Amity looked out of the window in what was her temporary home, until the Construction Coven had deconstructed the defences around Bonesborough, and repaired the infrastructure that had managed to get damaged during Valeween. Only then, would they head up to what used to be Blight Manor, and repair the building. The Blight family owned several pieces of property throughout the Isles, so it wasn't like homelessness was ever a remote risk.
Her parents knew about the destruction of their home now, since it was relayed to them through a series of couriers, though the nature of how the Manor was destroyed, thankfully, hadn't reached them. And as such, they weren't coming back until it was fixed. No doubt eventually, they would start asking how the Manor fell. Eventually they'd find out, but right now, Amity wasn't capable of caring less.
They had arranged for their children to stay elsewhere, and for payment to be made to the Construction Coven as needed. Upon completion of their job, of course.
Where she was staying now was more akin to a more regular house that you'd see in any city on the Isles, but was still on the outskirts of the town, away from the common folk. Amity didn't mind that so much - It meant that from the window, she could see the trees and plants that surrounded Bonesborough swaying in the wind. Her arms folded, and she allowed her shoulders to slacken. It was calming, seeing the regular colours on the flora of the Isles.
It reminded her that Valeween was over.
A sigh escaped her, as did the words, "It's over…". Like she was assuring herself just as much.
She hadn't taken the time to look at the colours since the invasion ended. Too much had been on her mind. She'd been too focused on the anxiety in her chest, and the simultaneous desires to run away as fast as possible, and finally get the answers that would ease her heart and mind, even if they shattered it to pieces in the process. Only now, in the last few hours, had she had the presence and peace of mind to actually look at the return of colour, and really take it in. Really acknowledge that Valeween was over.
Relief washed over her. It really was over.
Another sigh escaped her. She was alone, up late for the third night in a row. But this time, she wasn't consumed with fear and regret, but with… Well, she wouldn't call it peace.
But it was something else.
Emira and Edric were already asleep in their respective rooms - Amity didn't know where they had ended up throughout Valeween, and hadn't thought to ask. They knew the truth behind the Manor burning down though - When she was in a temporary hospital for the infected, someone, probably Willow, or Eda, had told them what had happened, how they had found them. They had promised not to say a word to their parents though, and Amity believed them. Her siblings were a pain, but what they weren't, were snitches. That, and when they had apparently seen the state Luz was in, it became clear that whatever had happened, there hadn't been much other choice. Combined with the fact they knew Amity was infected, and from what they heard - They were understanding, and didn't ask any more questions.
Amity was thankful for that.
Valeween always left people asking all sorts of questions, no matter if they had been infected or not. Actions would be taken, words would be said, and secrets would be revealed. They held the capacity to be life changing events, every single time the Cherubim came to the Isles.
Every memory that Amity had of Valeween had been one of those events. So far, she'd lived through three of them, and the first one was the only one that she had no memories of. The second one brought the truth about her parents into focus, shattered the illusions that she had built around them to try to convince herself that things would be okay. That she could work things out with them. That everything would just… Work.
The Cherubim shattered that illusion.
Before she was even ten years old, she understood that there was always going to be a division between her and her parents. That nothing was ever going to be good enough. She was supposed to be a tool, in just about every single way, with each and every imperfection systematically ironed out.
Yet somehow, that had actually had something of a positive outcome - At least from Amity's perspective. It hardened her resolve. Made her want to succeed, to prove herself. Prove that they were wrong.
But how she had gone about such a task, and the outcomes of the way she went about them - Like how she had deluded herself into thinking she had done right by how she had treated Willow, in some weird, self-deceiving way that it would benefit Willow in the end somehow - That only changed when she met Luz.
And maybe somehow, in some weird, twisted way, that had worked out too. Because if Amity hadn't been like that, would she have ever met Luz? That was… Weird to even think about.
Because Luz had become such an important aspect of her life. She showed the kindness Amity hadn't received for years, or had it in her to be able to return to someone. Someone she didn't feel judged by. Someone who understood her. Who knew she screwed up in a lot of major ways that would take a long time to fix, but didn't cast her aside. The first friend that she had made for herself, in a long, long time, didn't run when they saw the person she was. Who she had been. The person that Amity herself was ashamed of having been before.
When she put it all out in front of her, Amity couldn't even pretend to be surprised that she'd fallen in love with Luz.
And once more, the Cherubim had threatened to take that away. To expose the Witch to the cruel reality that now, she had come to expect. To take away even the false hope that Amity had been clinging on to.
And once more, Luz managed to surprise Amity.
'I don't know how I feel about you.'
Compared to the 'No' that she had been expecting, that was… A positive sign. The promise Luz made, that no matter what conclusion she came to, that they would always be friends, was one that had really helped Amity's anxiety feel at ease though. That was the real thing she had been afraid of.
Now though, she could at least hold onto that hope…
...Even if she didn't see how Luz would feel the same.
But it was good to know that Luz wouldn't cut Amity off from her life. That had been the biggest fear, more than anything else. That made everything else feel easier.
Tomorrow would be easier. The day after would be easier. The next week would be easier. The next -
...The next week suddenly cropped into Amity's mind. After everything that had happened, she had forgotten all about the Passover Festivus.
That made Amity blink.
There was something there.
" - Another pass from - "
There was something that Luz felt towards Amity. A feeling that she didn't fully recognise, or understand. Not really. Something that did feel sort of familiar, but at the same time, completely foreign to her. It eluded her the more she tried to focus on it, and it got harder to figure out the more she actively tried to figure it out, yet she couldn't bring herself to do anything but try to figure it out. It was like there was something missing that she couldn't find the words for. It was hard to describe, because if there was one thing that she could be certain about regarding these feelings, it was that they felt like they were contradictory in nature.
Or maybe that was because she didn't know, and that became a self fulfilling prophecy.
Her mind would always go back to that afternoon, by the tree. By their Grom Tree. Replaying all the words that they had said to one another. Again and again, until she felt she could recite it from memory… Which, well, she could, by definition. The things they talked about, the hugs they shared, and the emotions they spilled out to one another.
Luz had hoped, really, really hoped , that somehow, the feelings that she had in regards to Amity - Whatever they were - Would resolve themselves with time. That it would all just slot into place naturally, and that she'd be able to figure it all out over time. That she'd be able to pin down what these feelings were, and finally know what to do with them.
That hadn't happened at all. Even though they now were able to spend time together again, the haze surrounding the Humans heart still persisted.
Part of her wondered if it existed just to torment her.
Sometimes, being around Amity felt like the single easiest thing in the world. Like she didn't even have to try in even the smallest way to get along with her. When it didn't feel all that different to hanging around Gus or Willow. Amity was her friend, one of the closest friends that she had ever had. Sometimes, it felt like she was the single best friend that she had ever had. With everything that they had gone through together, and everything that they had shared with one another, it was hard to feel otherwise.
