Burning Constellations

❁ ❁  “  Finding an alebrije isn’t as easy as you would think. Most of the time they come to you rather than the other way around.  ” She stared at him, doubtful. “  Maybe you should wait a little while….sooner o later I’m sure they’ll come to you without you needing to search for one. Besides, I think Dante does a moderate job looking after you….while I’m away.  ” Not all the time, but….eh, for the most part it worked. “  ¿How is chasing an alebrije romantic?  ” Shaking her head, she was about to be nearly done with his antics before it even began. “  When I’m taking a break, I want to take a break—not chase around & try to grab a spirit guide like pollos descabezados. The last thing that’ll be on my mind is the music playing in the background, if there’s any to begin with.  ”

"Ay, pero wouldn’t it be romantic to go out into the streets y search together? Alebrije are spirit guides y I’ve never had one. My whole time here, I always had just los perdidos. They always stayed in Shantytown, porque no one really wanted them ; they were forgotten too, you know?” Like he once was. Héctor shook his skull and reached out, bony phalanges dancing a path along her shoulder blade, tapping the very tip. “Ay, mi amor, I know that it takes time y you know how patient I am.” Ninety-six years waiting was enough to show, was it not ( not that he spent all of that time sitting still ). “Pero it’s been a long time y mine hasn’t found me. If mi alebrije really is Dante, then we keep him, pero how do we know he’s not our chamaco’s ? Hard to tell, eh? The only way to know is to find out! Y the only way to do that is to get out of this shop y explore the streets! Venga, mi amor. It will be like a little aventura. You need a break outside of this place anyway, no?”

“I’m not selling it.” Cricket’s own slender phalanges gripped the burlap over his face all the more, almost in defense against this…strange…wheel-and-deal…clearly desperate man who had been attempting to coax him into some trade.

The skeleton boy glanced warily from the hombre to the coins being presented to him and back again. Honestly if it was anything else - if he had anything else - he would have taken the offer. This place was new and strange to him - it wasn’t like he had any money to speak of.

“……And I can count,” he corrected. He was broke, not uneducated. “I’m ten.” But as far as he was concerned, you couldn’t put a number of pesos on the value of his hidden face in a place he knew nothing about. Saving your identity could be saving your life, his master had always told him. “Why would you want my mask anyways? It’s just a scrap of burlap…”

Against all odds, Héctor continued to prove his stubbornness had yet to die with the rest of him. Desperation drove him to make the weirdest decisions, though this was hardly odd in his book. No, he was always trying to come up with a creative disguise. So far, none had really worked, pero this one looked like it might.

Un chamaco o no, Héctor knew that acuñar was hard to resist. Still, the weary skeleton watched as the other seemed to think too long ; ay, why was it always the smarter ones he ran into? Pero his heart was simply too big to trick a niño for very long ; desperation did not make him heartless. Héctor crouched down, knee bones cracking as tape strained to hold his marrow together along his shin. “Listen, chico, I could REALLY use an amigo right now...”

An enthusiastic nod was given, skull clattering as one hand lifted to adjust straw sombrero on his scraggly head.

♪ Starter Call ♫

“Oye, let me guess. You can’t see me either, eh? Just my luck.”

The bridge had been dismissed y him an hour too late. Souls meant to cross the petals back to the Land of the Dead had long since returned, pero he had become too preoccupied chasing a new tune. Música did not always pull him in other directions, but this was something different ; a unique sound he had never heard before. The modern world was loco ; there was so much he had missed in the ninety-six years he had been gone y he was much too curious to stop exploring. The world he was traveling when alive was now open space for him as an esqueleto.

Pero the bridge was gone y he wasn’t sure whether to panic o worry ; each had a different response when it came to the deceased lyricist. Y, of course, no living could see him. He waved a bony hand in the other’s face with a deadpan expression, brow bones settled in a flat line.

 “I see.If it calls for it do show them what happens if you interrupt a musician’s performance.”

  He took some steps to the side eye’s never leaving the skeleton.Honestly Hector has to be one of his finest works.He caught on quickly dispute the lack of training it was like he was made for it.Compared to the failed works that attend his resort,watch his videos or the few that attend the school and camp.Placing a hand on their shoulder Blackhat continued holding his grin.

“Good,good.I will await the resorts from that…It’s been quite a few months since I plucked you from the land of the dead.How are you fairing mi amigo?…”

  His gloved hand moved from the shoulder to cup the side of the others face.Inspecting the empty socket he  had removed the eye from.

