The Owl House
Stuck Indoors Together
In the Owl House, there were a lot of rare things. That sentence could be taken either way: It could either mean that there were a lot of things in there that were rare on the Boiling Isles or that there were some things that, desirable or otherwise, just weren't found there very often. Both meanings were true. Each meaning for that sentence fully applied at the Owl House, just as one would guess that they would apply in most houses in either the human realm or the Boiling Isles. But there was one thing in the Owl House that Luz Noceda and Amity Blight were enjoying in the current moment that was so rare it was beyond value: A calm moment to themselves.
King was in the bath upstairs, Eda was out stocking up on elixir and Hooty had suffered enough beatings and threats of gouging out his eyes from Amity that he knew better than to disturb them. Knowing this, they'd taken the moment to just sit down on the couch and relax. And Luz, in her infinite wisdom, had taken the moment to show Amity another craze of the human world that was even bigger than Azura.
"I've got to say, I like it." Amity nodded as the final battle of the series they'd been binge-watching over their last few meet-ups reached a booming climax. Luz silently cheered and thanked any god listening that the portal to Earth allowed her to piggyback her own home's internet.
"Roar of two dragon units, attack Garnet Star!" one of the characters on the screen ordered as the two dragons he was controlling unleashed their power. Fireballs cascaded towards the other fighter, aiming for the dragon standing just off to his right.
"Well, I thought I'd start you off with something basic." Luz shrugged. "After this, we can watch Girls Und Panzer. It's about these girls that drive tanks and compete in school tournaments while living in a city that's built on top of an aircraft carrier."
"What?" Amity looked at Luz with a dumbfounded expression. "What's a tank and what's an aircraft carrier? You mean like a fish tank?"
"Uh... Not really." Luz said, realising she'd got badly ahead of herself.
"Two dragon units! Use your flames of purgatory to mow down the enemies who do me wrong!" The character on the screen ordered his dragons to attack again, wiping out the two warriors standing behind the other fighter. As they screamed and vanished in the inferno that bloomed behind him, the screen turned black. As Luz stared in horror, an empty battery icon flashed up.
"No!" Luz screamed, realising she'd forgotten to charge it. "It was just getting to the best moment!"
"Looks like wi-fi and battery life are two separate things." Amity remarked as Luz sighed and got up.
"No worries. I'll just plug it in. Eda's not here so she won't mind if I leech a bit off the downstairs connector." She offered the connector up to the phone, the charging end instantly springing to life as its four insectoid legs latched onto it and its rubbery mouth part slid into the recharging port. "Of course, you can't really come over to watch it while it's here, so I guess that's it for this meet-up."
"That's fine." Amity shrugged. "I need to look at going right about now anyway. I need to make it home by curfew." Luz nodded in understanding and made her way back over, extending her hand to help Amity up. Amity took it and Luz noticed her flushing bright red as she got up and grabbed the crutch that was resting next to her on the couch. She helped the green-haired girl out from between the couch and the drinks table before letting her make her way to the door. Just then, Hooty opened up with an especially shrill cry of alarm.
"I'd get away from there! We've got incoming! Hoot-hoot!" No sooner had the girls realised what he'd said and Amity had jumped out of the way as best she could with her foot in a cast than Eda sped in on her staff like a bat out of hell. She jumped off quickly, spinning her staff in her hands as her magic flared from the end and engulfed the entire house. Less than a second after the protection spell was cast, the first drops of boiling rain began to fall. Luz instantly saw the worry setting in on Amity's face and it dawned on her that this meant curfew would officially be a thing of the past.
"What am I going to do now?" she scowled. "My parents are gonna eat me alive over this!"
"Amity, your parents may be heartless monsters but I don't think they're stupid with it." Luz said as she came to stand beside her.
"Yeah, they'll know as well as any of us that you can't make it through the boiling rain without turning from a solid to a liquid." Eda shrugged. "Now, I'm gonna head upstairs. I've just had a close call with being melted and mama needs her beauty sleep. Stay as long as you need. Use the phone if you need to call home. It's right there on the desk. If anyone disturbs me for any reason, it better be because we have a leak and nothing less drastic." Luz and Amity watched her go as she started off up the stairs. Each heavy footfall betrayed how truly exhausted she was. They stood there, waiting until she was out of sight before turning to each other
"So..." Luz began as she turned back to Amity. "Looks like I get you all to myself a little while longer." In response Amity instantly flushed crimson, causing Luz to tip her head to the side curiously. "You know you keep doing that." She moved over, looping one arm around Amity's back as the redness only deepened. "Are you feeling ill?"
