WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Palisman Café". I wanted to get a few chapters of this done as soon as I could because the idea is fresh in my head and I want to share it with you after the Season 1 finale of The Owl House. This show is just amazing and I love it so much. That ending was great and I enjoyed it. I'm wondering what will happen next season.
Now then, Luz has reached Bonesborough and has made it to the Owl House, which is the nickname of Eda's café. With Eda, King, Hooty, and Owlbert introduced, Luz already loves the place and is looking forward to her first day of work. Let's see if she can actually handle it.
Good Morning!
The Owl House is owned by Disney and was created by Dana Terrace
Luz was tossing and turning in her sleep most of the night, but soon woke up to see that she still wasn't at camp. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't entirely a dream," Luz said with a small smile on her face. "Still, learning magic would have been cool," she mumbled to herself before opening the window in her room. "Good morning, Bonesborough," she exclaimed out loud as she looked outside.
"Good morning," greeted somebody from below, prompting Luz to look down and see it was the mailman putting a few things in Eda's mailbox.
Soon, she saw Hooty immediately went to collect the mail and bring it inside. "Smart bird," Luz remarked as she watched Hooty exit through the animal door and fly up to what she thought was the upstairs bathroom. Looking at her sleeping bag, Luz picked up King and happily greeted him. "Good morning, you little cutie-pie."
"I am not your cutie-pie," King exclaimed with his translation collar as he tried to struggle out of Luz's hands while she kissed his face.
"Yes, you are," Luz playfully countered while hugging him, leaving King to sigh in defeat and agreement as she put him down. After she changed into her usual outfit of a white and indigo hoodie with cat ears, high-waisted jean shorts, dark leggings, and white shoes, Luz went to the bathroom to freshen up. Opening the door, a pair of owls flew out and surprised her. "Eda really has a thing for owls," Luz said to herself before she saw Hooty perched on the bathroom's windowsill and apparently greet her. "Sorry, Hooty. I need to get ready," Luz says to the barn owl as she gestures for him to leave out the window. When he did, she turned to the mirror and picked up the copy of her Azura book she left on the counter last night. "This is it, old girl," she said to herself as she looked at her reflection. "Your first day of work at the Palisman Café."
"Can you hurry up in there," King said as he scratched at the bathroom door. "I need to go outside and Eda's still asleep."
After letting King outside through the back door, Luz soon went to get into her work uniform, which was an apron with the same owl logo as the café. While she noted that the design resembled Owlbert, Luz soon heard footsteps from upstairs and eagerly waited at the bottom for Eda, making sure her nametag was on right. Soon, Eda came into view and yawned loudly. She was currently wearing a plum-colored sweater with amber cuffs on the sleeves, an old stained violet nightgown, and yellow bunny slippers. "Good morning, Eda the Owl Lady. I'm ready for work," Luz said excitedly.
Unfortunately, Eda only groaned as she tried to shake herself awake. "Ugh. Who are you again," she questioned, shocking Luz as her nametag fell off her apron.
Luz couldn't believe what she heard and followed Eda into the kitchen. "Remember me? Luz? The girl you hired for the summer? Yesterday?"
"Kid, lay off the details," Eda said as she grabbed a mug that said 'Thirty and Flirty'. "I'm not a morning person and I haven't had my coffee yet," she explained as she poured her drink.
As Luz let King back inside, she spoke to Eda as the older woman slurped her drink. "I'm just excited to be here. It might not be learning to be a witch like my dream last night, but this place is so cool and I'm ready to work."
"That so," Eda remarked as she was finally awake. "Well, you can start by feeding the animals in the café," she told the Latina. "Owlbert, Hooty, and the other birds can catch mice and stuff in the forest, so don't worry about them. However, King and the cats do need to get some food."
"On it," Luz said as she found a bag of cat food in the kitchen and started to carry it with a struggle. "Agh! Curse you, weak nerd arms," Luz exclaimed as she tried to do her first job of the day. After a few minutes of struggling, Luz managed to enter the animal area of the café and started to feed the small number of cats that were happy to see the girl with their food. "Awww, so cute," Luz said before putting on her hood and making sure the ears stuck up. "Meow meow!" The cats just ignored her and ate the food she gave them, but a black cat with white paws and a patch of white fur over one eye nuzzled against her leg for attention. "Don't worry, little lady. I've got enough for you, too," Luz said as she poured some food into an empty dish.
"Luz! I'm hungry," King barked as his collar voiced his thoughts.
"Cálmese," Luz told the dog in Spanish as she finished feeding the cats. When she did, she saw King circling around her and begging to be fed. "Okay, you precious little demon. What do you want?"
"He's basically got an iron stomach, so he can have whatever he wants," Eda called out from upstairs. "Just no chocolate," she added as a warning.
