I'm baaaack and I'm trying to get back into writing again after the world collapsed before Christmas!
Anyway, as in the last chapter, warnings apply in this one as well.
Mainly drinking again, but you should be advised well enough now, there's no underage drinking and no illegal actions going on here, once again, the US rules do NOT apply and there will be heavy drinking in the next few chapters.
(Kind of therapeutic to write honestly)
So, have a lot of fun reading and there will be some pace picked up romantically, but that'll be in the next chapter!
I hope you'll enjoy it!
WARNING:
- ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
The two of them fell into an easy conversation about their free time and how to spend it, shortly talking about some series they were watching and had enjoyed before Amity had to ask about the Azura backpack and lunch box Luz owned.
When Willow and Gus returned, this time not alone, Luz and Amity were in the middle of a heated discussion about Azura's and Hecate's allyship, as well as Hecate's questionable redemption, at least in Amity's opinion.
"No no, you got it all wrong, Hecate is plotting something against Azura! In that one scene in the sixth book, the one when they were having a secret meeting in the underground temples, Hecate acted suspiciously. I reread the entire series and she never acted like that, kind of quiet and shy, even. Not as Azura's rival, not as her ally, and definitely not as her friend. She had something to hide!", Amity reasoned and Luz shook her head at that, wagging her finger.
"No, you got it all wrong! I'll tell you what was wrong with Hecate – she fell in love with Azura! She acted all quiet and shy because, if you remember correctly, some chapters before that scene Azura caught Hecate sending a prayer to her beloved. Azura thought Hecate's lover was dead, but I believe that Hecate really prayed for Azura!"
Amity buried her face in her hands and groaned, before gesturing wildly.
"Not possible! Hecate would have needed to say the name of the beloved for the prayer to work. And it didn't when she spoke the name of her beloved, meaning they're dead."
Luz chuckled, leaning closer.
"Not if she lied!", she reasoned and Amity groaned, almost letting herself fall backward into the grass.
"Believe me, I'm a Hecazura shipper, too, but this is too far-fetched! Azura doesn't even trust her yet after the Hojsid ambush, and Hecate is still her rival. Rivals, enemies, don't fall in love with each other.", she snapped, making Luz laugh again and lift her finger.
"But, if you noticed, there's a subtle hint that Hecate went praying again just before the last battle, their companion Malingale even saw the shine of a prayer being sent from the sacred shrine and when he asked the guards, nobody but Hecate went up there. And lo and behold, in their last battle, Azura was mysteriously saved by a lightning strike blinding everyone around her that she couldn't explain!", Luz pointed out and Amity rolled her eyes.
"Wait wait, that brings me to a totally different topic-", she tried ignoring the victorious smirk Luz wore, "... Bet Malingale will betray them in book seven?"
At that, Luz nodded enthusiastically, waving her hand as if it was obvious.
"Duh, as if he won't. He's just waiting for Azura to return to the ruins of lkwije and retrieve her staff so he can steal it from her. She managed well without the staff and she knew he was after it, so she also knows he's waiting for her to bring it again. She knows he plans to betray them."
Amity hummed and furrowed her eyebrows.
"She'll need the staff, though, to unite the spirits of kuje and kjeh.", she mumbled, obviously deep in thought, as Luz looked up and saw three very amused faces looking down on them.
Willow, Gus, and-...
"Viney! Hey, what brings you here?", she quickly got up and hugged her coworker, making Amity follow her and give a small wave to the girl.
"I just met Willow and Gus outside the toilets. In the Owl House, someone threw up in the toilets so I came here instead until they cleaned it up again. What're you guys up to?", she asked and Willow snickered, earning a dirty glare from Luz.
"We were just hanging out with Amity. You guys are in the Owl House?", she asked back and Viney nodded, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of the bar she referred to. Much to Amity's surprise, it was not the same direction as to where the music came from.
"Yeah, Jerbo, Barcus, and me.", she grinned, before making an inviting gesture, "You guys wanna join us?"
Luz looked back to Amity with a questioning gaze and she shrugged, before looking back to Willow and Gus.
"I'd honestly like to see that bar you guys go to.", she finally grinned when she understood that her group of friends would actually like to go, so she let herself be pulled up by Willow and giggled when Gus hugged her with one arm.
