La Calavera.
Writer: Invader Johnny.
Plot: It's the day of the dead and Tori is getting ready to celebrate but gets an unexpected visitor before the festivities begin.
Author Notes: Well my dear readers if you been following my stories for a while now then you must know that I'm Mexican and that I celebrate the day of the dead, better known in Mexico as "El Dia de los Muertos", which is celebrated on the first two days of November.
So what better way to give you guys a glimpse into my Country's holiday than with some Jori, so enjoy!
Also, for those of you who don't know much Spanish, the name of the fic is translated into "The Skull", you'll know why soon enough, heh.
"Almost done."
Tori was in her bedroom, putting the finishing touches on her make up, she had spent a little over two hours working on it but it was going to the worth it in the end, after all she couldn't celebrate her favorite holiday without properly dressing for the occasion.
The Latina grinned excitedly at her handy work, she dyed her hair black, almost similarly to the one Jade had, she also had put a great amount of white body paint into her face, neck and going all the way down to her torso so she could appear like a walking skeleton, she also had put black make up over her eyes and mouth to simulate eye sockets and pearl white teeth in order to make her appearance as close to La Santa Muerte.
Tori however choose not to wear a cloak like some representations the "Lady of the Death" does and instead picked a green-yellowish dress with a flower crown over her head.
She however borrowed a scythe that her girlfriend had lying around in her room somewhere in order to complete the costume.
"Good thing Jade didn't sharpen the blade, otherwise it would be dangerous to carry this thing around." Tori thought. "At the very least I can totally use it to scare Trina away if she gets on my nerves later tonight."
Tori grabbed the scythe, treating it with a great deal of care and respect, almost as it was a supernatural object beyond human understanding; but in all honesty, she was being careful with it simply because it belonged to her very scary girlfriend who had a collection of very serrated objects in her home.
"And she probably wouldn't be happy if something happened to one of her very few favorite non scissors razor-sharp instruments." The Latina though with an eye roll. "I have seen her throw her scissors to walls so many times the scary edge has lost all meaning."
Tori looked at herself in the mirror one last time, happy with her work over costume.
"And all without Cat's help." She said proudly. "Feliz Dia De Los Muertos mi Santa Muerte." She then made a mock bow to herself, giggling happily at her own little acting joke. "Time to go, I'm not about to celebrate this day in my room after all."
Tori walked out the door to the first floor of the house, she already expected the altar with the ofrendas to her deceased loved ones to be ready in her living room, what she didn't expect however was to see Jade West nonchalantly eating some pan de Muertos and inspecting the decorations with a critical eye.
"Jade!" The Latina exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Your folks always leave the front door open, Vega." The Thespian replied before swallowing the bread. "Makes me wonder why you gave me a key in the first place."
"I asked you why you're here, not how you got in."
"Great way to make your girlfriend feel welcome in your home, Vega." Jade sneered sarcastically. "Really feeling the love."
"Ok, wrong way to ask the question." Tori said sheepishly. "I'm just a little surprise to see you right now."
"My dear Vega, we been dating for over four months now." Jade commented. "You should know why now I will always come to your house when I'm bored or when I'm in need of inspiration or to spend time with you."
"Or when you feel lonely?" Tori added teasingly. "And you have the need to be with me... Your loving girlfriend because you know she'll shower you with a lot of love and kisses."
"I neither confirm nor deny that."
"Whatever you say baby."
"What's all this Vega?" The Goth asked curiously referring to the decorations all over the house. "Are you having a party and didn't invite me?"
"You hate parties."
"I hate a lot of things." Jade pointed out. "But when you host a party, I make it the exception to the rule."
"Aww, Jade!" Tori cooed. "That's so sweet."
"Be mushy on your own time Vega." The Thespian snapped. "So are you having a party or not? And what are you supposed to be?"
"Oh good you took notice!" The Latina said making a twirl so the other girl could look at her costume. "I'm dressed as the Santa Muerte, she's the Mexican version of the Grim Reaper."
"Is that why you took my scythe?"
"I didn't take it, you let m borrow it."
"After you gave me a happy ending and a kiss, Vega." Jade pointed out. "Why you kept it a secret from me?"
"Because I know you hate Halloween." Tori said reluctantly. "And I don't know... I just didn't want to hear the possibility that you might also hate el Dia de Los Muertos since its kind of a similar holiday."
"Dia de los what now?"
"Dia de Los Muertos." Tori pronounced slowly. "Although I think you might know it as the day of the dead, basically it's a tradition in Mexico where family and friends gather to pay their respects to their loved ones who have recently died."
"So all the photos you have here are from your dead relatives?"
"Yes."
"And what's with all the bread and candy?"
"Oh those are ofrendas." Tori explained. "They're offerings for the dead."
"Wait... So I just ate something that was meant for your dead family?" Jade asked slowly looking at the last piece of pan de Muertos in her hand. "Oh crap... Talk about disrespecting the dead."
"Don't worry about it baby." Tori said. "You didn't know and it was an honest mistake. "That is of course my family doesn't see it that way and someone from the land of the dead decides to come back into the world of the living to haunt you."
