❅good luck. ❅

ΨThanks.Ψ

*She tries for a smile, but it is only barely recognisable as one*

❅…those places don’t usually…❅

Oh the ones in Mictlan aren’t like the ones in heaven. I’m gonna take Ika to a fancy tea place when we get back from vacation if you wanna come.

*Slow nod*

☁︎︎Awww☁︎︎

*She just stares at Az, completely deadpan*

She’d be good at it. Give her a dagger and sword and teach her how to beat someone four times her size and she’ll be set.

*She muffles a laugh*

*Squint*

*She mumbles something before walking on the ceiling to the window and phasing through the wall*

Oh-

*She comes back in, dragging Vince by the ear*

[☕︎No fire. ☕︎]

*shrug*

ΨWanna come check it out? I’ll kick mom off the shopping trip.Ψ

*elizabeth nods*

*the light flickers around Vince’s ear again and he glares at Elizabeth*

*Vince walks over to Atlas*

*Atlas leads the way outside and through a portal to Mictlan. Quinn immediately runs into a buffet place.*

*Vince sticks half a step behind Atlas.*

ΨThis is the general area that most of our shopping gets done. I always do cold stuff last so that’ll be like ice cream and blood and stuffΨ

*Nod*

*He follows*

[☕︎Why? ☕︎]

ΨI was gonna buy some, and I’d be a shitty dude if I got for me and not youΨ

*He gets out a packet and shows it to Atlas*

*Shrug*

ΨIt’s nice to have a break every once in a while. That’s why I like shopping.Ψ

*Slow nod*

ΨYou liked the coffee syrups right?Ψ

[☕︎Vanilla, yes. ☕︎]

ΨThere’s a whole bunch of vanilla stuff here. We’ll stock upΨ

*head tilt*

ΨThere’s vanilla roasted coffee beans, fudge-if you can think of it there’s probably a vanilla version somewhere in hereΨ

*Slow nod*

ΨVanilla is fun. Yknow I bet we could get some vanilla beans and make something with ‘emΨ

[☕︎A house fire. ☕︎]

ΨProbably. I think we’d do better trying to make paint or something out of them.Ψ

*nod*

*Shrug*

*Atlas just tosses a few of everything into the cart*

*Vince shifts from foot to foot, unable to stay still*

ΨAh, fairΨ

*Nod*

ΨAny way I can help?Ψ

☕︎Doubt it. ☕︎

ΨNothing? No food or blood or anything?Ψ

☕︎You said blood was last. ☕︎

ΨYeah for stuff in the cart so it doesn’t go bad with how long we stay in here but if you’re gonna drink it that’s differentΨ

*Shrug*

*he shrugs*

*Vince takes it off of the counter wordlessly*

*Atlas pays and bites into his bag*

*The bag and Vince blip out of existence for less than half a second*

*Atlas sips his*

*When Vince returns to view, his bag is empty*

ΨMore or are you done?Ψ

[☕︎I’ll be fine. ☕︎]

*Atlas buys another three bags*

*He doesn’t touch any of them*

ΨYours.Ψ

*vince only takes one, disappearing and reappearing in the same manner as before*

*Nod*

ΨGoodΨ

*He shrugs*

ΨBack to shopping now?Ψ

*nod*

[☕︎Didnt you get a list? ☕︎]

ΨYeah so I just get extra of those things. But you see there’s always a random thing someone forgot to mention but they desperately want and if I don’t obtain it they’ll be silently disappointedΨ

*slow nod*

ΨSo we get everything. Times three.Ψ

[☕︎What if nobody eats it? ☕︎]

ΨThen we take it places until it does get eatenΨ

*slow nod*

ΨBesides, big family, almost everything gets eaten.Ψ

*Shrug*

*He goes into the cold section next*

*Vince follows silently*

ΨOooo blood popsicles!Ψ

*Head tilt*

ΨI love these things.Ψ

*nod*

ΨDeal. Wanna hold my earrings or do you wanna throw my stilettos at him?Ψ

*Head tilt*

*Slow nod*

*Vince just watches blankly*

*Side-eye*

[☕︎Bitch is trying to get me murdered by Death, I swear. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Oh please everyone knows Az is a whimp. A toddler could take that asshole in a fight and probably win.⚠︎︎

[☕︎I didn’t mention Death going for a fair fight. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎You’ll be fine. Why are you getting murdered anyways?⚠︎︎

*He gestures vaguely at the fight*

⚠︎︎But that has literally nothing to do with you?⚠︎︎

[☕︎He started the fight because the guy was looking at me weird. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Checks out. Still don’t think that’s gonna get you fucked up.⚠︎︎