"What?" Amity seemed to snap back to her senses pretty fast. "No! I just... Things just took a turn pretty fast. That's all."
"Yeah, that did seem to go from zero to a hundred real quick." Luz muttered as she helped Amity back to the couch. That caused Amity to look up, an expression of confusion on her own features. It crossed Luz's mind in that moment just how cute she looked. The thought briefly stunned her and she fought to hide the physical recoil it provoked in her. Where had that come from? She'd always found Amity amazing. She'd known she was beautiful. She didn't have a question about that. But cute? That was certainly a new one.
"Zero to a hundred of what?" she asked.
"Ah." Luz realised that yet again she'd found an expression unique to the human world. "No, it doesn't really mean it's of anything. It just means that the situation escalated quickly."
"Oh!" Luz saw Amity's expression shift as the realisation clicked in her brain. "Yeah, I guess it did." The two of them looked at each other for a brief second, staring into each other's eyes. Luz found herself briefly getting lost in Amity's amber stare, her focus on their current situation leaving her mind as she realised for the first time just how stunning the other girl's eyes were. For some reason, an image sprang to her mind of waking up, the sunlight streaming through the window, staring into those eyes. She forced it down and turned away abruptly to hide the heat she felt creeping into her cheeks.
"So, I guess you're staying over tonight?" she asked before instantly regretting it. Why had she said that? Of all the things she could have said...! "Uh, you're probably going to want to phone home. Have a seat, I'll pass the phone over." Amity did so. Luz saw her gripping the arm of the couch and lowering herself down as she walked over to the phone, picking it up and bringing it over.
"Thanks." Amity nodded, taking the phone quickly. Luz didn't know if she was blushing like she had been before, but hoped she hadn't made her uncomfortable. With that in her mind, she turned to the kitchen counter and started snack hunting while Amity busied herself with the phone. "Can you call Blight Manor for me?" Amity asked as she took the receiver off the stand to wake it up.
"Yeah, yeah... Give me a second, honey." The phone started clicking its tongue a couple of times as it connected before Amity heard the screeching on the other end as her home phone started ringing. Luz could only hear what Amity was saying, but was able to work out the rough picture for herself.
"Edric? Yeah, it's me. Look, I'm having to stay over at Luz's place tonight since I can't get home... How should I know? Look, just let Emira know, can you? If our parents ask, tell them I'm with a friend and I'm safe. If they push it, tell them it's Boscha. They'll absolutely preen over that... What? Is that Emira? ... No, Edric? Edric! Look, if she wants to talk, just let her... No guys, don't fight! ... Hello? ... Hello?" Luz picked her moment perfectly, making her way back over with the food as Amity hung up and turned to her. "They started fighting and it went dead."
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Luz asked, sitting down next to her and offering her the bowl of monster munch. It was a little bit different from the Earth version, what with this version being literally a bag full of deep-fried and honey-roasted miniature monsters, but they tasted amazing and Luz had decided shortly after arriving in the Boiling Isles that this version was actually vastly preferable.
"Eh, they'll be fine." Amity shrugged as she set the phone on the drinks table in front of them. "It's the phone I'm worried about. Good luck trying to capture that one if they freak it out."
"I..." Luz was about to respond, but the more Amity's words sunk in the more they managed to make both more and less sense at the same time in just the right way to give her a whole new headache. "I'm not even sure I want to know." With that, she got up and took the phone back to where she got it from. When she got back she sat next to Amity again, looping one arm around her and noticing how the blush crept up her face and neck again. "So, you want to read some Azura?" she offered. "Or maybe do some fan art?"
"That one sounds good." Amity nodded. Luz nodded, going and grabbing them some pencils before heading over to the typewriter and going to take some sheets of paper from it. As she reached for the paper, the entire sheaf vanished inside as a set of sharp protrusions closed around it. Luz couldn't tell if they were claws or teeth, but she knew she didn't want to get her face close enough to look properly.
