A Day Out, With the Owl Familia:
All Forces Moving Out
"Do you have any idea what your sister is doing?" Perry asked in a harsh whisper.
The group heard something heavy hit the floor above and some looked to the ceiling as it shook slightly. While the adults were trying to figure out what the wild witch was up to, the "knocked-down" Coven were busy entraining themselves.
Luz (with half-closed eyes) and Gus had pulled themselves from their friends and Amity was trying to do the same. WIllow, on the other hand, refused to let her old friend go and it wasn't long before it turned into a playful wrestling match.
"Wi-Wi, ret go!" Amity giggled, struggling to break free.
"Nope!" came Willow reply with a teasing grin.
Despite her reduced prowess, it was clear that Willow was the more physically fit of the two. The "knocked-down" plant witch knew this and tightened her hold so she could reach a ticklish spot she knew of.
The current toddler abomination witch broke out into uncontrolled laughter and cursed her old friend for revealing this to her girlfriend.
Luz and Gus watched this from the sideline, slightly startled by this. Neither knew Willow had this side to her, but they really didn't know Willow when she was a toddler.
Finally, feeling like she had enough, Willow let her old friend go and Amity dropped to the floor, still laughing up a storm. Tears were even coming out of the abomination witch. With the match over, the other members of the KDC walked over to their friends and Luz got down on her knees and wrapped girlfriend in a hug.
Gus looked at his oldest friend with a glare that was a mix between anger and disappointment. Willow hanged her head as she realized she might have gone overboard with her roughhousing.
The plant witch went to apologize when Amity suddenly jumped to her friend, still panting a little from all the hard laughing she had done, and wiped her tears away. The two friends stared at each other for a few seconds and Luz and Gus thought something might start between the two, and moved to intervene.
"Next time, me win," Amity said, with a competing smile.
This threw the group for a loop, clearly not expecting that. It wasn't long before Willow returned the smile, and the two other members of KDC couldn't help but feel worried. Gus felt he might have to jump in and play the middle-man again, when a sudden noise drew everyone's attention to the stairs.
"I'm ready!" Eda announced loudly. "Let's get going!"
Everyone stared at the wild witch like she had gone crazy, and considering what she was wearing, it might be possible. Eda was wearing full, med-evil Chinese warlord battle armor. In her hands was a jousting lance and on her back were possibly every human weapon known to witchkind.
"Edalyn, what do you think you are doing?" Lilith asked her sister in deadpan.
"What?" Eda replied defensively. "I don't want a repeat of that time at the carnival!"
With an exasperated sigh, the historian walked up to her younger sister. Lilith put a hand on her hip and looked her sister in the eyes.
"First, Edalyn, that was a carnival. The Amusement Park is owned by Boneborough. Second-" Lilith looked at her sister's outfit thoroughly. "-Can you even move in all of that?"
"I got down here!" Eda replied proudly.
Lilith cocked an eyebrow and bent slightly to her right. She spied poor Hooty panting at the foot of the stairs, and could only shake her head.
"Would one of you be kind enough to assist me in this," Lilith asked the other adults kindly. "If we don't get my sister out of that, I fear we will be here all day."
The Parks were the one who stepped forward to help…after a moment of awkwardness and the three began to remove the suit from the protesting wild witch.
(Meanwhile at Belos's Castle)
"...And that concludes my report, your highness," Hunter said professionally, kneeling in front of the Emperor of Boiling Isles.
The Golden Guard rose to his full height when his uncle gestured him to. The young powerless "witch" had just finished his report of the case with Odalia and now was trying to gauge his uncle's reaction. But, like always, Belos was unreadable
"It is to be expected," Belos said, after a moment's silence, "That the undeserving would crave more power once they gain even a drop of it."
Hunter nodded, and feeling like this meeting was over, turned to leave. He stopped as his emperor called to me.
"But, I feel like there is something more you wish to tell me, my dear boy."
With a faint sigh, Hunter looked at his uncle, uncertain. "There is, uncle. I thought that it wasn't worth your time."
