to settle for calm or alarm, face scrunching as he peers over the paper. Then, slowly, he says, "That's not so bad..."

A lot of rules but he can handle that. Probably. He wanted this, so, he'd take care of it! And then he'll get to try the cooler earrings once he's done with the starters. Maybe by then he'll forget the jitters he had enough to go for something else.

"Hey." He looks up from the sheet, up at Cliff. "Do you think it'd be lame to get a piñata? Or a cake?"

[awooligan]

Cliff will be there to help out and remind him that at least he isn't being restricted on what he can eat. He can have whatever candies and cakes he wants! Doubly so because it's his birthday!

"Why would it be lame to do what you want?" What's lame is not being yourself!! Trying to live by someone else's standards! But more helpfully, "I know Carrefour has a nice bakery section and a bunch of other stuff, they might have piñatas. It's worth checking, right?"

[skeletones]

"Well, I don't know, it's kid stuff, right?" It does not seem to occur to him that he's still a kid. Still, he brightens at the thought.

It's the thought of having it, more than anything. He wasn't so big on sweets-- a whole cake would be a lot. And then, well, piñatas, he imagined they were more fun than others. But then another thought occurs and his grin turns wicked.

"I know what I wanna do. Is there a cheaper bakery? With, like, really bad cakes?"

[awooligan]

"It's not kid stuff. Kid stuff doesn't mean it's bad, either."

He's been having a lot of phone calls from post-nightmare Kevin lately, he's feeling a bit protective of these children dismissing their feelings because they're worried about how it'll look. It's okay to be scared! It's okay to have fun! Do what makes you feel better!

The question pulls his attention again, getting Cliff to just...stare...

"Bad cakes?" What...could he possibly want with bad cakes... "I mean, maybe Carrefour does day-old discounted bakery items since it's the Walmart of this place? But I really have no idea. What's up?"

[skeletones]

He looks at Cliff, head tilting thoughtfully. He guesses that's true, but he wouldn't have thought an older kid to be the one to say that. He decides that Cliff is cooler than the others.

He also decides he's not going to say that out loud. Just like he's not going to explain himself.

"You'll see," He says. "Come on. We're going to find the oldest, ugliest cake there." He snickers to himself and picks up the pace.

[awooligan]

"Uh, okay."

What gremlin has possessed this child all of a sudden... Well, no, Cliff knows Teto has always been, and will always be, a gremlin. It's just that usually he can make a guess about what kind of gremlin activity is going to go down? This is mysterious. Bad cake mystery...

And he doesn't even get to be told how cool he is. Wow.

Anyway, off they go! To the superstore!

[skeletones]

So tragic. Poor Cliff.

As enthusiastic as he is, he does eventually have to trail behind Cliff who has a better idea of where he's going. Entering the store, he half expects those working there to eye him suspiciously. It's all these old habits and memories that just don't match up here.

He takes upon paying for the cake himself at least-- just about past due, a little lopsided and squished, an obscene amount of icing. He offers Cliff no explanation from there, only looking around for some open area that also has a bench. It's there that he settles down and lifts the lid off the thing.

"At home, there's a tradition on birthdays called la mordida. I haven't done it, but I've heard it, when they chant." His wicked smile is turned down on the cake.

He sticks his bare hand right in it.

"We're going to do something different."

He scoops up a gob of the gooey cake and hauls it back to throw.

[awooligan]

What the fuck.

"What the fuck?"

He just watched Teto shove his hand in a cake? And he's just holding a bunch of it? And looking in Cliff's direction??

Oh. Oh, what the fuck. He takes a step back automatically, arms raising in a weak defense that was sure to be useless in the face of this new and unusual foe.

"Hey -- Teto, don't you dare!"

[skeletones]

It's too late. Cliff's words do nothing to dissuade Teto. And, with Cliff's weak defence, he is most certainly doomed.

The cake is set aloft and to hit Cliff with a great spat of cheap icing and crumbled cake pieces.

Teto, the monster, kicks his feet and cackles.

[awooligan]

TERRIBLE. THE ABSOLUTE WORST.

Even with his speed and the sudden sense of foreboding, there isn't enough time to get out of the way, and he's stuck another second staring in absolute disbelief at the sugary mess smeared on his coat. Fucked up, but in that moment he's mostly glad that it's hitting that and not his hoodie.

"Oh, you're dead, ghost boy," he threatens, but as dangerous as his voice is, there's still a spark of amusement there that matches better with the grin curling into place. Cliff launches himself forward to grab a chunk of old cake for himself. Feels gross and wrong, but a kid needs to be taught a lesson on this, the day of his birth.

He could probably shove the whole thing into Teto's chest and handily win, but he's out for fun, not real punishment. Instead, he's going to take the handful and go for the face, in true la mordida fashion.

[skeletones]

On cue, with the low spoken threat, Teto lets out something of a scream, scrambling away. The scream morphs into a peel of laughter as he runs.

Nevertheless, it's too late. There's no dodging the cake that comes for him, immediately painting him in the likeness of the clown he is.

With Cliff in reach though, his sticky hands rise to splat against Cliff's face.

[awooligan]

An unfortunate casualty, this beautiful face of his...but these are the sacrifices you have to make in times of war. Now he has the leverage and space to wrestle Teto down by smushing crunchy frosting into him just enough that he can take another scoop of cake and dash off.

With distance between them again, he shoots the birthday boy a grin, waits for an opening, and this is the worst snowball fight to ever have existed, yet it continues.

[skeletones]

A terrible loss. Surely, it shall be mourned.

Not by Teto, though, as cake is smeared over him. He flails, attempting to free himself, but only once Cliff has fled does he manage.

He takes another chunk of cake with him as he goes. It's Cliff's speed versus his own good aim and he takes the shot.

Perhaps due to not having had a snowball fight before, Teto rather thinks this fight is the best one.