Hey, everyone. WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Palisman Café". When we last left off, Luz met Willow and was shown Hexside a little. With things happening slightly different in that chapter than in canon, we'll have some new interactions later on.
Now, we'll move into this fic's adaptation of "The Intruder". Because of that, we'll learn why Eda owes Luz's mother and agreed to give Luz a job. We'll also get to see what Luz does with her glyphs as she helps out in the café on a slow day.
Shine on, you crazy diamond!
The Owl House is owned by Disney and was created by Dana Terrace
It had been a week since Luz first arrived at Bonesborough and started work at the Palisman Café. As such, her new friends decided to celebrate her making it through the week and Eda would be paying her soon. "You'll love this place, Luz. I come here all the time," Willow said as she brought the Latina to a restaurant.
Following Willow, Luz was surprised that a town like Bonesborough had an Asian barbeque place. "This looks so cool," Luz remarked as she took a seat with Gus and Willow.
"The Korean barbeque is delicious, but there are all sorts of choices," Willow explained before a waiter took their order. After Willow ordered what Luz heard as 'the usual' and some drink flavors, the Korean girl spoke to her again. "So how do you like Bonesborough so far?"
"When I first got here, I thought it came straight out of my Azura book," Luz explained as she pulled the second Azura novel out of her bag. "Especially when I had to chase Owlbert to get to the Owl House," she added.
"That almost sounds like the beginning of a magic adventure cartoon," Gus remarked as a waiter brought drinks and meat for the trio to grill as they liked.
"You'll love how this tastes, Luz" Willow said as she started grilling. "I love coming here for special occasions." After waiting for enough time, Willow gave the grilled cuts of meat to her friends before taking some for herself. "Dig in," she said before enjoying her meal.
Luz and Gus did the same, but Luz moaned happily as she enjoyed the beef. "Oh, sweet joy, this is amazing," Luz exclaimed before she had some more.
"Have you had boba before," Gus asked as he sipped his drink.
"Gus and I usually get cherry and orange for ourselves, we thought you could try mango and passion fruit," Willow explained before she enjoyed some kimchi and a few mandu dumplings.
Taking a sip of the drink, Luz enjoyed the flavor and even chewing on the tapioca balls. "This is pretty good. I wonder if Eda would like it?"
"One way to find out," Willow said with a smile before the three enjoyed the rest of their meal and discussed the shows Luz introduced them to.
Walking back to the Owl House with another bubble tea in hand for Eda, Luz enjoyed herself just as it began to rain. "Ah, I love feeling the first few drops of rain in my hair," she said to herself as everyone else she passed by went to find shelter. Getting to the woods and entering the café, Luz was greeted by Hooty before finding Eda resting on the couch in her sleepwear. "I'm back. And I brought a drink," Luz told the café owner as she swirled the sealed cup around.
"Just put it down and I'll have some of whatever it is later," Eda told Luz. "It's always slow when it rains because everyone in town wants to stay indoors. No way we'll be getting anybody today, so we'll close up until it stops."
Luz understood as she put the fruity drink on a table close to Eda, then went to find King. When she did, she quietly chuckled to herself and pulled out her phone to record what she saw. "And here, we have the most fearsome creature in the world, the King of Demons. Facing his natural enemy, the ducky sock," Luz narrated like a nature documentary host as King was ripping apart a duck-patterned sock.
"Where are you now, ducky sock," King exclaimed victoriously as he gloated over the destroyed article of clothing.
"To understand the behavior of this creature more, an associate of mine put a translation collar around his neck so that we may hear his thoughts and emotions, like a real demon capable of speech," Luz continued with her narration.
"Will you stop recording me!? I'm not a simple pet," King exclaimed. "I am a grim trickster of the twilight, a creature of sulfur and bone."
"And cute little paws," Luz added as she stopped narrating, but focused the camera on King's feet.
King only sighed before speaking again. "And cute little paws. True."
"The internet will love you," Luz says as she kept recording King, but the sound of an owl hooting caught her attention and she turned to find Owlbert perched on a table. "Oh, they'd love you too, you adorably feathery baseball," she told Owlbert while recording him. Scratching his chin, the bird warbled happily at Luz giving him affection. "You know, I bet we could make some improvements to the place since we don't have anything else to deal with."
"Like what," King asked as Luz saved her video footage and turned her phone off.
"I mean, this place already looks like a witch's house, so why not add onto that theme? Make it look more magical than it is," Luz elaborated.
"Oh really," asked Eda with a smirk as she got up from the couch and grabbed the drink Luz gave her. "And just what did you have in mind? Fixing up the lights," Eda joked as she messed with the dimmer switch next to her, adjusting the brightness of the lights.
Luz thought about it for a second before she figured out an idea. "How about I draw up a few things and we can hang them around the place," she suggested.
"You do what you want, kid. I'm the judge. If it's decent, I'll keep it. If not, we'll just say the ducky sock will have company where it is," Eda remarked before poking her straw through the sealed lid of her drink and taking a sip. "Wow, this stuff's pretty good. Where'd you get it?"
Luz's brainstorming was interrupted by Eda's comment about the boba drink, so she answered. "Oh, Willow took me to this place earlier because I've been in town for a week and you'll be paying me soon," Luz explained. "I bet if we sold bubble tea here, we could get some more variety with the customers."
Eda thought it over as she enjoyed the gold-colored drink. "Not a bad idea, Luz. I'll need to look around for the supplies to do so, but that could work if we sell it for a cheaper price than the other guys," the Owl Lady stated before she coughed a bit. "I'll just let you think of something while I enjoy this 'elixir' upstairs," she told the girl before heading to the second floor.