The air suddenly became charged with magic, as the orb on the emperor's staff blazed with magical energy. Hunter fliniched, partly because he was startled, and partly because Flapjack nearly jumped out of his hiding spot.
"I am the emperor of the Isles!" Belos spoke commandingly. "It is my duty to know what is going on in my empire at all times."
Hunter swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat and took a moment to collect his thoughts. He knew what he was about to tell his uncle was something sensitive and needed to approach this matter with care.
In the end, however, he couldn't figure out the best approach and decided to just jump in.
"Well, uncle, before coming to your chambers I got a report from the scout watching the Owl House, and the Clawthorne sisters had rejuvenated the human and several of her Hexside-"
Hunter was suddenly cut off when Belos let out a piercing but surprisingly girlish scream and slammed the butt of his staff to the ground. Thick metal plating came from the throne and covered the emperor's entire lower half. A trap door opened and Belos dropped down into an emergency escape chute.
Hunter watched all of this with growing confusion, until he remembered something. "Wait, is that the chute Steve threw all of those unstable potions into?"
The Golden Guard got his answer when he heard an explosion a second later. He watched as his uncle rocketed from the chute and into the air, a trail of rainbow smoke behind him. Hunter first thought that Belos was going to go straight through the roof, only to stop unexpectedly, face forward, and plow straight through a wall, the very same wall that one Amity Blight-Clawthorne threw him through nearly a month ago.
Hunter watched all of his with his confusion still growing, and then heard a cackle. "Steve, do you love tormenting my uncle?" he asked the scout that suddenly appeared beside him.
The loveable scout had a near sadistic grin when he replied, "Steve does. Next to bonking Raine Whispers, it's the highlight of Steve's day. Speaking of which…"
Hunter cocked an eyebrow under his mask when he saw the scout take out a frying pan, the one he was clearing two nights ago, at the Owl House. Hunter didn't let Steve run away, however, grabbing the loveable scout in a field of artificial magic, and lifting him into the air.
"You're not going anywhere but to help me find the emperor before something bad happens to him," Hunter said commandingly.
The loveable scout tried to break free but the artificial magic was just too strong, and Steve found himself floating through the hole the emperor made.
"Aww, c'mon," Steve whined. "I have to bonk Raine Whispers! It's something I do whenever the emperor is hurt!"
(Meanwhile)
Raine felt a powerful shudder go down their spines, and couldn't help but feel dread forming in the pit of their stomach. The bard tried to ignore this feeling and focused on the task at hand. Their behavior didn't go unnoticed by another in the room.
"You better not be coming down with the mold, songbird," Darius said sharply. "We can't afford to have any members sick if we are to accomplish the next step of our plan."
Raine gave the Abomination Head and fellow rebels a small glare, but didn't get a chance to get a word in; Eberwolf came bursting through the door of the rebel's secret hideout. The head beast keeper was jumping up and down and yelping like an excited puppy, so much so that Darius was having trouble understanding what it was saying.
"for Titan's sake," Darius groaned exasperatedly, "Just talk like a normal person! I now know you can."
With an annoyed groan of its own, Eberwolf straightened up and put on a bowler hat and a monocle.
"Well, old bean, I just returned from my mission to the Owl Lady's dwellings and have learned that she had "knocked-down" not only her lovely daughter, but her daughter's chums as well," Eberwolf said in a British accent, and with a mischievous grin.
An exclamation mark made out of abomination goo suddenly popped up over the Coven Head's head, and a strange look got into his eyes. Raine knew what that looked meant right away, and let out their own exasperated sigh.
"Darius, we don't have the time to play babysitter," Raine said calmly, trying to reason with their fellow rebels. "We have much to do if we're going to break my crew out in the next couple of days."
But, the Abomination head wasn't listening; he was too busy forming a box out of abomination to hear anything. Once the box was formed, Eberwolf, now in its "rebel" outfit, jumped into the box. Together, the two secret rebels ran out the hideout.
With a tired sigh, Raine retreated into their room. They emerged a few minutes later also wearing their rebel outfit. They left their hideout (really just an apartment the three share), and held up a sign.
Rain: I'm going to get bonked today, I just know it.
