Projects - Open

[st_recuerdame]

It had taken some time from the attacks but Miguel was slowly coming back to the happy go lucky kid he was when he first arrived. That had to do with his personality and the musical project he had thought about with Curnen. However, that wasn't what was occupying his mind today. That was the date. It was getting close to both his birthday (13 years old!) and Dia De Los Muertos. The festival was actually more important to him than his milestone birthday. With the departures from the inn and people that had lost family and friends in their 'real' lives it would help. Miguel firmly believed that the dead would visit wherever there was an ofrenda with their picture on it so he wanted to do that here. It would also help in his connection to his family knowing that they would be doing the same thing in their village.

Which was why he was sitting in the lobby with a couple of pieces of paper scattered on the small table in front of him that had doodles of an ofrenda like home and list of what he wanted to have in the advertisement. But, what he was currently working on was a mess in front of him. He'd been able to borrow some sugar and egg whites since there wasn't meringue powder at the inn to make a sugar skull. He was currently mixing a little bit of water at a time into the mixture to get the right feel. This was the very first time that he'd made them on his own without his abuelita's help.

He also didn't have a mold, so the skull probably wouldn't look too skull like, but he was trying!

Comments

[st_hotflashes]

Liz was off her shift and heading to her room. She had no idea where she and Peter still stood and it was eating at her, but she continued to do her daily routine in an attempt not to go crazy or fall apart. When she saw Miguel, it was almost a godsend.

She diverted from her path. "You look really busy." She offered a smile as she crouched close to him.

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel crinkled his nose, "I'm trying to make a calavera - um, sugar skull like my abuelita makes but it's not working." He sighed softly. "She used to do it by hand when she was a little girl but she has a mold now. This kind of looks like a lump instead of a skull."

[st_hotflashes]

Liz looked at it for a moment, considering. "I can sort of see it." She could see the intent, anyways. "I think maybe you just need more definition in the eyes and teeth. Do you have a picture you're working off of?"

[st_recuerdame]

"Nope just off my memories." He reached over for the picture he'd doodled of the ofrenda that had a couple of sugar skulls on it. "They kind of look like this."

He hadn't thought about going to the library to see if they had a book on it.

[st_hotflashes]

She looked at the drawing. "You know... you're pretty good at drawing too." And music - Miguel was obviously very creative. "Maybe it's just about practice..." She studied the picture again. "Is this for Dia De Los Muertos?"

[st_recuerdame]

"It is." Miguel nodded while he blushed slightly at the compliment to his doodles. He never thought about them being any good.

"Do you celebrate it in Roswell?"

[st_hotflashes]

She nodded. "Yeah. There's a lot of people who celebrate it back home, actually." Roswell had a pretty big Mexican population. Liz paused. "Last year was the first time I really celebrated it. For my grandmother. This year... I guess I have two people now."

[st_recuerdame]

"I'm sorry." Miguel said immediately. "Did you find out that you lost someone else back home?" He knew that Liz's friend had joined her at the inn.

[st_hotflashes]

She gave a small nod. "Yeah. My best friend Alex. He, um. Well, he was killed. So, I think I'd like to celebrate this year so I can mourn him properly." Since she hadn't, obviously, attended a funeral.

"Are you thinking about the people you met when you visited the Land of the Dead?"

Mia and Miguel

[st_artfeeling]

Mia was always drawn to children and it wasn't always because of her coding. She'd been made for Leo, to take care of him, but children were honest and that was what really drew her to them.

She had noticed he had what looked to her as an art project and her curiosity brought her over. "Do you require assistance?"

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel looked up and was a little surprised that he hadn't heard her approach but just thought that he'd been too involved. "I'm trying to make calaveras for Dia De Los Muertos. Um a sugar skull for Day of the dead but I'm not very good at it." He admitted sheepishly.

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_artfeeling]

She understood from the few words that he'd sprinkled in his conversation that he spoke Spanish so Mia quickly switched to that language for him. She had many languages as well as different dialects in her programming. She didn't know what Day of the Dead was but assumed it was a Spanish holiday.

"You are making a very good attempt and that is always the best way to start. I can be of assistance if you'd like."

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel was so pleased to hear someone else other than Carlos speak Spanish to him that he smiled wide at her.

"Gracias. I'd really like some help. I'm Miguel."

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_artfeeling]

She switched back to English, "I'm Anita." Anita moved to kneel next to Miguel's table where he was trying to shape a skull. "May I?" She gestured toward the lump of sugar, meringue and water.

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

"Sure." Miguel moved the lump that was sort of a skull over to Anita. "I guess I should have found a picture but I thought I could do it from memory."

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_artfeeling]

Mia's fingers molded the skill at the cheekbones. "You just needed to push this in a little more and -" She reached over to the spoon that he had used to mix and handed it to Miguel. "You can use the edge of the spoon to carve out the mouth and teeth if you want your skull to have teeth."

Re: Mia and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel took the spoon and used the edge of it to start carving out the teeth while Anita worked on the top of the skull.

"It's starting to look like my abuelita's." Miguel looked a little more pleased with the results of his and Anita's handiwork. "Have you celebrated Dia De Los Muertos before?"

Mack and Miguel

[st_oryboard]

Mack noticed the doodles on the paper first before he actually noticed the sugar and meringue that Miguel was working on. "What're you doing?"

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel was happy to see Mack if anyone could help with artistic stuff it was him and Lilith. "Hi. I'm trying to make a calavera um sugar skull and flyers for Dia De Los Muertos. Um the Day of the Dead Festival."

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_oryboard]

"I can't help with the sugar skull except to help decorate it but I can help with the flyer if you want." He knew about the celebration from his friend Gabriela, but only a little bit.

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

"Definitely!" Miguel picked up the doodle that he'd drawn that wasn't even close to being what Mack could do. "This is what an ofrenda looks like, well the one at my home anyway."

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_oryboard]

Mack pulled out another piece of paper from his backpack and began to draw from Miguel's doodle and what he'd put in the comic when his friend had described it. "You'll probably want this take up about half or a third of your flyer. Make it be an eye grabber."

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

Mack was the best! Miguel would have struggled with the flyer FOREVER! "That looks great. Do you think I should say what Dia De Los Muertos is or just put that in the journal to everyone?"

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_oryboard]

Mack considered his answer and then said, "maybe a little something about it because people will probably ask you anyway." He knew that he didn't always check the journal like he probably should.

Re: Mack and Miguel

[st_recuerdame]

"Okay." Miguel agreed, "maybe like the festival flyers at home. They'd say some stuff, general stuff, enough to make you want to go."