"Well, I know that," Luz remarked before finding a can of dog food and opening it for the canine. "Here you go," she said to King as she put the food in his dish on the kitchen floor and watched him dig in while his collar voiced his thoughts on the food. "Well, aren't you a messy eater."
King simply ate while he 'spoke' with Luz. "Hey, a king can eat any way he wants! But I wouldn't mind cupcakes or scones."
"Absolutely not," Eda said as she returned wearing her red dress and work apron. "The scones are for the customers and last I checked; they won't pay to feed the dog with their own dessert."
"They should bow to me as all peasants should," King began to rant. "They should worship their ruler!"
As King continued to rant, Eda rolled her eyes with a smile before turning to Luz. "Watch this," she said as Owlbert brought her a tennis ball and she gently tossed it onto the floor.
"I will stand atop the city as th- BALL! IT'S A BALL! I'LL CATCH IT AND BRING IT BACK," King continued before he saw the bouncing tennis ball and immediately ran after it, slipping on the floor of the café's main room a little as he turned to chase it.
Seeing King change from a wannabe demon lord to a normal dog in the blink of an eye made Luz gush over his adorableness even more. "O-ho-ho-ho... He's so cute!"
"Yeah, you just have to know how to handle him and you'll be fine," Eda said as she started checking the mail Hooty brought. "Now then, make sure he doesn't destroy the café and we'll open up."
Luz agreed and immediately got to work. Seeing that King was trying to get the ball out from between a chair and the main counter of the café bar, Luz started to record King's struggle on her phone before he got the object of his current desire. "This is going on the internet," Luz whispered to herself before putting her phone away.
"You will do no such thing," King exclaimed as he looked up at Luz. Trying to look intimidating, but failing from the ball in his mouth and getting stuck against the chair. "Uh, a little help?"
After getting King free, Luz watched as Eda came in and the two started to set tables up. After everything was prepared, a few regulars arrived and Eda started taking their orders. "Alright kid, next one that shows up is all yours," Eda told Luz.
"Yes, Ma'am," Luz replied with a nod. About ten minutes after Eda started giving the customers their order, Luz heard Hooty cry out like he was the door's bell. "Hi, welcome to the Palisman Café," Luz greeted before she got a good look at the customer. Seeing a handsome teenage boy with a muscular upper body, she ended up staring for a little too long. "Thirsty," Luz muttered to herself as she admired the boy.
"Yes, I am," the boy said as he found an empty table and sat down, prompting Luz to blush as she didn't expect him to hear her. Calming down, she went to take his order. "I'll just have a cup of black coffee," he says in a brooding tone that makes Luz think he had a mysterious and tragic backstory.
"Coming up," Luz replied as she went to Eda and got the drink. "One cup of coffee, dark and hot like y-," Luz said as she approached the boy, but ended up tripping on something and the coffee splashed onto him by mistake.
"AH! My flawless pecs," the boy exclaimed as he ripped his shirt off to dry off the coffee that spilled on him.
"I am so sorry," Luz said as she looked up at him and tried to look him in the eye, but failed as her attention drifted to his muscular torso.
Her distracted attention was soon changed when she heard Eda speak to her. "Luz, did you make sure to close the door to the animal area?" Before Luz could think, she saw that she ended up tripping over one of the cats and realized that she forgot to close the door after feeding them.
"Oops," Luz said as she realized her error.
"It's a simple mistake," Eda explains. "Happened to me a few times when I first opened this place." The woman turned to the teenage boy and apologized for Luz's actions. "New hires. Everyone makes a mistake. Let me get you a new drink."
As Eda helped the customer, Luz sighed dejectedly. "Stupid," she whispered to herself as she picked up the cat that she tripped over and put them back in the animal area just as Eda gave the teenager his drink in a to-go cup. "That's two fumbles in one," Luz said to herself.
"Ah, don't worry about it. Happened to me when I first opened the place," Eda explained. "Besides, I charged that pretty boy for both drinks," she added with a whisper. Seeing Luz was upset at her mistake, Eda decided to give her another task. "Okay, if you want to make up for that rookie moment, some customers order over the phone and want their stuff delivered. How about you take King with you and check out the town while you do that?"
"WHAT!? Why would I do that," King complained as he woke up from a nap under a window. "I just found the perfect spot!"
"You and I both know that she'll get lost," Eda countered. "Besides, you work for me, too. Unless you want to start paying rent." King fussed in annoyance because Eda was correct, so he went with Luz after she was given a large bag of orders. "Be back by nightfall or Hooty will probably lock you out," Eda said in a joking manner.
With a list of delivery orders and addresses in Bonesborough, Luz began to make her way through town with King guiding her. "Ah, don't feel bad, Luz," King told the girl. "Even Eda's done some lame stuff like that before."
"I bet she at least didn't screw up immediately like I did," Luz bemoaned as she got to the first house and rang the doorbell. "Delivery from the Owl Ho- I mean, Palisman Café," Luz said, feeling like she screwed up again when she spoke up.
