A/N: Howdy! I've got a bit of a headache, so I'll leave this brief. I hope you enjoy the fic, and leave a comment when you're done, those always cheer me up!
Hunter cracked his eyes open, only to wish he hadn't when he was met with over a dozen faces looking down at him. He freaked out, flailing wildly, only not falling off the sofa, succumbing to the uncaring bitch that was gravity and hitting the floor when a pair of hands pressed him down by his shoulders.
He gasped for air, heart pounding in his chest until he realized that he was among friends, or at least, friendlier faces than the ones he'd last seen. He tried to calm himself, but that wasn't easy when he still had no idea what the Bad Girl Coven was going to do to him.
Hunter's worries for himself faded when he realized where he was. "Did you all seriously retreat back to this run down place? You know the Emperor knows where you live, and will be furious enough to lay siege to it, right?"
Eda rolled her eyes, "I'd like to see him try. We have Hooty, remember?"
"And he has an army." Hunter reminded them. He tried to sit up, but the pain that covered his body was too much and he accepted his fate as one of the new couch cushions.
"You really think he's going to come after us?" Luz asked, though Hunter had to resist the urge to rub at his eyes, or ask if he had a concussion because he was clearly seeing double of the girl.
"You disrupted the day of Unity, basically the thing he's been working towards for nearly as long as I've known him. The fact this place is still standing is probably a miracle in it's own right."
Lilith shook her head and added her own two cents, "He's incredibly demoralized, with many of his best injured. They'll need time to gather more members of the Emperor's coven and heal the Coven Leaders who sustained injury. We likely have a few days, maybe more if Belos wants to deal with us himself."
Eda crossed her arms, "Then let them come. We kicked their asses once, we'll do it again. I'm not leaving my house, and more importantly, my stuff behind."
Raine huffed, pinching their brow, "then what do you suggest we do?"
Eda grinned, "I just said what to do, we kick their asses again."
Lilith groaned, "Once again, you leave all the planning to me, sister. I won't even bother planning a role for you this time, you're just going to ignore it."
Hunter looked at them all like they were insane, "You can't be serious? You won't stand a chance."
One of the Luzes took offense to that, "Hey! We did pretty good before."
"You went up against the Coven Leaders, yes, but he'll have guards around him at all times. Not to mention, taking him down is bound to spark a civil war. Do you know how many people trust him as the Voice of the Titan?" Hunter argued back, reaching for Luz, but having his wrist grabbed by Lucia, who issued him a warning glance.
"I'm a little lost here," Amelia chimed in, "Voice of the Titan?"
"Yes, you are pretty new here. The Isles are built on the bones of the Titan. It died long ago, and is basically our patron deity." Raine explained calmly. "Belos' rise to the throne coincides with his rise as the de facto religious leader, claiming that he can hear the voice of the Titan."
"A claim he can only back up because he's got enough power to take on anyone who says otherwise." Eda added.
"Political power, or magical, doesn't matter. If we could challenge him alone to a Witch's duel, we might be able to bring some level of doubt to his credibility, but even then too many people would back him." Lilith finished.
Luz sighed, "And there's no one here who could beat him one on one anyway. Maybe Eda when she was at her strongest, but…"
The group fell into silence. There wasn't anything they could do to stop Belos, not permanently. He was going to come, and they were going to have to hide, and hope they could buy enough time to escape to the human realm for a while, if they wanted to make it out alive.
Then Amelia raised her hand, "I'll do it."
If Hunter thought they were all crazy before, this newcomer was definitely the most insane. "You'll what?" He asked in mocking disbelief.
"Yeah, I'm basically supercharged." Amelia smirked, placing a hand on her waist. "I don't know that many spells, but the ones I learned I did on earth, where there is basically no magic. I can hit pretty hard here."
Lilith raised her brow, doubtful but willing to listen to the newcomer. "How hard are we talking?"
"You can't really be serious? You're gonna leave your fighting to a novice?" Hunter's face was a testament to his disgruntlement.