How could she even feel otherwise?
Times where she wanted nothing more than to just be around Amity, because just being around her meant that Luz was going to be around someone that made every moment feel important and special , and that made her feel like nothing mattered more. Like just being around Amity made everything feel better.
Even just sitting together in silence - That was something that Luz was very happy to do, so long as she was next to Amity.
Luz had shared things with Amity that sometimes, she wondered if she would ever be able to tell her own mother. Yet she could say them to Amity with ease. She didn't even have to think about it half the time.
Amity had her trust. Completely and totally. She had earned it. She deserved it.
" - An incredible use of fire Magic from - "
But there were other times where Luz found herself not knowing what to say around Amity. Times where she didn't know what exactly she was supposed to do, or what she was supposed to think. For all that she knew about Amity's life now, there had always felt like there had been… Some kind of wall between them there.
Not because they didn't trust one another, or because Amity didn't want to share things with her - But because Luz just… Didn't know what to do. How to help. What to say to make things better. Because the problems that Amity faced with her parents, with her past, with how she saw herself, they all seemed huge and immeasurable compared to anything that Luz herself had to face. And while Amity would always forgive her, Luz knew she had royally screwed up sometimes, and it was times like that that she wished she could be as far away as physically possible from the Witch.
Out of fear, or shame, or guilt, or the fact that she knew that she would have disappointed Amity - Luz didn't know which one it was yet.
That, and Amity always seemed like she was just… Better than Luz at a lot of stuff. Abomination Magic being just one of them. She was vastly smarter. She knew more about the theory and technicalities of Magic. She was insanely talented in so many areas. She was… Smart.
Good God, she was smart.
" - Uses their Magic and - And that's the final - "
And it never stopped them from being friends. Not once, outside their initial, hostile meetings, had Amity made Luz feel like she was lesser for any of that - Her class, her Magic, or her lack of book-smarts. Amity always treated her like she was a friend, and never assigned malice to what she did.
But it did remind Luz that they came from totally different worlds.
Literally and figuratively. Sometimes it made Luz feel that there was still a wall between them in some areas. But a small wall. One that didn't really matter. Only it did.
Did that make sense?
"Luz?"
Who was she kidding. None of this made any sense. Even in her own head it didn't make any sense. It was based on nothing, really. All of this was uncharted territory and she wasn't ashamed to admit that scared the hell out of her.
Everything about this situation was just so confusing . The idea that someone - And of all people, Amity - liked her in that way was such a complete and total shock that she struggled to even begin to make sense of it. It had never happened before, never mind someone like Amity. That was all Luz could think about. All she could bring herself to focus on.
'I don't know how I feel about you.'
'I don't even know how to figure out how I feel about you.'
'But I want to find out'
Never before had Luz found herself in such a confusing, complicated situation that she couldn't simplify to a basic conclusion. She couldn't dumb this down to make it easier to understand, and she knew that there weren't going to be any easy answers. She had no point of comparison to work from. None of this made sense, and none of it was going to be easy to figure it out.
At the same time, she'd never said, thought, or meant anything more in her life.
She didn't know - But she wanted to find out.
She was going to find out.
She -
"Luz!"
A shaking on her shoulder snapped the Human back to reality. She blinked, her eyes opened up, and everything came back into focus, rather than the blurry daze that she had found herself in. "Huh, what - "
The sounds of her surroundings returned to her - She now heard cheering and applause from the people in the stands all around her, shouting chants and praise to those on the field below. Like they were celebrating -
Grudgby. Right. That was where she was.
"Again?"
Luz glanced to her side, and at the expression that Willow was giving her. It was a look of growing concern for her mental well-being, and one of empathy from being in a similar situation to the Human. She didn't even need to ask what was wrong. She already had a pretty good idea.
This hadn't been the first time that Luz had zoned out like this. And it wouldn't be the last.
A small sigh, and then a nod from Luz followed. "Yeah."
Time hadn't remained still after what Luz had decided to call 'The Tree Talk'.
Days had passed, and more and more people who had been affected by the Cherubim were released back into wider society, once their injuries had been seen to, and more and more of the defensive measures were removed as the scenery of Bonesborough returned to its normal state. The guard-flora from the Plant Coven were removed and relocated into new eco-enclosures, while the various infrastructural implementations used by the Construction Coven were either dismantled so the materials could be used elsewhere, or converted into new buildings in order to become permanent additions to the town. All over the place, the various Covens either undid what they had set up, or were in talks with various civic planners on how to convert them for the public use.
And it was hard not to feel like there was more and more growing tension between more and more individuals as that happened.
People who would hide their faces whenever a particular person passed them by, some who would walk to the other side of the street when they saw someone else walking down the same way, and between those who had had far worse experiences, sometimes even violence breaking out, between people whom had had nothing but an absolute breakdown of even the mildest form of communication - This all became a common sight the more people were let out of medical custody.
Despite Valeween having ended nearly a week ago now, the after-effects of it were still extremely prominent, and it was clear that no matter what happened, they would remain like this for quite some time. Months before even a semblance of normalcy returned, and a lot of relationships would never be the same again.
Yet at the same time, the work to return to the way things were wasn't done yet. There were still plenty of things that had to be done before anything that came close to 'normal' could begin. But doing that was next to impossible when society only just barely functioned as it was.
So the need for some sort of distraction became abundantly clear for people within the cities across the Isles. Activities. Sports. Games. Community events. Things people could bond over. Things that could help people forget for just a little while - Just whatever they could find to try to take people's minds off of things, to try to fix at least some of the wounds that Valeween had brought, and return to a semblance of normalcy again, even if - Again - it was only for a short while.
Today, it had been a series of public Grudgby matches, organised by the various schools scattered across the Titan. Sports and competition helped to get people engaged and enthused, and it could serve as a bonding exercise for all involved, both on the field, and in the stands.
That wasn't why Luz was here though. If she were being honest, she had only come for a few reasons, one of which being that Willow had asked her to, and another because she had thought a slight change of pace might have helped. But as with everything else since the Tree Talk, Luz's mind returned back to it, as she tried to figure out what the heck she was going to do about… All of that.
Seven days later, and she still wasn't any closer to figuring it out.
As people began to disperse from the stalls, and the surrounding chatter became quieter as people left the stadium, Luz and Willow stayed behind, sitting still in their seats. They still had a reason to stay behind. Curious, and finding the silence between the two slightly awkward, Luz opted to ask, "So… Did we win?"
Willow nodded. "Hexside won."