"Hands to yourself, sister!" Luz let out a sigh of frustration as she remembered when Eda had taught her to use it. It had been the one warning she'd always given her: You can always add more paper but you can't take it away.
"Oh, come on!" she sighed. "Two sheets! That's literally all I want! Please?" The typewriter clamped shut, completely locking down. Luz rolled her eyes, knowing she'd have to find something else. That was when an idea struck her. "Okay, wait there!" she called over to Amity before turning to head upstairs.
"Like I have a choice!" she faintly heard Amity yell behind her over the sound of her own feet in the staircase. She reached the top, looking around for the thing she was after. That was when King emerged from the bathroom, bath towel wrapped around him with Mr Ducky under one arm.
"Oh, hey there, King!" Luz said, taking in his expression. "You look like you enjoyed yourself."
"Oh, yes!" King smirked evilly. "While we were in there, Mr Ducky and I have been strategising our revenge on the damned usurper to my throne! It'll be diabolical! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be at the playground."
"Doing what?" Luz asked. "Dissolving? Or is that your plan? To tell the kid to meet you there and then push him out into the boiling rain that's currently hammering down?" As she pointed to the nearby window, King ran over to it and pulled a broken old chair over, standing on the frame of it to boost himself high enough to see. Noticing the protection spell and the boiling ran lashing down outside it, he jumped off before throwing himself down heavily into a sitting position. Luz knew what was coming and so tried to hide her grin. It was hopeless. The moment the high-pitched squeak of rage hit the air, she had to turn away and bite the inside of her cheek to kill the laughter.
"Luz?" she heard Amity call from downstairs. "Is everything okay up there?" She couldn't answer. She knew that if she even tried to speak, she'd just collapse into a laughing wreck. That was when Eda's bedroom door flew open and she emerged with a tortured scowl on her face.
"What did I say about noise?" she asked as King continued to throw his tantrum. "You did hear me when I said that right? Yeah, because I remember you being- Wait... Is that the squeak of rage?" Oblivious, King carried on. "Oh, wow! Something's really worked him up. Oh, now that is something worth getting up for!"
"I know!" Luz couldn't hold it in anymore and succumbed to the laughter. "He's such a little cutie-pie!" she gasped out between laughing fits.
"I am not!" King screamed hoarsely, smashing his foot into the ground as hard as he could.
"He stamped his widdle feet!" Luz was now laughing so hard she could barely stand up. She'd doubled over as pain struck her in the ribs before falling forwards and landing in a laughing heap. That was when she heard Amity's panicked voice from the bottom of the stairs.
"Luz? Are you dying? Is something torturing you? Don't move! I'm coming up!" That was enough to snap Luz out of it. She knew Amity couldn't handle the stairs with her injury.
"No, it's okay, Amity!" she called back down to her. "King was being cute. I'll be there in a second." With that, she turned to Eda. "Do you remember that order you got a couple of days ago? I don't suppose you still have the box, do you? Amity and I need it for something."
"Oh, that?" Eda scoffed, drawing a circle in the air with her finger before ducking as the box flew towards her then impacted the opposite wall as it overshot. "Take it. Just make sure it's at least repairable in case I need it again and that any alterations stay on the inside so if I have to send it back the company don't see it until it's too late."
"Got it. Thanks, Eda." Luz grabbed the box and hurried downstairs to where Amity was waiting for her, an annoyed expression darkening her features.
"You know, I genuinely thought you'd been hurt." The statement was clearly put bluntly to make Luz feel guilty. Unfortunately, Luz was determined for it not to work.
"Aww, you were concerned about me!" Luz wrapped Amity in a hug as Amity tried to fight her off. It was a doomed battle with one hand on holding a crutch and too little room to draw a magic circle to call her abomination. Luz wrapped her in a hug, feeling the green-haired witch next to her flush hot again as she squirmed in her grip. Eventually, Luz let her go. While Amity was taking some breaths to dispel the heat that was blazing in her face, Luz walked over and grabbed a knife from the knife block before heading back to Amity.