*He rolls his eyes*

⚠︎︎Are those his shoes in your cart-oh. Family?⚠︎︎

[☕︎My future brother-in-law. ☕︎]

*Confused stare*

⚠︎︎Word travels fast when there’s a family group chat and your sister is spamming it with ‘NEW FAMILY FAVORITE AND HE HAS A CAT’⚠︎︎

[☕︎Lynx. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Oh nice. I’ll help you out cause I kinda feel bad for you being stuck with my family. This is normal, Atlas does this way too much. You aren’t allowed in the crossfire because you’re new plus no marked safe adults here plus Las isn’t supposed to be letting younger siblings near danger. Az will probably do the disappointed sigh thing and try to ignore this happened⚠︎︎

*Slow nod*

⚠︎︎See the new thing is because the adults don’t know all the safe things or like what’s allowed and then if something does happen and you get hurt and someone makes it worse on accident Xipe might accidentally flip out and kill them.⚠︎︎

[☕︎Weird. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎I guess. I’m Mari by the way. Yes the porcelain does break and yes I can feel pain and no I can’t see you. Those are the usual questions anything else?⚠︎︎

[☕︎…How are you understanding sign language without being able to see? ☕︎]

⚠︎︎I can see I just can’t see you. People and animals just blur into eldritch thingys and my brain interprets the rest. The same thing goes for any audio or whatever the fuck⚠︎︎

[☕︎communication? ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Yeah that.⚠︎︎

*Nod*

*She hops a little*

⚠︎︎Yeah. Oooo is that vanilla fudge!⚠︎︎

*nod*

⚠︎︎Where is that-help me find more!⚠︎︎

*Sigh*

*nod*

*She runs off*

*Back to watching the fight*

*Vaguely amused*

[☕︎Small child came, bullied you, is looking for fudge now. ☕︎]

ΨInteresting. Mari?Ψ

*nod*

ΨShe’s fun. Mom is terrified of herΨ

*Head tilt*

ΨThat little gremlin is probably the only person that you’ll meet in our immediate family who would actually hurt or kill you if you piss her off too much. Everyone is at least a little scared of her.Ψ

[☕︎She seemed harmless… except about your mother. ☕︎]

ΨShe killed her sister for sleeping in her spot on the couch.Ψ

*Shrug*

ΨTry not to get murdered.Ψ

[☕︎Where’s the fun in that? ☕︎]

*Approving nod*

[☕︎You can have the ones with dairy. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Okay!⚠︎︎

*nod*

*She puts all the non-dairy ones in Vince’s cart*

[☕︎Thank you. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Welcome⚠︎︎

*He glances to Atlas like he’s proving a point*

*vince eats one of the pieces Mari gave him*

*It’s perfectly fine. Atlas hesitantly tries his piece and immediately chokes*

*eyebrow raise*

[☕︎I guess I will tell Mitichó you hate fudge? ☕︎]

*Confused blink*

*Atlas just nods and chokes some more*

*Vince pulls out his phone, texts someone, then eats another piece of fudge for good measure*

*nod*

*Atlas starts out of the store, trying not to get blood on anything*

*Vince vanishes any blood that Atlas misses as he follows*

*He doesn’t go inside, but he also doesn’t walk off*

*Atlas heads in*

*Raphael is in the waiting room, with a very pissed off child who is obviously from Mictlan*

*She hisses at him, the noise distorted and hurts Atlas’ ears. Raphael sighs*

*He just tilts his head*

+Don signed me up to babysit for a friend. She managed to break her wrist and is refusing to see any of the healers except one specific one, who is out of office, but also refusing to leave without being healed because that’s ’not how it works’+

ΨHealers name. Now.Ψ

+Get your throat fixed before starting something, or I’ll tell your mother.+

ΨKid first. Healers name.Ψ

*Tired glare*

*She points to one*

*Atlas finds the healer in his phone and calls them*

*They don’t pick up*

*Raphael sighs, but leaves the office after mumbling something to the child*

*Atlas sits down.*

*the child watches him warily*

*One of the healers walks over and Atlas growls.*

*She curls in on herself*

*She stays exactly the same*

*Shrug*

ΨMy one little sister wants to be a knight. Is there anything that you wanna be?Ψ

