This chapter is gonna be stupid, I'm just gonna say it outright.

I literally work in the Health & Beauty department in my retail job and I got this idea while I was stocking the feminine hygiene area. What makes this chapter stupid is the fact that I'm making this note to explain the inspiration for this and the fact that I'm gonna have to put a trigger warning because if I don't somebody will complain. Please also note that part of this chapter (Vee's) is based off my own experiences as a cisgender woman.

So. Trigger/content warning for discussions of menstruation (periods) and blood for Hunter's portion of this chapter. I also just low-key wanted to write more wholesome Vee and Hunter since there's really not enough of it in this story already.

(I say as if I'm not the dumb bitch writing it)

Hunter was in the middle of a round of Rulers Reach when he heard Vee scream.

Without hesitation, he threw down his controller and ran into the hallway, Flapjack chirping and flying behind him as he followed the sounds of Vee's panicked sobbing to the bathroom. Anxious to find out what was wrong he tried the knob, only to discover that it was locked. He knocked on the door.

"Tina? You okay?"

"No!"

"What's going on? Is it a spider?"

"It's not a spider! I think I'm dying!"

"I doubt you're dying."

"I'm bleeding!"

Hunter paused for a moment.

"You're bleeding?"

"Yeah. And I don't… my stomach hurt, so I went to the bathroom, a-and… there was blood!" She let out a choked sob. "It still hurts really bad!"

Hunter paused for a moment, then asked one last question.

"Vee. Where's the blood coming from?"

"Um… I don't know."

"Let me rephrase. Where did you find the blood?"

"In my underwear."

Hunter thumped his head against the wall.

For fuck's sake, of all the days for this to happen…

Their mother was at work, as per usual. Luz was over at the library for a campaign and their sessions had a strict no-phone policy for the sake of 'immersion'. This meant that Hunter had to be the one to deal with his youngest sister's first period. He didn't have a problem with it, per se, but Camila and Luz were literally more equipped to handle it than he was. But thankfully, Luz getting hers a couple of years earlier had resulted in a lesson for them both from Camila and Hunter had made a few supply runs for Luz in the past, so he knew the basics of what to do.

"Okay, listen to me carefully. Go under the sink."

"How does that help bleeding?"

"Trust me, okay? You're just on your period. Luz keeps her pads under the sink."

"…I'm on my period?"

"Yeah. You know what that is, right?"

"Kinda. I was sick the day they showed the video in class back in Gravesfield and the other girls were all whispery and giggly about it."

God. Fucking. Dammit. I am not qualified to explain this.

"Just grab a pad."

There was the sound of a cabinet door creaking open and some shuffling.

"Okay. I got one. What do I do?"

"I think there's instructions on how to put it on written on the box. I can't help you since I'm out here."

"I don't think I want your help on this one in that way."

Rrrrrrip.

He heard more shuffling, then the sound of the toilet being flushed and the door being unlocked. It didn't open, so he took that as an invitation to come in. Slowly he opened it and saw Vee sitting with her back against the wall between the toilet and the bathtub. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, her face buried in them in an all-too familiar way.

"Hey. Stomach still hurting?" She lifted her head up.

"Yeah. Is… is that part of it?" He nodded and sat down next to her.

"Cramps? Unfortunately, yeah. Luz doesn't get them that much but when she does, they're pretty bad."

"How come I never noticed?"

"Because she doesn't complain about them a lot. They're part of the cycle."

"Mom explained that part to me after I asked about it, but she didn't tell me what it would feel like. I don't like the cramps."

"Nobody does."

"Do boys get—"

"NO."

"Oh. Then how do you know about it?"

"Mom told me after Luz got hers so I'd be prepared. Instead of acting like a goddamn idiot like most guys my age do when this topic comes up." He glanced at her. "Trust me, it's bad, even now."

"What do we do now?"

"Well, right now, I'm gonna go grab the heating pad from Luz's room and you're gonna lay on the couch for the rest of the day or until you feel better. Whichever comes first."

"Okay."

Hunter stood back up and reached out his hand to help her to her feet. She leaned against him, an arm around her stomach to try and provide some kind of pressure to alleviate the pain. Carefully he led her downstairs and she climbed onto the couch, curling into a ball as he dashed back upstairs. Luz's heating pad was under her bed, easily accessed in case her monthly visitor decided it was a pain month. From there it was another run down to help his baby sister.

"Thanks, Hunter," she mumbled as he switched on the heating pad.

"Hey, don't mention it. Just feel better, okay?"

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "I think I used the last pad."

Shit.

"We can get more. I know what kind Luz prefers."

