Another amazing prompt from the lovely DeejayMIL:
COCO DAEMON AU ONESHOT. Just a small snippet into the characters and their daemons would be amazing—maybe when Hector meets Imelda and how their daemons interact? That would be amazing.
I hope it is as amazing as your prompts, thank you Dee :)
It had been ridiculously hot. A humid soupy heat that sat heavily on the mostly empty streets of Santa Cecilia. Anyone who could stay inside did, their windows tightly shuttered against the vicious midday sun. In the park in the middle of town, a boy who was just on the cusp of adolescence lay sprawled on the grass in the dappled shade of an ancient tree. A small bird-dæmon fluttered around his head, beating her wings frantically.
"That's not doing anything, Zal," Héctor grumbled. "You're just tiring us both out."
Quetzalli perched on the ground beside him and began preening her wings. "It was worth a try."
"Can you be something a bit…" Héctor lifted his arms and, with some effort, flapped his hands about, "bigger? Like an eagle? Or an ostrich?"
Despite not really liking being big—the little song-bird form she was in now suited her just fine—Zalli did as requested, her body stretching until she was a crow with wide dark wings. "You asked for it," she said, and beat them furiously at him. The resulting breeze was hot and sticky, and Héctor waved his hands after a few seconds.
"Alright, alright, mercy," he said, laughing. She tittered a laugh as well as she shifted back into her oriole form. "Ay, Zal, I think this might be the end of me. This heat is going to cook me alive."
The only response that seemed to fit was a slurred whistled tune, a teasing little melody. As though in response, a soft song began to drift through the park. It was a girl's voice, an alto, soft and warm and rich. The sound made Héctor's heartbeat quicken, and goosebumps rise on his bare arm. "That's interesting," Zal murmured.
"Who's that? Do you recognise that voice?" he asked, hopping up, the heat utterly forgotten.
"No. She's lovely though, isn't she?" Zal fluttered her wings, knowing the answer, and took off after Héctor as he stumbled from the park. When he hesitated at the gate, she swooped around and nudged his cheek. "I think she's that way, bonehead."
"Ay, Zal, you're a lifesaver."
His feet fell silently on the cobbled street, excepting the hiss of breath with each touch of his skin on hot stone, and Zal's wings were whisper quiet beside him. The voice seemed to pull him along, a thread tugging with the beat of his heart. Eventually they were led to the back of the Rivera tailors, to where the family surely lived. The window was open despite the heat, and Héctor ducked beneath it, leaning on the wall and closing his eyes. Her song was understandable now, a familiar folk tune.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Zal asked, circling in front of him.
"No! Are you crazy?" he hissed. "I'm some street urchin, and she's clearly some angel visiting earth. I'm not going to just pop up in front of her window and say 'Hi, how are you, nice singing, can I join in?'"
"You want to though," she said. Héctor's stomach dropped as a familiar gleam came into her eyes. "It's okay, I'll do recon."
"No! You psycho!" He grabbed at her. Missed. Covered his face with his hands as she perched on the windowsill.
"She's pretty," Zal said. "Oh, she's very pretty."
A brief silence—devoid even of the beautiful singing that had drawn them here—and then a cool voice, "Excuse me, can I help you?"
Héctor swung his head up and met the bright intelligent green eyes of a cat-dæmon who was sitting beside Zal. "Oh, uh…" He faltered to a halt, then smiled his most winning smile. "Sorry, we'll just be going."
"Who is it, Pepita?" The cat-dæmon was joined by a girl, maybe a few years older than him, who leaned out of the window, her dark hair cascading in waves and brown eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"A boy of some sort," Pepita said, starting to groom her paw, apparently losing interest. Zal, perched so close to this other dæmon's foot, started to inch away, only to realise that her tail feathers were trapped.
"So it would seem." Instead of snapping at him, or slamming the shutter closed, or slapping him across the face, she grinned. "Can I help you, strange boy outside my window?"
"Héctor," he said, holding up a hand. Not totally sure if he wanted her to shake it or help him stand; there was no strength in his legs. "Lovely voice."
"Nice to meet you, Héctor Lovely-voice," she teased, then grasped his hand firmly, yanking him upright. When she did, her dæmon lifted her back foot and Zal's tail feathers slid free. The two dæmons eyed each other, not totally certain how to interact. Zal pecked experimentally at the swishing tail, and Pepita responded by slapping lightly on the top of Zal's head with claws thankfully sheathed. Their people still had their hands linked, an odd sort of spell transfixing them in each other's gaze. "Imelda Rivera."
"The pleasure is mine." Before he could think about it, he pulled her hand up and grazed his lips over her knuckles. A delicate flush rose in her cheeks and he was too pleased by the sight of it to be self-conscious. "You really do have a lovely voice, Imelda. Would you like to join me in Mariachi Plaza tonight, after the sun goes down and it cools off a bit? You'd be the talk of the town."
She surveyed him. Pepita bent her head, sniffed Zal's feathers delicately, the tip of her striped tail twitching back and forth. "Sure. Sounds fun," Imelda said, still blushing, and Pepita touched her nose to Zal's beak. "It's a date."
"Ernesto! Ernesto!" Héctor skidded to a halt outside his best friend's window, Zal soaring close behind. The de la Cruz house was tightly shuttered and completely silent. Hands shaking just a bit, Héctor knocked a rapid rhythm on the shutters.