"We could even change up the menu item names," Luz said to Eda while she was still within earshot.
"Write them down and I'll think about it," Eda said before she closed her bedroom door.
Thinking over everything she could do while the raindrops fell outside, Luz began fiddling with a pen with a plastic light-up gem on the top. "King, what do you think would be better? Making a mascot for the café or having music in different languages playing," she asked the dog, knowing he was listening and could give some feedback.
"Oh please, there are enough animals here already. We don't need a mascot. Besides, I'm sure Owlbert is Eda's mascot," he answered.
"Why is this place called 'Palisman Café' anyway," Luz questioned. "And why does Eda owe my mom? It's her job to help people as a nurse."
"I don't really know," King answered as he scratched his ear with his foot. "Every morning, I see Eda sneaking drinks of something before she wakes up fully. And I don't think it's coffee."
"Mom did say Eda had a condition," Luz added as she remembered the start of summer. "Think it's related?"
"Let's go ask her," King said he started going up the stairs with Luz following.
When they found Eda's room, they opened the door to see her sleeping in a messy bed that reminded them more of a nest than anything. "No wonder she prefers sleeping on the couch," Luz remarked as she saw how lumpy the mattress was. "How can she sleep on this now?"
"Not well," Eda said as she revealed she was still awake. "Is this about those ideas you have," she questioned before coughing loudly. When she finished, Luz was worried when she saw Eda's dread-filled expression. "Oh no, where is it?!" Luz and King watched as Eda frantically dug through the nightstand next to her nest of a bed, searching for something as she held her head in pain. "If you're still here, check the closet for something prescribed to me," Eda told the two.
King and Luz immediately did so as Eda groaned in pain. Looking through the closet, Luz found a medicine bottle with Eda's name and saw it was recently prescribed. "Eda, here," she said as she tossed her the bottle.
When it landed on her bed, Eda immediately removed the cap and took some pills, swallowing them whole like an owl catching a mouse before finishing the drink Luz gave her earlier. "Thanks, Luz. I needed that," Eda told the girl as she put the lid back on her medicine bottle and set it on her nightstand.
"Eda, what's going on," King asked.
"Yeah, there are still a few questions that you haven't answered for me," Luz added. "I'm not leaving until I get them."
Eda sighed as she sat on her bed. "Okay, I'll tell you what's happening with me," she said. "The truth is that I'm sick. I have this disease that essentially makes me age quicker, as you can tell by my wrinkles, sleepiness, and hair."
"You are surprisingly foxy for your age," Luz commented, which Eda responded with a smirk and a finger gun gesture.
"It also gives me severe migraines, dry skin that comes off like feathers, and a bad cough that can lead to me not breathing anymore if I don't take my medicine. Nobody likes being sick, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable," Eda continued. "There are some people trying to help me, so I go to this research facility in town to get checkups. I also managed to get King's collar from there because I thought it was neat," she added with a chuckle at the last thing she mentioned.
"It's almost like you're cursed," Luz said in comparison to one of her fantasy stories.
"Yeah, a little," Eda remarked. "But still, this isn't exactly a classic case of Werner's syndrome, even if some symptoms are similar. When I was having an attack before this summer, your mom was able to give me my medication. Because of my condition being researched more, I couldn't just stay in the hospital. So, I made a deal with your mom and owed her one after she helped me," she explained, giving Luz the answer that she was looking for.
"I can't believe it," Luz said as she listened to the woman. "You're doing so much like this. Are you okay?"
"I've had this thing for longer than you've been alive. There's nothing for you to worry about. It's all under control," Eda told Luz. "I just have to keep an eye on my symptoms and make sure my medicine is with me. And if I do all that, then I'm fine."
"Alright," Luz said as Eda explained her condition. "So, since you're up, should we talk over the ideas I have for the café?"
Eda rolled her eyes and sighed, but smiled at the girl. "If I don't have a choice," Eda said as the three started heading downstairs.
As the three lounged around the café, Luz started looking through a sketchbook she brought with her. Normally she used it to draw up fanart for her favorite books and shows, but she was currently sketching out random designs she thought could work for the ideas she had. "Maybe if we go with a simple thing," she muttered to herself.
"Kid, if you really want to make something for me to stick around the place, just go with the first thing you can think of," Eda stated. "It could be a firefly for all I care."
Thinking about it, Luz closed her eyes and began to picture something in her head. Letting her pencil wander, she soon made a circle with a triangle in the middle with a smaller triangle and a circle on top, which also had a line running down the middle and two smaller diagonal lines inside the large triangle. When she stopped, the trio looked at the design and King was the first to give an opinion. "That looks nice," he said.
"Yeah, it is pretty nice," Eda remarked. "Maybe we can use some stars and put it on the ceiling like a constellation."
Luz smiled as she started taking pride in the design, feeling like it could be a signature of hers and could be added into her future fanarts. "Yeah, I think this could add a little light into this place," Luz said as she started to think of other ideas and began sketching Owlbert flying with another glyph behind him.
Okay, done with this chapter. Admittedly, it was a little frustrating to figure out how Luz could get her glyphs to start, but she'll figure out new ones when she gets inspiration. However, we now have an explanation for Eda's owed favor to Luz's mom and how I adapted the curse. How it gets handled later like in canon will be something I have planned. So, don't worry about that.
Next time, we'll have the adaptation of Covention. Another magic-heavy episode, but I'll give a good way of having the duels happen. I just need to work on the conflict and how Lilith is introduced. At least in that chapter, I can elaborate on what the Coven Tracks at Hexside have become. Not only that, but some cute moments with Luz and her friends that I have planned for building on what I want for the café.
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.