"What if she gets mad that I used her stuff?"

"It's fine. If she complains tell her I said it was fine."

"I will." She nodded and held the heating pad to her stomach. "It's helping a little."

"Good. I'm gonna text Mom and let her know what's going on."

"Ask her if we can have ice cream tonight."

"You got it." He pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Hey Mom. V got her period.

His phone buzzed with a response a few minutes later as he was double-checking the kind of pads Luz usually bought.

Oh, poor baby. How is she?

She's fine. Bad cramps but I dug out L's heating pad

She wants to know if we can have ice cream tonight

Of course.

He could practically hear her chuckling on the other end of the conversation.

We don't have any, so you'll have to go shopping.

Already planning on it. We need supplies

That's my boy

Well, now he knew what he was doing for the rest of the day.

"Welcome, one and all, to our first meeting of Raven Quill for the year!"

Luz clapped alongside the other four people at the table. Three of them had been in the guild the year before—Jerbo, Eileen, and Barcus. The rest of the guild was made up of Gus, herself, and another newcomer named Mattholomule.

"So, how exactly does this little guild work?" Mattholomule questioned.

"We get together once a week to play during the school year," Eileen stated, smiling. "Gus is our dungeon master."

"Is that like club president?"

"No, it just means he runs the games," Jerbo scoffed. "But he's pretty much in charge since this whole thing was his idea in the first place."

"And before you ask, you're not allowed to DM without experience," Barcus added.

"Hmph." Mattholomule crossed his arms.

"Now, has everyone made their character for this year?"

Luz eagerly pulled out the binder she'd made of her character, Luzura, and slapped it on the table. She'd carefully written out every detail of her counterpart—her backstory, her strengths and weaknesses, what motivated her to go out on these adventures that Gus would no doubt send them all on. There were even drawings and sketches of Luzura, though those were hidden in a secret pocket with the exception of Luzura's official portrait that sat on one of the pages. Everyone stared at the binder in surprise and in complete silence before it was broken by a single word.

"Wow," Jerbo commented.

Oh, no, is it too much? Did I overdo it? Ugh, I knew having a high elf druid who rejects the superiority complex of her race while being a long lost princess of her people was overkill.

"How long were you working on that?" Eileen asked.

"Um… pretty much since Gus sent me the guide to making a character sheet earlier this summer? I've always had an idea of what I wanted to make but, uh, the guy who ran games where I live before was a major creep and I didn't wanna talk to him ever. I know it's a lot but I promise it's all—"

"Luz! It's fine!" Gus blurted, cutting her off. "It's just… we're all still pretty new at this, even after a year. We haven't seen anyone put this much effort into a character yet."

"Oh."

"Tell us about her."

"Her name is Luzura, and she's a high elf druid. But she isn't like other elves because she was raised by humans and so she doesn't have that elven attitude towards other races. Secretly, though, she's a lost elven princess."

"That's not a character sheet," snorted Mattholomule. "That's a novel, sister."

"And what does yours look like?"

Mattholomule set his on the table—just two papers detailing his entire character.

"I play as an all-powerful Tiefling wizard named Despair. My backstory is that I'm so powerful that dragons tremble before me."

Luz inhaled deeply.

"That's not a backstory," Barcus groaned. "That's a wish."

"How do you know?"

"You're playing wizard. In Fifth Edition."

"So?"

"Let's just finish introducing our characters," Gus spoke up, trying to direct the conversation.

They met Jerbo's bard (a half-elf who had lost his elven father due to human prejudices), Eileen's paladin (a halfling serving her oath most faithfully), and Barcus's artificer (a dwarf who'd grown tired of tradition stone and metalwork). Once all that was said and done, it was time to begin the adventure.

"Let me set the scene," Gus chuckled.

"This is the best part!" whispered Eileen excitedly.

"The five of you stand before the gates of a mighty city, a city surrounded by high walls to keep out intruders and a moat around the outside. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say the walls keep the denizens of the city in. For within the red-brick walls of this beautiful shining paradise lurks a dark secret, one that fills everyone with a fear that keeps them from leaving. You have all been called here to answer the call for help that came from the king of this city, a half-orc seeking to find out what fills his people with such terrible fear."

"I will never turn away from anyone in need!" Luz declared in her Luzura voice, one she'd come up with a while ago.

"I need the cash," Mattholomule grumbled.

"I accepted the request at the guild hall alongside my two teammates," Jerbo added.

"Ditto," Eileen stated and Barcus nodded.

"You all come to the gates, and standing in front of the gates is a guard in a mask and a long white cloak."

"I try to sneak past him!" Mattholomule called.

