Tamales Fix Everything

Maker of the best tacos this side of the Mexican border.

[therawend]

Thera shifted her head back and forth, “I wouldn’t say that…I could crack your thread open and have a look but I don’t think either of us want that,” it was an offhanded joke, “I more just know that you brought something with you.” Before the boy could go searching his pockets Thera stuck a hand out, “and no I don’t think it’s physical, I think you’ve brought me something more…arcane than that.”

She led the way over to the sitting room area of the store where she had left a pot of té de canela brewing, how opportune, she prepared two mugs before going to sit in the arm chair beside the Diego, “So tell me a little bit about whatever’s cause that lump on your thread Diego?” and she took a sip of her tea.

[therediegogoes]

Lump on his thread? He thought to himself, this was more like a lump on his soul. He hadn't really wanted to think about the vision he had when he touched Jude, heck he didn't want to think about Jude at all. He might not have known Jude all to well but there was something between them, definitely, But there was no way of exploring that. His heart hurt.

"Umm," Diego mumbled as he sat down, he could smell the canela from the pot and smiled weakly as he remembered his abuela, another person he loved that was dead. "I had this vision and I don't know what it means. The only person that I thought could help me... he isn't here anymore." He sat down across from the shop owner and took a sip of the tea that was handed to him, his soul felt lighter as the tea brought him back to cool winter nights in Mexico.

[necrobabexx]

Mara noticed the boy tailing her, and altered her path slightly, heading to Obsidian rather than home. He didn't carry himself like a hunter, too obvious, but it was always better not to confront someone in unknown territory. Besides, if she led him home Eris would probably eat him, and she was curious why he was interested in her and if Eris ate him that would take all the fun of mystery away.

Slipping into the bar was easy, it had become a regular haunt of hers after the young El-Amin had taken over. The atmosphere suited her, and it had enough of a reputation that even if she did run into a student, it wasn't somewhere most would feel comfortable approaching her at. She snagged a table close to the door, waving a hello to the server who likely knew her regular order by now, and waited. To his credit, the boy didn't leave her waiting long, just time enough for the server to deliver her drink, and then he appeared in the doorway. She used the time he took to orient himself to observe him, trying to place his face, to see if she could ascertain why he is following her. Mara leaned back in her chair, drumming her nails against the table as she watched him scan the room before spotting her. She waited until she saw the flash of recognition in the young man's eyes before speaking, grinning wolfishly as she asked, "Can I help you, boy?"

[therediegogoes]

"Ay, Dios mio!" Diego lets out, slipping into Spanish while his heart rate calms down. The woman seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He knew she was in the building, he had followed her in, stupidly, but he hadn't thought about if the building was hexed or charmed to protect the people inside. He knew he shouldn't run into things without thinking but the prospect of getting the grimoire seemed too enticing.

"I'm so sorry for barging in here," he blurted out, "it just I need help talking to a dead person and you're the only person I could think of." his heart was no longer trying to escape but he felt cold. Like someone had sucked all the heat from the air and opened a freezer.

[autumnshowell]

Standing and staring, her eyes darting from his wriggling hands to his concentrating expression and then back again while he makes lights dance out of his hands. She thinks back to the woods in Macleay, when Summer had shown her their family's magic; a warm glow coming out of a dead sprig as it blossomed back to life in her hand.

There are a few blinks, and a look around, as if to make sure nobody's looking, and then she nods, slowly.

"I can't even be surprised." She thinks.

Autumn looks back to the stacks of music, thumbing through them idly, even if she's not actually looking anymore. "I won't tell anyone," she says, looking back up to Diego after a moment. "I get hiding it, but you don't have to. My sister is, too."

She feels, though, like her skin is suddenly too tight. Should she tell Diego her own secret? They're not exactly one-to-one facets. She meets him halfway. "You're not the only one with secrets."

[therediegogoes]

Diego wasn't surprised that Autumn told him about her sister, he knew the other Phial witches and knew that there were other witches in town, other covens, but he didn't think that Autumn was going to be able to one up him with a secret of his own.

