strangetrip | [GP] Food for the soul

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[GP] Food for the soul

Carlos hated being back at the hotel. He had begun by trying to access the Nevernever but that had totally failed, then caught up with Buffy to go and visit both London and Edinburgh, for varying reasons, and the rest of the time he had headed to Spain - he may have been well travelled, but rarely got time to be a tourist - but his time relaxing and finding out about Spain had been unceremoniously cut short when he woke up and found himself back at the hotel. For a few moments he lay there, utterly fed up, and just feeling incredibly homesick.

That only lasted a few minutes; after that he was a man on a mission.

He hunted out Caroline, and had a long chat with her. Plans were set. Time to cook up a storm. They'd missed 4th July, this could serve as a belated celebration, as well as a 'things ain't all bad here' event. Posters went up throughout the hotel, giving notice of a cook out. Everyone was encouraged to attend. What could be bad about this?

Grills were set up outside to cook up as much meat as they could hold; non-meat options were there as well for variety; salads prepared... a vast array of food to try and cheer up anyone who needed it. Carlos took his place at the grills, brandishing tools, turning the meat over just at the right point.

All that was needed now was people to attend.

[ooc: Use as a general gathering post - if you want Carlos specifically, tag him in the subject line]

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Miguel made a face at that. "Man, I'll never learn then." Math was not his favorite subject. He paused, "but maybe if I see how notes and math work I can change math into music." Maybe.

"I think you'll find it easy." She smiled to encourage him. "Maybe we can both help each other. I'm really good at math and you're really good at music."

Miguel thought about it for only a minute before he nodded. "I'd like that." Then he added a little shyly, "I'd like to surprise my family when I get back, with a song I wrote like Papa Hector."

He meant on paper because that was the only sheet music he'd seen but at that time he thought it was Ernesto's.

Her smiled widened. "I think that would be so nice! They'd really like it." That settled it for Liz. "We're both going to learn how to write the best songs ever and you can go home and surprise everyone."

Miguel was pleased with the idea and nodded his head, "deal. It's fun learning new things with someone else." He could share his excitement, where before he only had Dante to share it with.

She nodded too, then she, herself, flushed a little. "Maybe you can listen to the lyrics of my song at some point and tell me if you think what I have so far is good."

"I'd like that." Miguel said easily. "What kind of song is it? I mean have you thought about if you want it to be folk, pop, country, like that?"

When he thought about writing his own songs, it was mostly what he was used to. It would probably be classified as folk.

"Oh, um.." She hadn't figured that part out. Liz's flush remained. "It's... I guess maybe folk? Or... pop? I'm not sure of the genre." Liz hadn't really thought about it, but she ducked her head a little. "It's um.. I guess it's a love song."

Internally Miguel made an ew face, but didn't show it. Girls were okay but he didn't get the big deal about kissing and love stuff.

"For Peter?" Miguel asked assuming it was written for him. "I bet he'll like it."

She knew Miguel wasn't so keen on the whole love stuff, but she couldn't help it. Every time she sat down to try to write something, her thoughts went back to how to express her feelings to Peter.

Liz nodded. "Thanks... I know it's kind of cliche, but, I guess I can't help it." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I promise to at least try to make it a good song, okay?"

"It's okay." Miguel told her. "I don't mind. When I was learning to play the guitar by watching Ernesto DeLaCruz movies, there were a lot of love songs."

"Do you, um.. want to hear what I have? I have the first verse, I think." And the blush she had wasn't going away because she knew her voice was mediocre at best.

"Sure! I always want to hear songs." Miguel nodded and then shot her a quick grin, "even if they're love songs."

"Maybe it needs something before it... you let me know."

Now that Liz had said it, she knew she needed to sing it, but she felt the anxiety rush through her. Miguel wasn't scary and she knew he'd be nice, even if he hated it, but the song was kind of really personal and maybe he'd be embarrassed. Maybe she would be too.

Liz took a deep breath and closed her eyes - it seemed easier that way, and started to sing soft and low. Her voice, again, while able to carry a tone was painfully mediocre, but she never wanted to be famous like that anyways. Singing was more Maria's thing.

She sang a melody she didn't yet know how to put to music.

"I wanna get lost here.
I wanna throw away the map.
Escape for a few years,
From this Godforsaken path
It's everything about you,
That dares me to be rash.
I wanna get lost here."

Miguel listened carefully, and while Miguel knew it was a love song about Peter, the words could easily be about anyone or any place. When Liz had finished, he said, "it's good. I know it's about Peter but .." He nibbled on the inside of his lip as he tried to put his feelings into words.

"It could be about anyone, not just a love song. I mean that's what so great about songs, it reminds people of different things. For me that song would have been about Ernesto and the Land of the Dead, when I first got there. I just wanted to meet him and tell him I was his great great grandson - even though it turned out I wasn't. I wanted to get away from my family because they didn't understand and wanting to meet him led me to sing for the first time in front of people." He paused and then continued, "and that was really, really rash and scary."

She listened to him, surprised a little that Miguel thought singing in front of people was scary. Liz thought the same way. Just singing to Miguel was hard, even though they were friends and she knew he'd be accepting of whatever she produced. When she had done it at the restaurant in front of more people at the inn, Liz thought she was going to die.

"Did you want to stay in the Land of the Dead?" A sentence that sounded strange to say out loud.

"A little." Miguel confessed. "Not forever", he rushed on to say, "but it was kind of fun to see all that and to meet my relatives I'd never seen before except in pictures on the ofrenda."

"I get that." She nodded. "And seeing another world that has a lot of meaning to you.. it's nice to feel connected."

Liz smiled. It was kind of like here for her. Here she felt the strongest connection, even despite Maria and Alex and her parents back home. Even with Max back home.

"I met new friends there, too." He thought of Frida Kahlo that had helped his great great grandparents get back at Ernesto and Chicharron that died the final time. He wished that he could have known him before so no one living would have forgotten him.

Miguel smiled at Liz, "like meeting new friends here." Dante gave a sharp bark of agreement and licked Liz's hand.

Liz laughed softly and scratched behind Dante's ear. "Yeah. This place is definitely good for meeting new friends." She paused, looking at him. She wondered if anyone asked him this before. "You're doing okay here, right?" He might be the youngest one here, after all.

"Yeah I am. I meet with Carlos at least once a week for dinner." Miguel tells him everything that he'd doing. "And Lilith and Curnen make sure I'm doing okay, too." Sometimes he got lonely, even in a crowd of people, but it was only sometimes.

"I miss my family, but I have a lot of stories to tell them about the people I've me." He looked a little sheepish as he added, "I started writing letters home about everything even though I'm not sure if they'll come with me when I leave."

She was a little surprised by the letter admission and she leaned forward him a little. She lowered her voice just a little as if to indicate she was sharing a secret too. "I write letters too, in my journal."

Miguel didn't feel as silly about writing them since he wasn't the only one that did that. "I hope we'll be able to show our family back home some day. Like when we come back from the Other worlds, we can keep what we bring."

"I hope so. Though... I know this is going to sound really stupid." And everyone else told her not to give her hopes up, but she wanted to have hope that this could be a thing. It had to be, somehow. "but I'm kind of hoping I find a way back to when Peter is from. To his world, if it's not the same one as mine..."

"It doesn't sound stupid." Miguel shook his head. "I sometimes wish that I could go to my friends' worlds, too." He didn't want to live there like Liz did, he would miss his family too much, but he did want to visit them.

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[GP] Food for the soul

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