"That still won't matter, we'd need to discredit him before the Isles would dare accept a new leader," Raine reminded them sternly, trying to keep them all from getting ahead of themselves and sending a teenager to do their dirty work.
Luz sighed in frustration. "It's too bad the Titan itself couldn't do that for us."
Gus's ears perked, "Wait, what did you just say?"
"That it's too bad the Titan couldn't discredit Belos for us?" Luz repeated, wondering what she'd said that got her friend so excited.
It was clear Gus was onto something, his eyes widening as he drafted up his own little plan, "I think I got the solution to our problem, but I'm gonna need a day, maybe two since it's so late."
He turned to Amelia, who he hadn't even been properly introduced to yet, "You practice your spells, and you'll fight the Emperor, but you'll need more than a little power boost from having free access to magic. You'll need smarts."
Amelia stared at this little boy with disinterest, "And you're saying you've got those smarts?"
"Trust me, this plan is going to go great."
Everyone gathered close, listening as Gus explained exactly how they could win, in great detail. Sometimes he'd get ahead of himself, and Willow or Luz would have to get him back on track so he still made sense. After he finished, the older witches offered a handful of different, more realistic alternatives to some of the things they'd need, and soon a plan was in motion.
"It's… oddly brilliant," Lilith smiled, glad she wouldn't have to do the planning this time.
"Good job, Goops," Eda complimented, patting the young man on the head.
"We're definitely going to win!" Luz cheered.
"You… might actually make it out alive," Hunter agreed.
"I have no idea what is going on, can you start over from the beginning, go a bit slower?" Lucia asked, scratching at her head.
Between the Trick or treating, the fight, the party, and the planning, Lucia was finally starting to feel completely and utterly beat. She wasn't sure how late it was now, but it was well past midnight back in Earth hours, and she wasn't entirely certain if this world ran on a twenty-four hour cycle, or how long the days were compared to the nights. All she did know was that she was tired, and ready for bed.
Luz's friends, Gus and Willow, left for the night, needing to get back to their own families. Her girlfriend's siblings, minus Amity, went with them, to escort them and return home themselves, with news of their darling Emily's return.
Amelia still seemed torn over having a chance to meet her birth parents, but she at least seemed to like her siblings. She hadn't had the chance to have any one on one time with Amity yet, but there was time for that in the morning.
Everyone else stayed over at the Owl House, a collection of blankets, stained mattresses, and lumpy pillows strewn across the living room. Eda had said she was turning in, needing her beauty sleep, and headed off to her nest, with Luz assuring Lucia that it was in fact, an actual nest. Meanwhile her… partner? Ex-lover? Raine, offered to stand as first watch over the house, which didn't really seem necessary when Hooty was there, but the bard insisted.
Their compatriots, Katya, Derwin and Amber, were strewn across the living room floor, the coffee table pulled aside and settled against the far wall to give them the space they needed. Lilith had joined them, having planned to rest on the couch since it had been her bed when she lived here, but with Hunter injured and laying there, she had no choice but to sleep beside him on the floor with the others.
Lucia, Amelia and Vee were handed the keys to a storeroom on the second floor and told they could sleep there if they could make the space. That left Luz, sleeping in the same room as Amity, which Lucia hadn't felt comfortable with in the slightest, especially since they seemed keen on sharing the same sleeping mat.
"We're fine," Luz insisted through gritted teeth, a blush so potent it looked like Luz's head would burst at the mere implications her sister was dropping.
"Are you sure you don't want Vee to tag along?" Lucia asked, a subtle insistence in her voice as she was trying to force the changeling in as a third wheel.
"I said we're fine!" Luz cried, shutting the door in Lucia's face, only to open it a moment later, embarrassed. "Eda has a three inch rule while Amity's here… And King sleeps in here with me, too, so stop worrying."
At least the kooky old lady had imposed some rules on Luz's relationship. Lucia still wasn't sure what to make of the Owl Lady, but this at least knocked her up a peg, even if she wasn't sure she could trust her… talking dog(?) with watching over the two.