He looked at her expectantly. There was something scratching under his skin that told him there was something magic going on with Autumn. There wasn't the standard flow of magic that gave away witches, but there was something. "You have magic too?" He asked excitedly, wanting to know what she specialized in.

[autumnshowell]

She picks up a sudden sour note in the air as he continues, like he's unsure, and Autumn wonders if she's been a bit too forward with singing Jude's praises - Diego suddenly seems a little timid, more quiet than usual, and like he feels like maybe he's overstepped. Then he follows up.

"Weird?"

It's then that she notices something else - something she's always had in the back of her mind but hadn't quite had the means or the reasons to piece things together, that sweet-floral scent she gets around people like AJ or Ashlyn. "Like how?"

[therediegogoes]

"I tried..." Diego started but the words fell apart in his mouth. She was looking at him like she already knew what he was going to say but there was no way she could guess this, was there?

"Weird like this..." Diego sighed as he waved his hands slightly forcing runes to form in the air before cutting off the flow of his magic and letting the symbols glow slightly before shimmering out of existence. The spell is simple but he hopes the meaning gets across. He'd never cast a spell before someone out side of the coven or his family before so he felt significantly self-conscious as he revealed this aspect of his life to his oldest Port Leiry friend. "I'm a witch."

[therawend]

Thera looked up from the inventory she was taking which seemed suspiciously sparce on cinnamon. “Oh you’re here, don’t worry most people are entirely about how they come through those doors.” The corners of her mouth kicked up at her joke, if she had a nickel for every time someone wandered into her presence with entirely no idea how they had come to be there she’d be a, well, an even richer woman than she already was…..she wondered if she’d get a bonus for if an animal showed up.

She had suspected someone was coming, the birds had been extra antsy today but they hadn’t brought her anything harbinger shaped. So, she suspected this visitor was carrying something of his own.

She rounded the character and extended a hand, “Hello I’m Thera Wendell, resident witch and I own this store, would you like a cup of tea?”

[therediegogoes]

"Uhm," Diego stammered, "Sure?" The woman was warm, warmer than Diego thought she would be but he should have expected things wouldn't be as they seemed. Everything inside the store seemed to try to make him relax and he really wanted to let all the stress out but between the visions and the magic failure, he still had things gnawing at the back of his head.

"I'm Diego," He said as he shook her hands and felt the same feeling from his vision with Jude take over before settling in a pit in his stomach. "I guess you know why I'm here?" Something scratched the back of his head and told him that he could trust this woman. Nothing bad was going to happen to him.

[therediegogoes]

@necrobabexx

outside obisidan

Diego had been following the witch for a few minutes. He didn't start off the night with the intent of being a stalker but after seeing her, he needed to get some answers.

His abuela had left the hacienda to a Mexican Heritage Preservation group so he can't be mad about that but she hadn't told him where she left her grimoire. It had been left to him in her will but when he went through her things, it was nowhere to be seen. The phial witches had told him about her. A witch that specialized with death.

He had heard other whispers about the witch, that's the reason he's keeping a solid fifty foot gap between her and him. He's doing his best trying to keep to the shadows without letting her get too far but every time she rounds a corner and breaks line of sight, he almost loses her.

I have to get better at tailing people, Diego thought to himself as he watches the woman enter a building through a lamplit back door. Diego rushed across the street as he prepped a lockpicking spell with his hands but as he reached for the door, he noticed the door wasn't locked. He looked around the empty back alley before ducking into the building.

[therediegogoes]

@judegrigsby

Infamy

Diego hasn't been able to focus on anything since that night in Polly's. Something about the way the guy looked, absolutely destroyed, stuck with him. Diego also hasn't happy with himself knowing someone out there knew he had magic. It was supposed to be a secret. All this might be why Diego was ok with going out to a bar.

Getting in wasn't hard, he was used to using magic to alter people's perception of things. Convincing the bouncer he had an ID was child's play. The air in the club buzzed with power, with emotions. People wanted to forget about their problems, they wanted to feel good and all the feeling's were bubbling over him.

