[CLOSED] Family means nobody gets left behind

[escuchando]

WHO: Dolores and Bruno Madrigal
WHERE: Casita
WHEN: Some time late February
WHAT: Breakfast!
WARNINGS: Noted as required

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[Meal time was always family time in the Madrigal household, and breakfast was no exception. Abuela insisted on such things and although Dolores had never truly minded it - she does love her family, after all - being in Kaisou has given her the opportunity to experience something truly novel.

Sleeping in.

Though it isn't an indulgence she lets herself have too often, this morning she wakes up late and stretches the last threads of weariness out of her body before she gets up. With Tía Julieta around it's all but guaranteed that no one will ever go hungry, so of course there is something left for her to eat. But when she hears in a passing comment from someone walking by that Bruno had also not been present at breakfast, she needs only a moment to consider her options.

Bruno's door had been a forbidden thing for almost as long as Dolores could remember. Never spoken of, it was as if everyone tried to ignore that it existed. And going through it? Unthinkable, until Mirabel had done just that. Now, it glows in the same soft way as every enchanted door in the house and although she feels a twinge of trepidation at doing so, she turns the knob and pushes the door open.

And beyond... a curtain of sand that parts in an almost friendly manner to let her through when she approaches. A wide, open hall, a bridge, and--]

Ay Dios mío.

[Stairs.

And it's so high! Would he even hear her if she called out?

But then-- ah, wait! Call! Dolores pats the pockets of her skirt quickly and pulls out the funny little communications device that she was given on her arrival here. She prods at it until she finds her ongoing conversation with her uncle and then, looking up at the high... very high spiral of stairs, she calls him.

And, as soon as he picks up.]

Good morning, Tío. I'm-- uhm, in your room. At the bottom of the all of these stairs. Would you like to have breakfast with me?

Comments

[escuchando]

The kitchen still smells amazing.

[Stress cooking. Yes. Dolores would agree with that had he said it aloud, though she doesn't really think of it unprompted. Her thoughts are on her uncle right now; how surreal it still is to have him right here and not just a voice muttering inside the walls.

So they leave the room, head down the steps, and over to the kitchen where what is left from the family breakfast that morning is still sitting out ready to be eaten. Dolores had at least warmed everything up before she had come to collect her uncle, so there needs to be no waiting on hungry stomachs.]

I'll make tea, so... help yourself! Just leave some for me, okay?

[wedonttalkabout]

It always does when she's in it.

[He's worried about her. She doesn't have Agustín here to lean back on. No Pepa either. She's just got him and as strong as their bond is, he's also been missing out of her life for a decade. He can't help but feel he's...lacking for her. For all of them really. They needed their brother and uncle in a strange world and he's bearly in a place where he's capable and willing to step outside all that much yet. He really wants to do better by them, even if he doesn't know how to.

He takes a step inside, pauses, rummages around in his ruana, and pulls out a couple of rats, which he places carefully on the floor.]

Sorry guys, you know the rules. I'll save you something.

[The rats squeak and scurry off, almost as if they understood him. He moves to take a seat, grabbing some food and adding it to a plate. ]

It's kinda nice to be able to eat meals hot again.

[escuchando]

[She tilts her head a little in his direction when he sees off the rats, though she could have kept her silence had he decided to keep them in the kitchen. Perhaps just not on the table.

Dolores sets the kettle on the stove while Bruno keeps speaking and her hand lingers on the handle and she stares at the wall for a moment. Her lower lip draws in between her teeth, but when she turns around her expression is fixed into a warm smile.]

I bet it is. [The young woman is quiet while she gets some breakfast and she sets the plate down without sitting.]

... Did you know that I knew you were still here? [She asks then. She tries to keep her tone light, sliding onto her seat but keeping half an ear on the heating water.] Hearing you in the walls every day... it was like having my own secret friend for ten years.

[wedonttalkabout]

[Julieta would have known there's no hiding things from Julieta. Especially concerning her kitchen. He leaves Dolores working away, giving her the peace of some silence while she does it- he knows her Gift isn't what it once was, but it still has to be nice to have things not be so...loud, right?

He glances over at her, surprised. He had kind of figured at some point she had to have heard him- it would be impossible for her not to, no matter how quiet he was. But having it laid out plain as day was...not what he was expecting. But the my own secret friend is what really makes a wrench in his chest. ]

Oh- really? Hah. I hope I wasn't a...bad one? [Because wow he had a WHOLE BUNCH of breakdowns in those walls. ]

[escuchando]

[The only really nice thing about the problems with her gift is the silence. After years of hearing everything going on for miles around herself, just being able to concentrate on the sounds in the kitchen is a wonderful thing. Her uncle's choice to be silent is noted, too, and appreciated.

