strangetrip | [GP] Check-In Day: Tol and Smols

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[GP] Check-In Day: Tol and Smols

Caroline's see you around had turned out to be more like I won't see you if I can help it, and Sam had more or less accepted that was how it had to be for the time being. That didn't mean he wouldn't try to be around when he knew she would, just to say hi. Which meant that being around on Check-In Days was just plain smart.

Today, he happened to be reading a history of Asphodel Station, trying to understand this place that they'd found themselves connected to. So, if Caroline had come through, he actually hadn't seen her. He did see Regina when she came through to get her usual chicken Caesar salad, mostly because she stopped beside him and looked down at the book he was reading.

"That doesn't have an enchantment on it," she said, in a way he assumed was a question about its provenance. The implication there was that if it was from the library, it would have one of Illyana's enchantments on it.

"No," Sam answered her. "It's from the station. A history."

Regina frowned and crossed her arms. "How are you reading it?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. Psychic paper or something? It seems to be English."

Her gaze scoured the page and lit on the header which read, The Field of Flowers: Volume 1, Asphodel. "When you're done with it--"

"Yeah, I'll leave it in your office."

She nodded, walked off, and then turned back to offer, "Thank you," and continued on her way.

Sam shrugged. If she wanted to tangle with Illyana over the proper procedures for new books, he wasn't going to get in the middle of it. He was just an acquisition agent, nothing more. And today he wasn't even that. He was just a guy reading a book, waiting to see if anyone new showed up today.

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"Si." Miguel nodded. "I borrowed it during the Dia De Los Muertos. I wasn't going to steal it." He wanted to make that clear. "But when I strummed the guitar I became invisible to people and only the dead could see me. My Mama Imelda said the guitar had a curse on it because I took it on that special day. She had to give me her blessing."

He thought of everything that had happened there. "She gave her blessing and I came back. I was scared the guitar did it again. Same day, different year."

Which was kid language for I was totally stealing it (even though I was gonna give it back), but he was so earnest and Curnen couldn't throw any stones because she'd absolutely stolen things. Usually out of people's trash, though.

The holiday gave her a rough impression of something like Samhain. But Curnen put a pin in that and reached for a lighter question. "What'd you need the guitar that bad for?"

It probably would sound stupid to her, so Miguel explained a little self-consciously. "There was a contest at the Plaza, for musicians and my abuelita, um grandmother, had broken the guitar I made. My family hated music. No one would lend me one so..." He perked up after that, "but they don't hate music now. They let me sing and play."

The thought of not being allowed to play music at all made Curnen shudder. "That's good. I can't imagine not being able to play. But then..." she strummed her guitar once. "Everybody back home does. Taking that away would be taking a piece of what makes us who we are." A bigger piece than most people outside the Tufa community really knew. Music wasn't part of who they were, it was who they were. That was why so few of them left. The music was for themselves.

"I thought that there was something wrong with me because I loved music but it was forbidden in my family."

Miguel thought it was the best thing ever to have a family like Curnen did where music was always a part of their life.

"And I can play as much as I want to here, yes? Are there any rules for music?"

"Nobody's stopped me yet," Curnen affirmed, giving him a lopsided smile. "And I'm singing all the time. Aside from letting people sleep at night, I don't think there'd be any rules, neither. Not many people play themselves, though. They like music just fine, they just get all weird about singing themselves."

This was like heaven to Miguel. He could sing and play as much as he wanted and he'd be very careful not to disturb anyone.

"I love to sing and play. The first time I sang in front of people, uh a lot of people, I was nervous." There was a crooked smile, "I gave a squeak instead of belting out a yell before the song. But I got better once I started playing."

Curnen laughed aloud. "Yeah, that's normal. I was real shy the first time I played at the local barn dance, even though I knew everybody there and my sister was right there with me." It was a right of passage for a Tufa child to get on stage and play either at the barn dance or the Pair-A-Dice. She'd loved it, though she rarely had performed without Bliss by her side.