"Uh, what are you doing now?" Amity asked nervously as Luz tilted her head to one side, grinning wildly as she widened her eyes as much as possible.
"Okay, so I may not have been entirely honest about my motivations for having you stay the night..." Luz said in the creepiest voice she could. It was enough to make Amity panic, quickly drawing a circle in the air in front of her.
"Abomination, defend!" An abomination began to rise from the floor. This one was different, much more heavily built than the ones Luz had seen before. Luz knew she'd freaked Amity out and that she'd be in big trouble if she actually had to fight that thing.
"No! Amity, it's okay!" she instantly dropped the knife, carefully setting a neutral expression on her face that only slightly betrayed her nervousness. "I was just kidding around! I got the knife to cut the edge of the box with." Amity stopped cold, looking at the abomination and then back to Luz, the realisation slowly dawning on her that she was telling the truth.
"Abomination! Cower!" The abomination instantly melted back down, vanishing from existence. Luz kicked the knife across the floor to rest by Amity's feet before moving over to stand by her. She pulled the other girl close again, staring into her eyes to meet her gaze.
"Amity, what's wrong?" she asked. "It's not like you to panic like that! You've been jumpy since you got here and you haven't seemed fully with it at all." Her tone softened as she pulled the other girl into yet another embrace. Amity took a shaky breath and Luz waited while she calmed herself down enough that she could speak clearly. When the young witch opened her eyes, Luz was surprised to see tears in them.
"I'm terrified, Luz." The confession was simple but it shocked the teenage human right to the core. Amity Blight terrified? Luz hadn't even thought such a thing possible. She'd always been a picture of confidence. Luz sat her down on the couch before letting her lean over and cry herself out. "I just... I've always been capable of doing things for myself. I've been feeling like I had to fend for myself for ages now. You've seen what my parents are like and while Emira and Edric are great, you've also seen that they don't really respect privacy as much as they should and their dependability is only fifty percent at best. When I got hurt, I lost a lot of the freedom I've had for years and suddenly I had to depend on people again. I haven't felt like I could depend on someone since I was forced to dump Willow as a friend. I've done everything for myself since then. Now I'm injured and people have to get me things or help me with 'this' or do 'that' for me..."
"Welcome to the world of sporting injuries." Luz sighed, resting her head on Amity's shoulder. "Amity, if you break your body now that's just a sign you're getting the best news out of it! But I get why you feel the way you do. I know your home situation isn't really the best." She let Amity stay where she was for a bit, her head on Luz's shoulder as Luz's hand rested on Amity's back. Suddenly, an idea sprang into her head. It was crazy, but so crazy it just might be exactly what she needed. "Why not stay here? You're already spending the night. Why not tell your siblings tomorrow that you got invited to stay for the weekend? Take some time off to be the person you don't have to be in front of your parents. The girl you really are." Amity took a breath and Luz knew she was thinking about it. It would be a tempting offer for her and they both knew it.
"No." Amity said. Luz couldn't hide her surprise. She was about to say more when Amity continued. "I'm sorry, but no. If my parents were to find out, that could be bad. Not to mention that the family doctor comes to my place to check on me and he's coming on Saturday. I could be getting the cast off soon, so I need to keep this appointment."
"I see." Luz nodded. "I can understand you not wanting your parents to know. And I can definitely understand wanting to get back on your feet. When I broke my wrist when I was nine, I had such a bulky cast that I couldn't play video games. I was a jittering wreck by the end of it. Still, if that mask you wear in public starts getting uncomfortable, you have a refuge to come and take a siesta." Amity nodded, looking up into Luz's eyes. In that moment, Luz realised that Amity's shields were truly down. That her words carried more weight and meaning than anything she'd said to her before.
"Thank you, Luz." With that, something in her eyes changed. Luz knew the defences were back in place and she wanted to move on. That was fine. If she wanted space, Luz wasn't going to deny her that. "So, what were you planning with the box?"
"Well..." Luz grabbed the knife from where it was still lying on the floor and picked up the box. "Eda already opened out the bottom to flatten it. I'm thinking if we cut down one side of it so she can still tape it back together if she needs it, open it out so that we can draw on the inside and then together we can draw out our own map of the Enchanted Lands!" There was a pause as the realisation dawned on Amity and her expression changed to one of sheer disbelief.