“My power should keep you from fading.But it couldn’t hurt to check.You are the first soul I’ve brought back that was on the blink of being forgotten after all…Though that should be the case now that you’ve seen your daughter right?…”

Tired as he was, the promise of being allowed to play something sinister was tempting. “Sí, Jefe. Let’s hope they don’t behave then, eh?”

For his hijita, Héctor would do anything. And he had. Desperate for a way across the bridge, for a chance to see his daughter one last time before he faded away, he would have done whatever was necessary. He had been at his wit’s end, scrambling for a thread, weary bones cracking and aching ; the end was always filled with whatever-it-takes mentality. Lucky ; he considered himself lucky that the other had shown up when he did. Where would he be without the deal to keep him tethered to the Land of the Dead ?

“Ay, I think I will be okay.”

Taller skeleton hunched just slightly, not feeling an ounce of humiliation ; Jefe never gave him reason to feel beneath him, pero he knew where they stood. More amigos than perhaps those little insectos that he called employees. Skull tilted this way y that, amber eye rolling from the left to the right, y then back. All of that time struggling y all it cost was un ojo. Héctor gave a slight sigh, phantom ribcage flexing with the act, before he scratched at scruffy hair.

“Sí Jefe. I do not think there would be a way to repay you for anything you have given to me. Pero I do the best I can to make myself useful here. Even if those tontos you have hanging around are worse than Ernesto.” He righted himself with a confident smile splitting lying jaws. Never did he lie to Black Hat, but to the others...? Well, old habits died hard ; especially when the liar was already dead.

“Mi hijita is worth every thing to me. Y I would pay any price to see her just one more time ; pero you gave me more than one time y that? I’ll never forget.” He crossed his arms behind his back, amber gaze lingering on the other.

At some point, Peter wasn’t sure when, sentient but very dead skeletons had ceased to be the strangest thing he’d ever seen. So he was quite comfortable laughing and trading slights with his newfound buddy. (Well, perhaps comfortable wasn’t the right word, there was nothing comfortable about this situation but there was something very comforting about Hector.)

“Noooo I don’t eat flies, gross.” He laughed, because really, that was a one time thing. Once. He swore.

“I web up thieves, but I don’t eat those either. I eat normal people food, yknow?” Did Hector know? Hector was a skeleton. Did skeleton’s eat? Was there like special afterlife food? Peter wasn’t sure

“Anyways, which way are we going? Left or right?” The paths looked the same to him, brightly colored streets full of smiling skeletons and beautiful clothing. Fantastic but completely overwhelming.

A chuckle left him, clattering jaws releasing the bark of a laugh he had kept restrained just beneath his sternum. He shook his head, lifting a hand to adjust worn sombrero as he let out a soft aye. It had been a long time since he’d had an amigo for so long y without strings attached. This chamaco that had wandered across the bridges y into the Land of the Dead ; how Héctor was lucky enough to come across someone like him, he would never know. Pero there they were y here he was.

“Sí, pero spiders eat them, no ?”

In truth, Peter’s story was muy interesante. Héctor had never thought of wearing one of those suits ; so fancy, like a luchador. The mask y suit was a mixture of art y something the boy called tech. “Normal people food? Oye, what’s that supposed to mean, eh ? I eat normal food too, you know!” His laugh quickly followed as weary skeleton settled back upon the crate, elbows settling into the dips of bony knees. “Pero we’ll have to get you some of that normal food soon, sabes? You haven’t eaten today.”

Skeletal hand reached out, bony phalanges tangling in hair before it pulled away. Tall skeleton moved to stand, though his spine slouched with fatigue. “Sí sí . That’s right. We were going somewhere.” He tapped his chin, bony index knocking gently. Right. They needed to get Peter out of here y back to his Tía. Pero Héctor couldn’t take the left pathway, even if it was the fastest. He didn’t have the acuñar for the vendor always posted. “Aver aver aver...” Amber gaze landed back on the teen, smile twisting upward as he reached out to gently nudge his back, patting as he guided him. He pointed ahead, a nervous chuckle masked as amusement.

♪ Starter Call ♫

“Weeeell, I guess you could say that, pero who’s really counting the acuñar, eh?”

Héctor had a track record. Although known as one of the only esqueletos that always wore a smile while walking the docks of Shantytown, he was infamous for his trouble-stirring actions. And though the phantom heart within his ribcage was meant to give good intention, the method to his madness was less than organized. Bony phalanges pushed a few of the coins within his marrowed palm, amber gaze lingering over the clearly short amount. Hopefully, he pushed the coins around before he clutched them within his palm, other hand resting on the rise of bony hip, skull tipped upward with confidence.