The room next to Luz's room was the storage room, or, it seemed, one of many storage rooms, as Luz's room hadn't seemed to be an actual bedroom anymore than this one was. It was crowded, with minimal floor space, making the three Demon Hunters from Earth groan as they realized it would still be a while, and a bit of exercise, before they could get some rest.
They stacked as many boxes as they could, and moved the rest out into the hallway, and had just enough space to fit a small, moth chewed mattress onto the floor. It would be cramped, but the three of them could share for the night. If they were going to be here a while, Lucia was definitely asking for a better sleeping space tomorrow.
The three tiredly climbed into bed, only having one blanket and one pillow between them. Squeezing close, Lucia was back against a wall, with Vee cradled in her arms as a little spoon, and Amelia laying beside them, her back to the junk behind her and facing the Nocedas.
"I feel like a baby." Vee murmured tiredly, eyes already closing even before Amelia could pull the blanket over them.
"Sorry," Lucia whispered, but Vee shook her head.
"It's fine, I like it. Feels safe."
Lucia gave a low chuckle, and laid her head down, and almost immediately fell asleep.
Only to wake up from dreamless sleep to the sound of rustling, blinking open tired eyes just in time to see the door open and close, squeaking on rusted hinges as it did so. Going from the small window against the wall, it was still the dead of night, so she couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour. She considered closing her eyes again, and going back to sleep, but somewhere in her tired mind she realized that Amelia wasn't in bed anymore.
Careful, as to not wake Vee, she slithered out of bed, depositing the Changeling into the center of the mattress and wrapping her up in the blankets so she wouldn't get cold. Now that she was aware of it, a chill had fallen over the place, so she made sure to grab her jacket before slowly opening the door, wincing as the hinges squeaked, and made her way out.
Moving down the hallway and past Luz's room, she paused. Carefully pushing the door open to check in on her sister, she was met with an admittedly adorable sight of the two teenagers sound asleep, King at their feet and Amity in Luz's arms with her head nestled against Luz's chest, ear right over her heart.
Lucia swore she wasn't going soft, and swore to herself she'd tear that cotton candy covered head off the Blight girl's shoulders if she made Luz cry, then continued down the hall. Once she was down the stairs, she zigzagged around the sleeping BATs members on the living room floor, and past a loudly snoring Lilith, and pried open the front door.
She passed Hooty, who was sound asleep despite how he was supposed to be on watch, with a little night cap on his head to add insult to injury. It seemed it was a good thing Raine had volunteered for night watch.
Speaking of the non-binary Bard, they sat on a stool beside the front door, keeping an eye on the front of the house. They looked exhausted, and Lucia couldn't blame them. From what she'd heard, it hadn't even been two days since this same person was being tortured for information by the Emperor, and yet here they were. That was one certified badass.
Raine turned to look at the human, and pointed to the side of the house, "If you're looking for her, she's that way," They whispered quietly.
Lucia considered it, but then shook her head, "Nah. If she wants to be alone, she wants to be alone. I'll wait here for her instead, wait until she's ready to talk."
Raine smiled gently, "I wouldn't mind the company-"
"Nope, old timer," Lucia cut them off, "You look beat. I'll take over the watch, you go get some shut eye."
Raine opened their mouth to object, but Lucia wasn't having it, "I'm going to be out here anyway, there isn't a point for the both of us to stay. Go on, before I make you."
Raine gave an amused smirk, "And how would you do that?"
Lucia flexed her arms, showing off her muscles, "I dunno, what are you gonna do to stop me? Play the fiddle in my general direction?"
That got a laugh out of Raine, who stood and offered their stool to the girl, "Fine, fine. I'll get some rest. I clearly need it if I'm laughing at that bad of a joke."
The bard went inside, bidding her a good night, and Lucia slumped in the now open seat, waiting for her girlfriend to return. She watched out into the night, keeping her ears keen for any noises that couldn't be attributed to animals, and a bit of her worried when it occurred to her that the demons she'd been hunting were the animals of this world, and she hadn't even brought her bat with her.