"Luz? Are you actually talking sense? Stop it! It's scary!"
"Uh, who was it who came up with the plan to defeat the Slitherbeast?" Luz said, folding her arms and putting on an expression of mock hurt. They stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting into another round of laughter.
"Yeah, I guess that was impressive." Amity admitted. "Here, I'll hold the box so you can cut it." Amity gripped the box and held one corner out. Luz got to work with the knife, digging the blade into the cardboard and gently rocking the blade to get it to bite in before it found its own momentum and started moving down of its own accord. It passed cleanly through the bottom and Luz replaced it in the knife block before grabbing a pencil from the pile she'd left on the drinks table as Amity opened the box out on the floor.
"Okay..." Luz passed the pencil to Amity before grabbing one for herself and kneeling down next to her. "So, the books list three key locations. We work out where they are and we can map out the rest from there." Amity nodded and they got to work with Luz tracing out the shape of a landmass that looked slightly dragonic in formation. While she did that, Amity marked out the rough probable locations of Avantia, Mount Kadar and the Dragon Valley. From there, she and Luz started to map out the mountain ranges and hills, the edge of the Reinir Sea and the Dark Swamp. Between them sat the bowl of Monster Munch, which didn't last long and didn't fill them up nearly as much as Luz thought it looked like it should. In the end, it was gone and both of them were still hungry. It was only a matter of time before Luz's stomach let out an embarrassing growl.
"Wow!" Amity looked over in shock. "For a moment, I thought you'd gone and angered another Slitherbeast!"
"Shut up!" Luz elbowed her playfully as she burst out laughing. On cue, Amity's stomach also let out a rumble that caused her cheeks to flame up. "Oh, looks like it's not just me!" she pointed out, jabbing a finger into Amity's shoulder. "Want something to eat? I could fry up an owl or whatever."
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Amity sighed. "Okay, fine! Let's see the legendary cooking skills of Luz Noceda!" Luz nodded and got up, helping Amity up with her. Together, both girls headed to the table as Luz got out the chopping board and the knife she'd used on the cardboard box before handing it to Amity.
"Here. You start chopping stuff. I'll get the sauce going." She grabbed some things from the fridge, both things she knew in her world and things that were foreign to her but she'd discovered tasted good during her time with Eda, and handed them to Amity who got to work. She seemed grateful that Luz had found a way for her to make herself useful and was finding things they could do together. "You know, that abomination was impressive." Luz said, crumbling some stock cubes to powder in a pan before adding water and some weird purple five-bean sauce that Eda used often. Oddly enough, it actually reminded her of Amity's abomination in that moment. "It was different from the usual one, though. Have you upgraded the formula?"
"Yeah, I decided to see if I could create a defensive one that can work at range." Amity said, perking up at the fact that Luz was taking an interest in her abomination. "I added a Hockit Launcher that I scraped off a cliff overlooking the ocean. Well... That's actually a lie. I had Emira and Edric do it because I can't get there at the moment."
"A... What?" Luz looked at her, nonplussed.
"Oh, right." Amity took a second before correcting herself. "A Hockit Launcher is a type of barnacle found here. It spits acid over stupidly long distances. I also threw in a load of Griffin feathers for added toughness and centred the whole formula around defence. What I got was that absolute wall of a creature that spits gunk so far it could probably hit Hexside from here."
"Wow!" Luz could feel her eyes glaze over with the hunger she always had whenever someone performed powerful magic. "You're amazing at that!" She noticed Amity's cheeks heating up again.
"You think so?" Amity asked.
"Of course you are!" Luz nodded. "Hey, listen... I don't know if it's too soon to be asking favours but could you help me with my own abomination homework? I can't call one naturally, you see? So I was thinking if you told me what to do, I did it and then you got it to rise for me?"
"I..." Amity's voice faltered. "I can't say that's something I've tried before. Sure, I'll give it a go. But you'll have to be the one to get it cleared by the teacher."
