talking to ghosts

[ninjavampire]

Who: Miggy & You??
What: Miguel stays behind to do dead honoring activities
Where: the Pole to start
When: Late October, Early November (Day of the Dead time)
Warnings/Notes: themes of mourning, though it can be lighthearted also

Miguel would be reluctantly absent during the action around Halloween. A strange enough decision, given his first instinct would be to throw himself into the fray as a distraction.

But as of late, he couldn’t hide that something was eating at him. The gloomy spell over his mood seemed more intense than months prior, burning away his patience and making short tempered remarks and the flashing of fangs more easy to let slip. He'd done okay keeping things somewhat under lock, but it was clear now something was definitely wrong.

And so, after some tense, but persuasive conversation just convincing enough to accept staying behind, Miguel finds himself idle on a quieter and lonelier Pole for a few days.

((prompts incoming - brackets or prose are fine))

Comments

[ninjavampire]

He blinks back for a moment, puzzled. His first thought is that human memory, even excellent memory, was still flawed. That's why it's important to document. But the hastily written notes remind him that Dan mentioned not being a fan of writing much, and he puts together the picture of why he was doing things this way.

Miguel was shipped off to an academy since he was 10. It ruined the relationship with his mother, for one. It also left a pretty big blind spot when it came to ways of doing things that were outside of his usual, rigid structure. That didn't mean Dan's way was wrong if it worked for him. There was a lot of intent and thought put into his work.

"Here I was wondering if you were saving the extra large one for the husband." he says, dryly. A little humor never hurt.

"I'd have more questions if we were dealing with a harder material, but with wood there is room to feel it out as you go." he says. "The mechanism here is very elegant."

There is elegance in things that are designed at just the right amount of complexity.

[hallelujahjunction]

“He gets the gift of my company,” Dan says, smiling. “He don’t do Christmas much. Thinks it’s an overrated holiday.”

He sees as Miguel reads between the lines, and he’s grateful that there’s no derision. He knows they come from different worlds in this regard, and overall, the world is structured assuming Miguel’s level and type of competence and not Dan’s.

“Thank you. If you don’t see nothing that looks evidently wrong, I’m going to start placing saw to wood.”

[ninjavampire]

“It looks good.”

At least, with Miguel’s very blunt way of talking to others, the sparse compliments sprinkled in between have their authentic shine to them.

Dan had most certainly earned his, in his own way. He starts to get up - if the power tools were about to be turned on… well, enhanced senses came with their drawbacks.

Maybe it was time for him to find another task for the altar.

[hallelujahjunction]

“I appreciate it.”

Dan, being married to someone with heightened hearing, anticipates Miguel’s concern. An electric saw would be easier, but he doesn’t want to be rude and drive Miguel off, so he gets the clamp set up and his safety gloves on and starts to use his analog hand saw. There’s still the sound of sawing, but it isn’t the terrible whine of a power tool. It’s an accommodation he’s happy to make without drawing attention to it.

[ninjavampire]

Dan may not have drawn attention to it, but Miguel takes note. For the first time in a while, he is confronted with the thought that someone else might like to keep him around. And did so with an uncanny attention to detail.

Dan wants him there. For whatever reason. Despite the inconvenience.

He settles down then, for now. Perhaps he can get some painting done, after all.