Now properly paranoid without protection, she at least didn't have to worry about falling asleep at her post. Instead, she zoned out for a time, not sure exactly how long she sat, only that by the time she became aware of her surroundings the sun was just beginning to peek past the horizon, and that was when Amelia returned.
Turning the corner of the house, the newly re-minted Blight girl seemed a bit spooked to see Lucia there, but the dark skinned girl just grinned, "Expecting to see someone else here?"
"How did you- you know what, never mind." Amelia crossed her arms moodily. With a sigh she slumped against the house.
"You doing okay?" Lucia asked for the second time in only a handful of hours.
"It's still just a lot to take in. It's so familiar, and at the same time, so alien, but I can feel that this is home, you know?" Amelia rambled, rubbing at her arms which were exposed to the chill of the morning air.
Lucia gestured for Amelia to come close to her, and sit on her lap. She unzipped her coat, and as Amelia joined her she wrapped the chilly woman up inside, sharing her jacket. "How about we watch the sunrise together, huh?" She suggested softly, wanting to take it all off of Amelia's mind.
"Yeah…"
It occurred to Lucia that she was watching the sun rise on an alien world that she had no real business being a part of. The back half of her brain was having an existential crisis over this fact, but she hushed it, instead watching the colors the light made across the sky. It seemed a bit more orange than Earth sunrises. Certainly added a bit of a romantic mood to things.
She pressed a chaste kiss to Amelia's neck, earning an appreciative hum. She planted another, messier one, that made Amelia squeal and squirm, but Lucia had already snaked her arms around Amelia's waist to keep her from going anywhere.
The sound of her girlfriend's giggles made her feel less tense, and she leaned her forehead against Amelia's back, right between her shoulder blades, finding comfort in her company.
She knew the silence was about to be broken when Amelia sighed, and licked her lips, "It's pretty here. I don't know if you can feel it, but it's almost like the magic in the air is rising with the sun. I can feel the entire island waking up."
"It does sound pretty cool, huh?" Lucia murmured.
There was another lapse in their conversation, "I'll miss it when we go back to Earth."
Lucia blinked, "You still plan on going back home with us?"
Amelia nodded, "Gravesfield is my home. It's a small, backwoods town in the middle of nowhere Connecticut, with nothing to do. Not even a proper sized mall to its name. But it's where you are. And my parents. I guess they're kinda important too."
Lucia snorted, but her smile didn't last for long, "What about your new family here?"
"I literally just met them today, dork. I… I'm still kinda processing all of that. And I want to meet my real parents, but I have no plans of uprooting myself either." Amelia said firmly, and despite not knowing this was something she'd been worried about until just now, Lucia felt relief flood her at the news.
"Good. It'd be really hard to kiss you from another dimension."
Amelia leaned back against Lucia, pressing her weight against her. "Knew you'd miss me."
"Well yeah," Lucia chuckled, "I love you."
Amelia took a sharp intake of breath, then looked back at her girlfriend, who was grinning as brightly as the morning sun at her. "Say that again?" She asked softly.
"I love you, Amelia Bane. Blight. Whatever your name is." Lucia repeated, and it sounded both very strange on her lips, but so very right to say.
"You're sure?" Amelia asked, as if this was something Lucia could just take back.
"Babe, you and I have fought monsters together. We traveled to another world together. You helped me find my sister, all while being the best girlfriend I've ever had-" Only girlfriend, but that didn't need repeating, "If what I'm feeling right now, this warm thumping in my chest, isn't what love is supposed to feel like, then I have no idea what is."
Amelia hummed, closing her eyes and just enjoying the moment, and the warmth and comfort Lucia provided. "Well, it could be delirium from the lack of sleep, but I guess I've got no choice but to believe you for now."
Lucia scoffed, and fought the urge to shove the Blight girl off her lap, "would it kill you to just say it back?"
Amelia swiveled so she better face her girlfriend, "hm, fine."
She leaned in, pressing the softest of kisses to Lucia's lips, hovering close, "I love you too. Happy?"
Lucia let out a breath, "immensely."