"Roll for stealth."

Mattholomule rolled the die. It was a one.

"You fail miserably, losing your balance and falling off the drawbridge into the moat below."

Luz hid a snicker.

The session continued, Jerbo bribing their way past the guard and the five of them ending up in a dungeon located below the city itself. Inside said dungeon they discovered a horrible creature that was creating the dreaded atmosphere of fear—none other than a banshee, which the five of them were able to dispatch despite Mattholomule requiring Luz to heal him four times throughout the course of combat.

"With one last terrifying shriek, the banshee falls to the ground, dead," Gus breathed before screaming dramatically and falling over. "You have succeeded in saving the town from her terrible curse, and you are all rewarded by the king for your efforts."

Four of the five party members cheered.

"How come my Tiefling kept dying?" Mattholomule protested.

"You're playing wizard. In fifth edition."

"What does that even mean?"

"Wizards suck," all four of the other party members stated.

He crossed his arms and grumbled.

The second day of her period was much better than the first.

The cramps had largely faded, becoming nothing more than an occasional dull ache, and that made this whole thing a little more manageable. Luz hadn't been upset about Vee using her products at all. Actually, Vee almost wished she'd been upset about that.

"My baby sister's growing up! You're not allowed to get tall yet or date!"

"I agree!" Hunter had called through Luz's sobs as she hugged Vee.

Ugh. Luckily, today was a Library Day so Vee was glad to take advantage of it. King accompanied her for the sheer purpose of… well, they had to read a book for school, and they figured it would be better to go together. So they got what they needed and headed back to Eda's shop to read and discuss their assignment. Eda once again stepped out, though this time it was to grab lunch for the three of them so she wouldn't interrupt their work.

"This is a really dumb book," King sighed, holding it up.

"Alice in Wonderland is a classic."

"But there's a movie. Why can't we watch that instead of reading this brick?"

"Because the movie isn't accurate to the book and our teacher will know you didn't read it based on what you write."

"We have to write something?"

"You already knew that." Vee rolled her eyes.

The bell jingled as the door opened.

"We're closed for lunch!" King called automatically. "Come back after Mom gets back with food!"

"Oh, Eda's not here?" said the person, and Vee turned to see a person with green hair and glasses standing there, a single earring dangling in a way that was somehow everything she aspired to be.

"Yeah, she isn't. She's getting us lunch while we work on school stuff." Vee waved.

"I really need to talk to her. Can I wait here?"

"Who even are you? I've never seen you before."

"I'm… an old friend of hers."

Somehow, the way they hesitated clued Vee in that their relationship to Eda had been more than just friendship. She narrowed her eyes the way Luz and Hunter often did when something was suspicious.

"Well, if you're an old friend, what's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Raine. Raine Whispers."

"Ohh, you're Mom's ex!" King said, snapping his fingers. "She's mentioned you a couple of times."

"She… has?"

"Yeah. Only when it comes to her photo albums. I only know you're her ex because Aunt Lilith told me. I'm King!"

"It's nice to meet you, then. I heard she had a son. I didn't hear anything about a daughter." Their eyes were directly on Vee.

"I'm a neighbor. My name is Vee."

"Nice to meet you, too." They held out a hand and she shook it. On their wrist was a tattoo of what looked like some kind of harp; it was so cool. "You two don't mind me waiting, do you?"

"Normally I'm supposed to kick out anybody who comes in when Mom's not here, but I'll make an exception. Since I'm feeling benevolent," King stated.

"Uh… thank you?"

"Just go with it," Vee chuckled.

The door jingled as it opened again.

"All right, kids, I got three bags of greasy food that you're not supposed to eat but it's too good not to!" Eda announced, coming in.

She froze as soon as she saw the person talking to them.

"…Raine?"

"Eda. Uh, hey."

"Hey…"

The awkwardness settled into the air. It was like sitting in the room with Willow and Hunter when they got into weird half-flirt mode, only worse since these two had actually been a couple.

King moved first, grabbing the bags of food from his mother's hand and bringing them back behind the counter. This sudden loss of what she'd been holding snapped her back to reality and she appeared to remember that she was standing in the Owl House. Facing her ex. While her son and one of the kids from next door watched. She shook her head.

"What are you doing here?"

"I… came back to Bonesborough and I wanted to see you."

"You've been back for months. Why come now?"

The pain in Eda's voice was evident and King handed Vee one of the paper bags without taking his eyes off his mother and their visitor, opening his own food and putting a fry in his mouth. Vee couldn't take her eyes off this, either; was this why Tía Lola watched telenovelas?

