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"Do I really have to, Granny?"
"Yes," Citlali replied to the boy, who she was helping with washing his arms and shoulders. It was Ororon's 15th birthday today, and that meant he will be going through a coming-of-age ceremony. Citlali will be there of course, and she will be giving him his first tattoos.
"You have to, because it's what our traditions say," she explains further as she takes the washcloth in his hands to wring in a small basin while he turned around, dabbing a dry towel over himself. "You're a man starting today, and we do that to remember."
"Will it hurt?" Ororon asks, staring at Citlali's collarbones and face marked with her very own pastel purple tattoos.
"It will. A lot," she replies, emphasizing her words with a finger, which spooks the boy a little. He lowers his head, the furry pair of bat ears on his head drooping at the same time. Citlali scoots close to him for a comforting hug. "But you'll get through it, I promise. You're strong like grandma, you know?"
Her words have always been his source of strength, no matter how harsh she was to him sometimes - he knows she is just a very protective person and he loves her for that. His ears perk up, and he gives her a nod with a big smile when they part.
"Thank you, Granny," now he was determined. If his grandmother could go through the same kind of thing before, then he can, too. He hugs her once more, with a little bit more of a squeeze and their favorite mode of affection: touching foreheads, much to her surprise. He was growing up so fast, she starts to have difficulty keeping up with him.
"Alright, alright. That's enough, we gotta prepare for the ceremony," the two of them put away the washcloths, standing up from the floor to head to the next room where they are in the elders' palace. Ororon nods to himself and to Citlali, before they push the door open to meet the elders presiding over the ceremony.
There are many others who are sharing this ritual with him, all sitting before the presiding elder as he began to chant prayers to ask the Archon for blessings of strength. Everyone else followed along into the chanting, while the presiding elder held a cup over a fire. The cup was passed along to the young men and women present; Citlali was smiling as she watches her darling grandson take a sip of the drink inside - which they believed numbed the body from pain.
The ritual was over, and what came next was the hard part: for the new men and women to receive their very first tattoos. Ororon chose his to be done on either side of his shoulders, but he doesn't know exactly how much Citlali would put on him. He's a little nervous but he sat there anyway with a determined expression, waiting for his grandmother to begin.
"It'll be over before you know it," Citlali pats his head, winking as she sat by his side to begin the process. In her hands she held up the sticks used to prick the skin - which had an Iktomisaur fang on the tip used to inject ink with and a small cup of black ink. He was surprised she chose that color, but he doesn't complain. The sooner he gets it, the sooner its over.
And boy, was he in for a surprise when she started marking his skin. Every prick was accompanied by the sound of a stick hitting the other, and with many people here it was overstimulating - it was like hearing a crowd of people at the stadium whenever the tournament came up. Ororon had to shut his eyes and bite his lip to keep from groaning in pain but he was shaking a little with every hit of the inked fang.
"Relax, Ororon," Citlali says, humming a tune he's heard before which was oddly soothing, focusing on freeing his mind like the elders always said to do when this moment came. The drink he had earlier was helping a little too, and in a while, the tattooing process felt only slightly painful until it ended with the pattern on his other shoulder.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, Granny...," he replies, though with a pinprick of tears on his eyes from the sting of the inking stick. Citlali sighs softly, sitting down beside him to start wiping away the blood from the new tattoos. "It really was painful."
"But you got through it, what did I say?" She laughs, and the sound of it soothes his body nicely. The elder from before offers a short speech for everyone in the room before ending the ceremony and bids everyone goodbye.
The two of them take a short walk back home, and Citlali sits him down on a chair in the living room. "Now, be a good kid and don't do anything strenuous for a couple of days, alright? The wounds are fresh, and I don't want you to hurt yourself."
That makes sense... So there's less moving and no manual labor - but what about his plants and aphids? Citlali definitely can't go about taking care of them starting today, would she? "How long is 'a couple of days' exactly, Granny?"
"Well... About a week or two, I guess," she thinks for a moment, counting in her head. He visibly deflates when he hears that. "Oh don't make that face, it's not like I said you won't actually be able to move at all!"
"I can still water my plants and check on the aphids then?" He brightens up a little, those ears standing up from the top of his head instantly.
"Of course, my darling grandson. Look, if you want, I can just call Ifa over to help!" The two of them share some food at the table, almost completely forgetting it was his birthday, too. She got all his favorite food, and he got to eat more than usual. Citlali smiles the whole time - sure it had been hard raising a boy (with a bit of help from everyone in the tribe) but today he's become a man, and that makes it all rewarding.
A couple of years ago, he was still so small, slim and timid and now he just got his growth spurt and fresh tattoos. Ororon grew up a confident boy despite his social shortcomings and the "eccentricism", as most people put it. But that's not like he doesn't function as a person - on the contrary, even! The thought makes Citlali sigh a pensive sigh.
"Happy birthday, Ororon," she finally greets him, moving over to bump her forehead on his for a few moments. He loves this gesture so much he closes his eyes like a puppy leaning into pets.
"Thank you, Granny. I love you."
"I love you too."