IC Inbox for Kaisou

[neverbreaks]

INBOX text / audio / video / action -supposed to be recording? Oh wait, there it goes. Uh, okay...this is Luisa Madrigal. If you need to reach me, I guess you can leave a message? That's how this works, right? art credit code credit

Comments

text » action;

[prontissimo]

OK
We'll find as many as we can haha 🥴🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀
Be over soon.
a presto

[ It's Alberto's first time coming over to La Casa Madrigal since Bruno's disappearance. He's deliberately taken different streets in Midtown to avoid passing it, when he's been out and about after school. He's bundled up extra for the cold, weirdly glad and sad to realize he's wearing green as he walks up to the Madrigals' home — he can't help but associate green with Bruno now. Suiting, for the only child on "his side" of the family, despite being left behind just like the man's nieces all are now.

It's surreal approaching the door, which opens for him before he even gets the chance to knock. Casita knows Alberto, of course, and she coaxes him inward with gentle taps of the tiles beneath his feet. He passes through the atrium and into the courtyard, looking around awkwardly and feeling the emptiness in the home. Without his cell phone, he can't call Luisa to let her know he's here, so he just wanders his way upstairs. As he rounds the corner towards Luisa's room, of course he stops to stare up at Bruno's door, unlit and dark at the top of the stairway, his carving looking so much more angry and serious than Alberto ever knew him to be. He feels a fresh wave of grief wash over him, and before he caves into emotion all over again, he tears his gaze away... only for it to land on Julieta's door nearby. Her carving is also unlit, and that sets off alarms inside him. He sees Dolores' door is lit across the way, and Isabela's down the hall, but apart from Luisa's... that's it. He wishes these dots weren't so easy to connect... He knocks cautiously at Luisa's door, in a familiar but bittersweet rhythm she'll recognize right away — knock, knock, knock knock knock, knock on wood. ]

[neverbreaks]

[ While waiting for him to arrive, Luisa took the time to wash her face and clean up, just to make it less obvious with how much she's been crying lately. She doesn't even think about the fact that he doesn't have a phone of his own right now, so she's a bit startled by the knock on her door since she'd planned to meet him downstairs first.

Hearing the familiar rhythm of the knock forms another lump in her throat, but she manages to swallow it down and blink away any tears that try to form before she manages to answer. ]

Come on in!

[prontissimo]

[ Alberto opens the door very slowly, awkwardly peeking in at first, before fully entering. It's his first time seeing Luisa's room, and he's very curious about it, after seeing Bruno's tower and, y'know, the rest of their house. He's only been inside Bruno's room before, though. He's still feeling ill at ease about Julieta's door being unlit, so there's trepidation in his voice as he greets her, making sure to focus on Luisa before letting his gaze wander to case the scene. ]

Heyyy, Luisa... ¿Qué tal...?

[neverbreaks]

[ She's managed to compose herself by the time Alberto enters, and she manages a faint smile. ]

Hey, Alberto.

[ She doesn't answer his question, because she isn't really sure how she can. And the room itself doesn't seem to offer much comfort, with everything made of stone. ]

[prontissimo]

Cooooool...! Nice room.

[ He gapes around at first, impressed and entranced with this obstacle course of a bedroom. Alberto'd probably be a lot buffer, himself, if this was his room! He would've gone wild if his tower had even half this stuff growing up. To him, this looks like living in a playground. But he's only a vague idea of how stifling the Madrigals' Gifts really became for all of them... Luisa surely has more complex feelings about the bedroom Casita conjured for her.

Once he can tear his eyes away from gawking, though, he lets his gaze fall on Luisa, remembering he's supposed to be worried right now. There are more pressing things at hand than how cool Luisa's room is. ]

So, uhm– What's newww...?

[ Because how do you breech the "so I noticed your mother may have spontaneously disappeared, how's that going" question, ahem. ]

[neverbreaks]

[ She laughs softly, hoping it isn't as strained as it sounds to her ear. ] Thanks.

[ Luisa's feelings about her room are pretty complicated, not least of which how it felt as a child growing up in what essentially feels like a cave. But it was also the only safe place to be when she had to learn to control her powers, the only place that didn't immediately break at her touch. A place of security, for sure, but at times cold and a bit dark.

But it's fine. Things are fine.

Except they're very much not, as she tries to think of how to answer Alberto's question without completely breaking down right then and there. ]

Ah...well, uh...

[prontissimo]

[ It's something subtle in the air about her, maybe behind the eyes, the timbre of her pause — but even Alberto can tell she's doing her best to hold it together. Which he, as she knows well, can relate to all too much. They're too alike in how "okay" they always are — alike enough they don't need to talk about it to talk about it. He knots his brow with worried sympathy, but offers her a wan smile, still keen on defusing the emotionality here somewhat, even as they open it. ]

...Yeah. I, uh— I saw. Her door.

[ He gestures backwards toward the hall with a little jerk of his head, grasping his arm nervously as he speaks — quite like the nervous pose Bruno often pulled, as well. For all Alberto's bravado and exuberance, there was a lot in common between the two of them, too, deeper down. He's still very much grieving the loss of that parental figure, himself, so it's another unfortunate bonding point to find himself in again with Luisa. Although, of course Luisa has lost her actual mother — but of course he can relate to that, too. He can't imagine how much pain Luisa must be in, though, losing Julieta, Bruno, Mirabel, Pepa... All one after another. It disturbs Alberto to see this huge family shrink, and he's not even in their family, technically — but for all intents and purposes, even without Bruno here anymore, he still feels like he wants to be. He liked Julieta, she was kind to him, like her siblings were. All of them have been. He feels he owes so much kindness to the Madrigals in return... the three that remain of them now. But Luisa, the most of the three girls left, naturally. She's been like family to Alberto as much as Bruno's been, right from the start, and it hurts him to know how alone she must feel now. Just going off his own experience, that is. ]

...I'm sorry.

[ Alberto's no good with words when it comes to the intimate moments like these, but he knows he was extremely moved and appreciative to have Luca hug him when Bruno disappeared; and they've hugged a lot more since then because of it, which has helped. Hugs were a luxury he'd never been afforded all the other times he's grieved major losses in his life; he'd always been very much alone, no one there to hug him even if he'd wanted it. It's a new comfort to him, freshly poignant. So after a beat, all he can think to do to is just open his arms limply, a silent offer if Luisa wants a hug — their usual style of unspoken invitation for comfort. ]