"Go team." Luz made a small gesture of a raised fist, but her heart wasn't in it at all, and it looked more like a weak attempt to tap something that wasn't there. She let her hand flop to her side, and she sighed.
"Are you okay?" Willow asked, gently leaning forward to try and get a better look at Luz's expression.
It hadn't been worth the effort - The look on Luz's face was just… Vacant. The expression of someone who had far too much on their mind.
"Yeah, I'm… I'm fine." Luz nodded, her voice distant. As soon as she spoke though, she realized how distant and uninterested she had come across, and quickly looked at Willow properly. "Sorry, I just…" Her hands perked up, and tried to make some kind of gesture, though it failed to make any sense. "...Amity, y'know?"
"...Still not figured it out yet?" A slightly superfluous question, she supposed, but it was all Willow could think to ask.
"No." Luz slumped into her seat, and slid down it a bit so she was halfway leaning down on it. "I just… I can't figure it out. I just…" An exhale followed. It always made even less sense when she tried to put it into words.
Thankfully though, Willow understood well enough. She had been the one person who Luz felt could really understand, given her situation with Boscha. She knew what it was like to have feelings of conflict and uncertainty like this.
It wasn't a perfect comparison, of course. There were differences between their situations. One of which being the nature of the relationship with her confessor, as well as their history with one another. On that particular front, they were pretty dramatically different situations.
"I told you that we'd win!"
Another difference being the fact that Willow actually seemed to be making progress when it came to her situation.
Perking herself up so she wasn't slouched down in the seat of the chair, Luz saw that Boscha had made her way so that she was within earshot of the seats the pair of them were sitting in. The expression on her face was one of smugness and pride. For all the ways that Boscha had changed over the months, the one way in which she hadn't changed in the slightest was the way she took pride in crushing her opposition.
"I didn't even break a sweat." The three-eyed Witch boasted, her arms folding and her smirk growing.
Her statement was mostly directed towards Willow, who returned with what Luz could only describe as a smug grin of her own. "I don't know. I thought I saw a few moments where you nearly let them score the final point."
"Scoreboard doesn't lie."
"I'm impressed you didn't need the Rusty Smidge to win this one."
"Hey, a win is a win. No need to get hung up on what happened when you two played us."
Willow laughed gently, before her smile became more genuine. "Fair. Congratulations. Seriously."
That wasn't a compliment that Boscha would have been unused to hearing, given her position as the Grudgby Team Captain - If anything, Luz would have imagined that she would have been sick of hearing that by now - But Boscha's entire persona seemed to shift when Willow said it. Her face went a more reddish shade, and all her eyes dared away from the Plant Witch.
"Yeah, well, it's… It's not really all that special." It was still bizarre for Luz to see Boscha acting bashful like this, or immediately downplaying any of her accomplishments. But it seemed like it was a reaction that she only had when it came to Willow.
Maybe because Willow was now acutely aware of Boscha's feelings towards her. Back when they ran into one another before Valeween, and during the event, she didn't act like this. Now that Willow knew though, she acted differently.
And it was a shift Willow also noticed, but she didn't bother to say anything, or point it out. She just let it happen without calling any attention to it. Luz could tell that that was something that Boscha had noticed too, and appreciated.
The interactions between the two of them had changed so much within a week that if she hadn't known their past and history, Luz might have suspected that they had been at least on talking terms for years now. Over the course of said week, a whole new dynamic seemed to have formed between the pair of them, where they would almost tease one another in certain contexts that Luz could only assume were consistent to them, but had become overall far more friendly, and while it was still finding its grounding, and while Willow still didn't know what exactly she thought of the whole 'Boscha liking her' thing, she had agreed to try being friends with Boscha first, and seeing where that went.
Willow meant it too - It would have been very easy for her to just play lip service to the idea, and to then never allow anything to go beyond that vague promise. She would have had a perfect justification for it too.
But she wasn't. Because she wasn't that sort of person. She had said as much back when Luz first asked her about Valeween, and her record when it came to honesty spoke for itself. She had said that she would see where this went, and she was being true to that. Willow was actually giving Boscha a fair chance.
And in spite of whatever reservations either she or Luz had had about it, it was hard to deny that Boscha was trying too. There were still aspects of her which were distinctly 'Boscha', but people didn't completely change over the course of a single day. And it was obvious that she hadn't been complacent either - She was still trying to be better than she had been.
That was pretty much the primary reason that Willow had decided to come see this match in the first place.
"Hey, Boscha!" From the other side of the field, one of the members of the team called over to their captain. They, and the rest of the team, were headed back into the Grudgby Barracks, presumably to receive praise and congratulations, and then get changed and head on home, or wherever else. "You coming?"
"I'll be there in a minute!" Boscha yelled back to them. She gave them a thumbs up as she did, as if to let them know to head on in without her.
The Grudgby player paused for a moment, shrugged, and then ducked into the Barracks themselves, followed by a couple of their teammates, while Boscha turned back to Willow and Luz, and after a few seconds of silence, glanced away from looking directly at them, a redness covering her cheeks again.
"So, er…" She glanced at Luz, and then back to Willow, before Luz again, and then Willow again, like she was trying to figure out who she was even supposed to address. "...Can I talk to you alone for a minute, Willow? It's… About the Passover Festivus."
Luz blinked, cluelessly. "The what now?"
To that, Boscha's eyes all turned to Luz, quirked in confusion. Luz's confusion with the term seemed to in and of itself confuse the Witch, who looked at her like she had grown a second - and because that wouldn't be unusual on the isles, a subsequent third head. "Do Humans not like, celebrate things?"
"Huh?"
"I'll explain it to you later." Willow told her Human friend, giving her a gentle smile. "It's not a huge thing. But um… Could you give us a minute, please?"
One of the Humans eyebrows raised, mostly in confusion as to what this 'Passover Festivus' was supposed to be - And why the heck the Boiling Isles had a holiday that sounded like one that came from Earth - But she nodded, and got up, giving the two of them some distance to talk for a bit. In spite of whatever reservations she had at any point, this whole situation was between Willow and Boscha, and Luz would only let herself get involved if the situation called for it. She had promised herself that when she ran into them last week, and she was sticking to it.
Even if she still struggled to know what to make of it sometimes. Her thoughts on Boscha were just as contradictory.
They had managed to get front row seats to this mostly thanks to Boscha, so Luz made her way along the perimeter of the front row, until she was outside of earshot of the two of them. People were still making their ways out of the seating areas, talking in groups, or hanging around for whatever their personal reasons were, but the area was becoming more and more sparse. Luz watched a few people as they left, since she had little else to do. She then glanced back at Willow and Boscha, wondering what they were talking about, and what Boscha had meant by the 'Passover Festivus'. It was a celebration, if Boscha's reaction to her confusion had been anything to go by.