"Because I've been trying to… work up the courage, for lack of a better phrase. We left things in a bad place and I was sure you wouldn't want to see me. And that you'd moved on, so it was better for me to stay away." Eda pursed her lips, appearing thoughtful. "Even if we're not together again, I'd like to be friends, at least."

"Friends, huh…" She glanced at Vee and King, narrowing her eyes. Both of them looked away, pretending they hadn't been eating up every second of the drama. "You know what? Let's discuss this when the kids aren't here. For now… let's…"

"I'll meet you somewhere. Our… old spot?"

"I'll be there."

"Great. I'll see you then."

"See you." She weakly waved as they walked out the door.

"Am I getting a new parent?" King questioned.

"What part of 'friends' didn't you get?"

"Any of it."

"Eat your lunch and don't worry about it."

"Yeah, we'll just wait and see how things turn out," Vee agreed.

She didn't fail to notice how rattled Eda seemed.

"There's… another reason I wanted to talk to you."

Eda glanced at Raine.

For the past hour, they'd been sitting in their old spot—the top of a hill where they'd once practiced music together side-by-side, back before Raine had left Bonesborough to pursue their career and Eda had taken off shortly after in order to find herself. In the process Raine had become world-renowned musician and Eda had become a mother while selling interesting objects at her shop. They weren't the same twenty-somethings they'd been the last time they were here. The past hour had been spent talking, catching up and getting comfortable with each other again.

The way she slipped back into this ease was actually kind of frightening.

"Another reason?"

"You remember Caleb, right?"

"Caleb Wittebane?"

"I don't know any other Calebs."

"Of course I remember him. He was my cousin-in-law, remember?"

"Yeah. Him."

"He's been dead for fourteen years. What does he have to do with anything?"

"It's not about him, actually. It's his son."

"His… son? I didn't know he and Emily had kids."

"Just one, according to Darius."

"Wow, we're bringing Darius into this?"

"He and I have been talking lately. And he told me that Caleb and Emily's son is back in Bonesborough."

"I'm sorry, 'back'?"

"He was taken out of state by CPS after Caleb and Emily died and his guardian turned out to be… unfit. He moved to town with his adoptive family at the beginning of the summer."

Eda's stomach dropped like a stone. No. No, this couldn't be right. That would mean…

"Why are you bringing this up?"

"Hunter—"

Fuck.

"—Darius is worried about him. He wanted me to contact you so he could meet with Hunter, warn him before he has a run-in with his uncle."

Phillip.

That bastard. Caleb's only brother, who also happened to be the biggest narcissist and bully Eda had ever met in her goddamn life. And the thought of that brought up a phone call Camila had mentioned to her. How someone had claimed to be Hunter's 'real' family and that he'd be coming to claim his nephew. Camila had been incredibly unsettled while relaying what had happened, shaking with rage and fear for her children. Eda honestly felt the same way, and she didn't know Hunter as well as she knew Vee.

"It's too late for that."

"What?"

"He made contact with Hunter's mother. Hunter's adoptive mother."

"And?"

"She screamed at him to never call again, hung up, and blocked his number. I'm not gonna say nothing bad will happen with her around to protect him, but he's not a helpless kid, either. He's sixteen."

"Darius also wanted to tell him about his birth parents."

"Okay, that's seriously not even my call. I can put you both in contact with Camila, but it's up to her and Hunter."

Some part of her felt betrayed that this was what Raine had wanted to discuss. But she was grateful they'd told her.

"If that was all you wanted to say, I'll head home now." She pulled a scrap of paper and a pen out of her hair, scribbling down her phone number and Camila's with both clearly labeled. "Call me if anything happens that I need to be warned about, or if you want to meet up for any reason other than I have a long-lost relative who moved here."

"I will. I promise. I just… I didn't want to hide this from you."

She sighed.

"I suppose… I would have been royally pissed if I found out later, so thanks for being up front."

"You're welcome."

She turned to head home, glancing back over her shoulder one last time before breaking into a run.

How do I even bring this up to Camila? I know her and it's a hard decision… no wonder they wanted me to help.

Yes, I do have a bias against wizards in fifth edition. Yes, I'm using it on Mattholomule because I'm salty. No, I don't care if he did good in Labyrinth Runners, he's not at that point yet in this story and he has a ways to go.

Is that a signal that Bria, Gavin, and Angmar will come in at some point?

*shakes Magic 8 Ball*

"Signs point to yes". There's your answer.

The plot monster is peeking its way through the door and I'm doing my best to hold it back. I've got a lot of pieces to move into place for this chess game.

So long and thanks for all the fish!