"I'll take a vodka cranberry," Diego asked the bartender, he enjoyed the sweetness of the cranberry and the vodka always seemed to strip away his doubts pretty quickly. As he sipped on the drink he could feel people's eyes on him. A few girls had come up to him and asked if he wanted to dance but he didn't want to lead them on.

He glanced down at his phone and saw the brand new contact information. He meant to already text him and try to explain away his weirdness but something kept stopping him from reaching out. He sighed and slipped his phone back into his pocket as he looked around to see if there were any guys that he could be interested.

That's when he saw the sad brown eyed man that's been plaguing his thoughts. He's sitting down alone at the bar. He's nursing a beer and the vodka is already working on Diego so he can't stop his feet before sitting down next to Jude. "How's it going, puppy?" Diego giggled because Jude reminded him of a dog that's been stuck inside while his friends are out playing. The drink in his system makes him think he's funny.

[autumnshowell]

Autumn nods. "Soon enough, they can never take the cold when it gets here," she snags another CD with a name she recognizes on account of Morgan, looking at the back before Diego's voice pulls her attention back. "Jude?"

She adds the CD to the stack, turning to look at him with a coy smile blossoming on her features. "He's really easy to talk to, actually. Just... talk to him. He likes video games and skateboarding. He's going through a tough time right now, I'm sure he could use the distraction - bad breakup." Cheating, she doesn't say, because while this instance doesn't have the excuse of amnesia, even thinking about it drags her mind back to how she'd felt last March; a place she doesn't want to be again any time soon.

Autumn turns her eyes back to the CDs - she probably shouldn't get any more for now, but looking's no harm. "But just... I don't know text him or something - Jude's a good guy. We really onl started talking back in like, January - but he's practically become a best friend at this point. He was there for me in a really, really rough patch of my own." That time I got bit by a werewolf and ate two people and almost killed my girlfriend, the thought swipes across her mind like the lash of a whip. He'd helped convince her, at least somewhat, that she wasn't a mistake or an accident waiting to happen. Hard to believe that was still less than a year ago.

[therediegogoes]

Diego really didn't know where to go with this conversation. there was no way for him to talk to Autumn about why he needs to talk to Jude without revealing what happened at Polly's the other night. He continued pushing a cassette around absentmindedly. He knew that he could trust her, she's gotten him back to his apartment more times than he could count when he got drunk but telling Autumn that he had magic seemed world-shattering.

"It's just the other night," he started, not really knowing where to find the worlds. Back in Mexico, his abuela had taught him to keep his magic to himself. "Something... weird happened." He said. He knew English wasn't his first language but even with his polyglot charm, he wasn't finding the words. To make matters worse, Autumn was looking at Diego like he grew a second head.

[autumnshowell]

"CDs?" She thumbs through the rows. "There's usually some older stuff here, and a couple other stalls have a lot of vinyls. I can show you those too. She eyes the tape in his hand. "Oh wow, tapes." She smiles. "I like old stuff like that, too - feels more real than a bunch of mp3s - n-not that like, I don't do digital because you kind of have to for some stuff now, but it, I don't know, feels bad, haha."

She goes back to where she's going through titles. Nothing really else sticking out to her. When Diego asks after her haul, she flashes the handful of cases. "Just some like, old Jr. High stuff I liked, and a few things I'm surprising my girlfriend with - we're going to see her mom in a week or so, driving cross-country so I just wanna have some different stuff."

She looks up, scans around, looks for Therese's tent, because maybe she can say high if they're set up here today, and also she's wondering if she can grab some more honey, because she's finally out. "So, what've you been up to?" She used to shoot-the-breeze with Diego a lot when she was doing gig-driving, but now it's really only when she stops in for food. He's easy-going, or seems so, and she likes that.

[therediegogoes]

"Oh, you know," Diego says as he runs his hands over some more vinyls, "I'm waiting for the tourist season to fall off." It has been so busy recently, Polly has had him split between the food truck and the main store with all the activities at the beach. She had told him that once the busy season is over, he can finally have his vacation but that was still a few weeks away. Moments like this keep him sane, he loved the restaurant but he needed to find some time away before he accidentally blew the place up with nervous magic.