While she was in one of those makeshift hospitals thanks to her Cherubim injury, Eda had mentioned something about celebrations, and Luz did remember a few other times they had been brought up. Maybe the Passover Festivus was the name of the celebrations?
Okay… So, what were they, then?
Luz just yawned - For some reason, she felt tired, even though she hadn't really done anything today that would normally tire her out. Yet she still felt like if she laid down, paradoxically, she'd never be able to get to sleep.
This wasn't the first time that she had been this particular brand of exhausted over the last week. Maybe it was all the thinking. That had all she had really been doing for the last few days now. Thinking.
Constantly.
From the corner of her eye, Luz saw the Grudgby players that were scattered all over the playing - For lack of a better word, arena - were all either in the Grudgby Barracks now, or were just about to enter. Luz glanced out over the arena, until her eyes eventually landed on green, and her heart did an involuntary jump.
Amity .
The matches were important to people in Bonesborough - After all the chaos that had befallen them, people needed these sorts of distractions to feel normal again. And thanks in no small part to the match that they had had against Boscha months ago, and Luz's encouragement over the last couple of days, Amity had decided to take part in the match when Boscha asked if she was interested. Why Boscha had asked was still something of a mystery, but Luz had a feeling Willow might have had a hand in it.
Almost like she could tell that she was being watched, Amity froze still for a second, and then looked behind her - Her eyes fell on Luz almost immediately, able to spot the Human like she was a fire Demon in a stone castle.
Once Amity saw her, Luz couldn't help but feel herself freeze up. Somehow, she felt weird, like she had done something wrong -
But that feeling quickly went away when Amity just smiled and gave her a gentle wave. Luz returned the wave, and felt herself smiling instinctually back. The smile on the Witch's lips seemed to just grow bigger, and her expression briefly changed into one of just overwhelming fondness, before she turned around, and ducked into the team Barracks.
Now, Luz knew exactly why it was that Amity gave her looks like that. She didn't block it out anymore. And it still felt as surreal as it did when she first learned how Amity felt about her. A part of her mind was even still in denial about it - It was just so… It just went so against everything that Luz thought about herself. It was still so difficult for her to fully understand why Amity saw her like this. What Amity saw in her.
What in the world she had done to make someone like Amity be in love with her?
Of all the people that Amity could fall in love with - Why had it been her? When the Witch could have had anyone she wanted - It was her she had fallen for?
As much as Luz wanted to be able to give her a proper answer, all this confusion, all this uncertainty, all this… Everything in her heart that made her do next to nothing other than think about the Witch and what the nature of their relationship really was - It all made it so difficult to know. To really, really know. But Amity had been patient. She never once pressed Luz for an answer. The most she would ever do is ask, and when Luz couldn't answer, she would drop it all at once.
And the considerate way that she acted just made Luz's heart all the more fuzzy and foggy. And made her reassess every interaction they had ever had, making her wonder if the times Amity had previously shown her such kindness was because of her feelings for the Witch had for her.
It felt like she was still missing something.
Or was still blocking something out.
Luz's head slumped against the barrier, her chin resting on the railing, and a groan escaped her. Feelings were difficult.
Whatever this feeling was, it wasn't explicitly new. She had felt it before - It was part of what she felt the night before Valeween, when Amity yelled at her, telling her to stay away on Valeween itself. Only back then, she had been more sad than anything else, agonizing over what she had thought she had done wrong. This feeling had been there, mixed with that.
It had just gone unnamed until now. And Luz still didn't know what to call it.
Amity was special to her. She wouldn't have spent this much time thinking about it if she wasn't.
...And that was scary too.
Amity hadn't known exactly what to think when Boscha approached her out of the blue during the week, and asked her if she wanted to play a match alongside the old Hexside team. It had been somewhat out of nowhere, and for a short period of time, Amity hadn't really known how to respond to the question.
It was only when Boscha explained that it was a part of the activities that were meant to promote community togetherness that she understood what the purpose of asking had been in the first place.
Until that point, Amity hadn't been even the least bit aware of anything that had been happening regarding Boscha, so Luz had had to explain it all to her - Amity would admit, none of what she learned had been what she had expected to hear. Collectively put together, it was probably the last thing that she expected to hear, actually.
Still, Boscha asking now at least made a certain amount of sense. Either Willow had asked her, or Boscha saw it as a way to prove she was different.
Whichever one it was, Amity didn't know. If what Luz told her was accurate though, that seemed more like something Willow would need to figure out on her own. Because to her, one of those options seemed slightly underhanded, whereas the other didn't.
The Witch shoved her Grudgby jacket into her shoulder-sling bag, and pulled her necklace over her head. A quick scan of the space she had changed in revealed that she hadn't left anything behind. She then left, and ended the corridors of the Barracks, aiming to leave them, and meet up with Willow and Luz, who were going to wait for her before they all headed back into Bonesborough together.
And apparently, Boscha would be joining them too. Mostly on account of Willow.
It was only because Luz had encouraged her that Amity had agreed to play this match in the first place, but she would admit, it had actually been kind of fun to play the game again, just like it had been back when she played alongside Luz against Boscha.
Fun .
As soon as the Boiling Rain had begun to fall, and as Amity could just feel it in her gut that Valeween was on its way in spite of how much she wished that it wasn't, the last thing that she had thought would come her way at any point over the next few weeks would be anything even resembling fun . She had thought she would have been lucky if she managed to get through this whole mess without everything falling apart. The entire week leading up to the Cherubim invasion had been her fearing that everything that had made her life even remotely fun or bare able was about to fall to pieces in front of her.
But of course, it had been Luz who had encouraged her to do this. Because of course it had been. Of course it would have been Luz that would be responsible for her actually engaging in something fun.
After she had been hit by the Cherubim, and had been made to express her full feelings towards Luz - How she was in love with the Human, and how much she wanted her to stay on the Isles, and how much she hated herself for being so selfish - Amity was amazed Luz still wanted to be around her at all. The fact that Luz didn't want her to stay away, that she wanted to still be friends, that she would still willingly spend time with her… Losing that was what Amity had been afraid of this entire time. That the person who she had fallen for, who she felt had finally seen her, who she could be open to didn't want to get as far away from her as possible…
That was more than she could have ever expected. It was more than she felt she deserved.
A week later though, and Luz still hadn't figured out how she felt about Amity. If she could see the Witch in the same way that the Witch saw her. If what was there was anything like how Amity felt about her, or if it just... Wasn't.
Luz had already given her… So, so much more than she had expected.
Amity was happy to wait for as long as Luz needed her to before she heard an answer regarding all of that.
Reaching a crossroad, Amity turned a corner, and with just a half-second to spare, stopped before she ran into someone coming out of one of the bathrooms. She took a step back, and was about to apologise, when she saw exactly who it had been she had been about to run into.