"Let's go have a party!", he cheered, before pulling her along already, towards the exit of the park, with Viney, Luz, and Willow following them. Amity laughed, hugging Gus back with one arm because that was easier to walk, and lifted her beer along with his hand, cheering.
"Yeah! To freedom!"
Behind her, Viney and Luz lifted their drinks and Willow her voice.
"To freedom!", they echoed, making her laugh, but as soon as her little toilet house came into view, she felt the urge to go, especially since she did faintly remember that Viney had told them about the puking incident over in the bar.
"And to the toilet!", she chirped, making Gus and Willow laugh and echo her, but before she could even start jogging towards the little house, she heard Luz running up behind her, quickly taking her hand and pulling her out of Gus' hug.
"I'll go with you.", she rushed, and Amity looked up to her with a smirk.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?", she teased, and albeit seeing the blush rising in Luz's cheeks, she could feel that the girl was uncomfortable.
"You know, as an escort. Have you never been on a public toilet?", she asked and could have slapped herself in the same moment as Amity's gaze already turned questioning, "Right. No. Uhm, listen, public toilets aren't exactly the uhm... Well, safest, places to be for a girl. It's better to go together or as a group, to be able to get help should something happen."
At the explanation, Amity leaned into her side, obviously not quite getting what Luz meant, but at least she stuck with her.
"Good that I have my fearless champion with me, then.", she sang and Luz sighed, shaking her head as she wrapped her arm around her shoulders in a way so their arms crossed Amity's chest.
"Yeah, fearless champion. I guess that's what I am.", she hummed, entering the toilet along with Amity. However, that added to the confusion as she turned on the light and checked all corners.
"Why are you in here with me?", she asked and Luz looked around, making sure they would be alone.
"Just checking that nobody is in here with us.", she mumbled, before awkwardly patting Amity's head and gesturing back to the door.
"I'll be outside. Just shout when something's wrong.", she gave her a meaningful glance, which Amity found very alluring, but at the same time, incredibly confusing. She had heard that it wasn't the safest for girls outside at night, but she didn't understand why Luz was so overly careful with that.
When she stepped outside again she almost ran into Luz who had positioned herself in front of the door not to let anyone pass, while being teased by her friends for that, but as soon as she felt Amity emerging from the house, she smiled again and pointed to the exit of the park.
"Alright, all ready to go?", she asked and Amity smiled, nodding.
"Yeah. Don't you have to go as well?", she asked and Luz waved it off.
"Until we arrive there, they'll have cleaned up the toilets. And if they haven't, I'll just go on the boys' toilet.", she smirked, making Amity almost stop dead in her tracks. She put a hand over her heart and looked at Luz incredulously, although less about what she had just said but more about herself, it seemed.
"I am so sorry for not asking for your pronouns.", she whispered, making everyone around them laugh loudly, but Luz merely pulled her against her and chuckled, patting her shoulder.
"Aw, don't worry. I use female pronouns, don't worry. I just haven't thought that much about it yet.", with an easy shrug, she gave Gus a light smack on the back of his head for still laughing, "I don't really care about gender. You don't have to worry about that with me."
"Would you rather I addressed you with neutral pronouns?", she carefully asked and Willow joined her other side, wrapping her arm around Amity as well before pressing a little kiss to her hair just above her ear.
"Amity, you're really sweet, you know that?", she asked and the girl in question blushed deeply, pulling up her shoulders, "You're very considerate."
Looking over to Willow, she shrugged helplessly, before looking to the ground, not to lose her balance while two people were latched onto her from both sides.
"I, uh... I try, you know, it's better not to assume and, uh...", grimacing, she tried making sense of it, but Luz merely squeezed her shoulder a little.
"Just take the compliment, hm?", she asked and Amity flushed deeply, nodding.
"O-Okay, thank you.", she barely squeaked out, before they already walked down the road towards the Owl House. Much to Amity's surprise, she couldn't see anything. In the other direction, there had been a few neon signs and a few regular signs, as well as music that could be followed, but here, the road looked fairly quiet apart from a few cars speeding past them since it was a two lanes road. Amity furrowed her eyebrows, turning to her new friends.