Tiny Nose, the three's neighbors, held up her own sign, a wide grin to her face.
Tiny Nose: I'm secwetly youw cweator and don't cawe.
The odd demon took out an umbrella from behind her back, and with a cry of freedom, jumped into the air. Rain watched as Tiny Nose opened her item and a mysterious updrift carried her high into the sky.
The head bard looked at the readers/writer and held up a sign.
Rain: …Huh.
(And back with the Nocdea-Blight-Clawthorne family…Whoa, is that a mouth full)
"You could have let me keep the cool sword," Eda grumbled.
The Clawthorne Sisters, the Park dads and Perry were currently half-way to the Bonesborough Amusement Park, and the Owl Lady had been complaining the entire walk over.
"Edalyn, you're currently not a child," Lilith said with a tired sigh. "So could you please quit acting like one?"
The wild witch turned to give her sister a glare and opened her mouth to give a retort. A sudden noise caught everyone's attention and all the adults looked in the direction of the KDC, spells and glyphs at the ready. The group of adults immediately relaxed when they saw that the kids had knocked down a large sign during their game of chase.
Lilith and the Park dads went to check on the kids and probably tell them to watch where they were going.
Eda watched as her sister and the two men went over to their kids and heard a small snort. Looking with her eyes to her right, the wild witch spied her daughter nesting in her hair.
"You sure you don't want to join them, kiddo?" Eda asked warmly. "It looks like they are having the time of their lives."
Luz wanted to join in, Eda could see it on her adopted daughter's face. However, the "knocked-down" human just gave a lazily nod and settled just a little deeper into the mane that was her witch mother's hair.
Eda couldn't help but smile slightly at this. Though it was because Luz was suffering from Potion Delayed Symptoms, a part of her wanted to take another picture to add to her little girl's photo album.
A sudden tug at her skirt brought Eda out of her thoughts and she looked down. Amity, a mix of worry and guilt on her face, looked at Eda.
"Uz-Uz, otay?" the newest Clawthorne asked in concern.
Eda smiled and was about to tell her not to worry, when Lilith scooped her daughter in arms from behind and brought up to Eda's eye level.
"Don't worry, dear," Lilith said warmly. "You just woke Luz up too early. The potion in her body wasn't quite finished yet. But all it is doing now is making your girlfriend a little sluggish. It should wear off by the time we reach the park."
Amity didn't look quite convinced yet, but Lilith just gave her new daughter a warm and reassuring smile, and leaned her head down slightly to give the "knocked-down" witch a quick kiss on the forehead.
Lilith heard an 'aahh' and turned around. Harvey Park was gushing at the sight, with his husband shaking his head in slight shame. The former coven head just blush with slight bashfulness, but wouldn't deny how good the attention felt.
"YOU!"
Startled, the group looked behind the Parks and saw a young girl glaring at them. Or, more specifically, glaring at Gus. Sensing trouble the group gathered behind Gus and even Luz perked up when the deep purple-haired witch stormed up to them.
"Can we help you with something, young miss," Perry asked politely.
The reporter didn't miss the animosity that the young witch was showing to his boy, and was ready to defend him if needed. The witch, Bria, looked at the older witch, and Gilbert recognized the tell-tale signs of a Glandus student anywhere.
"If you must know, you old bag of bones," Bria replied rudely, "That brat and I have business we need to finish, and a Glandus student always finished what they started."
Perry cocked an eyebrow and looked at Gilbert. The Abomination witch didn't look surprised by this, having gone to the same school as the younger witch. Bria, on the other hand, took the silence as her cue and went for Gus.
Lilith saw this, and gently pushed Gus behind her. "Whatever your dealings with the younger Porter are, my family and friends are trying to have a relaxing day out after a recent ordeal. So, if you could kindly let my daughter's friend go, we would like to be on our way."
Bria didn't like the way the older witch was talking to her and shot a glare at her. Lilith wasn't intimidated by the expression of a child, and held her ground. She did miss the glare that her daughter was giving the Glandus student.
Bria blinked three times and looked between the sisters. She suddenly gasped and pointed an accusing finger at the Clawthorne.