Dante yipped at the laugh, it sounded like he was laughing with her, which he probably was.

Miguel relaxed further, glad that it was normal to be that nervous the first time. Then he got curious, "barn dance? What is that?" He'd never heard of it, but it sounded like the festivals they had in the Plaza.

"What it sounds like," Curnen answered with a shrug. "Bunch of people cleared space in a barn, brought their instruments, then took turns playing while everybody else danced or hung out around the edges. It's hot and cramped, and you come out covered in other people's sweat, but it's a lot of fun."

"It sounds like the festivals we have at the Plaza, except ours are outdoors. It's music and dancing." Miguel hadn't been able to go to any before last year, but he liked them. "Sometimes on the weekends there would be mariachi players just because." And used to sneak nearby to hear them.

"Your barn dance sounds like fun. Do they have that here?"

"Not really, but there's parties sometimes when a holiday rolls around," Curnen told him. "And I think Caroline's trying to organize a party for one of these days, but I dunno if that's happening when she wanted to do it." Not with the door open. Which she didn't mention, because he needed at least a little time to let all of this settle first.

Miguel nodded as he took in everything that she'd said. "I will be ready to listen to music when it happens then."

The Inn looked grand, much grander than anything in Santa Cecilia, but Miguel was sure that he would be able to hear music no matter where it would be.

"Do you play at the parties that Caroline has?" He assumed Caroline was the person that organized them all the time.

Curnen ducked her head and had to admit. "No. I know everybody 'round here's heard me play and sing by now, but it's been a while since I played for a crowd."

Miguel wasn't good at reading people. It wasn't anything he'd had to do ever, but he could tell that it was connected to something personal for her. At least he assumed so, since she'd ducked her head when she said it.

"It's been a long time since I've played to a crowd, too." He wanted to make her feel okay about it. "I've only done it a few times." Miguel was honest. Twice in the Land of the Dead and twice afterward in the Plaza back home.

Oh, he was a good boy. Curnen hoped to all the powers that were that the jaded sorts around here wouldn't ruin him. And maybe that included herself.

The story of what had happened backstage at her last performance was not for anyone. Not for children, certainly, but it wasn't a story for adults, either. She had never told it, not even completely to her husband. Only laid the dots close enough together for him to guess.

She smiled. "We should prolly get you your room. It's all free, don't worry none about that. The innkeeper will have a reservation waiting for you."

Miguel knew that his jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. "I'm staying here?" It was much more grand than anything he'd ever experienced in real life. Miguel was sure his place was in another building. "And I don't have to pay anything?!?" His voice was filled with awe.

Curnen laughed, but while she was amused the laugh was soft around the edges, affectionate. "Yeah, that's about what I thought, too. But it's true. This place is home, for now."

He nibbled on his bottom lip before he asked, "they will not mind Dante? With me?." Miguel would sleep outside before he'd stay in a room without his dog. Even if Dante was used to being on the streets.

Curnen waved a hand as if to wave off that thought, shaking her head. "Nah, there's some other animals running around here. I know about a dog and a cat. And I seen a fox about, sometimes. Dante will fit right in."

Miguel relaxed at her answer and his smile was wide. It even showed the one dimple that he had. "Oh good. I didn't want Dante to be lonely." In other words, Miguel didn't want to be lonely without his dog.

"Do they have ...." Miguel tried to remember the English word, "hot dog for Dante to eat?" At that moment Dante barked his agreement to the idea.

"Now that I honestly don't know," Curnen admitted. Then she smiled. "But we could find out."

Dante barked in agreement and Miguel laughed. "I think we'd both like that." It felt like when he'd met Hector before he'd known they were related. Miguel felt at ease with her.

Laughing at the dog's enthusiasm, Curnen pushed to her feet. "Let's get Dante fed, then, and then we can find your room."

Miguel stood up and slid the strap of the guitar over his shoulder. "We'd like that." It still amazed him that he was allowed to stay in this fancy of a place.

"Thank you, Curnen. For everything."

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[GP] Check-In Day: Tol and Smols

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