🐚…firefighter.🐚

ΨThat’s so cool. Firefighters keep us all safe, we need more of you guys.Ψ

*nod*

*He smiles a little, wiping the blood the drips from his lips*

*Raphael returns, looking like he’s been in a fight, with the healer in tow*

ΨNot until she’s okay.Ψ

*The child seems much more at ease with the healer than she was with Atlas, and the healer surrounds her hand with magic, which solidifies to form a cast*

*Approving nod. Atlas gets up and goes into another room*

*Raphael and Ana aren’t there when Atlas comes back out*

*Atlas looks for the healer*

*Theyre sat with a cup of coffee*

ΨI have to repay you for helping. I really appreciate it. What do you want?Ψ

🩺For my next date to not be ruined by an abyss creature showing up and dragging me out of my home.🩺

ΨYeah…sorry. Is there anything I can do or get you or..?Ψ

🩺A ride home, maybe? The bus isn’t exactly… great this time of night.🩺

ΨYeah of course.Ψ

*They nod*

ΨI’ll get a car or carriage or something.Ψ

🩺Thanks.🩺

*Atlas heads back out the door*

*Vince is covered in angel blood*

ΨAre you okay? Did you get hurt? I’ll kill somebody-Ψ

[☕︎The blood isn’t mine. ☕︎]

ΨNone it it? You swear?Ψ

*nod*

ΨYou okay with hugs?Ψ

[☕︎No. ☕︎]

ΨThat’s why I asked, glad you’re okay. We gotta take a healer home. Or I do, you don’t have to come.Ψ

*He walks to the pottery shop as the healer comes outside*

ΨStay in the area I’ll be back real soon!Ψ

*Vince waves him off*

🩺Your brother?🩺

ΨOne of them, yeah.Ψ

🩺He looked hurt, did he get into a fight?🩺

ΨHe said the bloods not his, and yeah I’m assuming he didΨ

*nod*

ΨNo healer can touch that kid. So I hope he was telling the truth. Car’s over here.Ψ

*They nod, getting in*

ΨOkay where am I going?Ψ

*they give directions until they’re outside an apartment building*

ΨYou good from here?Ψ

🩺Yep, should be.🩺

ΨAlrighty. I gotta puke in the trash can real quick then I’ll be headed out.Ψ

*They nod, and get out of the car*

❅good luck. ❅

ΨThanks.Ψ

*She tries for a smile, but it is only barely recognisable as one*

❅…those places don’t usually…❅

Oh the ones in Mictlan aren’t like the ones in heaven. I’m gonna take Ika to a fancy tea place when we get back from vacation if you wanna come.

*Slow nod*

☁︎︎Awww☁︎︎

*She just stares at Az, completely deadpan*

She’d be good at it. Give her a dagger and sword and teach her how to beat someone four times her size and she’ll be set.

*She muffles a laugh*

*Squint*

*She mumbles something before walking on the ceiling to the window and phasing through the wall*

Oh-

*She comes back in, dragging Vince by the ear*

[☕︎No fire. ☕︎]

*shrug*

ΨWanna come check it out? I’ll kick mom off the shopping trip.Ψ

*elizabeth nods*

*the light flickers around Vince’s ear again and he glares at Elizabeth*

*Vince walks over to Atlas*

*Atlas leads the way outside and through a portal to Mictlan. Quinn immediately runs into a buffet place.*

*Vince sticks half a step behind Atlas.*

ΨThis is the general area that most of our shopping gets done. I always do cold stuff last so that’ll be like ice cream and blood and stuffΨ

*Nod*

*He follows*

[☕︎Why? ☕︎]

ΨI was gonna buy some, and I’d be a shitty dude if I got for me and not youΨ

*He gets out a packet and shows it to Atlas*

*Shrug*

ΨIt’s nice to have a break every once in a while. That’s why I like shopping.Ψ

*Slow nod*

ΨYou liked the coffee syrups right?Ψ

[☕︎Vanilla, yes. ☕︎]

ΨThere’s a whole bunch of vanilla stuff here. We’ll stock upΨ

*head tilt*

ΨThere’s vanilla roasted coffee beans, fudge-if you can think of it there’s probably a vanilla version somewhere in hereΨ

*Slow nod*

ΨVanilla is fun. Yknow I bet we could get some vanilla beans and make something with ‘emΨ

[☕︎A house fire. ☕︎]

ΨProbably. I think we’d do better trying to make paint or something out of them.Ψ

*nod*

*Shrug*

*Atlas just tosses a few of everything into the cart*

*Vince shifts from foot to foot, unable to stay still*

ΨAh, fairΨ

*Nod*

ΨAny way I can help?Ψ

☕︎Doubt it. ☕︎

ΨNothing? No food or blood or anything?Ψ

☕︎You said blood was last. ☕︎

ΨYeah for stuff in the cart so it doesn’t go bad with how long we stay in here but if you’re gonna drink it that’s differentΨ