"You!" Bria screamed shapely. "You're that family of wild witches that made a mess of my grandpa's restaurant!"
Eda cocked an eyebrow and exchanged looks with her sister. There probably was a short clear-up to due the spell Luz used on that conceited actress, but a mess might be stretching things a little.
"Child," Lilith said calmly, "I believe you might be misinterpreting what you were told about that evening. We did get into a small fight with someone but didn't leave a mess that needed to be cleaned up."
The ex-coven head tried to get into a posture that showed authority, with a hand on the hip and her chest pushed out. She almost lost her balance because she failed to take Amity's weight into account, but a helping hand from her sister kept her from embarrassing herself…or, more importantly, accidently hurting her new daughter.
"Now, child, I believe you held us up long enough," Lilith spoke with authority. "Would you kindly let us pass?"
"And shouldn't you be in school?" Gilbert couldn't help but add.
Bria was a Glandus student through and through, and chose to be defiant. She looked at the KDC and pointed at Gus, who was poking his head out from behind Lilith.
"I could say the same for your ankle-biters," the jaded student retorted.
Lilith let out a tired sigh and resisted the urge to rub her temples. What was about witches from Glandus (with the expectation of a few) that gives Lilith headaches?
The current wild witch took a few calming breaths and set Amity down before she addressed Bria.
"Because of the ordeal I mentioned, the principal of Hexside saw it fit to give every student involved some personal time. Now would you please allow us to pass?"
Bria seemed to get bored at this point, but put on a competitive smile. "Sure, I'll get out of your hair…once I give the lame-o illusionist a weggie he would never forget."
She moved to get close to Gus, but the kids weren't having any of it. Willow and Amity blocked her path and had spells at the ready. Bria just scoffed at this, and went to move around. Amity quickly cut her off and shouted a familiar cry.
"No mess with Gu-Gu!"
No one noticed the look of mild disdain on the "knock-down" illusionist's face as Amity went to Kick Bria in the shin. The Glandus student saw this and jumped back.
"Ha, you think I didn't know about THAATTTT!" the young construction witch was suddenly into the air, thanks to a punch from a plant fist.
The group watched as Bria went soaring into the air, got hit in the face by a bird and disappeared over the horizon, while a trio of voices said something about blasting off again.
"Well, that's that," Eda commented lightly-heartedly. "So let's shake a leg, people, as the humans say."
Lilith nodded and held out her hand. Amity eagerly took it with a big smile and the Noceda-Blight-Clawthorne took off towards the park. The Parks and Perry stood in place for a second, feeling a little overwhelmed.
Outside of the riot a few months back, this was the threes actually first time experiencing the natural chaotic magic that was the Owl Lady and her kin. Still, the three recovered somewhat, and taking their kids' hand, followed after the family.
(With Bria)
The Glandus student had flown a full city block before gravity took hold and brought her down…into a trash wagon. She had pulled herself out and was cleaning off the trash when a trio of witches all dressed in white and with a big "R" on their chest fell on top of her.
The construction witch groaned from the sudden weight, but got angry enough to shrug off any pain she was feeling.
"Get off!" she screamed and used her magic to shoot the trio back into the sky.
"Looks like Witch Rockets are blasting off again!"
With a small huff, Bria used her magic to push herself to her feet. She finished cleaning herself off before looking straight ahead.
"There's no way I'm letting a group of current brat get away with humiliating me. I will get even if it's the last thing I do," she swore angrily.
"Okay, I love you, bye!" a blonde-haired witch said cutely and waved as she ran off.
(M Corner)
I have been wanting to put Bria in this series since the early stories. To me, Bria is the prefect character for FF; a one time, single-dimension character that not a lot could behind, and even less would complain if someone made said character out-of-character.
Aslo, I would like to see if you can spot all the references I will be putting into this story.
And now, some FF worldbuilding; Potion Delay symptom is another condition of potion taking. If a witch was interrupted when a certain type of potion was used, like Rejuvenation potions, they would suffer bouts of sluggishness until the potion's effect is completed. In the end, Eda misjudged the time; Luz had a little under two hours before her rejuvenation was completed.