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]

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.]