Boscha.
"Oh!" Both of them had the same reaction at just about the same time, and then paused for a split second. The two had barely spoken to one another over the last few months. It wasn't exactly easy to figure out what to say to one another.
"...Hi." Boscha spoke first, her hands shovelling into her Grudgby jacket as she did so.
"...Hey." Amity replied, fairly plainly.
The exchange was awkward. They were former 'friends' who both shared a similar situation and experience to one another during Valeween, who were now headed towards the same location to meet the same people - What were they supposed to do?
Walk there together? Or go in opposite directions, arrive separately, and just pretend to have not seen one another? If they went together, did they speak at all?
Hell, were they even supposed to talk now?
Again, it was Boscha who broke the silence. "So… Thanks, I guess. For showing up today. Glandus's team was a lot better than the last time we played them. I think you threw them off."
"...It's fine." Amity said, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "It was… A nice change of pace."
"Yeah, well, I know you didn't do it for our sake." Boscha said. Under normal circumstances, Amity might have considered that hostile, but the tone of Boscha's voice, and the way she held herself, were far more neutral. "The Human's the reason you played, right?"
"Luz encouraged me to play." Amity nodded. "But I didn't do this for her sake either. I decided to play." Though admittedly, she didn't know if she would have come to that conclusion without Luz's encouragement.
"Right." Boscha nodded.. "Figures. Still. Thanks."
Another brief moment of silent awkwardness passed between the two of them.
"...We're headed in the same direction, right?" Boscha asked.
Amity just nodded.
"And meeting the exact same people."
"...Apparently."
"...So… What're we doing here?" Boscha finally questioned. "Do you want to walk together, or… Should one of us hang back, or what?"
It was actually odd, Amity noted - Clearly the situation was as awkward for Boscha as it was for her, but at the same time, there was a… Willing talkativeness about Boscha that she had only ever noticed her having back when they were still sociable with one another. The same way that she would engage in gossip with Skara about whatever subjects came up whenever.
Despite the awkwardness, she seemed… Happy, almost. Normally she would be more confrontational even at the best of times. But she seemed like she was in a paradoxically good mood. Even though the way she showed it was in a way only someone who knew her for years would be able to put together.
So Amity shrugged, and said, "We don't need to be weird about this." It wasn't a direct answer, but it got the point across.
Both of them made their way down the corridors that would lead them to the exits. From there, they would make their way around to the main entrance, where Willow and Luz would be waiting for them both.
For a few seconds, the walk was generally silent. Even back when they were social, Amity never really had a ton to say to Boscha. They were friends by forced association, not because they actually liked one another, had much in common, or even circumstantial friends that hung out because they had no one else to hang out with. And she had even less to say after they had fallen out since she sided against the three eyed Witch in her match against Willow and Luz.
That was ironic, wasn't it - They stopped talking because of that game, and now it was the same two people that were the reason they were even within five feet of one another without malicious intent.
"...So." Amity started, not looking towards Boscha as she spoke. "You and Willow, huh?"
Boscha blinked, and then seemed to shrink slightly. "Yeah, go ahead and laugh it up. The irony isn't lost on me."
"I'm not judging you." Amity answered simply, and honestly too. It wasn't any business of hers who Boscha was interested in. "Willow's a friend of mine - "
"Ah." Boscha stood upright, and allowed herself to smirk, and put on a teasing tone. "So that's what this is. Is this the part where you tell me to stay away from her?"
Amity still didn't face Boscha. "That depends on Willow. If she's fine with you, then that's her choice. I'm not gonna tell her who she should or shouldn't date."
"You sound like the Human."
"...Luz has spoken to you about this?"
"Not explicitly. But she's implied the same. Anyway, is there a point to you asking about…" Boscha's words temporarily got caught in her throat. "...Me… Liking Willow?"
Hearing it out loud for the first time from Boscha's mouth directly briefly stunned Amity before she carried on. "I'm just surprised I guess. You've not exactly been…" She trailed off. The words she would use to describe Boscha were…
Not exactly diplomatic.
"...Been what?" Boscha questioned. "A remotely good person to her? A bitch?"
"...Well…"
"Well… You're not wrong." The Potions Witch sighed, and let her head hang. "I'm aware, Amity. I'm not exactly proud of it, you know."
Somehow, that was easy to believe. "...So… When did it change?"
For a moment, Boscha paused, and looked up towards the ceiling, like she was searching through her memories directly. She didn't say anything for a solid thirty seconds, and Amity began to think that she had simply chosen to ignore the question.
"...I don't know." Boscha finally admitted, a long exhale following the answer. "It was after our match, for sure. I guess I…"
Another pause.
"...After you left, I…"
Amity's ears perked up.
"I don't know. It took a while, but I guess I just… I guess I started to wonder if anyone would ever be willing to side with me like you sided with Willow. You pretty much threw away your entire reputation for those two. No thanks to me, obviously, but… I guess I wanted to know why you were willing to do that. So I just… Watched. I watched her, and the stuff she did, and the way she acted and treated people and…"
She made a weird gesture with her hands.
"...I don't get how she does it. Just, all the time. There's got to be people she hates, right?"
"Wait, does what?" Amity asked, eyebrow raised. "How she does what?"
"Be so… Absurdly nice to everyone!" Boscha let her hands swing to her side. "And people like her for it - She doesn't need to rely on status or power or anything like that, and people want to be around her, and…"
Another pause. Boscha looked towards Amity.
"...It's not like how we were brought up, is it?"
"...No." Amity shook her head. They both came from another world. Different rules applied to them, normally. But at Hexside, there were people who didn't abide by those rules. Who forewent them, and made connections on their own.
"Yeah, well… I guess I admire that." Boscha looked away. "And then we ended up running into each other a few times, we got assigned for a project together, and we talked and… Well, here we are now."
She was leaving gaps, of course - Somehow Amity had a feeling she didn't want to go in depth as to how she had fallen in love exactly, - Boscha wasn't exactly known for her ability to talk about her feelings in depth to people - but here she was. In love with Willow, and trying to figure out what she was supposed to do, or where to go from here.
It wasn't all that dissimilar to how Amity fell for Luz, now that she thought about it.
"And now, for Titan knows what reason, she's going with me to the Passover." Boscha couldn't hide the smile from her voice.
At that, Amity looked to Boscha, and saw that she couldn't hide the smile from her lip either. "Seriously?"
"I just asked her. After the game."
That explained her good mood, Amity thought to herself.