"Deal!" Luz grinned as she started cutting up cubes of meat and throwing them in the pot. "How are those veggies coming?" Amity passed the chopping board over, everything diced up perfectly. Luz scraped it all into the pot with the rest of it before adding some salt and assorted herbs and put the lid on. "It's in the hands of nature now."
The girls went back to drawing the map until the food was ready. The growling of their stomachs made them all too grateful when that time finally came. Luz helped Amity get seated at the table as she plated the food up, sitting next to her as she set both their plates down. Amity grabbed a fork and took a nervous bite before her face relaxed in a picture of pure bliss that made Luz's heart light up in all the best ways.
"Wow, this is actually really good!"
"Amity Blight, did you doubt me?" Luz teased, jabbing her playfully. As she did, she realised that her leg had brushed up against Amity's under the table. She adjusted it so that they were resting against each other, knowing that it was her good leg and there was no risk of damaging her further. As she did, Amity's face started to redden again. "Hey, are you okay? Are you feeling ill again?"
"I don't feel ill!" Amity snapped, rubbing her face to desperately try and cool down. "Ugh, I need to splash some water on my face." Luz shuffled away from her to allow her to get up easier.
"So tell me..." Luz said as she made her way over to the sink. "Do you think Azura made the right choice siding against the Dragonic Kaisers? I mean, I know they were overcharging on taxes, but they were also keeping order."
"Yeah, but that's like debating if Emperor Belos should rule over us." Amity shrugged as she started running water. "From what Lilith did at the Covention I'm no longer under the illusion that his coven is completely trustworthy, but at the same time we need some semblance of order and they bring that. They make sure that the criminals are put away. But they do it too well and they seem to be over-defining what 'crime' technically is. They seem to have started fearing the disorder that comes from difference. Huh... Just like the Dragonic Kaisers, actually. You think the author is trying to send Belos a message?"
"You think Belos is the author?" Luz joked. The two of them lasted the best part of a second before dissolving into yet more laughter. Amity had to grip the edge of the sink to avoid falling over while Luz was grateful to be sitting down in that moment.
"I don't... believe... you said that!" Amity gasped out as she fought for breath. Eventually, she managed to compose herself a bit. "Luz, if Emperor Belos was the author, it would be illegal not to have read and enjoyed it." With that she made her way back over and sat down again. Luz noticed she sat at a slightly twisted angle this time and wondered if she was more comfortable with her cast being out from under the table.
"Still, she's going to have a lot on her plate when they send in the Eradicator units." Luz said, pausing briefly as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, I guess they're kind of like the Emperor's Coven! Maybe Belos actually is the author!"
"Or someone's trying to send him a message." Amity reasoned. From there they ate in silence. It was a comfortable silence, though. It wasn't one of the awkward 'what have I done now?' silences that Luz had become so used to in the human world. This was just her and amity enjoying a meal they'd cooked together. It wasn't something she'd done before, on account of having literally no human friends. She decided she liked it. At least eight out of ten. Would definitely do again.
"So what do you want to do now?" Luz asked as they finished up and she took their plates to the sink. "I don't think my phone will have charged up fully yet, so Anime is still out."
"Hey, I was wondering: is there any Anime that's a bit more violent than that last one we watched?" Amity asked. Luz nodded, feeling a devilish grin spreading across her face.
"Oh, that does it! We are so watching Blood-C in the morning!" She caught sight of Amity's expression that was equal parts confused and eager. "You'll understand tomorrow. Don't you worry. Anyway... I guess time for bed?"
"Oh please, yes!" Amity sighed, getting up and heading to the couch. "Absolutely. I'm going to sleep forever."
"Wait, where are you-" That was when it dawned on Luz: Amity couldn't climb the stairs with her leg in the cast. There wasn't room to use her crutch and she still couldn't put weight on her leg. Luz instantly felt ready to smack herself. "Okay, just make yourself comfortable. I'll grab us some blankets."
"Us?" Amity looked up, perplexed.
"Yeah." Luz said, feeling somewhat offended. "You don't seriously think I'm going to leave you down here on your own, do you?"
