leave me alone, I'm lonely [text - cw: talk of underage drinking.]

[awooligan]

I guess announcing this sort of thing is what you do on here, so
Héctor Rivera-Adlantis and Neko Adobephotoshop aren't here anymore
Yes I know it's Adomaitis and Nekane, I don't care

[But he'll still make it clear who they are, and stuff. Something something jerk was married to a forgotten guy, being remembered is basic decency or something.]

What I care about is that this means someone else has gotta step up and buy my booze for me
Preferably without the lecture

Comments

[awooligan]

Sure
I know the best buzzkill around
She makes good food

[daikonrose]

Whoa, I think that's the first time I've been called the "best" anything.
If you're not careful, I'm gonna get all puffed up and start defending my title.

[awooligan]

I've seen what you're like when you get compliments
I don't think I have to worry about that happening

Kai's taking me out on his bike for a while, so I'll come back with him, okay?

[daikonrose]

If I'm really the best, I guess it'll be the same outcome either way.

Oh, okay! Ride safely!

[awooligan]

Thanks "mom"

[daikonrose]

:P

[awooligan]

[KNOCK KNOCK, WHO'S THERE? JUST KIDDING, NOBODY'S KNOCKING, THAT'S FOR POLITE PEOPLE.

Cliff enters through the door for once, if only because there's a box in his arms that makes climbing into a window more inconvenient.]

Hello-o! [He's home, fake-jokey mom!!! Now that he's done zooming around on Kaito's motorbike and laying in gross snow.] Sorry, but I brought food.

[Because he feels like...Kyoko would have been working hard already, at least partially for his benefit... He hopes she'll like what he's brought, though.]

[daikonrose]

Huh?

[ It's so disorienting to hear Cliff coming in from where the front door is located, there's a beat before Kyoko pokes her head out of her bedroom to stare down the hall. ]

Eh? Why are you apologizing? I asked you to bring it.

[ Though, did he really need a box for just those two things? Does she need to give Cliff a backpack for the birthday he'll definitely have at some point, and fully cement her fake-mom status? ]

[awooligan]

Yeah, I brought more food.

[He tilts his box, showing the bagged up and jarred ingredients and also...another box! Addressed to Héctor. What? He's not using it!

That said, a backpack isn't an awful idea, as long as it's cool. Cliff is pretty minimalistic, used to only keeping things that fit into his pockets on him if there's any chance he'll be going wolf. If it counts as being on his person, it's allowed for the ride! Unfortunately, a backpack full of clutter...isn't. Still, if he's going to be making ingredient deliveries like this, it could be nice!]

Everyone only gets one, though. I guess even the gods don't want to go through the whole production of making tamales, so there's not that many. By the way, you're banned from ever trying to make them by yourself -- Héctor's orders.

[daikonrose]

[ What, Cliff doesn't wanna be a wolf inconspicuously trotting around town with a backpack full of tamales?

Tamales, though--Kyoko's eyes go big and round as she pads over to see what Cliff has in that box, though her brow creases a bit at Héctor's mention. ]

... He... left these for you? I didn't know you could do that kind of thing.

[awooligan]

[He'd be very popular and want to die.]

Not exactly. The boxes were mailed to him, not me. They were just sitting there. Don't think he'd care about me taking it...and he can't do anything about it anyway.

[The saddest nyeh-nyeh.]

[daikonrose]

Oh--that makes more sense. [ She rubs the back of her neck, awkward. ] Letting them go to waste would be sad... But you're really fine with sharing them?

[awooligan]

[The BIGGEST of eyerolls.]

Jeeeez, yes, oh my god, it's fine.

[Everything is fine! Sharing is fine, Héctor is fine, he's just...fine. It's fine.]

Quit worrying, alright? It's not that big a deal. Tamales are about family and community, anyway.

[daikonrose]

It's just because it's a rare item! [ He can tell her to quit worrying, but he is not powerful enough to totally make the fretting stop. ] I wouldn't have blamed you if you wanted to hoard them, or devour them all at once on your own.

[ With that said though, she settles down some. ]

But... thank you, really.

[awooligan]

It's not a video game, Kyoko. Relax.

[Rare items aren't a thing!!! Unless you're into, like, antiques, but why would you be?]

[daikonrose]

If it were a video game, they would totally qualify as rare items, though.