"I don't see anything... Where's the club?", she asked quizzically and Viney chuckled, pointing up ahead.
"Look, see that little tattoo shop? Right next to it, there's a door. See it?", she asked and Amity squinted her eyes, thankful that Willow had let go of her so she just had to balance out Luz's steps.
"Uh, yeah, I see it. But isn't that just some entrance to, I don't know, apartments or something?", she wondered, making Luz chuckle.
"It's the entrance to the world of wonders.", she teased and Amity deadpanned at her, "It is!"
Gus giggled as well, nodding.
"Legends say it's an inconspicuous door to the secret world of alcolandia, the magic land of dizziness and good taste in music.", he said in a scary voice, which would have been a lot scarier if he had stopped giggling.
Rolling her eyes, Amity and Willow shared a glance, before sighing and being led to the plain door that was the entrance to her friends' favorite club.
They stopped for a moment to chug their beers and leave them outside by a trashcan for some homeless people to take advantage of the pawn, then they were ready.
The door was first leading down two flights of stairs before ending in a narrow hallway which finally opened up in a big bar area, complete with tables, a few cozy corners, and a lot of drunk people, actually.
Amity was amazed at the sight, and the noise, as she followed Viney to their table, sitting down after they had pulled another close so all of them could have some room to sit.
"Hey Jerbo, Barcus!", Luz cheered and gave them both a high-five, before gesturing back and forth between her and them.
"Jerbo, Amity, Amity, Barcus, Barcus, Jerbo, Amity.", she counted up and the whole table erupted in laughter when Luz pretended to be confused, "Would you like anything to drink, Jerbo?"
Amity giggled as she understood Luz was looking at her, exchanging a look with Jerbo before she finally sat down and grabbed the menu.
"I mean, I've never had cocktails before, but I'd like to.", she grinned. Luz immediately skipped to the cocktails and presented them to her, smiling.
"There you go! I'd recommend a Cuba libre first, for a starter. After that, you can definitely try anything out you like. Just a quick warning – cocktails are often really sweet. You may not taste the alcohol, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty in it.", she explained and Amity nodded, smiling back at her and reading through the menu.
Just then, Gus caught Luz's gaze and they made finger guns at the other, completely unprompted, which distracted Amity from reading through the recipe of the Cuba libre.
"What is it?", she whispered over to Willow who was deadpanning, almost pouting.
"They're planning on getting shots for everyone. And probably a platter of nachos, since we get that for free.", she rolled her eyes, "Why did I even bake anything? They're addicted to junk food."
"I'd like to try your bread when we get back.", Amity offered a peace trade and Willow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you, but don't worry. I'm not really mad."
A thought was still sticking in Amity's mind, even if she was feeling the three beers she already had, and she turned back to Willow, lifting her eyebrows.
"Wait, why do we get the nachos for free?", she asked and Willow laughed, clapping her shoulder. The question was answered by Gus, though, who had stopped his ridiculous gesturing with Luz and turned to her, having listened in on their conversation.
"It's because we work for the owner!", he explained and Amity followed his nudge towards the bar where a familiar figure was standing on the counter, a beer standing in front of her.
"Eda owns this bar?!", she gawked and the table laughed again.
"Yeah, it's hers. This was her regular business before her sister helped her out a bunch financially, and as a thanks Eda now works for her and coowns the construction company Lilith runs, to take some stress and responsibility off her shoulders.", Jerbo explained, making Amity slowly nod.
"Ah, okay...", she mumbled, then she turned back to the menu. The Cuba libre really sounded good. She supposed she would try this one first and then go from there if she even wanted more than one drink.
A young boy came over, just about fourteen or fifteen, Amity would guess, and started taking Luz's, Gus's, and Willow's orders, after greeting them like family. Staring at him, he finally noticed Amity.
"Hey, what's your problem?", he snapped at her and Luz immediately smacked his arm.
"King! Be nice!", she chastised him and he shrugged, his demeanor not changing. Nodding at Amity, he readied his little notebook.
"So whaddya want?", he harshly asked and Amity shook her stupor off, blinking a few times.