"No, I mean it's okay!" Amity protested. "I have my jacket and it's warm enough in here and-"
"Yeah, but you at least need a blanket." Luz said decisively. "We're not savage animals here. We're not Boscha. That's the sort of thing that she'd do." Amity stifled a laugh at that as Luz continued. "Plus, it'll be like a big slumber party! I always wanted to have one!"
"Wait..." From the look on Amity's face she'd clearly been caught totally off guard. "You've never had a sleepover?"
"Yeah, you kind of need friends for that." Luz reminded her, scratching at the back of her head sheepishly. In that moment, she saw Amity's whole demeanour change. She couldn't quite work out why, but just desperately hoped it wasn't out of pity.
"Jeez, Luz! You know, I didn't have the easiest time of it growing up and even I had sleepovers! You know what? Yeah. Go grab us some blankets. You need to have your first slumber party and... Well, I guess I would like some company."
Luz nodded eagerly, racing up the stairs and to her room. She threw open the door to find King asleep on her sleeping bag and totally dead to the world. She ignored him as she moved through the room, checking her drawers and cabinets looking for the cold weather blankets. Eventually she found one and grabbed it, spotting the box at the back of the drawer and taking that too.
With that done, she headed back down to Amity who was sitting there with her scroll open in front of her. She looked up upon Luz's arrival and Luz saw she was on Penstagram again. She held the image on it up for Luz to see, only for the young human to promptly suffer a cuteness overload at the litter of Griffin babies that stared back at her.
"New Griffins at Hexside." Amity explained. "I don't actually know if Puddles is a guy or a girl. Or even how you'd sex a Griffin. I'm not the one to ask. But it looks like it went on a night time wander into somewhere it shouldn't have."
"Shouldn't the fact it gave birth mean it's a girl?" Luz asked, curious despite herself. "Or is it different for Griffins?"
"It broke loose one night some months ago." Amity explained. "It did the same again last night only this time it wandered back with babies in tow. They didn't see which one gave birth so there's still no way to tell."
"Yeah, if there's two ways of doing something an animal usually find a third one." Luz laughed. "But I think Puddles is a girl. I seem to remember Viney saying something about it when we fought that basilisk. You wouldn't remember. You were unconscious." As she spoke, she opened out the blanket before throwing it over Amity and setting the box on the table as she fought her way out. She sat down next to her and took her part of it, opening it out properly.
"W-wait..." Amity stuttered, realising what she was doing. "Where's yours?"
"Eh, I could only find one." Luz shrugged. "It's big enough, though." As she bedded down, she thanked herself for picking a cold weather blanket. Even if it wasn't entirely her choice. Despite what Amity had said, she actually found it kind of cold at that moment. Amity, on the other hand, had flushed so red that Luz thought she was about to start with a nosebleed.
"-othoothoot..."
"What was that?" Amity asked nervously, sitting bolt upright.
"Zzzz... Hoothoothoothoothoot... Zzzz..."
"No... No!" Horror dawned on her face as she realised exactly what she was hearing. "Luz, please tell me that bird tube isn't going to be doing that all night!"
"Oh, yeah." Luz nodded sheepishly. "His snoring is about ten times more annoying than anything in the human world. That's why I brought you these." She reached forward, grabbing the box from the kitchen table and handing it to her. "Earplugs. Put them in and let yourself relax. It'll be like he's totally silent. I can't even hear him up in my room and I can sleep through anything so I'll be fine." Amity took them and opened the box while Luz set about turning out the lights. When she rejoined the green-haired girl and sat next to her, covering herself over with the blanket again, the earplugs were in.
"Good night, Luz." Amity muttered, curling up as best she could and burrowing down into the corner of the couch. Luz found it insanely adorable and knew instantly that they had to do this again properly when she was recovered.
"Good night, Amity." With that, she relaxed back and closed her eyes. In a few seconds, Hooty's annoying snoring sounded distant and far away. After about a minute, it wasn't there at all. And neither was she. She was standing in a clearing, the trees around her so tall they touched the sky. Amity was there beside her, offering a confident nod of support. Willow and Gus were there too, standing with her together. As they set out on whatever adventure this dream had planned for them she knew that everything would be alright as long as they were there together, no matter if it was in the Boiling Isles or the human realm, the dream world or the waking one.
The Next Morning...
