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Head-smelter commissions were troublesome, technical puzzles—so named for being a legitimate dolor de cabeza to deliver on time.
And they ssid highschool spanish would never help me lol having that llamen al doctor song from freshmen year stuck in my head all these years finally has a point
“Are you an artist as well as a blacksmith? This . . . is astounding!”
Feels odd reading a picture book but it is genuinely so helpful. Also smash this man
“Mr. Caldera, say you were in my shoes. That you absolutely had to make use of this asset tonight or else its entire function would be rendered completely and irrevocably obsolete. What would you do?”
Uh well hes the one who asked for it to be due the next day lmao its not his problem what this guy does ab this
What etiquette had Tití Luz given me for assisting women no taller than my knee? I haltingly reached toward her waist to pick her up before she slapped my fingers away and gasped,
Well now why would he do that
“Dale consuelo al tritón, Señor,” I whispered. “Amén.” The effort didn’t cost me anything. I just figured the merman needed solace more than I needed God to exist.
Awe
Ven . . . Ven a la isla, milagrito. “¿La isla?” I repeat. Ven conmigo, mi luna.
Isnt this the plural go? So he should go w the merman??
“Benny.” I held out my mended meat hook. “Benny Caldera.”
I dont love calling a hand a meat hook can we stop that
“Do mermen like salt cod?” Without proper soaking, that stuff could break teeth and make your eyes water. Morgan huffed. “I hardly think that matters. I’m running a sideshow, not a Bavarian beer garden.”
Yet he pays for all his other oddity acts to eat decently ??
Through watering eyes, I saw two limpid blue irises glittering with lethal intent. My lungs shuttered. “Have you no voice to scream, fiendish parasite?”
Smash
I ain’t much of a talker anyway.” I hesitated on a rung. “Then again, I’m the idiot hanging around here talking to myself.” Just then, I saw it: He rolled his eyes! I’d
Ok awe this sassy ass merman
“Río.” He mimicked my rolled R like a native boricua. “Why that name?” A river can be both devastating and beautiful. I shrugged. “It suits you.” He tipped his head to the side, seeming to carefully assess my selection. “All right, Boy Named Kind,”
Loving this
Río, on the other hand. The sight of him ripped up everything I thought I understood about creation. One look at him and you had to wonder if the Bible had been selling God short this whole time.
Uh when is someone going to think this ab me wth
“Thank you as well. For el guisado.” I puffed a short laugh. “You didn’t like it.” “But it was kind of you,” he said, not laughing.
Aaawweeeee
A new ache dwells in my spirit tonight I dare not examine, and yet, what else can I do in this cage with so costly a gift as Benigno’s song except place it in my heart beside the moon?
BROOOOOO
“See, he’s got this crazy idea,” he said carefully, “that maybe we three got something in common.”
Lmfao the gays have gaydar for him already dont they
“Wasn’t much of a story,” I said. “The pig got loose, and we found it eating the communion wafers in San Juan Bautista’s bell tower.” His giggle sparkled like water. “An earthbound creature in a tower. Absurd,” he mused between bites.
Awe lmao
His willingness to sing for my comfort surprises me less having now heard how generously he gave his affection to a companion who understood not the exquisite pearl Benigno had cultivated for his keeping.
The way rio talks is lowkey gorgeous
Deft fingers sweep stray curls of his black hair aside, clearing a path for the cloth he drags along his cheek into the supple cleft of his throat. When was his last sip of water? His lips look far too arid.
Yea sure hes the one whos thirsty
How could I explain it to him? How cruel his kindness felt sometimes? Brown, Puerto Rican, and inverted, I was a walking composite of undesirable traits, and every time he said I was something more, I wanted to shake him,
:( oh this sweetie pie deserves the world stop
“Just because she looks at you does not mean she sees you,” Río said with all the steadiness I couldn’t muster myself. “Otherwise, she would not have taken what you did not offer.”
Yuppppp
I should’ve been swept out to sea.” “Enough!” I looked down. Río looked stricken. “Enough of this,” he said again. “Come into the water.” “¿Qué dijiste?” “I wish to comfort you. I cannot do it with bars between us.”
Awe rio is like so perfect for him its ridiculous
“’Cause the prettiest girl in Brooklyn wants me, but my heart wants someone else. Someone who knows me better than any human alive—including me. And I don’t even know his name.” Tears were forcing their way into my eyes again. “All I know is that he misses the moon. If I could, I’d ride a roller coaster to the sky just to steal it for him.”
Oop now im crying
“Río,” I whispered, out of breath, and not from wheezing. “You make me feel like I’m kissing the tides.” “Benigno,” he whispered back. “You make me feel like I am holding the moon.”
Brroooooooo !!!!!!! x
She tipped into my open arms so I could hug her. It didn’t take seven of me to do it either.
And when i say i hate all men benigno you are excluded
“Fine? You need a doctor—” “I don’t need a damn doctor.” “Just let me see it—” “Oh, for Christ’s sake, get out of my sight, you useless whore!”
Need him to die painfully
“Such violence and cruelty. I can hardly believe you are one of them.”
This specific wording makes me think hes not
“Bueno. That depends on the confession.”
I just now remembered bueno also means well oml
“I have the requisite anatomy for reproducing, Benigno. I am just not as”—his eyes drifted downward at my obvious arousal—“exposed as you are.”
Id perhaps kms. I was wondering how that worked though
My next exhale, Río breathed in, and I watched the bond take him too, his breaths coming faster, his expression opening with bliss and wonder at whatever truth he sensed in me.
This sounds wayy cooler than sex
“How can you expect me to cast you back to the water when I’ve only just found you?” He sighed and looked despairingly up at me through the bars. “So says every man who has ever hooked a fish.”
:( thiis is miserable
“I say we light up the little gobshites.” Vera materialized on the other side of Matthias with a newly lit cigarillo. “That’d be fun for me.” She casually flicked it onto Farty’s lap.
Literally so exciting everyone backing him up here and i usually dont care ab found famil this much
closed my eyes. Molded my throat around the sound I wanted to make. And when I opened my mouth, the voice that came out was genteel. Snobby. Tainted with an accent befitting a persona, not a person.
I was wondering how this was ever gonna be plot relevant
I took the shell and kissed it. “If you think I am beautiful, then it must be so,” I said in Spanish.
Im crying. Hes never believed hes beautiful but he believes rio over himself uhhhhhhhhhgggggg
“I don’t care if it’s a postcard, a telegram, or a goddamned message in a bottle, you find a way to tell me you two made it out alive. And Benny . . .” His large hand wrapped around my bicep and squeezed. “I believe you can lift two thousand pounds.”
Ugh the way i immediately sobbed
Tell the gang I’ve got no regrets. I’m more myself than I ever was, and I’m never alone.
I just wish so badly he got to keep his found family too