"That's not funny Vega." Jade said coldly as she gave Tori the evil eye. "You got to respect the dead."
"Oh this is coming from you?" The Latina asked. "Need I remind you that you wanted to smoke in the fumes of the dead when Cat told us last year about Mona Patterson since she thought she had passed away."
"And it was a waste of a trip." Jade snapped. "No one ended up dead! Oh and in my defence, I only wanted to smell her dead spirit, not disrespect it!"
"Whatever you say baby." Tori said. "I just didn't think of telling you because it might not be something you might enjoy."
"Vega, Vega, Vega." Jade said, shaking her head in disappointment. "You know better than anyone that I hate a lot of things but if there's something I will never despise, It's what's important to you and I can tell that this day of the dead is something you're very passionate about."
"It's my favorite time of the year, baby." Tori admitted. "See that photo with the candles and the pan de Muertos?"
The thespian saw at the direction her girlfriend was pointing at which showed a black and white photo of an elderly couple.
"I take it those are your grandparents?"
"They are." Tori confirmed. "Mi abuelito Carlos and mi abuelita Rosita, they were around for most of my childhood and when they passed away, I felt like a part of me died with them, so each year on el Dia de Los Muertos. I make them ofrendas and put their pictures up because it is believed that's when the dead come to the land of the living to visit the family they left behind."
"So you think your grandparents could be here now, Vega?" Jade asked. "Watching over you?"
"I like to believe so, baby."
Jade didn't say anything but kept looking over at the altar, inspecting all the photos, candy, bread, flowers and decorated skulls her girlfriend and her folks no doubt meticulously took their time setting up for the celebration.
"Vega... Would you mind if I can add something to this thing?"
"I guess..." Tori shrugs. "I don't see the harm in that."
"Great!" Jade clapped her hands. "Be right back!"
The Thespian ran out the door, leaving a very confused Latina behind but of course the confusion only grew when her girlfriend came back not even a minute later and with a skull in her hands, she then walked over to the table full of ofrendas and puts it where everyone could see it."
"Jade... Where did you get that Calavera?"
"I'm assuming you meant the skull?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, it's my Mom."
"OH MY GOD!" Tori yelled out horrified. "You went grave robbing again didn't you?! Jade I asked you to please stop doing that!"
"No, Vega, I didn't illegally exhumed my own mother's grave, relax." Jade replied with an eye roll. "She actually had this skull made on my very first Halloween."
"I'm almost afraid to ask you why."
"Believe it or not, my mom loved Halloween, it was the one time of the year where she could dress me up I to whatever outfit she wanted, it was her way of having those mothers daughter bonding moments before I started talking back to her and things went to Hell, she simply had the skull made because she also wanted a unique bowl to put candy in."
The thespian then opened the upper half of the skull to show that indeed there was candy inside.
"Look, I know you have to put a photo on the altar as part of the ofrendas but since I don't have one with me at the moment, do you think that maybe I can use a... What's the word you used in Spanish just now?"
"Calavera."
"Yeah... That..." Jade repeated. "Think I can join in the tradition and put this calavera instead as an ofrenda to my mom?"
"I don't see why not." Tori said with a smile. "As long as you remember your mom then it's just as good as a picture to put on the altar, it's the sentiment that counts here, baby."
"Thanks, Vega." The brunette said sincerely, setting down the plastic calavera with the chocolate decorative ones.
Tori stood next to her girlfriend giving her a quick peck on the cheek, looking over the ofrendas.
"You think your dead folks are with us now, Vega."
"I do." Tori nodded. "And I think your mom might just be here too."
"Guess it's a good thing I always keep that skull in the trunk of the car, eh Vega? Jade said coyly. "And to think there was a time where I used to imagine I had your decapitated head under my seat."
"JADE!"
"I'm kidding... Mostly." The Thespian chortled, much to her girlfriend's annoyance. "Thanks for telling me about this day, Vega."
"You're welcome Jade." Tori replied. "Feliz Dia De Los Muertos."
And that's a wrap, thank you all for reading this fic, I honestly didn't know how to finish it but I did know that I didn't want it to be exactly like a carbon copy chapter I wrote for my "Jori Holidays" story and simply decided it was simpler to have Jade and Tori have a tender/teasing moment towards the end.
La Santa Muerte is indeed the Female Mexican representation of death and I thought that Tori dressing up like her would be fitting, also an an added bit of information, she is believed to be a saint and protector of the LGBT community and also said to be able to safely sent you to the afterlife.
The skull idea came from an episode of "Friends" where Phoebe had a "Christmas Skull", fun huh?
On another note, I bet some of you are wondering why I didn't name this fic "El Dia de Los Muertos", for two reasons, because I already used that name for other stories/chapters and it seemed rather repetitive, so I decided to use another name but still one that had the day of the dead as an important point, thus I picked "La Calavera" because its traditional to put decorative skulls and chocolate skulls as part of the ofrendas for the dead.
Finally, I dedicate this story to my late paternal grandparents who I miss very much.
So what did you guys thought of this idea? Good? Bad? In between? Constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Invader Johnny Signing Off.