When Luz next opened her eyes, sunlight streamed through the windows. She noticed she'd slid sideways and was now lying on her back on the couch. She went to move only for a weight on her chest to stop her. As her senses reawakened one by one, she noticed that the weight went down to her feet, totally restricting her entire body. For a blind second, panic threatened to overwhelm her. Then her brain clicked into gear as she caught sight of the green hair. Its owner let out a tired groan, stretching to click some of the stiffness out of her joints before looking around as Luz sat back with a smug grin, waiting for her to realise where she was. It didn't take long for Amity to sit up with a jolt, her face burning red with pure mortification.
"Luz! Oh jeez! I... I'm so sorry! I-"
"Amity!" Luz sprang up, grabbing her by the shoulders. "It's fine! I don't mind! Besides, you were really warm and comfy." That information didn't seem to relax her nearly as much as Luz had been hoping it would. Or at all, really. Instead, Amity somehow flushed even redder.
"Uh..." Amity muttered awkwardly. "Listen, Luz... I... I just..." As she tried to string a sentence together, Luz noticed something. The second she spotted it, panic overwhelmed her as she dashed for the kitchen.
"Amity, your nose!" Luz grabbed a fistful of paper napkins before dashing back and basically jamming them against Amity's face.
"What are you doing?" Amity demanded before taking the tissues away and staring dumbly as they came away red. "Huh. I guess that doesn't just happen in Anime. I stand corrected." With that, she replaced the napkins and put pressure on, trying to staunch the blood flow as the sound of trudging feet behind them caused them to look around.
"Oh, looks like we have a situation here!" Eda muttered as she headed to the kitchen herself. "Still, no one's dead yet so you can hang in there until Mama's had her apple blood at least." Luz fought the urge to grin at how much Eda wasn't a morning person just as there was a crash from upstairs as King raced down into the living room, seemingly wired with energy.
"Good morning Boiling Isles!" he cheered. "And good night, usurper! All shall bow before the might of the King of Demons!"
"Well not today they won't." Eda said from the kitchen, causing him to look over at her, startled. "You said you'd help me run the stall today, remember? And you do owe me one." Luz could only watch as a dejected King dropped backwards to sit on his butt, screwing his eyes shut. A second later, the squeak of rage hit the air. Luz noticed Amity's eyes widen in apparent realisation and remembered Amity saying something about thinking she was dying last night. The squeak of rage would have been the first sound she heard.
"Well, welcome to the Owl House, Amity." Luz grinned as she pulled her friend closer while handing her another paper napkin. "The food that grows here is weird and wonderful. The people that grow here, even more so."
"Grow?" Eda scowled, looking over at them. "You can't grow food here! Haven't been able to since Lilith used her magic to salt the ground."
"Yeah, that sounds like her." Amity muttered. "But you're right, Luz. A place is only as good as the people you know in it. For all the weirdness, this place really is pretty wonderful." It took Luz a second to realise she was beaming at Amity like an idiot. She shook it off quickly and went to grab a bag for the used napkins to hide the fact she was grinning from ear to ear. She could remember her heart breaking when she saw how her parents had treated her and what she'd been forced to do to Willow. But while neither of them had the best lives in their proper home, she knew that the Owl House offered her a refuge. She was determined for Amity to feel the same. That being said, there was one temptation gnawing at her that she simply couldn't resist.
"Hey, Amity! You see to your nose and I'll fry us up an owl for breakfast!" She couldn't hold in her laughter at Eda's confused face and Hooty's alarmed yelp from outside. Amity's groan of frustration spoke volumes.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Her answer came in Luz's self-satisfied chuckle.
"Nope."
Author's Note: I had this idea in my head for a short Lumity drabble. It kind of went on a little bit longer than I expected, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I might look at writing a multi-chapter story at some point but that definitely won't be until I find my feet with this fandom and its writing style a little bit better. Still, I hope you enjoyed the story. Also I had a question I wanted to ask you guys: what do you want to see in Season 2? Obviously I think a lot of us want to see more Lumity, but what else? Where would you like the plot to go? What antics would you like to see the characters get up to? Feel free to review or PM me with theories and ideas. I'd love to discuss it while we wait for news on the actual release of Season 2.