But they had never really talked, had they. Dolores' tendency to hold herself a little distant from the rest of the family notwithstanding, approaching Bruno had always felt a bit... odd.]

No. [She chuckles faintly, shakes her head.] Sometimes... I wondered what you might do if I talked back. If you knew that I knew. [Dolores starts picking at her breakfast, keeping her eyes down.]

But I didn't want to drive you away completely. I know that you... did what you did because it felt like the only choice you could make.

[wedonttalkabout]

[He chuckles- it's a sad, awkward little sound- as he rubs the back of his neck. ]

Probably some panicked screaming at first? I kinda thought I'd...stealthily got away with it.

[Obviously he had not and he knew that was impossible, really. But he knows everyone in the family was lonely. Hurting. Maybe he could have reached out to her. Made the whole thing more bearable. Hell, he knew how many years Dolores had been in pain, watching the boy she loved fawn over her cousin. He'd seen it coming long before it came to be. ]

I did. I...I don't think it was the right one...in hindsight. But I guess that's...just a lesson to learn. I'm- it might have done us both a little better, if we'd both reached out, huh?

[escuchando]

[She gives him a 'look' when he says he thought he got away with it. When it came to everyone but Dolores he certainly had, and maybe at some point over the years she should have said something even if it was only to him. Just a few words to let him know he wasn't alone. But the weight of carrying the knowledge that he was still in the house had grown heavier over the years, to the point where it felt like the secret was stifling her.

It was a relief, now, to not have to keep that quiet anymore.

Dolores only smiles - softly and gently - and looks down at her food.]

Maybe it would. I thought about you a lot. [Another mouthful, thoughtfully chewed and swallowed, then the kettle begins to whistle and she pushes herself up from her chair.]

But we have time now, right? You don't have to hide anymore.

[wedonttalkabout]

[He does manage a marginally abashed look in return. Look, he didn't think about it at the time. For someone who can see into the future, Bruno has an insane lack of foresight into his own actions. He stills, trying to ignore the bite of guilt.

He hid away to protect Mirabel, thinking he wouldn't be missed anyway, as much as it hurt him to 'leave'. But this is clearly wrong. He was missed. Dreadfully.]

I thought about you, too.

[He'd missed all of them so very dreadfully. He hated being in the walls. But at the time he couldn't see any other way out. ]

You're right, I don't have to hide anymore. We've got all the time in the world now.

[escuchando]

[Dolores smiles to herself as she sets about making the tea for them both. It just feels so normal to have Bruno sat with her, but then Dolores has always known that he was sitting right there with them every meal time since the day he vanished. Having him on this side of the wall instead of the other is just a step up in the situation as far as she's concerned.

She puts the tea together quickly and brings the teapot and cups back to the table, sitting down again with a soft exhale.]

I could ask you to tell me more about what I've missed, but... [Well, she knows almost all of it, doesn't she? Her lips purse for a moment and she shrugs.]

I don't know. You probably noticed I don't really talk a lot at meal times.

[wedonttalkabout]

[It's MUCH better to be on this side of the wall again. Awkward as it is sometimes, navigating dealing with people again, this is much better than the yearning. Than missing them while being only a heartbeat away from them all.]

There's not a lot to tell. You...probably know more than most people.

[Even all the ugly, horrible parts where he talked to himself in an attempt to break the silence around him- even if he didn't always have the...nicest things to say to himself.]

I did. I kinda assumed you were just...listening.

[Because that was Dolores. She never spoke, she listened. ]

[escuchando]

[She knows what he means and just smiles a little awkwardly in acknowledgement. It's true, she had heard more than perhaps she should have and more than he would have wanted her to, but wasn't that the case for everyone? Very little happened without Dolores hearing about it.]

I suppose I was.

[Listening. Always listening. It's all she feels she ever seems to do.]

But I think... it's nice to talk, too. When there aren't so many people around. [And she has said it before, but she will say it again.] I'm glad you're here, Tío Bruno.

[wedonttalkabout]

[She needs to be able to do more than just listen, he will stand by that. They all need to be more than their Gifts, difficult as it is to make that transition. ]

Yeah, it is nice to talk. And...it's good to talk to you [That needs to be said!] I'm glad you're here too, Dolores.