"That cute guy you're always with," Diego tried to say slyly, his voice kinda breaking a bit, "he gave me his number the other day and I don't know how to talk to him?" He could feel his face burning, he didn't know how to tell her that he tried to wipe his memory of his magic but he also didn't know how to tell this girl that he's known practically since he'd moved to Port Liery, that he has magic.

[therediegogoes]

for @therawend

Diego still wasn't entirely sure what had happened the night before with the guy. Since his magic first awoke within him, he hadn't had a spell fail on him. There were moments where they didn't do what he wanted them to do or they manifested oddly but never just flat out failed. He was unsure what to do with regards to the guy's memory so he'd have to ask the other Phial witches what he should do.

As he ambled around town with no direction, he didn't notice that every turn he made seemed to drive him closer to the Crow and Chalice. Slowly but surely, the town seemed to lead him to the shop. He had heard about the owner from other Phial witches so he knew that this person was legit and not just a person peddling curios to the public.

By the time his mind had cleared, he was already opening the door. He could smell lavender incense burning somewhere and the chilled air was nice after just walking around in the warm summer heat. There were a few people perusing the shelves, picking up bags of tea and smelling bundles of herbs. He wondered where the owner of the shop was until he made eye contact with a woman with pure magic leaking off of her.

"Hey," he said shakily, suddenly all his confidence falling away, "I'm entirely sure why I'm here."

[autumnshowell]

@therediegogoes Portside Flea Market

The Flea Market's always a wild ride, though the looming project coming with the full moon next week has her a little on edge. Just that, and then it's free and clear, an escape from this city, even if only temporary, has her excited. An escape with her girlfriend? Well.

Still, Morgan's mix is only going to get them so far, and while she'd suggested the Flea Market because of the vinyls - something Diego had been looking for - she's thumbing through the CDs herself. Already she has a small stack growing in her hand; Cat Power's Wanderer, Secondhand Serenade's A Twist In my Story, and a scuffed up copy of When the World Comes Down with a cracked cover along with a few things for Aria; Breaking Bejamin and Linkin Park; things she'd mentioned liking before everything.

"Finding anything?" She asks, looking up to her compatriot. They'd mostly been quiet, largely only offering the occasional blurb of conversation as they browsed. It's the kind of hanging out she's built for, that she doesn't mind. "What was it you were looking for?"

[therediegogoes]

Diego had almost completely retreated inside his head as he thumbed through the old Mexican vinyl collection. He flipped through the few albums and remembered all the nights he'd spent with his abuela at the hacienda. The simpler times when he was first learning who he was and what he could do in the world.

The words from Autumn stirred his mind back up to the surface. "Uh," he dumbly replied, "I'm not really looking for anything but if there's any Selena stuff, I'm getting it in a heartbeat." He had already digitized most of his abuela's collection so that he could carry it with him anywhere but there were still some things she had pawned or given away over the years that he wanted to get back. She was crazy for Selena though, he lost count of how many times he had caught her in the garden singing along to the radio she had placed in their living room.

He had already decided he was getting a cassette of Jose Jose's Si Me Dejas Ahora. But he was still mildly disappointed with how small the collection turned out to be. "Why what do you got?" He asked back as he took in her pile of finds.

[judegrigsby]

The taco Diego's set down goes untouched - but so does the rest of the food there. He's not hungry. He's miserable. When was the last time he didn't want to scarf down literally everything in sight? Pre-bite? Not even then, he doesn't think. Frowning, he starts to look up to the guy to apologize and reach into his pocket for a tip to give a little extra for the trouble - but he sees him nearly eat it.

Both of them reach, but Diego touches his shoulder first and locks into place. This close, now, Jude can smell the sweet florals of magic that drift off of him - not that he knows, exactly, really, what that is. It's different than a human scent and a vampire scent - but not quite dragging him in.

He finally lets go, and Jude is staring up at him with a confused expression, lips parted. That confusion only deepens.

"What? I'm a - I'm a depressed fuckin' dude, man."

[therediegogoes]

Diego has pressure behind his eyes. the kind that usually precedes a migraine but this came on too quickly. He feels drained from whatever just happened. He has no way to control the magic that flows out of him and for the first time during his shift, he's glad with how slow the night has been.