*Shrug*

*he shrugs*

*Vince takes it off of the counter wordlessly*

*Atlas pays and bites into his bag*

*The bag and Vince blip out of existence for less than half a second*

*Atlas sips his*

*When Vince returns to view, his bag is empty*

ΨMore or are you done?Ψ

[☕︎I’ll be fine. ☕︎]

*Atlas buys another three bags*

*He doesn’t touch any of them*

ΨYours.Ψ

*vince only takes one, disappearing and reappearing in the same manner as before*

*Nod*

ΨGoodΨ

*He shrugs*

ΨBack to shopping now?Ψ

*nod*

[☕︎Didnt you get a list? ☕︎]

ΨYeah so I just get extra of those things. But you see there’s always a random thing someone forgot to mention but they desperately want and if I don’t obtain it they’ll be silently disappointedΨ

*slow nod*

ΨSo we get everything. Times three.Ψ

[☕︎What if nobody eats it? ☕︎]

ΨThen we take it places until it does get eatenΨ

*slow nod*

ΨBesides, big family, almost everything gets eaten.Ψ

*Shrug*

*He goes into the cold section next*

*Vince follows silently*

ΨOooo blood popsicles!Ψ

*Head tilt*

ΨI love these things.Ψ

*nod*

ΨDeal. Wanna hold my earrings or do you wanna throw my stilettos at him?Ψ

*Head tilt*

*Slow nod*

*Vince just watches blankly*

*Side-eye*

[☕︎Bitch is trying to get me murdered by Death, I swear. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Oh please everyone knows Az is a whimp. A toddler could take that asshole in a fight and probably win.⚠︎︎

[☕︎I didn’t mention Death going for a fair fight. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎You’ll be fine. Why are you getting murdered anyways?⚠︎︎

*He gestures vaguely at the fight*

⚠︎︎But that has literally nothing to do with you?⚠︎︎

[☕︎He started the fight because the guy was looking at me weird. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Checks out. Still don’t think that’s gonna get you fucked up.⚠︎︎

*He rolls his eyes*

⚠︎︎Are those his shoes in your cart-oh. Family?⚠︎︎

[☕︎My future brother-in-law. ☕︎]

*Confused stare*

⚠︎︎Word travels fast when there’s a family group chat and your sister is spamming it with ‘NEW FAMILY FAVORITE AND HE HAS A CAT’⚠︎︎

[☕︎Lynx. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Oh nice. I’ll help you out cause I kinda feel bad for you being stuck with my family. This is normal, Atlas does this way too much. You aren’t allowed in the crossfire because you’re new plus no marked safe adults here plus Las isn’t supposed to be letting younger siblings near danger. Az will probably do the disappointed sigh thing and try to ignore this happened⚠︎︎

*Slow nod*

⚠︎︎See the new thing is because the adults don’t know all the safe things or like what’s allowed and then if something does happen and you get hurt and someone makes it worse on accident Xipe might accidentally flip out and kill them.⚠︎︎

[☕︎Weird. ☕︎]

⚠︎︎I guess. I’m Mari by the way. Yes the porcelain does break and yes I can feel pain and no I can’t see you. Those are the usual questions anything else?⚠︎︎

[☕︎…How are you understanding sign language without being able to see? ☕︎]

⚠︎︎I can see I just can’t see you. People and animals just blur into eldritch thingys and my brain interprets the rest. The same thing goes for any audio or whatever the fuck⚠︎︎

[☕︎communication? ☕︎]

⚠︎︎Yeah that.⚠︎︎

*Nod*

*She hops a little*

⚠︎︎Yeah. Oooo is that vanilla fudge!⚠︎︎

*nod*

⚠︎︎Where is that-help me find more!⚠︎︎

*Sigh*

*nod*

*She runs off*

*Back to watching the fight*

*Vaguely amused*

[☕︎Small child came, bullied you, is looking for fudge now. ☕︎]

ΨInteresting. Mari?Ψ

*nod*

ΨShe’s fun. Mom is terrified of herΨ

*Head tilt*

ΨThat little gremlin is probably the only person that you’ll meet in our immediate family who would actually hurt or kill you if you piss her off too much. Everyone is at least a little scared of her.Ψ

[☕︎She seemed harmless… except about your mother. ☕︎]

ΨShe killed her sister for sleeping in her spot on the couch.Ψ