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

It’s a boating permit, if that helps. [she knows it doesn’t, but that’s incredibly funny to say, and she couldn’t just NOT say it.]

No, he was really good, until everyone caught us. Then he kind of. Drove into a tree.

[He doesn't know if that helps. On one hand, there aren't cars under the sea. On the other hand, boats go on top of the sea. He shouldn't have either permit!! He levels an expression on her that he hope conveys this very specific concept.

Anyway. Here's the plate with the last tamale saved for her, hot and ready, smelling great. He studies her as he passes it off, like maybe he's trying to find something he isn't sure is there.]

This isn't another one of those "I got injured, isn't that hilarious?" stories, is it?

[Scars. He's looking for scars.]

I was fine! [She’s been staring at the food, instead of him, for the past few minutes, and she eagerly takes the plate the moment it’s offered.

There’s some more to the car crash story, but she doesn’t think she’s ready to tell those details just yet. So she shovels a bite of tamale into her mouth, probably burning herself in the process, and mumbling through a full mouth.]

Jus’ got grounded for it—- Shit! That’s actually good!

[Ah, good old groundings.]

No shit. About the food and getting grounded. [Drunkenly encouraging drinking and driving, with that many dads? Of course there was going to be some kind of punishment for that! Especially since they were allowed to be angry after the relief of her not being dead, or whatever.] Sorry there's not more. Not many in the box to begin with. I would have snagged some of the other leftovers, but I seriously thought you'd be asleep.

I told you I’d be awake! [Ignoring that she was totally passed out on his floor until just minutes ago.]

It’s fine—- was nice of you to bring me anything. [lmao she’s already scarfed it, like a menace.]

Edited 2022-02-05 04:32 (UTC)

You said you'd try.

[And he's impressed!! Also impressed by how fast she finished that off, jeez.]

I guess you weren't kidding about the starving part...

[Though there was the replicator, if she got really desperate. He's teasing more than being overbearing, even if he loses some of that tone as he circles back around to an earlier thought.]

So... Your dads are all...alive? Undead? Alive again?

[She can eat a ton, she's an athlete after all-- and... Well. The way you earn money in this place is kind of weird. She's not totally starving, at least.

When he asks about her dads, though, she perks up, and fiddles with the zipper on the jacket.]

Oh, yeah, they're all back. Towards the end, there, it was just me and dad-- Benji. I think he was worried, that I wouldn't like him as much, once all the others were back. But they've all got their pros and cons. [She pauses, then confesses something, quietly.]

He's not my favorite, but he's still pretty great. I didn't tell any of them that I have a favorite. I use his name... Farrah Salieri. [She unzips the jacket again, then gives the vest a little pat.]

My real parents kind of sucked. My mom was obsessed with herself, and my dad from before was way too into his new family and his new life being like, classy, rich and white. [And Farrah's only half of one of those things.] My dads are the first adults to like... actually care, if I got drunk or felt sick or scared, or if I was happy or whatever.

[Pffh. She rolls into her chatter easily and it makes him half-smile again. It reminds him of Kevin making the most of the short while between school and his karate class, trying to share every new bit of science he learned, he was so excited about knowing it. Except she goes soft, and it sets him even more at ease even though it isn't fun. He shifts so that he's closer to the replicator, keeping his attention on her so that she knows he's listening. Benji's a weird name. Good thing he refilled his stock of cinnamon and vanilla in exchange for his own exclusive ingredients earlier, because a warm, comforting drink wouldn't just be nice, it would help fill Farrah's stomach even more.]

I have my mom's name. My dad ditched her when I came into the picture, and we never changed mine to my step-dad's, thank fuck... So I'm the only Norman. I don't know what's going to happen with my mom and Kevin, now.

[Would they stay Hudson's? ...He hopes not. He doesn't want anything to do with that piece of shit anymore. He wants them to feel the same way.]

Glad you have real parents now. It's good, even if it's weird...knowing someone cares for, like, no reason, or doesn't think you're a screw-up even when you screw up all the time.

Yeah. It was… wild. To go from being the fuck up that everyone hated, to… I dunno. Something more, I guess. [She rolls her eyes, like it might make the conversation lighter.]

And now I’m here! The people are nice here, too, I guess. And no ones dying. I kind of miss the school, though. My dads. And Rina. [She huffs, flipping forward and resting her cheek against the table as she watches him.]

I only got to date her for like. A day. She’s probably made out with her boyfriend like… seventy times by now.

[Look at this boy, going over to the stove and using it with confidence, ooh.

There's a lot to miss, here. His mom and brother, Oscar, Sylvia, his friends, even Eliza and her girlfriend with some dumb weird fascination with him... Coco. Pepita. Teto, Héctor, and now...the other Héctor, who was from a completely different world so he might never see him again. Cliff realizes after a moment that as much as it didn't make sense, he misses his school, too, even the normal one a little.

Her complaint makes him grin, despite a similar ache in his heart.]

That's the one with the pink hair, right? That you have a million pictures of on your phone. All that and no action, huh?

That’s her! I can’t help it that the camera loves her. It makes sense, that she’s an idol where she’s from. [… No, it doesn’t really, Rina’s deadpan expression is pretty far from being the standard idol expression. But Farrah’s earnest when she says it.]