Just before their lips could meet again, the door to the Owl House opened, and a very cranky faced Lilith stumbled out, in her hands a mug of something steaming that the girls assumed to be coffee or tea. She looked surprised to see them, especially when they were frozen, half embracing, in a kiss. The two teenagers split apart, muttering curses, to the amusement of the older witch.
"I was supposed to take over for Raine at dawn, I wasn't expecting to find you two here. Should I come back at a better time?" Lilith teased, taking a purposefully loud slurp from her mug.
The teenagers glanced at each other, their faces half red from embarrassment, the other half from the autumn's morning chill, and they quickly shook their heads, "No, no, please, take over. We'll just, uh, go take a nap. In our room."
They stumbled past Lilith, who couldn't help but chuckle at the awkwardness of young love, and Lucia stopped, raising a finger, "In our room that has a child in it. No funny business from us. Nope. So don't go thinking we're going to… do stuff."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Lilith smirked behind her mug, taking the now vacant seat.
Lucia shut the door before Lilith could fire off any more remarks. The sound made the BATs members on the floor shift in their sleep, rolling over and covering their faces with their pillows, and as the two walked past them as quietly as they could, they realized there was a notable absence of Raine among the group. Lucia would bet ten bucks she knew where they were, up in the Owl Lady's nest, if what Luz mentioned about them was at all true.
Lucia and Amelia returned to their room, quietly climbing back into bed, hoping to get at least a bit of shut eye. As they did, Vee blinked awake, blearily. "Where'd you two go?" She slurred out.
Amelia ruffled Vee's hair, "Nowhere you need to worry about. Go back to sleep."
Lucia nodded in agreement, opening her arms and ushering the changeling into them, and like the snuggle bug she was she did so happily, her light snores filling the room after a moment. Lucia pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and made to close her eyes.
"You're pretty good with kids," Amelia commented from her side of the bed.
Lucia's eyes creaked back open, and she glanced at the girl through the corner of them, "You just noticed that now?"
Amelia grinned and then turned away, so her back was to the Noceda girls, "No, but it's good to keep in mind. For the future."
She didn't elaborate further, leaving Lucia to try and sleep with that mental image in her head, and a red tint on her cheeks at the implication.
If the night before, with their celebration, had seemed a bit wild, that didn't compare to breakfast. Between the mess still across the living room, everyone trying to get dressed and attend to their hygiene the place is abuzz with frantic energy.
Luz awoke in the early morning cradled in the arms of her amor, her love, Amity. The first thing that entered her mind was the utter bliss of being able to do so, despite having her arms pinned to her sides since Amity was clinging to her. The second thing was that Amity turned out to be a snorer, which Luz didn't really mind, since it was actually kind of cute. Another imperfection to add to Amity's list since she'd opened up to her that Luz welcomed with open arms.
Luz still felt a little sleepy, waking up so early after being up so late, but her body was used to getting up at this hour after attending Hexside all these months. As much as she wanted to curl back up next to Amity and rest a while longer, she knew it'd throw her whole morning out of whack, so she tried to gently pry herself out of Amity's grip without waking the girl.
She failed almost immediately, Amity startling awake and clinging to her even tighter for just a moment, before jolting away, face hot. "Sorry, sorry! Is it morning?" She sputtered, resisting the urge to slap herself because it clearly was with the sunlight streaming through the window.
Luz nodded gently anyway, "yeah, but you can sleep longer if you want."
Amity looked like she was seriously considering it. Luz's sleeping bag was warm, her pillow soft, and they both smelled so deeply of Luz that it was intoxicating, but she shook her head, climbing out after her girlfriend. Being with Luz was better than bathing in her scent and getting another hour or two of sleep.
Luz grabbed a handful of clothes, "I'll go change in the bathroom. You can use any of my clothes if you don't want to be in your old clothes from yesterday." She said, hand on the doorknob.
Amity's ears perked up at that, having permission to raid Luz's closet meant she got to be with her girlfriend, and be wrapped up in her scent. This truly was the best day of her life. She gave a quick, silent nod and Luz left, shutting the door behind her so Amity could have some privacy.