"Aren't you a little young to be serving here...?", she carefully asked and King blinked at her a few times before slowly packing away his notebook. Luz's chair behind her squeaked as she got up and approached him, catching his collar just before he could lunge at Amity. After shortly wrestling the teenager, Luz tucked him under her arm and softly smacked his head.
"Hey. Sit. What kinda behavior is that, huh? She asked a simple question."
"She disrespected me!", the boy screeched and Luz rolled her eyes.
"You got a temper problem, that's what it is. That's everything.", she corrected him and grabbed him by his collar again to put him down on his feet, while Eda came over to check the situation.
"Oh, hey kid, I didn't recognize you coming in here. And look at that! All my employees!", she greeted, ruffling Luz's and King's hair who took it very differently, before looking around the table.
"Hi Eda!", they all echoed and the older woman proudly looked around clearly enjoying knowing them all and being on friendly terms with them, before sitting down next to Amity and noticing her.
"Oh hey, Blight! Cool to see you here! I see my kids talked you into spending a night here?"
Amity was about ready to decline when Viney piped up, her voice amused.
"Absolutely! I met them in their little date by chance, though they could use some alcohol.", she shot a mischievous look over to Luz and Amity who both blushed deeply.
"We-We weren't having a date-", Luz started, before pointing to Willow and Gus, "They were there, too!"
Gus innocently shrugged and Willow made an unsuspecting face, propping her elbows up on the table.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Luz! Gus and I had a lazy evening at home before Viney called us over.", she lied right out of the book and Luz growled.
"Traitors! Slander and calumny!", she claimed, making Amity giggle. Luz only settled down through her putting her hand on her shoulder and then, it still took a while until the table had quieted down enough for Amity to order her Cuba libre with the now very pouty King. He wrote it down and carried it over to the bartender, so Eda turned to her.
"Hey, you kids did some serious work over the week. We're way ahead of our time schedule and now that Blight is here, we can agree on Monday being free, no?", she asked and nudged Amity, who looked around as the table erupted in cheers, smiling with a blush.
"I-I mean, in your place, I'd still discuss that with Lilith...", she began, the cheers promptly turning to boos from which Willow protected her, "But, if you're really ahead of your schedule, I can't see why not."
The cheers of their table were so loud that the entire bar joined in, not knowing why their table had become so loud all of a sudden, but nobody would pass up a chance to cheer at something.
Amity giggled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, flushing deeply when Luz put an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey, don't worry about that. Eda will talk to Lilith and you don't have to be pressured into anything.", she reassured the girl and Amity nodded gratefully.
"Thank you...", she mumbled, before getting interrupted by Eda who leaned past her to the bar, waving at the bartender.
"Hey Hooty!", the owner yelled, "A round of specials for the table, on me!"
Promptly, everyone ripped their arms up and cheered more, it was getting ridiculous by now, but Amity supposed their current level of alcohol was playing into that. After all, drunk people were easier to impress and louder in expressing their emotions.
The bartender gave an okay after sending King with the cocktails to their table and promptly began working on the round of shots for them. Amity thanked King for her cocktail and he seemed to have forgiven her already because he did give her a slightly less snide comment when handing it to her, then he ran back to the counter to grab the tablet from Hooty with all the shots.
For a short moment, Amity had a clear thought on what she was doing right now. Luz had her arm around her shoulders, still, and she was so close Amity didn't want her to stop, ever. The people around the table, her friends' coworkers, all fell into easy chatter, talking about their construction site and some personal events in their lives, and she was sitting with all of them, and their boss, on a table in an underground bar, drinking.
It couldn't seem more surreal to her.
If she had a boss and was hanging out with them she wouldn't feel nearly as comfortable as her friends around Eda, she bet, and she surely wouldn't sit on a table with them and drink alcohol.
But, somehow, being around Eda was something different.
She couldn't exactly explain it, but Eda was not your atypical boss, neither on the construction site nor in the bar.
Taking a sip, Amity closed her eyes and felt the atmosphere for a moment, She was sure she was pretty tipsy by now and her taking in all the sensations around her was just her getting drunk, but she wouldn't let anyone take away this moment from her.
Humming, she managed to become somewhat quiet despite the energized people around her and smiled to herself.
Let me know if you enjoyed it!