His magic is playing defense, like something had just crawled under his skin and his body was trying to force it out. He felt bad for whatever his patron was about to witness but he knew he had a memory potion in his jacket that he could slip him if he ever gets control of his body back.

And just as quickly as it hit him, the magic disappeared. his pulse steadied and his breath returned to normal. Color returned to the restaurant and the guy was looking at him like he just insulted his family. Diego looked directly into the guy's eyes and cast the easiest forget spell he had in his arsenal, "Dēdisce," but instead of the usual snap of power, he feels the word fall to the floor. "What?"

[judegrigsby]

Jude stares at his food like it's some sort of foreign object, and when Diego sets down the free taco - he almost laughs at himself. Any other time, any other night, he'd scarf it down and pay for two more helpings himself. Hell, he'd challenge other patrons to a contest just to make a kid laugh.

He feels like he's not a real person anymore, like he's been totally scooped out and left a shell of himself. Ten whole years. More than that, he thinks? Of just waiting for the right time. Waiting for the right moment, passing the time with people who never, ever meant anything to him, because they weren't the right person.

Another humorless laugh tickles at the back of his throat. "That would have been a hell of a lot easier to deal with, actually. Uh. No. Got cheated on, and we, uh, broke up." It's so much easier to just leave it at the basics rather than go into all the nitty gritty of the sex work thing, the client thing, the whole gala being a party full of monsters thing. "Thanks. 'Preciate it."

[therediegogoes]

As he moves to return to the counter, Diego trips over his feet. to keep himself from falling, he reaches for the sad man to steady himself and as he places his hand on his shoulder, Diego is instantly transported to a secluded, wooded clearing.

The world in grey tinged and cold. A wind blows leaves across the massive base of a tree stump. it's easily ten feet across and the rings are smooth. As Diego looks around the clearing, a wolf catches his eye. The greyness of the world removes any amount of color from the wolf's fur. It trots along the clearing before disappearing back into the forest. As it retreats, Diego is snapped back to the present.

Words are caught in his throat as he looks at the spot where his hand is gripping the man's shoulders. It's almost vicelike and he has to force himself to let go of him before asking, "what the hell are you?"

[judegrigsby]

Don't worry about it, he says. Jude doesn't scoff in the guys face, but he quietly thinks to himself about how he's, like, literally made of worry now. Instead of trying to push it further, he just turns and goes to find a seat to slump into while he waited for Tressa.

Did it take that long to feed? No fuckin' clue.

But while he sits there, he's alone with his thoughts. And his thoughts are the exact place he doesn't need to be, as he turns over the conversation - as short as it was - in his head. He's gonna have to give Kev his shit back.. Fuck, he's gonna have to let Morgan know he can't stop by anymore.

He bangs his head down on the table and lays there for a moment while he tries not to cry anymore (failing that, tremendously), and nearly jumps when the guy from the counter comes by with the food. Dumbfounded, he looks up and tries to wipe his eyes quickly to play it off. "Uh. Legally?" The joke hasn't caught up to him. "Sorry, man, sorry. Fuckin' weird, long night. This - this looks good though."

[therediegogoes]

Diego really didn't know what to say. The guy looked absolutely devasted sitting there, crying into his tortillas. Diego really wasn't the best at comforting but he knew he had something in his jacket pocket that could relieve some of the dude's pain but he would have to find a way to sneak it into his food.

Diego thought for a second before realizing he could just give the guy a free tacos. He knew most people would be ecstatic for a free bite of his food. As Diego slipped a few drops of his joy potion into the free taco, he looked over at the guy. The dude was incredibly well-dressed, which made something Blair had mentioned scratch the back of his brain, he wasn't sure but he thought a party was happening tonight. "What's wrong? Did your boyfriend stand you up?" He said as he placed the free taco on the table. "This is on the house, by the way."

[briargreensmith]

She nods in return to his thanks and continues leaning on the counter. "Serendipity!" Briar remarks next! "My ears were burning, or whatever it is they say." Fun to have a green thumb still, and something to pass the hours when she wasn't due to dance.