She was surprised, for sure - Willow had pointed out over the last couple of months that she thought that Boscha had at least changed a bit, but that didn't take away from all the crap that Boscha had put her through. To hear a confession from someone who treated her the way that Boscha had, and then be willing to go to the Passover together…
Willow wasn't a fickle person - She was smart. She understood that it didn't mean she had to forgive everything that Boscha had done, or even had to reciprocate anything that Boscha felt towards her. And Amity knew Willow knew all of this when she decided to give Boscha a fair chance.
It just surprised Amity that Willow was willing to go this far for it.
"...Yeah, I know." Boscha said, against the silence that had fallen while Amity had gone silent in her thoughts. "It doesn't mean she's forgiven me for everything that happened. It'll take time, and there's no guarantee. But I'm just… I… I'm glad she's giving me a chance, you know?"
The other girl didn't say anything.
"I've got a lot to fix. I'm not a fucking idiot. But… I want to make it up to her somehow. She's giving me the chance to, so…"
Amity looked away from Boscha again. It was honestly hard to deny that there had been a degree of retrospection within Boscha, and maybe that was the reason Willow was willing to give Boscha the chance she was giving her.
It wasn't like Amity didn't understand either - She understood Boscha very well in this respect. It was how she felt when she was fixing things with Willow. When she was fixing the screw ups she had made when it came to Luz. When it came to… A lot of stuff.
Understanding that it wasn't a given, and that it would take time, and work, and that even then, there wasn't an obligation. But even just being thankful for the chance to fix the screw ups. Even though it would inevitably lead to more screw ups down the line, but the goal wasn't to become a perfect person - Of all people, Amity knew that was impossible, no matter how much one was pushed, or how hard one tried - but to just be better.
She was still filled with mixed opinions regarding the three eyed Witch. She didn't like Boscha by any means. Still though…
...She understood her.
"...Willow could do a lot worse than you."
Boscha just blinked, actually surprised for a moment. "...I think that might actually be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Just don't prove me wrong."
"So is it like… A date?"
"...Um…" For a second, Willow paused as she thought about it. Her eyebrow raised up, and she glanced towards the sky for a moment as she considered. Eventually, she settled on a very non-committal answer of, "...It sort of is, and it sort of isn't?"
"I'm… Not sure I follow." Luz blinked, confused. "I mean, it sounds like a date to me."
Boscha had asked Willow to go with her to this Valeween Passover Festivus - And what that was, Luz still wasn't entirely sure, exactly. That had been what Boscha had wanted to ask Willow in private, and Willow had apparently accepted the invitation. Which meant that they would be spending the entirety of whatever the heck this Passover was supposed to be together.
To Luz, that sounded like a date. She didn't exactly have any other context to come to any other conclusion - And as much as Luz would stand by Willow, her agreeing to go on a date with Boscha this soon after Valeween, after everything that had happened over the last few years, long before Luz had ever arrived to see it happen -
Wasn't that rushed?
Not that it was Luz's place to try to convince or stop her from doing anything, but still - She could be worried, couldn't she?
"Don't Humans do… Anything like this?" Willow asked, echoing the question Boscha had asked earlier, like it surprised her too. An eyebrow was still raised, but this time she looked directly at her friend. "When something bad has passed, don't you celebrate the fact that you're all alright?"
"Not where I'm from." Luz answered plainly. "Well, some people do, and there's a holiday with nearly the same name, but it's not like this. And we don't normally celebrate… Basically a natural disaster coming and going. We don't have anything remotely like Valeween on Earth. Nothing like the Cherubim or… Anything even close to what you guys have here, actually."
To that, Willow nodded, indicating that she understood - Fundamentally, this was another cultural difference between Earth and the Isles that came down to how different the environments were. With nothing like this happening on Earth, and no wildlife or any reason to even mark an event like Valeween as notable, celebrations like the Passover Festivus just never really became a thing in the Human Realm.
Not all that different to how the Isles didn't really have a concept of Halloween, like Luz had taught them about the other week.
"Okay…" She muttered, before talking up again. "Well, it's more to do with the Passover Festivus than anything. There's a sort of… Grey area for this sort of thing."
"So… What the heck is this Passover thing?" Luz asked. At this point, she was dying to know what in the world she was supposed to expect.
"It's basically a festival." Willow explained. "You've noticed that a lot of people have been kind of tense towards each other, right?"
"Uh-huh." Luz nodded, once. It had been difficult not to notice - Tons of people had been acting oddly all over the Isles. The fact that they needed to have big events like this spoke to how tense the social situation had been since Valeween.
"Right." Willow nodded as well. "Well, it's sort of supposed to be a festival where everyone is supposed to finally put that all aside and try to reconcile. We all get together in the marketplace, and there are stalls, games, music, all that sort of thing."
"So it's like a carnival?"
"Basically." The Plant Witch confirmed. "But it's more symbolic than anything. You know how no one has really been arrested or punished or anything for acting out because of anything that might have happened to them because of the Cherubim's influence?"
That had been an interesting difference between the Isles and Earth, Luz had noticed - Back on Earth, whatever the reason, if people acted up like some had been doing on the Isles, they would have been arrested right on the spot. But that wasn't the case on the Isles. Granted, the circumstances were very different - The Cherubim had made them act in ways they normally wouldn't, and had left them not entirely in control of their own actions.
So no one had been arrested, or really fully condemned or ostracised, or anything like that since the invasion. Whenever someone lashed out, it wasn't even usually the Emperors Coven who broke apart any fights or arguments or anything like that when they occurred - It was mostly other residents of the Isles who stopped them.
It was almost like an extension of what Luz had noticed throughout the last couple of weeks - How it became a communal effort to get everyone through the event. But outside of this event, the Isles still deferred a lot of authority to the Emperors Coven.
Meaning that at some point, things would have to return to normal. Like they had to have done every Valeween before.
"The Passover Festivus is the point where that changes." Willow went on. "The idea is that it's supposed to be something of an event where everyone who has whatever issues with the other finally confronts the other, and just sort of so… Whatever they need to do to get the issues resolved. At least to the point they're not fighting each other in public. If people want to fight, there's an area for that."
"People fight each other at this thing?" Luz blinked. "Like, with Magic?"
"It's watched over by a bunch of people so no one gets hurt too badly." Willow explained. "And it's only if both parties agree to do it. It's better than them destroying a street two months down the line - And if they do do that, then the Emperor's Coven arrests them. Everything that happens after the Festivus becomes the Emperor's Coven's business. It's kind of like the cut off point for when they become peacekeepers again."
Though Luz had… Many thoughts on calling the Emperor's Coven 'Peacekeepers' at this point, the logic of the festival now made sense to her. It was supposed to be used as the final chance for people to face one another while still getting to use the Cherubim's influence as an excuse for their actions.