Ugh. None at all. I didn’t realize I liked her until I thought it was too late. [honestly with the pictures she should have known way sooner, but…

Farrah’s still watching him, waiting to see if he starts a fire.]

Sorry, that’s all weirdly serious shit. But… You seemed like you’d get it. The missing people who don’t think your a fuck up part.

[Damn, an idol and a cheerleader, what a power couple of popularity and beauty. He has no idea what that's like.

Cliff shrugs, looking away so he can drop some ingredients in the saucepan. Let's melt some sugar!!]

I sort of brought it up.

[Letting her talk about her weirdly serious shit made it easier for him to talk about his, and that's what everyone was worried about today, right? Poking and prodding at his feelings like he was poking at the milk and piloncillo mixture with some tool made of wood. He's got another mix to work on, too.]

Uh, so I don't know if you remember, but that time Héctor brought us drinks, I made a joke about him that wasn't totally a joke. It's complicated, but...he's my girlfriend's dad. Even though the Héctor I knew wasn't the one here, he still treated me really well when he found out. He wanted me to know I would be welcome in his family, if we had been from the same place.

[So that's sort of...where he is.]

[Huh. Héctor was Cliff's girlfriends dad. That's kind of weird, but kind of cool and cute too--]

[She sits up way faster than a normal human should. Just whips upright, and looks at him, and---]

Holy shit, are you a teen dad?

[WH]

What? No! Where are you getting that?!

Uh, because he was a literal grandpa.

[god]

I told you, it wasn't him. He was different in my world! Do I look like I'm from 1940?!

Uh, no, but time doesn't make any sense. You could still be his kid's baby daddy. [Yeah she's just playing this like it's a totally normal thing to think/ask. Farrah has no external shame.]

[TIME DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE girl]

Well, I'm not. [He's dying. Good thing it's not real bright, because he wants to believe she doesn't get to see how red his face has been through all this. This is what he gets for sharing his feelings!!] In his world, Coco marries some other guy, I guess, and her kids have kids, she lives a long life, whatever. My Coco's our age, and we haven't even done that yet. Héctor was the teen dad.

[How smug she looks with herself probably doesn't help. But she settles into a more relaxed posture, grinning. This is nice-- teasing someone, it's familiar and comfortable.]

Wow. So he was the one with all the game, huh?

I was just checking. It's cool, that he was her dad, even if he wasn't your Coco's [she's relentless i'm so sorry] dad. You gonna tell me more about her? Is she cute?

[Usually he's the one that gets to tease and this isn't fair. He reaches over to flick her head. Is "parent at 18" really having game? Whatever. Onto a better topic: the best girl.]

Super cute. Hang on.

[Cliff digs into his pocket for his phone to look through his pictures. He doesn't have nearly as many as Farrah does, and his collection of girlfriend pics is especially lacking. She wasn't the type to take selfies, and Cliff frequently forgot his phone existed. He skips the one where she looks distracted by relaxed, because even if it's a good, clear shot to show her off, it's...not actually her... Waking up in Coco's body sure was interesting and awkward. The picture he has of them in the attic, hiding away from everyone else, is pretty dark and his eyes are kind of blurry orbs. So...

What he shows Farrah is a picture of a girl their age with braids draped down her collar, ribbons at the end holding them together. Her blouse is wide at the neck and has colorful embroidery decorating it, and sat in her long skirt is an older tabby cat happy to be getting chin scritches. The shape of Coco's face is a lot like her father's, but softer at its points and with much more life. Héctor was tired and worn even when he was laughing -- Hell does that to a man -- but Coco's spirit is energetic at rest. Even in the stillness of a photograph, she looks like someone unable to keep herself from moving. Cliff is, as they say, #blessed.]

Here she is. This was when I went to Santa Cecilia last February. We met at magic school because she was there on a secret mission to bring her dad back, and we broke into the school records together. She made a room flip upside-down on a guy using this experimental spell thing her tíos made. Wish I could've seen his face.

[Farrah leans in to view the photos, the corner of her lips twitching in approval. She’s tempted to tell him that she wins, that her very pink girlfriend with a sketchbook full of expressions is obviously cuter, but—- She has something way worse to blurt out.]

So. Tiny brunettes with braids, huh?

[Wow. Wow wow wow. This time she succeeds in making him go red, and though he tries for a joke, it's obviously a struggle.]

A troublemaking one that dances. It gets worse. The girl I liked in Podunk was a cheerleader.

[OH LOOK, THE INGREDIENTS DESPERATELY NEED HIS ATTENTION, maybe if he's lucky, she's actually drunker than she seems and she won't remember to humiliate him. Why did he volunteer this, again?]

-- Hey, do you want to see a neon jaguar?

I dance, too. I only switched to cheer because of Annleigh. [Unfortunately for him, she's... disappointingly sober. She perches an elbow against the table again, resting her chin on her hand as she watches him.]

What, like, the car?

[Greeeat, no matter her sporty hobby, it matched one of the hot girls he liked. At least she's not pushing on it too much right now. She's going along with his topic change! Yay.]

No, like a big cat.

[Once he knows he can spare the time, stirring things up again, Cliff scrolls through his phone again to show a cartoonishly colorful cat with wings.]

She was my ride from the airport to Coco's place, though. She's the cat from that other one, too.

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

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