(Update!!!Here's the latest of La Muerte and Xibalba's antics! Including Candlemaker! Enjoy!)
Xibalba was talking to Candlemaker, both walking to La Muerte's chambers for a special meeting between the three immortals. She had promised snacks and both were eager to see what she'd make, hopefully one of her famous Tres Leches cake, a rare treat from the busy goddess. However once at her door they paused, finding a note on the door. Xibalba picked it up and read it aloud.
"Gone to tend to an emergency and finish snacks, don't start without me. Be back soon, La Muerte. P.S. Xibalba don't go scare souls while you wait and neither of you go to my kitchen and start wandering." Xibalba sniffed, insulted she'd think he'd run off to scare the dead when they were here for a meeting. Candlemaker shrugged.
"Guess we're waitin' out here for a little Z." Xibalba tried the door and found it open. He gave a chuckle.
"I think I'd rather wait inside, she wouldn't want us to waste time out here. Besides, her bed is the softest thing ever, I mean it. And after a whole six months not spending time in it I think I'll get comfy." Candlemaker shook his head, watching Xibalba begin to go in.
"Naw I don't think we should do that man, I mean, it's her private room." Xibalba waved a spindly hand, giving a smirk.
"Its fine, whenever I'm here she practically lets me live in this room, she won't mind." Candlemaker tried again, knowing this would only result in bad things.
"But it ain't right; besides, the note never said we could go inside." Xibalba narrowed his ruby eyes, a sly smile on his lips.
"Ah, but it never said we couldn't now hm? She told us to stay out of trouble and if we stay in the room we won't go about wandering. Come on." Xibalba urged. The waxy diety shook his head, giving a sigh.
"If we get in trouble I'm pinning this one on you." Xibalba fluffed his wings.
"Do you know who I am? I'm the king of loopholes; she won't be able to argue with reason. Besides, it's not like we're going to steal anything." Candlemaker knew he wasn't going to get through that thick head Xibalba had so he followed the death god into his wife's room, finding red everywhere. A large queen sized bed against the wall to the left with a happy Xibalba sprawled across it, half asleep from the airy feeling beneath his frame. There was a beau of deep cherry wood as well as a vanity with small bottles and a large mirror rimmed in golden marigolds. A wardrobe dominated the area across from the bed, shut tight with paintings of flowers upon it. Warm red carpet was upon the floor and the walls were a soft red, not too strong. Noting that red was apparently her favorite color Candlemaker felt his eyes drawn to a very old looking vase holding many different flowers. It was a beautiful red, curved gently to perfection with exotic patterns on all sides. Examining it closely he inquired to Xibalba.
"Hey Z, do you know what this is? I gotta feeling I know who made it." Xibalba glanced up, blinking blearily before shrugging.
"Don't call me that, and yes I know what it is. She told me it was some sort of Aztec vase made from some sort of special earth blah, blah, blah. I wasn't paying very much attention because of what we were doing." Candlemaker felt his eyebrow arch.
"And what were you doin'?" Xibalba smiled dreamily.
"Just messing about, nothing serious but her fingers grew rather playful with my mustache and then it became a little hard to think." Candlemaker took another look before shaking his head.
"Well I can't place it, I don't know why. Maybe the Book knows. Hey Z, toss it over here?" Candlemaker asked, still looking at the vase. Xibalba rolled his eyes and tossed the Book of Life. However his aim was off and instead hit Candlemaker in the head, jerking him forwards and knocking over the vase. Both stood stiff at the sound of the crash. Xibalba and Candlemaker looked over the damage, giving each other a guilty look before back to the destruction. The vase had broken into many shards, the flowers spilled out among the pieces but no water since La Muerte kept them alive with magic. Candlemaker mumbled. "You're going to get it now Z, she'll kill ya." Xibalba made an indignant sound before yelping.
"Me, this is my fault?! You're the one who didn't catch the book you wanted me to throw you!" Candlemaker lifted his hands as if surrendering the blame to Xibalba.
"Hey Z, I wasn't the one who lugged the book into another person's head. And aren't you the one who let us in here? If we waited outside nothin' would have happened." Xibalba was silent before retorting.
"We can't tell her, she would flip out and there goes our meeting because she'd be firing death glares the entire time. And we might miss out on the snacks. Why don't we just fix it?" Xibalba waved his hand, a gesture that would usually take anything broken and fix it. However the vase did nothing; merely lay in a mess of ceramic and flowers. He glared at the vase and waved his hand again and again, trying to use magic to fix it. However no result was yielded. Finally he gave up, giving a gulp. "Why isn't it working?! Why can't my magic fix it?" Candlemaker was growing almost as anxious as Xibalba who'd had a taste of an angry La Muerte before. Flipping frantically through the Book of Life he stopped at a picture of the rose bowl and read aloud.
"A crimson rose bowl made in praise of the goddess La Muerte, made by a famous Aztec potter who shortly died afterwards. The rose bowl is layered in a fine layer of magic that keeps immortals from messing with it." Xibalba bit his lip with building nervousness.
"The fact it's old will only make it worse. But why'd she put magic on it? What's the point; it didn't stop us from breaking it. Is there maybe another vase that looks just like it? We could take that and replace this one! He cried eagerly. Candlemaker shook his head.
"Sorry man, it says only one was ever made and the guy who did it is dead." Xibalba stroked his chin feverishly.
"And by now he's probably dust! Great, okay, if we can't replace it what can we do?" Candlemaker looked from the vase to Xibalba.