After a few successful deliveries, Luz's mood still didn't improve as she and King sat down on the sidewalk to take a lunch break next to a hot dog cart. King was easily chowing down on the food Luz bought for him, but Luz was barely eating her own. "Boy, delivering food sure makes you hungry. You gonna eat that," King said before asking about Luz's hot dog.
Luz simply dropped it for King to eat and dug through the bag of orders to find her Azura book, which she brought with her to try making herself happy. "If only I was in a magical world. By this point, Azura had already been sent on a magical quest. Where's my magical quest-granting wizard," Luz said as she was upset about her day.
"Luz, even if this place was magic, nobody here would be dressed like that," King remarked as he looked at the book and gestured to the hot dog vendor. "Besides, that 'chosen one' nonsense is a bunch of baloney. And not the kind you make sandwiches with."
"You're just saying that because you'd be the snarky animal sidekick if I was a character like Azura," Luz countered.
"And I'd own it like Eda does with her gray hair! I like to see myself as the Salem Saberhagen of the Owl House," King retorted.
"Eda watches that old show," Luz questioned in amusement as she remembers watching reruns of 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' at home between creating content for her fandoms and school work. "So, what, do you go into chatrooms online and pretend to be a woman?"
"I like the attention," King commented as he scratched his ear with his hind leg.
Hearing the line from King made Luz chuckle and she cheered up a little. "Okay, let's get these last few deliveries done and return to the café," Luz told the dog.
When Luz finished her deliveries, she returned to the Owl House and saw Eda serving another customer, who Luz recognized from the day before. "Ah, Luz. You're back," Eda said as she looked at her direction, alerted by Hooty. "Take over for me while I head to the storage shed for more coffee beans," she told Luz.
Before Luz could protest, Eda left quickly and quietly, like she was a trained owl stealing somebody's wallet. Still feeling upset about her mistake earlier that day, Luz quietly just looked at the woman typing at her laptop. When she did, she noticed the details of what was being written. "Is that a story," Luz questioned as she caught the woman's attention.
"Yeah. I write fanfiction of food falling in love. I like food, I like love, just let me write about it," the woman exclaimed passionately.
"Hey, I dream of being a writer myself," Luz said. "I've even had an author's picture planned since I was 7," she added as she showed the woman a photograph of herself as a kid leaning against the window with a smug and knowing smile.
The author chuckled at the photo as Luz showed her. "Not a bad picture, kid. Think you can help me figure out something as a potential reader," she asked as she became friendly with Luz. Agreeing to do so, Luz gave the writer some advice about certain scenes just as Eda came back with the coffee. After a good half-hour of discussions and progress, the author got up and paid Eda. "That new girl is pretty helpful. I think I might get here earlier next time," she said to the café owner.
Eda looked at Luz and saw that the girl's mood improved a lot since her mistake before. "Well, you seem to have cheered up a bit," she said to Luz just as Owlbert flew onto the counter. "You want to see something cool?"
Luz nodded and Eda put a small camera on Owlbert's leg. The small bird flew out the window while Eda pulled out her laptop from under the counter, gesturing for Luz to join her. When she did, the Dominican-American girl was amazed at the footage of Owlbert's camera on the screen. "Wow... Is that really the town," Luz asked as she saw the red trees surrounding the town and ocean waves crashing against the shoreline.
"Yup. It's a marvel to see from another perspective," Eda stated before speaking to Luz in a more serious tone. "When I was starting this café, I made plenty of mistakes. But I learned to take the good with the bad. Especially when it meant that I could see things like this and meet all the animals here in the café."
Luz listened to Eda as she watched Owlbert fly around the sky, broadcasting views of the town and the surrounding landscape. "I would have thought you could only get this sort of view by flying yourself," Luz commented.
"Like a 'chosen one', right," King commented with a chuckle.
"Chosen one? That malarkey? Everyone wants to believe they're 'chosen'. But if we waited around for something to make us special, we'd die waiting," Eda stated. "You need to choose for yourself. Make your own path by figuring out what to do from your mistakes."
Luz smiled as she listened to Eda, watching Owlbert fly back into the café and land in front of the trio. Taking off the camera and turning it off, Eda soon scratched Owlbert and Luz listened to him make a content sound. "My own path as I take the good with the bad," Luz said to herself as she looked outside.
And with this chapter done, Luz has learned that she can't always do things right immediately. Now with this chapter done, we can move onto the next chapter and what I really want to do. We'll be having Luz's interactions with this AU's version of Hexside! It took me a little effort to figure out how to adapt the magic types into real classes, but I'm happy with how I figured out some of the more difficult ones. You'll see how Luz does when helping Willow here.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one. I enjoyed writing King's scenes of him reminding Luz and the readers he was a dog in this fic. That will definitely be a source of humor in the fic when he's around. I also liked adding in the references to episode 2, "Witches Before Wizards".
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.