Homey Bean Pod {Ian, Riveras}

[Rosa Rivera]

Rosa held in a groan at Papá Héctor's really bad dad joke! She was used to them by now, and thus not surprised, but...she gave Ian and Barley both an almost I'm sorry smile, though Barley chuckled at it, maybe in being polite.

The girl also knew she shouldn't have been surprised when the two Elves listed off even more fantastical creatures as ones they were familiar with, and she'd at least heard of most of them, though not all. She gave her own small chuckle at how Barley talked. Section of the Realm!

Manticore? What was that?

She was about to ask, when Barley beat her to the question asking and...well, she promptly forgot any of her own questions in taking in his! Thankfully the first few not being so bad. "Oh, no, Rosa Linda is a nickname my Papá Héctor has for me. Linda means, well, pretty in Spanish", she explained with a humble sort of smile. It sounded odd and bragging to say out-loud, but then she hadn't picked it. "You know biased grandfathers, well Great-Great-Grand are the same", she smiled from them to Papá Héctor, though she knew she wasn't going to be able to get him to say he would have nicknamed her anything else, and she was grateful for that and all the other ways he was so good to, and included, her.

Barley admitted to not knowing much on...humans? Well yeah, he probably didn't, but...even so, Rosa felt unprepared for his level of not knowing! Pots? Why did he think they lived in pots? Rosa smiled again, but this one was...well the type most embarrassing older siblings received.

She'd received some herself, but then, she'd been trying to embarrass Miguel by doing things like walking up and tousling his hair in front of his friends while she relayed some message from Abuelita or such. Teasing her primo was fun, but Rosa also knew where the line was (she said) and didn't think she pushed it.

Barley was clearly not trying to be embarrassing, but that just made it worse, Rosa could tell, in that he didn't know there was a line to stay away from!

She recognized she should be careful, though, Pots could be a familiar thing for Elves, and thus his question logical, and not meant to be odd. "Uh, we don't...grow or sit in pots, no", she answered, still with that smile on her face, before, unable to help herself, she gave in to a small laugh.

She quickly caught herself though. They should move on probably.

"Sorry", with a smile she cleared her throat, "So, what's a Manticore?", she finally asked her own inquiry.

[Ian Lightfoot]

As Ian wasn't as big of a soda drinker as Barley was, he stayed quiet while his brother defended his favorites.

At Hector's pun, Ian grinned. He and Barley loved throwing puns at each other. Ian thought of a joke in response, and said, "What do elves eat to stay in shape? Elf food!" Even if Hector had a few screws loose, Ian thought they were going to get along great.

Maybe it was a bean thing, and impolite to ask about their pots. Ian internally groaned, thinking he shouldn't have told Barley about the bean thing. As the more sensitive one, Ian would've been able to tell when a bean was comfortable talking with him about such things. But no, Barley just had to throw the questions at Rosa.

Rosa's answers were a bit unsatisfactory. He wondered if maybe Rosa was just too young to remember being in a pot?

In response, Rosa asked a question of her own. Given Barley's near-obsession with the Manticore, Ian deferred to his brother to answer. Besides, Barley would probably do a better job of explaining Corey to Rosa.

[Deleted]

By this point in time, after spending time with others from different places or even different times, Papá Héctor was already used to hearing about others being from different areas or realms, like these elves spoke about. He shrugged it off. If he really thought of it, it wasn't far from how it was like in the Land of the Dead, where people were from all over Mexico and all from different times! Still, that didn't stop him from still freaking out about it the first time. No, Héctor simply shrugged it off with a smile this time, as if he had always been used to it. He liked the elves though, they seemed to have great humor! Especially that Ian guy! 

"What do elves eat to stay in shape? Elf food!"

"..Elf food?" The musical skeleton blinked for a second at Ian at his weird joke, before he instantly burst into a laugh, "Oh! Hahaha! Elf Food!" He repeated with a laugh upon realizing how close it sounded to health food! That was a good one! "Ey, wait, wait, Ian, I got another one for your Elf Food! Why don't skeletons eat Elf Food, eh?" He paused for effect with an excited grin, "They don't have the stomach for it!" 
He gestured to the gaping hole that used to be where his stomach was from his opened purple vest with a grin. 

The active Héctor had been busying himself with making sure everyone had their serving of drinks, so he hadn't been paying attention to the talk of fantasy creatures afterwards, only just the mention of it. Héctor couldn't help but shake his head in amusement that the duen- elves had said as much, given that elves were considered fantasy creatures themselves by human standards. Eh, but who was he to talk? He was a skeleton in the living world, kind of like a fantasy creature himself!

The ancient musician raised the tip of his eyesocket and glimpsed over at Coco quizzically upon hearing Barley call his great-great granddaughter Rosa Linda. Did she hear that, too?! Did Barley just call his Rosa Linda, Rosa Linda? He wasn't sure how he felt about that! It was probably the first time he felt that sort of Fatherly way, or Great-Great Grandfatherly way, where he would hear any boy calling his great-great granddaughter something affectionate like that right in front of him! He couldn't contain his smile while Rosa Linda was mentioning that it was a nickname he gave because he was biased, pretending to be focused on serving everyone, "Hey, mija, do we have enough napkins?" He asked Coco quietly, noticing that she was trying to help out and wondering if they had enough napkins for the sopaipillas. "Everyone got enough sopaipillas?" He announced his question to everyone with a smile as soon as he served everyone their drinks and such. Ever since the orphanage, Héctor always liked to make sure everyone had his share of food before he would serve himself, a trait that followed him in life with his family and even in the land of the dead with his fake family, which was probably why he was always so skinny.