"Maybe we can fix it by hand?" He tried, unsure of the reaction. Xibalba gave a snort.
"Like mortals do? NO! It only insults our immortality. I'd rather tell her." Candlemaker gave him a look and Xibalba finally groaned. "Yes she'll tear me apart; fine, we fix it by hand. Anything to stick the bits together?" Candlemaker held up a small bottle of adhesive and Xibalba sighed, taking it in one hand and beginning to separate the flowers from the pottery. Candlemaker watched intently as Xibalba began to rebuild the vase, only for it to fall apart once more, earning a frustrated growl from the death god. Wings taut Xibalba tried another two times before giving up and handing it to Candlemaker. "You take a try; they all look the same to me." He growled irritably. Candlemaker shook his head.
"This ain't my mess man." Xibalba curled his lip.
"Yes it is, you decided to come in here, you knocked it over, it is partly your fault whether you like it or not." Suddenly they froze at the sound of humming and turned to each other, eyes wide. La Muerte was back. Xibalba darted to the door. "You fix it I'll distract her okay?" Candlemaker looked at him uncertainly.
"But how will you keep her busy enough?" Xibalba gave an arrogant smirk.
"Have you not met me? I'm the king of loopholes and distracting, she'll be busy alright." With that he darted out the door to greet La Muerte who was holding a tray, giving a shriek when he burst out of the room. He swiftly caught the tray, falling to the floor in the process. Giving her a weak smile he chuckled, noticing that there were three servings of Tres Leches cake, topped with little bits of fruit and in a small puddle of milk. "Hello mi amor, back so soon?" She nodded, giving him a glare.
"Yes, now why were you in my room? Is Candlemaker in there too? Didn't you read my note?" Xibalba chuckled nervously.
"We merely waited for you in your room so we wouldn't make trouble. We read the note but you never put we couldn't go inside." She smiled faintly and shook her head.
"Oh Xibalba, you and your loopholes. Well, the room isn't broken is it?" He stood,
"Of course not!" He said, trying to play insulted. "Maybe not the room but something valuable in it." His mind muttered. La Muerte reached for the tray.
"Good, then we can start the meeting. Come on." Xibalba gave a yelp and hastily blocked the door, the tray clattering with his movements. La Muerte smirked.
"Okay Xibalba, stop playing, we have a meeting to take care of and I have many things to do. Give me the tray and we'll go in." He shook his head, thinking fast.
"Mi amor, uh, um what was the emergency that made you run off?" She paused, realizing this was a warning. He never asked about her work, he didn't like when she spoke of all the souls that she cared for. Speaking slowly she watched his eyes for any suspicious signs.
"I had to tend to a group of frantic souls. A mother lost her child and I needed to comfort her while a man was without his wife and he needed comfort as well. Why are you suddenly so interested in my work? Xibalba, what is wro..." that's as far as she got before he leaned to her lips, kissing her deeply. She gasped against his mouth before her lips fell into a rhythm with his, gentle yet passionate and very moan worthy. His wings fluffed and her hat sparkled, a few fireworks going off as he deepened the kiss, trying to keep her as busy as possible. Teasing her lips he made her mewled softly in protest, not wanting his lips to move away and he obliged. Suddenly Candlemaker burst out of the room, making the two lovers break away in surprise as he grinned, giving Xibalba a wink.
"Oh, hey La Muerte! Ready for that meeting? The cake looks amazing!" La Muerte nodded, a little dazed from the sudden kiss before taking the tray and going into the room. Xibalba was dazed as well, but managed to shake himself out of it and both inched after the goddess, wanting to see if their plan was foolproof. Watching her intently they noticed she paid little attention to the vase which thanks to Candlemaker's skilled fingers was fixed, flowers perfect as if nothing had happened at all. La Muerte handed each of them a plate before settling herself on her bed, waiting for them patiently.
"Well? What are you two doing there? Come in, the only one of us with spare time is Xibalba so let's not waste it." Xibalba made a face but they seated themselves in chairs. However La Muerte glanced at the vase, making the two gods break into a cold sweat. She frowned and stood up, making Xibalba's wings puff nervously, each feather standing on end. Slowly she picked it up and it crumbled to pieces in her hands. Both immortals gave a yelp as La Muerte turned to them, both beginning to stutter how it was the other's fault and how they were innocent when La Muerte did the strangest thing. She laughed. They froze as she laughed and giggled until she was out of breath. Placing a hand on her hip she smirked.
"You two thought that was the real rose bowl? No! I made a duplicate because the original is so precious to me. From the looks of it you two broke it and tried fixing it? Oh that's hilarious!" She giggled, bursting into laughter once more. Xibalba gave her a glare.
"Then why did you put a spell to keep magic from fixing it?" She stopped laughing for a moment.
"I protect a lot of my things with magic, just a habit since you come in so much and touch so much. But I find it amusing you two tried fixing it by hand. Is that why you were acting all weird Xibalba? Trying to distract me?" Xibalba opened his mouth but nothing came out, he was speechless for once. Candlemaker gave a sigh of relief.
"Hey, at least that means we don't get in trouble." La Muerte paused, giving them a flaming glare.
"I never said that, one you two broke something in my room, two, you two came in here without permission. And three, you two tried to lie to me. You two deserve some punishment but I think the worse I'll do is just not make snacks for the next century's meetings." Both of the gods groaned at the delicious loss and decided to savor the cake as much as possible, knowing it would be the last they'd have for a while. A long while indeed.
Fin.