A/N: So, mildly funny story, earlier this week I ordered a replica Portal Key from via Amazon, and it arrived in the mail this afternoon.
Now I can officially say I'm powered by Titan's Blood! :P
…You know, I'm surprised Disney hasn't made a Titan's Blood flavored energy drinks… You know, like those "Senzu Bean" and "Sonic" flavored energy drinks they have at Hot Topic?
I own a couple Owl House things from TheMysteryShack, I have a Grudgby Jacket and an Owlbert too. I mean, if Disney won't make TOH merch than I have exactly zero regrets buying unofficial things.
(In the same package was a steel poster thingamabob with the Eda 'WANTED' poster, which- it's a fun bit of decor but at the same time it has a smell I can only describe as a mix of Superglue and ass.)
I even checked, ShopDisney has exactly zero results for "The Owl House." Like, they're seriously just leaving all that money on the table. Same as they did for Star Vs, same as they did for Amphibia, same as they did for Ducktales. Why does DTVA just not do merch?
I'm rambling about things that have nothing to do with my fic, uhh…
*Runs off.*
"Good night, Stringbean." Luz said with a smile, as she felt her snakeshifter palisman curl up around her neck and nuzzle her head against her owner's cheek. Said owner almost immediately dozed off…
BZZZZT! BZZZZZZT!
…Until she was so rudely dragged back to the world of the living by her phone vibrating at her bedside table. She swore, these damn things's feedback motors were louder and more annoying than any ringtone. Grabbing it before it reverberated the whole damn house, she immediately answered and held it to her ear - not even stopping to check who the caller was. "Whaddaya want?"
"Kiddo, we got a situation." The voice on the other end of the line was her old mentor, Eda.
"Ugh, can't it wait till morning…" Luz said, sitting up and resting her back against the bed's headboard.
"Probably, but wouldn't you prefer knowing now?" Eda teased, slyly.
Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Luz just grumbled "This better be good…"
"So, I handed over Belos' memory prints to Lily to keep an eye on. Maybe do some experiments, see if she could clean them up…" Eda explained.
"And?" Said Luz, so rudely interrupting.
"Well, one of them just fixed themselves!" Eda said, just cutting to the chase.
Luz sighed and rubbed her forehead, pulling her blanket off and standing up out of bed. "I'll be over soon…" Funnily enough, Stringbean was completely unaffected by all of this, having fallen asleep on her owner's shoulder after she sat up.
"Alright, squirt. I'll call Amity in a minute." Eda finished off, before hanging up the phone.
A few minutes later, Luz standing at the front door of the Owl House. Amity had already arrived, and was awaiting her girlfriend. Eda greeted them both. On the living room table was all five of Belos' memory prints - each one in it's own protective frame, being inspected with a magnifying glass by one Lilith Clawthorne.
"Lilith, we got company." Eda said, as she rolled her eyes at her sister's behavior.
"Oh! Amity, Luz, I'm so glad you're here." Lilith squeaked, standing up - her spine letting out a loud crack! "Ough.." She grumbled. Just a sign that she was getting old.
Shooting a pair of finger guns at her cool aunt Lilith, Luz asked "What's the sitch, witch?" Amity stifled laughter.
"Well, Belos' memories are beginning to recover." Lilith said, grabbing the first of the photos and holding it up for them all to inspect. It quite clearly showed a young Phillip and his older brother Caleb, crowded around a ship's porthole. Land just barely visible in the distance.
This was quite confusing to Luz. "Huh?" she asked, tilting her head. "From what I remember, that picture wasn't in his mindscape?"
"Yes, well…" Lilith said, readjusting her glasses. "This whole situation is completely unprecedented from what Edalyn's told me…" She said with a small sigh.
"I mean, returned from the dead, somehow healed of his curse and became just a regular human again." Amity said, with a shrug. "That's pretty unprecedented to me!"
Lilith began pacing around the table, as she tried her hardest to piece the events together into an order that somewhat made sense. "My working theory…" Which, of course, was smart-gal talk for 'My best guess,' "Is that when he was revived, his mindscape was entirely destroyed and re-constructed from the ground up. I assume his curator…"
"Curator?" Luz butted in, to which Lilith clarified "You know, His consciousness. His inner self. The one you met." To which Luz went "Ohhhh…"
Lilith continued. "His mind's curator is in the midst of rebuilding his mindscape…Perhaps…Amity, Did something happen recently that could've awakened this memory, or do you all think it's just a coincidence?"