He ducked as the shutter was pushed open, revealing an uncharacteristically rumpled Ernesto. The teenager's usually perfectly coifed hair lay on his forehead in wilted threads and sweat glazed his face. Draped over his shoulder was his dæmon, a chihuahua with her tongue lolling from her mouth. "What do you want, Héctor?"
"I have a date!" Héctor vaulted through the window. As Zal fluttered past, Ernesto's dæmon snapped sharp little teeth at her. "An actual date! We're going to the plaza and we're going to dance and sing and it's going to be amazing!"
"Slow down, amigo." Ernesto pulled the shutter closed and lay down on the stone floor. "It's too hot for you to be all…bouncy like this…"
"I'm excited!" This was partly true. A lot of the energy that was coursing through him, making the hot sticky air seem cool in comparison, was really coming from nerves. He was becoming increasingly convinced that the girl had been some sort of dream.
"Yes, I know he's a lunatic, Citlalic," Ernesto said to his dæmon. "The heat must have fried his brain." Héctor rolled his eyes, knowing Ernesto only used Citty's full name when he was being facetious.
"Only a little," he said. "But honestly, Ernesto, I need some nice clothes. Do you think I could borrow some? That are clean?"
A heavy sigh, a plaintive look, but Ernesto did rise to his feet and over to the closet. "A lot of these won't fit you, amigo. You're too skinny." While he dug into the loose clothes scattered at the bottom of the closet, Citty watched Héctor with her bulging eyes narrowed. "Tell me about this girl, Héctor. Surely she wasn't out in this heat."
"She's a Rivera, she was singing and had her window open and I couldn't help but introduce myself."
"Through her window?" Ernesto laughed and Citty tittered. "You psycho. I'm surprised you didn't get a slap for that."
"Me too." Héctor accepted the offered clothes with a grin. "Thank you, amigo. I'll return them to you, I promise."
"When's your date?" Citty asked, her eyes now focused on Zal as the oriole fluttered in circles around her.
"Not until after dark."
"Then stay, amigo!" Ernesto said, grinning. "It's too hot out there, you stay in here until the sun goes down."
They spent the afternoon playing songs together, Ernesto allowing Héctor to play on his guitar with the usual warnings of 'be careful' and 'don't break the strings'. They were starting to try and write songs now, something that Ernesto was sadly not very good at. When the sun finally dropped below the horizon, the overwhelming oppression of the heat lifted, and Héctor changed into the clothes he had borrowed from his friend.
It was a short trip to Mariachi Plaza. He'd been worried that nerves would make each step heavy and slow. Instead, it was as though the butterflies in his stomach was lifting him up, feet falling lightly on pavement. Zal soared beside and around him, her golden feathers gleaming. Imelda was standing by the gazebo in a long purple dress, swaying side to side to the raucous music from the band there. Pepita was curling around her legs, the tip of her tail twitching with the beat, eyes half-closed.
They were beautiful.
Before Héctor could reach the waiting girl and her dæmon, two identical teenagers stepped into his path. Tall, lanky, thin, their arms crossed and their faces set in identical stern glares. Around one of their necks curled a fluffy white ferret-dæmon, while from the other's front pocket poked the twitching whiskers and smooth brown nose of an otter-dæmon.
Sensing they would not let him slip by easily, Héctor engaged a winning smile and extended his hand. "Gentleman, pleasure to meet you this fine evening."
"Never mind that," said the boy with the otter-dæmon.
"What are your intentions with our sister?" asked the boy with the ferret-dæmon.
Sister. Ah, that complicated matters slightly. "I don't know," Héctor replied. "I haven't really spent any time with her." A smile rose on his face and Zal uttered a little trilling whistle. "I would like to. I think we have a lot in common."
The boys exchanged glances. The ferret-dæmon leaned over and started to whisper to the otter-dæmon. "Alright, you can go."
"But we'll be watching."
Héctor grinned and nodded. "I would expect nothing less of such fine brothers as yourselves."
Still looking at him suspiciously, the boys parted, leaving him space to duck between them and towards the gazebo. The song finished with a flourish, and Imelda laughed and clapped. Pepita noticed him first, and her tail straightened, the tip crooked towards him. Then Imelda turned, her brown eyes sparkling, and Héctor's heart skipped a beat.
"You made it! I thought you were going to stand me up," she said with a playful punch to the shoulder.
"I was…waylaid," Héctor said, tipping his head towards the boys who were still watching with their arms folded.
Imelda's eyes followed the gesture, then she threw her head back and laughed, a rich warm sound that seemed to come right from her belly. It was infectious, and Héctor found himself laughing along with her. "Ay, those brothers of mine. They didn't give you any trouble, did they?"
"No, they just want to protect you."
One eyelid dipped in a wink, her teeth shining through a luminous smile. "I'm perfectly able to protect myself, thank you very much."
Héctor did not doubt it. "Good on you for letting them feel useful," he quipped. She laughed again, that amazing laugh that warmed his stomach, and grabbed hold of his hand. Without thinking, he asked, "Can I kiss you, Imelda?"
Her laughter cut off. Eyes widened. Teeth indented her lower lip. She flushed, then nodded. Amazed first that he'd asked, and second that she'd agreed, Héctor leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. At their feet, Zal perched uncertainly on the ground, and Pepita nuzzled against her head. "This form suits you," she said, her voice vibrating with the purr rumbling in her chest.
Zal fluttered her wings and twitched her tail. Allowed herself the feel the calm settling that she had been sensing for the past few weeks. Knew she would never shift form again. And lifted her beak and touched Pepita's nose. Their people moved apart, looking at each other with wide sappy grins. Everything was perfect.