Back during Valeween, people legitimately had had no control over their actions. Now that they were back in control, while their trauma and grievances were legitimate, they had to be able to put them aside in order for society to function. The Cherubim's influence could be an explanation for their actions, but not an excuse. And this festival, this Passover Festivus - That was the cutting off point that the Isles had collectively decided upon.
That… Made a degree of sense. Obviously it wouldn't solve every issue, and there would be issues with many people over what had happened this Valeween, probably for years to come in some cases, but lashing out publicly wasn't acceptable after that point.
...Although, now that she understood that…
"...Wait, so, what - Are you and Boscha gonna fight? " She asked, suddenly alarmed at wha Willow had just agreed to.
Willow blinked, hard, and then quickly held her hands up in front of her. "No! No, no, nothing like that! It's -" A small sigh escaped her, and then a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. "Getting a confession on Valeween isn't the most uncommon thing to hear about. Quite a few people end up getting them. So, if you were affected by a Cherubim, and confessed to someone, it's… Something of an informal tradition to ask the person they confessed to to go to Passover Festivus with them. Like a way of showing them that they were serious about what they said."
Luz let herself relax slightly - For a moment, she had seriously thought that Willow had agreed to just engage in the Boiling Isles equivalent of a bare-knuckle cage fight. Now that she knew that wasn't the case, she could let herself calm down a bit, but she still had half a dozen questions.
One of which related to Amity.
"...How did that start?" She asked, her curiosity regarding the event temporarily taking center stage. "I kinda feel like confessing that you like someone under a Truth Beam is… Kind of proof enough, isn't it?"
For her part, Willow shrugged, and held her hands up in such a way to indicate her ignorance. "I don't know. There are a bunch of old stories from the Savage Ages about people who made big declarations of love after being made to confess by a Cherubim, and some people think it comes from that. It's just… Something that happens."
Similar stories existed on Earth for how certain traditions that seemed arbitrary or didn't make sense had come into being. Sometimes, that sort of thing was simply lost to time, so Luz decided to drop that particular line of questioning.
"It's not like not asking someone after confessing means that you don't actually like them." Willow added on. "And sometimes people get rejected, so not everyone always asks."
Well, that answered that question regarding Amity, Luz thought to herself. Amity's biggest fear was being rejected. And even though they were still friends, and would be no matter what, it made sense that she was still afraid of being rejected.
It wasn't like she could blame the Witch either - She still didn't know how she felt about Amity herself, or what these feelings towards the Witch were, exactly. If they were the feelings of protectiveness and closeness that anyone would feel towards their closest friends - A thing Luz had only had a limited experience with in the first place - or if this was more than that.
They felt like more than that. But Luz didn't know if that meant that she was…
...In love with Amity.
That sentence passed through her mind for what seemed to be the first time since she had been confessed to, and it made her heart jolt for a moment - It had been something she'd just… Not really allowed to cross into her mind as she tried to figure out how she felt. But that was what this boiled down to at the end of the day, and trying to keep it out of her mind wasn't doing her any favours.
She'd been both looking for the answer, and blocking out one of the avenues that she would have needed to consider to come to an answer at the same time.
Partly because what affected her back on Earth was still something that she hadn't been able to fully accept.
She still struggled to see how Amity could see her in the way that she did.
But Amity felt how she said she felt - Luz didn't deny that, or think that she was lying. She hadn't been capable of lying while under the influence of the Cherubim, and Luz believed every word that she had said at the Grom Tree. It was more…
...Like there was a veil around Luz, that throughout her whole life, no one had gotten through. Or had even tried to get though. And it had made Luz feel like that veil was impenetrable. That nothing would get through it - That no one would want to.
And now Amity had. And Luz just couldn't fathom why she had crossed over it. How she could see her as worth it.
What she saw in the Human.
Even a week later, she still didn't know.
"Hey, are you okay?" Willow suddenly asked, and Luz found herself snapping out of the thoughts she once more had found herself lost within, and back into reality. When she snapped to, and looked towards Willow, the Plant Witch raised an eyebrow. "Again?"
"...Yeah." Luz nodded, smiling awkwardly. This was the second time in under an hour.
Willow exhaled, and leaned back against the wall she was next to. "Are you sure you're alright? You've been spacing out a lot more lately."
"Y - Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine. Just...Amity, y'know?" Luz answered, the same excuse as she had used earlier being the best she could offer.
For a moment, it looked like Willow was going to say something in response to that, but she held off on it, and tilted her head up, and above Luz, something behind the Human having caught her eye. Before Luz could look for herself, a small smirk crept onto Willow's lips, and she nodded behind her friend. "Speaking of which."
Luz turned, and felt herself gulp when she saw that approaching the two of them, was Amity.
And Boscha, actually. Both she and Amity were walking together, and surprisingly, weren't arguing with one another. They seemed to be talking, at least tentatively. They still had their own issues between one another, but Boscha's confession to Willow had at least put the two of them within the same social spheres, at least for now.
Once Amity saw that Luz was looking their way though, it seemed like all conversation stopped between the two, as she waved gently towards her Human friend. Boscha did the same for Willow, who responded with a gentle wave of her own.
Meanwhile, Luz just sort of stood there, for some reason now freezing up, the question of if she was in love with Amity now rattling the inside of her head.
It really could not have come at a more inopportune time.
"Hey." Willow greeted the pair of them once they were in earshot. She greeted them both with as friendly a smile as she would any of her friends.
"Hey." Boscha replied, but she couldn't bring herself to look at Willow - Her eyes darted to the side, and a smile she tried to hide spread, probably unwillingly.
"Hey." Amity said with a small nod. Her gentle smile and eyes were directly pretty much entirely towards Luz.
"Hey!" Luz greeted, ever so slightly louder than she had meant to. For some reason, she didn't have a clue what she was supposed to do with her hands, because just standing there felt awkward, and decided to snap her fingers into finger-guns, pointed towards Amity - Apparently this was the best her brain could do on a second's notice. "Hey, er, good game, you two! Good job on the whole… Winning, thing."
To that, Amity smiled a bit wider, and her cheeks went slightly redder. "Thanks. And, thanks, for encouraging me to play."
Conversation between the two of them wasn't difficult since their Grom Tree talk - At least not normally. While it had been a bit different, and a bit more awkward at times, neither of them were overwhelmed to the point that they couldn't speak to one another. In some ways, particularly for Amity, it had become easier. No secrets, after all.
The only reason Luz was struggling slightly now was because of the thoughts in her own head that had begun to circulate.
"And thank you, Boscha, for inviting Amity to actually play in the game in spite of barely talking to her for the past five months." Boscha said aloud, sarcastically. "Thank you for giving these two something to do other than fawn over one another."
Both Amity and Luz blushed at that. Luz quickly replied, "Thank you for twisting her arm on that front, Willow."
