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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!

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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."

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."

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.

"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."

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."

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?"

"I have not. Synthetics don't celebrate any holidays." Except that she did with her brothers and sister. "But I have heard about the celebration." Anita smiled at Miguel and released the skull that she'd been shaping for him to continue his work.

Miguel was confused. "Synthetic? What's that?" He assumed that Synthetic was like being Mexican. Or maybe it was like being from Earth. Was there a planet Synthetic?

This was one of the many reasons why Mia enjoyed children. They were so open, honest, and took you as you were. They didn't care.

"I am what you might call Artificial Intelligence. I am made of computer parts and synthetic skin. That's where the term Synthetic comes from."

It took a moment for Miguel to understand what she was saying since he had to process it through as English to Spanish. Some words didn't translate well, but he sort of understood what Anita was saying.

"So you're not from a planet Synthetica?" He smiled slightly as he said it. "That's pretty neat. Do you live on a Space Station? I visited one once but I couldn't take Dante. That's my dog."

Miguel was so much like Sophie who accepted Mia just as she was. Though Sophie saw her as another member of the family. Children were so open to different.

"I was not on a space station, but I think it would be intersting to see one." Mia picked up another sugar and water mixture and began to shape it in the form of a skull as she talked. "Did you like the space station?"

"Yeah, it was really neat." Miguel began to explain in myriad detail all that he'd done on it like if he was telling his Mama Coco about his day. "If you weren't on a space station are you from the future?"

He just assumed being a synthetic was something from the future.

"I don't think so." Mia shook her head. "Though I know many people are from different times here. I was from the year 2018, is that the future for you?"

"Nope, that's when I came here, too! That's really cool that you're from my time. Though maybe not my world." He gave a little shrug. Miguel was used to different worlds/realities to his own now.

"What's it like where you're from?"

"Very much like here, though the technology is more advanced than here. In my world, everyone is used to artificial intelligence. We aren't new, though the people here aren't used to me." She smiled ever so slightly. "You and a few others are the exception to that at the inn."

Miguel's smile turned wide showing his little chipped tooth and dimple. "Gracias. Last year on Dia De Los Muertos I saw my ancestors as skeletons. I kind of freaked at first, but then I just saw them as my relatives. Normal people."

He still noticed that they were skeletons, but it hadn't mattered then.

Mia set her carving utensil down and looked at Miguel. "I do not understand." She was a bit confused. "You actually saw your relatives as skeletons, or were they images?"

"I really saw them." He nodded enthusiastically. "It was a special Dia De Los Muertos. I went to the Land of the Dead and met my ancestors. But first, before I did that, I was kind of scared and freaked when I saw all these skeleton people in my village graveyard."

"You were very brave." Mia said with soft pat on his hand with hers. "Even if you were kind of scared and freaked when you saw them." She said his words back to him. "A hero is someone continuing on despite their fear and you did. How long did you stay there?"

Miguel felt himself pump up a bit with pride at her compliment. It had been easier when his aunts and uncles had arrived at the cemetery, then Hector had taken him under his wing.

"It seemed like a while but it was only a few hours. I had only a few hours before I turned into a skeleton and stayed there forever." Miguel went on in his excited voice to tell her everything that had happened to him there.

Mia listened to him tell his story of his adventure. It was enjoyable to hear the enthusiasm and the joy of childhood in his voice. "That is quite the adventure and then you arrived at the inn after that?"

"A year." Miguel shook his head. "I was celebrating the next Dia De Los Muertos and I came here." He wrinkled his nose, "I think it's a thing now. Something happens on that day. Hopefully nothing will happen here."

"Then you will know if there is a connection." Mia said logically. "Isn't it better to know than to wonder?"

"Not really." Miguel said honestly. "I kind of like not knowing." Then he relented, "but I guess I'd like to know if I'm cursed or if it's the day." Not that he thought he was cursed but something happening to him.

"That is very practical." Mia gave him encouragement. "It is always better to know than to guess." She smiled at him. "I do not believe that you are cursed but you might find out that your extraordinary."

Re: Mia and Miguel

st_recuerdame - 2018-11-09 01:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Mia and Miguel

st_artfeeling - 2018-11-10 15:00 (UTC) - Expand

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