"Ian and I are still learning all about how you and your world too, like for instance do you stay in your pots through infant-hood and then come out, or do you go back at night? How does that work? And is it always for sleep, or do you just hang out there too?".

Now THIS joke was funnier than the last one! "Haha! I get it! You're talking about a family tree!" He pointed to them as if he was answering a question in a game show, "That's another good joke! Oye, you sure you guys don't do this for a living?"  Héctor completely missed that they were truly asking these questions sincerely. "Eh, Rosa Linda, they're only joking about the family tree, mija.." He spoke nonchalantly with a wave of his skeletal hand to Rosa, who had answered their questions truthfully rather than being amused by the joke. This did cause a curious thought to pop into his metaphorical mind though. What did Duen-eh, elves do for a living anyways? By the looks of it, they looked be young, so they were probably still in school. He decided to ask a better question that they could actually answer, "Okay, I got a real question for you! What do you guys like to do for fun, eh?" He asked with an enthusiastic grin, "You guys like music?" 

[Barley Lightfoot]

Barley grinned expectantly as Ian threw out his own pun to Mr. Hector, one that they had throw back and forth, and thankfully the skeleton got it.

"Ey, wait, wait, Ian, I got another one for your Elf Food! Why don't skeletons eat Elf Food, eh? They don't have the stomach for it!"

Barley laughed, "Hey that's a good one!". Mr. Hector was pretty cool after all. He next grinned, "Way to bone up on your facts", he added his own contribution.

While Spanish wasn't a language, there was at least the concept of a foreign language where they came from so Barley, for the most part, could understand his mistake as Rosa corrected it. "Oh, uh, sorry, didn't mean to go stealing your grandfather's nicknames", he gave a half apologetic smile.

"Spanish, huh? We don't have that language back home, though we do have varying languages. I mean most people speak a common language now, and like Trollish or Old Elvish is a course in school, I've actually dabbled at learning it...hey!", he realized something and turned to Ian, "That's what I could do in college if we ever get back, I'll study Old Elvish and Trollish and stuff, I already half know it! Boom, problem solved".

He was unaware he needed a career in that...and more than one class, but it wasn't a problem that he had to worry over right now.

Hector checked that they all had sopaipillas. "Yes Sir, and they're very good too!", Barley could be polite. He was just also forgetful.

Rosa said they didn't sit or grow in pots. Well now Barley was stumped!

"Oh...you don't, hmm...". He tried to think how else he could ask about the pod stage to get further answers, when Mr. Hector tried to wave it off as a joke. It hadn't been but...

Rosa's own question drew his focus. "Oh, it's one of the most powerful beings there is! Tail of a scorpion, body of a lion, head of a bear. They adventure and give out quests. Our mom is like really good friends with one now, kinda kills the mystery, but then my brother's a wizard, I'm surrounded by greatness!", he nudged Ian again, and actually did very well and did not ramble about the quest then and there.

"Okay, I got a real question for you! What do you guys like to do for fun, eh? You guys like music?"

"Well enough", Barley shrugged to the last question, "I mean I have very select playlists for very select Quests, and our mom kept a bunch of records, including the Dorothea Williams Quartet*".

{*Soul Easter Egg in Onward that I of course had to reference }

[Coco Rivera]

Coco was unaware that she instantly understood where the confusion came from in terms of Barley using the word linda, and as he explained, thinking it her middle name. She caught Papá's smile and smiled back, almost trying to reassure him. What would he have been like when she was dating Julio...

More than being worried, Coco was sorry she hadn't gotten the chance to find out.

He also noticed her trying to help and aided it, giving her the job of checking napkins, which she did. "Yes, I think we're all set!", she replied, handing him another small stack.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of the talk of Pots, but was more inclined, like Rosa, to think it was a serious question. Neither young Elf responded, perhaps in being polite, and thankfully Papá and everyone moved on. Music was always a safer topic.

[Rosa Rivera]

No, don't encourage him!

Rosa wanted to tell the two Elves this as they aided Papá Héctor's pun war, but of course it just got worse from there...she shared a look with Mamá Coco, as well as a small smile. The discussion of nicknames and languages was almost welcome!

She nodded to Barley's apology and looked intrigued by the language talk, "Oh you're in college?", she asked interested, glancing between the two of them. Ian looked younger but she still couldn't really tell an age off him and didn't want to assume he wasn't in college.

She glanced from Papá Héctor back to the Elves as he waved their pot question off as another joke. They didn't admit to it being such, but she also let it go. Of course Papá Héctor next asked them about music! Though Rosa meant this thought fondly and just smiled as she listened. "Oh your Mom still has records, that's cool", she commented, though she next reminded herself that being from a different world maybe that was fully advanced tech for them.

It was odd, but the way they talked about soda and other things, she just assumed it was similar technology like smart phones and yet different still. Of course Miguel had had to piece together a VHS tape of Ernesto clips, but that had been more due to hiding and grabbing the clips however he could and with what was available.