As Luz closed the door, she could see Eda leaving her own room. Just before Eda could close her own door, Luz caught sight of a familiar bard laying in Eda's nest, still sound asleep. Raine was still in full BATs garb, including their boots which hung off over the lip of the nest. Luz wasn't sure how that was at all comfortable, but she supposed after having spent time in the Emperor's dungeon, Raine wanted to be prepared to retreat at a moment's notice should their estimates of the Emperor's recovery be off.
Eda, seeing that Luz had noticed Raine in her room, gave the teenager a pointed look, "Not. A. Word." She warned.
Luz mimed zipping her mouth closed, and sent Eda a smile. While she didn't say anything, she did bound through the halls with an extra pep of cheer, happy with whatever was going on in her mentor's life, making Eda groan and roll her eyes. It was entirely too early for any of Luz's antics.
Luz ended up having to wait her turn to use the restroom to change and brush her teeth, along with the rest of her morning routine, Katya having been in there before Luz had woken up, and Amber having been in there before Katya, with Derwin waiting after Luz for his turn.
By the time Luz had finished up, Amity had gone downstairs without her, and was brushing her teeth in the sink in the kitchen with a spare toothbrush rather than having to get in line. Luz greeted her with a chase kiss on the lips, no worry about morning breath now that their mouths were minty clean, and admired the outfit Amity had chosen.
It was a cute little getup Luz had worn a handful of times, a striped sweater with a pair of loose overalls. Combined with Amity's messy bed head, it made Luz's heart thump against her chest in all the right ways, and if they didn't have so many guests in every corner of the house, Luz would have dragged her girlfriend off right then and there to get some kisses in private.
Instead, Luz helped Eda get breakfast ready, with Amity eager to help as well. The two members of the Owl House learned very quickly that Amity wasn't a very good cook though, and had her do the scrambled griffon eggs, since they seemed the hardest to screw up. They came out somehow equally undercooked and overcooked, but the look of pride on Amity's face was one Luz would protect with her life, and she made sure to scoop herself a large helping when it was eventually served.
While breakfast was being cooked, Hunter's eyes shot open, and he lurched forward to defend himself. The pain in his body from the sudden surge of moment did nothing to remind him of his current state of reality, that he was on the couch in the Owl House, which only had a handful of people who were out for his blood and not a whole court of them.
He only managed not to get himself even more hurt than he already was when Derwin, heading downstairs from his turn in the bathroom, saw him flailing and rushed to his aid to hold him down until he came to his senses. "I got you, little buddy." Derwin spoke softly, not minding the scratches on his arms that the younger man had inflicted.
Hunter's breaths came out ragged, and he lay still, body screaming at him for moving as he'd had. "I'm not your little buddy," He spat, making a show of not looking Derwin in the face.
"But… thanks." He added a moment later, earning a smile from the dark skinned man, who clapped him gently on the shoulder.
"No problem. I think they're making food, you want any?" Derwin extended an offer, and Hunter was tempted. He didn't feel hungry, but he did need to keep his strength up. Before he could make a decision himself though, Rascal flew down from the rafters, tweeting up a storm as he landed on Hunter's chest.
"Seem's your little buddy decided to speak for you. I'll bring you a plate." Derwin laughed, Standing from Hunter's side to do just that.
Hunter glared at his Palisman, though there wasn't any heat in it. "I can take care of myself," He assured the bird, who chirped back in a way that told Hunter that Rascal was saying if he could take care of himself, he wouldn't be in this state right now. It bothered Hunter that he didn't have a response to that, if that was even what the Palisman was trying to say to him in the first place.
It was at this time that Hunter, through his peripheral vision, noticed he had another visitor, and he physically flinched as the bird tube that was the local House Demon invaded his personal space, pressing his face up against Hunter's. "Hooty, back off." He warned, and Rascal joined him, tweeting angrily at the invader.
"Gosh, geez, I just wanted to say good morning," Hooty whined, clearly offended, but not at Hunter. Rather, Hooty was turned towards the cardinal Palisman.
"Wait, can you… understand him?" Hunter asked.
