FYI, Eda is super dramatic in this one shot. Gal is definitely a drama queen, and she's not above milking it. Also, Luz is mentioned but ultimately absent, and Eda will never admit just how fond she is of her new human apprentice.
"Where are you goin'?"
King is staring at her, rolling on the balls of his feet. It was half past 5. The sun was just starting to rise, light barely sparkling through the windows, and Luz was still upstairs, fast asleep. King, that darn fluffy beast, should have been as well.
He never got up before noon.
Eda stops dead in her tracks. Cursing under her breath. She'd hoped to have slipped out the door without being seen.
"None of your business" she replies, without missing a beat.
They had rules, unspoken tenets between them. When Eda said, don't ask, King didn't pry. And if King feel asleep curled near the chair, Eda left him be. Those were the little acts of courtesy they afforded each other.
King knew there were things about Eda he'd rather not know. Things he'd rather not interfere with. So, on those rare occasions Eda left to take care of 'personal business', King usually leaves her be.
The little demon clamors down from the couch, giving her that dubious, suspicious expression that said he knew she was hiding something. Then it morphs, into that careless look he leveled at her over the breakfast table, that said he couldn't give less of a crap.
"Uh-huh. Can I come?" He asks.
The look of mortification that arises is quickly quashed, as she steels her expression. No need to give the little hairball more ammunition.
"Can you come?-" Eda bursts into incredulous laughter, shaking her head fondly, "Nice try, furball"
Nope. He'd be staying at home.
King didn't know how to keep his mouth shut at the best of times, and Eda didn't want anyone, under any circumstances, to find out about what she was doing.
Selling stolen human artifacts was one thing. This was something else entirely.
This was something sinister. Something she never thought she'd do.
"I'm a great companion!" He exclaims, voice desperate with boredom.
He definitely would not be coming.
"Uh-huh" She slips through the door, still cackling, already halfway out, "See you in a few hours. And keep an eye on Luz, will ya"
Eda had to do this alone.
Eda never thought she'd be sitting in this school once again, to be honest, speaking to these same teachers she hasn't seen in what felt like an eternity, and yet, here she is.
Eda huffs, as she sits half slouched in her chair, feeling like her brains were going to leak out. She wears a stupid, sparkly name tag across her chest that said Edalyn Clawthorne, proud mother of one, in the pink gel pen provided to her by the short, ditzy little witch greeting people at the door. Everyone got one, equally sparkly and stupid looking.
Several eyes glare at her as soon as she enters, at once frightened, judging and passive. Clearly, her reputation precedes her.
Eda, for her part, is particularly… tame, as she takes her seat at the round meeting table (huge, and without any ends, meant to be more inclusive). She sits up straight, clasps her hands in her lap, and wrangles control of her more feral tendencies. She doesn't, for example, hex the woman staring at her so harshly from the corner of her eye. She would have, when she was thirteen and stupid. She would have a week ago, too, when school was that building that sucked the spirit from out of your skull, and being anywhere within its walls was like having the skin burnt from your arms.
Before Luz was enrolled there.
Now, she's going to PTA meetings.
She tries not to think about how mundane that is. How ironic that is.
To think, the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch of the isles, was attending bland meetings to arrange school wide bake sales. She laughs softly at the thought.
People trickle in slowly, teachers and soccer moms, with serious expressions and forehead wrinkles. Chairs squeak across the floor, as they're pulled out from the table, and people sit.
A young witch, just as bright and exuberant as the lady at the entrance, throws herself in the chair beside Eda. Something about her is so incredibly proper, and domestic, it makes Eda want to vomit. She adjusts the little dragon clasp purse on her shoulder, and pushes square rimmed glasses further up the bridge of her nose, before turning to Eda with a sickening smile.
Eda rolls her eyes. This wasn't her type of crowd.
She seems not to recognize Eda, either (never mind the wanted poster stapled to every door).
"You're a parent too, right?" The brunette's friendly tone definitely indicated she had no idea who Eda was.
For the best, she supposed.
She blinks owlishly.
Eda had never considered herself a parent. When she thought of the term her own mother came to mind, so stiff and responsible and unbelievably caring, and she'd never been able to quite perceive herself as fitting into the role.
Was she? Eda thinks of Luz, of why she's even sitting here in the first place, and feels a warm, fuzzy feeling.
"Yeah, sure" She replies, noncommittal.
She does not mention that there was no way this lady was old enough to have a kid of her own (she looked, what, 17?). Eda knew when to keep her trap shut.
Instead, she throws her hands behind her head, leans back in her chair, and tries to ignore her.
The lady is hardly perturbed. She smiles, and opens her mouth again to speak. Eda prayed that the dang meeting would start already. She'd already been sitting around for ten minutes, and she hated idle chit chat.
"My name's Jeanine-" Ugh. She's gearing up for a spiel.
A hand taps her shoulder. Eda's never been happier to be interrupted.
It's her old potions professor, just as tight lipped and severe as she remembers. She wonders, vaguely, if she still had that thick ruler of hers in the back of her pocket, like a second appendage she used it so often.
Her stomach drops.
"Edalyn Clawthorne" She sneers, hands clenched with frustration, so delighted to see her, "You made my life hell"
There's an implied question, that need not be asked. Why are you here? is projected on her forehead in neon letters.
Eda holds back an annoyed growl of her own.
She was behaving herself. Trying to, at least.
"Don't get your robes in a twist. I'm not here for that" Eda reassures her, waving her off with a nonchalant hand, "I'm here for my kid"
Eda absolutely wouldn't be there, if it wasn't for Luz, wearing this stupid nametag and sitting in this silly koombyah circle. If Eda wanted to make trouble, she definitely wouldn't be doing it here, anyway.
She'd blow up a prison, or something, you know. Something extravagant, and worth her time.
Whatever she said rang true. Her professor, bitter as she was, appeared satisfied with the answer, and let it go.
Eda huffs.
The brown haired witch beside her, Jeanine, looks somewhat concerned.
"That was unpleasant" She says, and the lady actually looks sorry for her! Sorry, for her, Eda! Edalyn fights down a barking laugh, and wonders just how much one person can dislike another.
"What can I say, my old teachers love me!" Is her only answer.
Bump arrives shortly, thankfully. The room fills out, occupied by chattering parents and teachers that, in all honesty, probably wanted to burn Eda at the stake.
Her potions professor hadn't been the only teacher Eda made life hard for. She'd been a bit of a menace, in her younger years, and she'd been proud of it.
Now, she'd just have to endure the stares, and as annoying as it was, she was willing to.
"Good evening, parents, staff," He nods to all the heads around the table. "Thank you for joining us. As you all know, we should be discussing coursework for our students at today's meeting. But first things first"
They pass around snacks, and Eda sits and waits. She'd be patient, until they got to the important parts.
Because if Luz was going to this school, Eda wanted (needed) to have a say in what happened here. Maybe, just maybe, she could stop what happened to her from happening to Luz.
Or, at the very least, she could help protect her. Keep the young thing whole. Unique.
And that started with being on the PTA, she supposed.