[ That's her point! But she keeps the quibbling mild as she turns towards the kitchen. ]

Anyway, should we go ahead and make atole to go with them? Or should I just heat up the soup?

[awooligan]

[He gives her a look. But it's not?]

Nerd. Besides, he'd want you to try it. That's probably why he got these in the first place.

[The box of his gets set down so he can pick through the rest. Ingredients!! Of which he brought plenty, not just enough for tonight's dinner.]

Gotta make atole, but let's heat up the soup, too.

[He wouldn't get full, otherwise. Still, toast to the old dude that wasn't actually that old. Atole was good for that, besides just making him feel better in general.]

[daikonrose]

[ In the kitchen, she immediately sets about getting out the necessary equipment, chattering fondly as she rummages through cupboards. ]

Ah, that's true... He really seemed to like talking about home. Mexico jumped up a bunch of spots on my dream travel wishlist, just from listening to him.

[ After setting a pan on the stove, she switched the burner on under the covered pot that had already been sitting there. ]

[awooligan]

[He hums a vague, distracted agreement.]

Santa Cecilia's really beautiful. In my time, anyway. I dunno how different things were for him. He loved it, though. Even before that's where he made his family. The one I knew, he was really into the history and stuff, too. I think he liked knowing he belonged, even if there wasn't someone to tell him that.

[He sounds careless, in a way. He's just speaking his thoughts out loud while he works to help her. There's still the slightest hesitation around phrases like "his family" or "one I knew" that give away how much he's calculating what to give away and what to keep inside. The last of his words are all quieter. Everything is so complicated, but it's not a big deal. It's fine. It'll be fine.]

[daikonrose]

[ That is definitely some puzzling wording you're using there, Cliff. Kyoko has to frown a moment, debating whether she should push at all, but in the end she can't help it. ]

The one... you knew? --Ah, do you mean, there was actually a version of him you met back home, too? Some kind of multiple universes situation?

[awooligan]

[He shrugs, like maybe he isn't going to clarify or isn't sure. More, he just doesn't know how you're supposed to act in this situation. Everything was so complicated!!]

Something like that... I, uh, have two versions of "back home" in my head. In one of them, I got sent to this school in France and I met this girl that was looking for her dad. Coco became my best friend.

[He misses her. He wonders...if there's anything any of them can do. If she were to come here, would she be his Coco? If he goes home, where will that be?]

I dunno if you knew, Héctor has a kid he never got to see grow up. He has a great-great-grandkid. Coco's kid's kids are older than I am, in the same year I meet her in my world... [He sighs while he shifts to hang his arms off the back of his neck. What a headache.] A lot of the same stuff happened, but it was like a hundred years later, for me. ...And a lot of different stuff happened for him, too. But Héctor was still alright.

[daikonrose]

[ Kyoko's met worldhoppers in her time at Havenwell, but this is the first she's heard of a case quite like Cliff's. Even for someone as quick to accept fantastical premises as she was, that was kinda hard to wrap her head around? Was it that confusing for Cliff too?

But it still sounded like it sort of boiled down to essentially the different universes concept she was already used to, or close enough that she could follow the story anyway. ]

... He did tell me about Coco, a little bit. And he mentioned that you knew her, too. [ There's a beat, and then, more softly: ] He was grateful to know you here. He told me that, too.

[awooligan]

[He makes some kind of face -- wistful? Disappointed? It's sad and lonely, even though there's still a level of neutrality to it. The expression sits there instead of twisting his lips or wrinkling his nose or eyes. Then Clifford gives a soft sigh and looks over with a raised eyebrow and a half-smirk.]

Well, who wouldn't be? [It's not as forced as it could be, and the smirk softens into a different kind of smile. Still a little lonely, maybe, but not bad. There might even be a little bit of optimism in there.] Same for you, right?

[daikonrose]

[ There's a soft look on Kyoko's face for a moment, and then a little flash of a smile, before she pulls on a light deadpan. ]

... Just for today, I'll let you get away with that kind of line.

[awooligan]

[Mhmmmm.]

Sure, okay. We can pretend it's because of today.

[Nyeh, nyeh. He's gonna be annoying, since he can get away with it and it will make him feel better. Then the food will get made and they can eat, and he'll feel even...more better!

Yeah. Coming here tonight was a good idea.]