Briar's face brightens at his offer and she affects a look of being flattered. "Oh I do love a good trade," she smiles, before his pantomime quirks her brow. She will need to consult her little mirror-thing with what Cypress is used for, but she's not about to make a fool here by blowing wind, and so she just nods, emphatically.

It's fun this, affecting normalcy. Forgetting that sometimes she is no more witch than monster, that when the seedling inside of her requires its nursing, she'll be taking a life, maybe even their friend in the corner here some day.

But for now, a Burrito.

"Well then, I shall soon be out of thee hair on mine merry way," she chirps, and then as if another light's come on she throws a finger up. "And the beans! The mashed beans! With the cheese on! To go with it all."

[therediegogoes]

Diego got a kick out of how this much of his food this woman is able to put away with her small stature but seeing how much she genuinely loved his food, kind of filled his heart with pride. Assuming assistant manager of Polly's wasn't an easy task, he knew it was going to be a hard fight to get actual good food on the menu, but if a woman born in the 1600s could enjoy his food, anyone else would.

"Oh," Diego said as he remembered a question that's been gnawing on the back of his brain for a while. "Do you know if there's anywhere to go that kind of helps us in the mischievous sort of way? My grandma had her garden but I haven't really found anywhere of the sort up here."

[briargreensmith]

She slides an extra bill out of the roll when he passes it back - extra, for him, like the men and women who slip this paper tat beneath the strings of her stringy little knickers at the Cabaret. Everyone deserves some of their own, she reckons, for the magic they make, whether it be honest truthful magic or something like a taco, its own kind of wonder.

She turns to the flabbergasted man, who has settled himself in, finally, and she smiles. "These floors, " she laughs to him. "Dreadful slippery, happens to the strongest, we won't tell a soul."

She turns back to Diego, regarding him for a moment and then, as if a light's turned on over her head. "Oh!" She says, and reaches into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a small paper sachette. "New seedlings from my garden, I'd promised them and here I've nearly forgotten." They're for herbs; coriandre, cyminum, garlic, and she'd endeavored to sprout them in her little greenhouse patch given her by Blair. "More where that's from, if you'd like."

[therediegogoes]

Diego regards the little satchel of seeds, he had been running low on cumin since he used some crushed cumin in a potion to help ease a woman's grief. His cumin still had a few weeks before it was ready for him to use but he had enough now to use a little bit of his green magic to force grow a healthy plant. They made a beautiful flower and he looked forward to getting back in his kitchen and mixing up some more potions.

"Thanks," He said as he pocketed the gift, "I was running low." He never really saw the witches outside of their meetings but he figured it was about time to extend an olive branch. "If you want to stop by my apartment," He fiddled with his grandmother's ring on his finger, "I can get you some dried cypress, for you know." And then he gestured to his insides, hoping Briar connected what he meant.

[judegrigsby]

Jude barely looks up, but when he does - he sees something akin to annoyance on the guy's face. Does he remember his name? Fuck, he has no idea. Thinking is hard. He wants a drink, or a blunt. Man, where's Tressa? She might have something.

He looks past Diego and frowns, remembering that she was feeding, so it was just the both of them. "Hey, uh."

What's the appropriate reaction here to someone you're pretty sure you've just ruined the night of? He almost laughs at the thought, as if his own night hadn't been fuckin' ripped in half. "Look, I'm sorry - I can just sit and chill without the food, I was just - it's been a long night. Don't wanna cause trouble or anything."

[therediegogoes]

"Dude," Diego sighed out, "don't worry about it," he really didn't want to seem short-tempered with a customer but he can actively hear the sound of the rice timer going off and with his help MIA, he needed to get back there and stir the rice before it burned.

Something that Diego thought he had long killed and buried stirred in his chest, though. As he watched this man sit in the booth by himself, in his light pink suit, sobbing quietly to himself, Diego just wanted to help. As he came back with the man's food, Diego said, "you know legally, you.re not allowed to be sad in Polly's." He hoped that this was enough to bring some amount of brightness back to the man's eyes.