"What the - She had nothing to do with it! How fucking whipped do you think I am?!"
"Well, that remains to be seen." Willow answered, plainly, but a smirk on her face. Like she saw through the façade that Boscha was putting up - Getting confessed to in the way that she had, it wasn't hard to spot that anymore.
Knowing that, Boscha went red. A brief moment of silence passed.
"... Very. " Luz said, trying not to laugh.
"Watch it, Human."
Everyone in the group, excluding Boscha, laughed openly at that point, though the three-eyed girl did allow herself to smile eventually. There was almost a shared trauma that the four of them had gone through, considering everything that had happened. Boscha wasn't exactly a friend or a part of their circle - Not yet, anyway. But having gone through Valeween together, it was hard to not feel that interacting with her was a bit easier. Plus, she was putting the effort in too.
She was still very… Boscha-y, for lack of a better term, like Luz had thought she might be. But there was a new light-heartedness about it. Like it was more obvious that she was trying to just roll with the banter, and even partake in it. Just a week ago, that had been impossible to imagine.
Not that she wasn't still distinctly Boscha - She still had that confrontational attitude and personality that she had had before. But it was a notable change in how she had been before. It was difficult to describe, but it was easier to see when Boscha didn't have malicious intent than it was before.
Really, it was only a matter of time until everyone got comfortable enough around one another.
Things were complicated.
"On that note." Willow said, once she managed to get herself to stop laughing. "Boscha, I need to talk to you again, if you don't mind."
"Hm? Sure." Boscha nodded, though one of her eyebrows was raised in curiosity. "What's up?"
Glancing towards the Witch and the Human, Willow gave a small, polite smile. "I was hoping me and her could talk alone? It's uh…" She looked towards Luz, hoping that since she was there earlier when they last spoke, that she would get the implication of the subject.
Thankfully, she did, and she nodded at her friend. "You want us to wait for you?" Luz asked.
"We… Might be a while. You two should go on without us."
Luz and Amity both glanced at one another - It wasn't like it was too far to Bonesborough from the school Grudgby Grounds, and once they got there, odds were good that they would have split off from Boscha and Willow anyway. So both of them shrugged and nodded.
It wasn't like it would be the first time they'd been alone since Valeween. It'd be fine.
"Alright then. I'll talk to you later tonight on my Scroll, okay?" Luz opened her arms up, and pulled Willow into a big see-you-later hug, which Willow had gotten more and more used to the longer the Human stayed on the Isles.
Saying their various goodbyes, the two groups eventually separated, Amity and Luz making their way towards Bonesborough, and then to their respective homes, while Willow and Boscha remained where they were. As soon as Amity and Luz were out of earshot, and out of sight for good measure, both Willow and Boscha let out sighs.
"...Seriously though. Thanks for inviting Amity to play." Willow thanked the other Witch. "I think she needed that. I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." Boscha shrugged. "She helped us win. If anything, I kind of feel like I owe you a favour." She turned towards the Plant Witch. "So, er… What'd you want to talk about?"
"Oh, nothing." Willow answered quickly. "I just thought that those two could use some time together."
"...Don't they already spend a bunch of time together?"
"I don't think Luz knew about the Passover."
"...Oh." Boscha blinked, and then turned her head back forward as it clicked into her head. "Ah. So, Amity didn't ask her already?"
"I guess not. But, you asked me, Luz was curious what we talked about, I explained it to her, and… Well. I guess we'll see what happens next."
"You think something will happen?"
"I hope so." Willow nodded. "I think this has been bothering Luz a lot lately. She keeps zoning out, but every time I ask her, she says she doesn't know what she feels towards Amity. Maybe something like this will give her a little push."
Maybe what Luz needed was something to push her outside the little bubble of a zone she had built around herself. Maybe she just needed a slight prod. Or maybe now that she knew about the Passover, maybe she would make the prod herself. Willow didn't know - But It had turned out to be good luck that Boscha had asked her to the Passover when she did. She had already assumed that Amity had asked Luz and that that might have been a reason for her zoning out all the time.
But maybe this was what they needed.
If one of them was willing to ask the other, of course.
"...Both of them are nuts about each other." Boscha suddenly said, matter - of - factory, with such certainty that it almost made Willow look unsure in comparison. "They'll figure it out."
Willow blinked at the declaration, but then found herself smiling. "You think so?"
"It's how they look at each other." Boscha said, shrugging her shoulders. "Trust me."
"Why?" Willow asked, letting a small, smug smirk spread. "Do you see something of yourself in them?"
Boscha averted her gaze. "...Yeah, well, you know why that is." A brief pause followed. "...Are… Are you sure that you want to spend all of the Festivus around me?" She suddenly asked. "'Cause, I'd get it if you weren't comfortable with that, or, whatever."
"If I didn't want to go, I'd tell you." Willow assured the three-eyed girl. Her smug smirk melted into a smaller, but more genuine smile. "I'm sure about it."
The response let Boscha smile just a bit. "It's just… I… I know that our history isn't great. I - I'm trying, but, y'know… I'd get it if you weren't comfortable."
"I know…" Willow nodded. She did know, and she appreciated the effort that Boscha had put in. Her efforts were clear, and while it was too early to say anything for certain…
Willow recognised the effort when she saw it. Of course, the conditions of Boscha's confession meant that she knew that the Grudgby Captain was serious from the beginning…
But the effort now made it feel more real.
She allowed herself to take a small side-step closer to Boscha, so that their arms gently brushed one another's - It was a small gesture, but it wasn't one that Boscha didn't notice.
"...But I think I'm getting a bit more comfortable with you by the day."
HEY YA'LL IM NOT DEAD
Really sorry for not being good with the updates - I had to head home for the holidays because of COVID and I've had a ton of Uni projects that I had to prioritize because deadlines are coming up. I've not caught COVID (Yet. New COVID variation Anglo-Virus might get me yet) or lost motivation for this story - I've just had to prioritize what I have to do and I have to prioritize Uni work. Plus I'm working on other projects which ya'll'll learn about when this story ends - There's a ton of stuff I'm working on so It's just been a bit of a hit to how quick I get stuff out for this story but stuff will hopefully get back into the regular swing of things soon!
Also this chapter was super difficult to do for some reason - No idea why. I think because I did a timeskip. I know I focused a lot on Boschlow this chapter but this was more a setting up chapter I suppose. Need to get back into the flow of things. Next chapter will be a bit more reflective on what happened during the time skip so fear not.
Thank ya'll for being so patient with this story - You're legit fantastic and the support you've all shown for Valeween is incredible. All I can ask is that you please be patient with me for a bit while I get everything sorted out - Thank you and I'll see ya'll next time.
Happy various holidays - And see ya!