Hooty turned back to Hunter, blinking his large, soulless eyes. "Well, duh. You can't? Isn't he your Palisman?"
"Well, yeah, but I didn't carve him or anything. I just kind of adopted him." Hunter cleared up, and Hooty nodded.
"Adoption is always a valid choice."
"That doesn't give me an answer on why you can understand him," Hunter deadpanned.
"Oh, well, we're both birds, Hoot hoot!" Was Hooty's simple answer, and Hunter wondered if it really was as simple as that.
"So, you can talk to him?"
"Hoot!" The bird tube shrieked in affirmation.
"So, what's he got to say to me?" Hunter asked, a smile on his face for the first time since he'd awoken.
Hooty turned back to the Palisman, and began a series of hoots, that were replied back to with a series of tweets and chirps and bird song. Hooty joined in with the bird song, with his own "lalalalaLAAAA!" That had Hunter covering his ears, wondering if any of this would be worth it.
Hooty turned back to the ex-Golden Guard, "He says 'I'd appreciate if you started buying me higher quality bird seed from now on,' hoot!'"
Hunter narrowed his eyes, "Really? That's what he had to say, out of all the things he could talk about, it's that? Bird seed?"
Hooty nodded his head enthusiastically, which of course required the use of his entire elongated neck, which thrashed around and knocked a few stray items over, causing them to clatter to the floor and join the mess of bedclothes already littering the living room.
Hunter crossed his arms, "I don't believe you."
He ignored the gasps of disbelief of Hooty and the angry tweeting of Rascal, turning his nose up at the two enchanted avians. Hooty was about to begin protesting his innocence when the door opened, throwing him off his focus and swinging his neck in a way that made his head knock into the wall, knocking a few more things to the ground.
"I'm sorry, Hootcifer, I didn't mean to do that," Lilith's voice cooed, and Hooty was quick to forgive, wrapping her up in an embrace with his long neck.
She caught sight of Hunter, her lips curling downward into a frown. "I see wonder boy is up."
"Lilith." He replied curtly, not liking the other woman any more than she liked him.
Lilith turned her nose up to him, but wasn't so cruel as to disregard his well being. "How are your wounds?"
"Plentiful." Hunter snarked, Rascal chirping once more on his chest.
"Oh, come on you two!" Hooty spoke loudly, "Everyone's a friend here now, so let's all try to get along. You two are like birds of a feather!"
"How so?" Lilith grumbled.
Hooty blinked, and thought very carefully, then gave an excited hoot, "You're both ex-Emperor's Coven leaders!"
That just got both witches grimacing, but Lilith sighed, knowing Hooty was right. She should disregard her old childish behavior over Hunter getting special treatment before, now that they were in the same boat, discarded by the Emperor. "Is there anything I can help you with? Do you need something to eat?"
"No, one of the bards is getting me breakfast," Hunter brushed off, but eyed his Palisman on his chest. "Apparently all my friend here has to say is that he wants me to buy him better bird seed from now on. Do you happen to have any here?"
Lilith's Palisman was a raven, so it would make sense if she did. Instead of answering, she just chuckled, "I see. I think that's his way of telling you he's going to be around for a while, so you'd better take care of him."
Hunter looked back down to Rascal, who gave an affirmative chirp, making Hunter let out a humored, "huh…"
Carefully petting the bird, so not to hurt himself while doing it, Hunter spoke softly, "I'll look into getting you that bird seed, then."
Lilith let them be, leaving to get Hunter some painkillers to take alongside his breakfast.
A/N: I like this chapter, but at the same time, I hate it. Large groups that do nothing but talk give me a headache to write, and keeping track of what they're saying and how it'll affect future conversations.
It's a bit of a pain, but it's needed for a cast this large at this point.
Also, I will never give the Owl House crew crap for not giving Willow anything to do in the show, because my God, I haven't done squat with her outside of her fight scene. It's hard to even come up with dialogue for the girl, much less include her in the plot!
There are a couple more talking scenes I actually still need to get done in future chapters before they can be posted. I hope I can get everything that should be said between these characters done before the fic wraps up, and not forget any important interactions.