Disclaimer: I don't own The Owl House

Title: It's been a long day without you, my friend

Summary: Lilith begins to realize that her sister does, indeed, have actual living friends.

...

"Apple blood?" Lilith asked, lip curling. "What are you, five?"

"There's literally no such thing as an age limit on drinks, Lily."

"Still. Why not have dark sludge like every other adult?"

"Because, thanks to some people, I have the body of an old lady, and my old lady body can't handle dark sludge. Stuff goes right through me." Eda watched with smug satisfaction as Lilith recoiled. "Get the lady a glass of apple blood, kid."

"Milk!" King added, tapping his claws on his high chair. "The King of Demons requires vitamin D!"

Luz pulled open the magical fridge with a tsk, lightly shaking her head. "Ya'll call milk milk but can't just make it easy on yourselves and say coffee? Wack." She set a brimming cup of milk down in front of King with an affectionate scritch behind the horn. "Here you are, mi pequeño gordito." She thunked down a half-full glass of apple blood. "Cobarde."

"Edalyn," Lilith said.

There was a squawk of indignation, and Luz was skipping off to the other side of the table. "Aw, don't worry, Owlbert. I didn't forget about you." She carefully set a small bowl of water down. "Get the dirt and dark magic outta your feathers."

"Edalyn," Lilith repeated, still stunned. "Did your student just hex me?"

Eda lowered her glass, lip holding a truly stunning apple blood mustache. "Hmmm, nah. She's too good a kid for that. Though, judging by the tone, I am gonna guess whatever she said was pretty rude."

She opened her mouth to reply, but merely recoiled further into her chair as Hooty stretched his way in to dunk his face in Owlbert's bath bowl. "Must it- move like that?"

"Hooty is a demon beyond comprehension, sister."

"I'M DOING A RUB-DUB," Hooty chirped. "Oh, by the way, hoot hoot, visitors are coming!"

"Edalyn," Lilith said for a third time, though this time she sounded truly panicked.

"Relax, it's not the Emperor's Coven. Those as playmates."

Luz pulled down two more mugs, then contemplated a third. "Willow and Gus! I was wondering if they were gonna drop by tonight or tomorrow."

Eda, catching the look on Lilith's face, explained; "Luz's little school friends. I let them hang here when they do homework and studying and other boring, unnecessary things."

"Hey," said Luz. "They were worried about you, you know. I got home to a whole pile of private scrolls from them."

Her nose wrinkled. "Affection? Disgusting."

"Are visitors... normal?"

"You didn't really think I lived completely alone and friendless in the middle of the woods, did you?" Lilith stared at her expectantly. "Your faith is heartwarming. But, yes, I do have friends."

"Most of 'em just happen to be pre-puberty," King whispered to Lilith, snickering.

"Don't make me bring out the stuffies, Mr. Wiggles."

"They are my ARMY and they deserve respec-"

The front door slammed open with the kind of casual recklessness children who don't give a fuck about Hooty can achieve, sending the defense system rolling around. Willow did a half-jog inside, having clearly worn herself out running the whole way, while Gus skittered behind, his short legs used to pain.

"EDA-" she started, then stopped, brightening considerably. "Oh, you're not a horrifying owl goblin anymore. That's great!"

"Rude," Eda said, taking a long sip.

Luz practically vaulted over the table, circling the children with a warm hug. "Oooh, I'm so glad you guys are okay! I saw the protest- there's clips of it all over the witchernet!"

Gus grabbed Luz's sleeve and tugged. Hard. "Luz," he hissed out. "Don't panic, but Lilith is-"

"I know. She's staying with us for awhile."

Lilith found herself under the cautious gaze of two very defiant looking children, and tilted her mug accordingly. "Hello, children. I'd just like to apologize for that whole... hitting you with my staff incident."

Willow blinked, having honestly forgotten that part of the whole ordeal. "You kidnapped Luz! You held her hostage!"

"That's pretty messed up," added Gus. "And then you made us tell Eda? Not gonna lie, I about peed myself a little."

"I have that affect on people." Eda shimmied out of her chair and made her way over, ruffling their hair for good measure. "You did something really nice for me today, shortcakes. I won't forget that anytime soon. How's about you stay for dinner? I'm going to guilt Lilith into making us some castle-level grub."

"Bold of you to assume I ever learned how to cook any of it."

There was a loud groan from outside. "Guuuuyyyssss."

"Oh, right. Amity." Willow twisted her head around. "We got excited and forgot about her leg."

Lilith sat up fully now. "Amity? Amity Blight?" She stared Eda down. "Have you been corrupting my star pupil, Edalyn?"

"Wouldn't have to corrupt her if you paid child support, Lily."

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Neither does not paying child support, Lily."

Amity didn't even make it through the door before Luz had her in a full throttle hug, the veracity of which boiled her face faster than any lobster. "Luz!" she cried, overjoyed, before the smell hit her. "What did you roll in?"

"I rolled in found-family and love and friendship. Also probably some dungeon water." She gave one last squeeze before moving back, cupping her shoulders. "Aw, you didn't have to come all this way. I know your leg is still pretty ouchy."

The full force of her stare knocked Amity that last bit of clueless. "Oh. Right. My leg. It's, uh. It's there! Still, uh, legging around. Being a leg." The heat drained from her face as she caught sight of the table trespasser. "Ms. Lilith?" she eked out.

"I'm getting that a lot today."

"I almost feel left out," Eda bemoaned. "Relax, minty fresh-"

"Do you know any of these childrens' names Edalyn?"

"-My sister is staying with the bad girls for now. You are legally obligated to report any classist or otherwise backwards behavior so I can feed her to Hooty."

"Heeeeeyyyyyy," drew out Hooty, finally emerging from the puddle. Owlbert was looking less than pleased. "I'm on a diet, hoot hoot!"

"She's low calorie, high salt. It can be a cheat day."

"Wow," said Lilith dryly. "Thanks."

Author's Note: I wrote literally all of this while exhausted and I'm forever proud of the phrase "The front door slammed open with the kind of casual recklessness children who don't give a fuck about Hooty can achieve".

Also I imagine apple blood is just apple juice with, like, ten times the sugar.

-Mandaree1