Amity grimaced, and took a deep breath. "He had a meeting with Hunter about an hour ago…"
"Interesting… That lines up with when the photo began to clear up." Lilith said, whilst rubbing her chin.
"I heard yelling, and maybe a crash too… I don't know, Hunter explicitly said to not accompany him." Amity continued, looking down at the floor. Feeling a twinge of guilt, thinking maybe that that was the wrong choice. "I couldn't make out what he was yelling, but… It sure did sound like Hunter's voice. I didn't hear Belos yelling at all."
Luz grimaced, concerned for the safety of someone she considered a brother. "Should we go and give Hunter a call?"
"Probably in the morning, he's probably not really up to talking about it right now…" Amity said, as she folded her arms.
"Well…should we go and talk to Belos?" Luz looked over at her girlfriend, giving an encouraging smile.
"I doubt he'll exactly be forthcoming with information…" Lilith said with a sigh.
Eda clasped her hands together. "Well, I say we march on over there, pick him up by the scruff of the neck, and drop him off at the knee."
"Edalyn!" Lilith scolded, "We don't have proof he's a danger at the minute. It would be inhumane to punish him based on an assumption."
"It's an assumption based on a pattern of repeated behavior!" Eda said, her voice raised and her hands flaring out. "With his memories coming back, I betcha a snail that he's going to stab us in the back, and we're going to have a second Day of Unity on our hands." She shook her head. "I'm getting too old to do all that again."
"I wish he was easier to read…" Amity sighed, putting her hand on her cheek.
Luz snickered. "Do you think he'd be upset if I took another trip to his mindscape?"
Amity's face curled into a smile, as he laughed as well. "I mean, probably,"
"That ain't a half bad idea. We could go in under the guise of helping restore his memories." Eda said, putting her hand on her hip. "That way, we're not just sneaking in, it's just a little white lie!"
"I don't know, Eda… I think that's a bit drastic for a first step, I mean…He seems to trust me, shouldn't we just ask him before we try to lie?" Said Amity. Turning to her girlfriend, asking "Speaking of jogging memories… Do you still have the Echo Mouse?"
"Nah, I think Hooty ate it." Luz said with a shiver.
"I PLEAD THE FIFTH!" Said the obviously guilty.
"Though, I did record as many diary entries as I could on my phone. I think I got them all...Eventually it started repeating entries, so…" Luz shrugged her shoulders "But I don't think we should show him his old diary entries. He, uh…Well let's just say he heavily embellished them."
"His diary…That's right, I forgot to tell you all, I got him a new diary!" Amity said, legitimately just remembering.
Eda's face lit up. "Aaaand you put a hex on his journal, so we can see what he's written without having to steal it! That's good thinking. I must be rubbing off on you."
"What-Eda, no? No! That would be such an invasion of his privacy!" Amity retaliated.
"And? He didn't care about privacy while he was the emperor. Besides, if he's lying, we can easily find out and press him on it!" said Eda.
Lilith crossed her arms, taking the high road. "I think both of you have a bit of a point…While I agree we should be cautious of him and his intentions, if we treat every little action with overt suspicion it'll only lead to him not trusting us either."
Amity grimaced, in her experience - that tracked. Her mother had tried to dictate every little facet of her life, it just led to her becoming a good liar.
"Batata, you okay?" Luz asked as she put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. Noticing how uncomfortable she looked. The Clawthorne sisters were still debating back and forth about Belos, so they paid the girlfriends side chatter no mind.
"Yea, I just…I don't know what to do. I don't know if I made the right choice trusting him…" Amity tensed slightly.
Luz took a deep breath. "No offense, yams, but I think this is one of those choices where both options kinda suck." She put on her best faux robotic voice, and said "A strange game, the only winning move is not to play." Quoting a movie that… she'd never actually seen, but was vaguely familiar with through pop-cultural osmosis.
"Look." Amity spoke up, getting everyone in the room's attention. "It's late, and tensions are high between all of us. Now, let's just go get some sleep, and we'll reconvene tomorrow."
"Good idea." The entire room agreed, unanimously.
