Bonesborough had finally begun to look normal again... Well, as normal as it ever looked before.
Luz and Amity had decided to spend the afternoon walking through the town, and enjoy the familiar sights for nostalgia's sake. It had rained the night before, so a lot of the buildings and streets had a thin layer of boiling puddles and shine to it. Not boiling enough to hurt much, but steam could still be faintly seen coming off the surfaces it pooled on. It actually made for quite the sight, peaceful almost.
Though something new amongst the wet buildings had made the sight slightly less peaceful. The Collector, floating near the sidewalk... Almost completely covered in mud.
"Collector?!" Lumity exclaimed, both shocked at the state of the star child.
"Hi guys!" The Collector cheerfully waved.
"Oh! Eda sent me to go get some milk... But as I was flying, I saw this cool three eyed frog..." The Collector began to explain, "And I wanted to catch it! So I chased it around into the town for a while, and accidentally fell into a couple mud puddles as I did."
"A couple?" Amity deadpanned, "I could mistake you for an abomination golem..."
The Collector blushed a bit, but couldn't help but chuckle.
"Look at you, you're a mess! You need a bath or something..." Luz remarked, approach the star child and pinching at his muddy sleeves.
"Aww, but I don't want a bath!" The Collector whined, "Plus, I haven't even gotten the milk yet!"
Luz thought for a moment, before getting an idea. "How about this...? If you take a bath, I'll make those special pizza bagels you like." She offered, and the star child perked up almost instantly.
"With the extra pepperoni?!" The Collector asked excitedly.
"Yep! Amity will make it with all the extra pepperoni you want!" Luz claimed, to which Amity turned to look at her like she had gone nuts.
"Luz, I don't know HOW to make pizza bagels... I barely know how to make pizza on it's own!" Amity quietly told Luz.
"It's easy... You'll be perfectly fine." Luz quietly replied, confident despite Amity's lack of human culinary abilities.
Amity seemed unsure, but shrugged. "I'll try I guess..." She said back.
Luz smiled, and turned over to the muddy Collector.
"Come on, little buddy." Luz motioned for him to follow them, "Let's get you back to the house and get you clean."
"Alright! To the Bird House!" The Collector cheerfully exclaimed.
Luz and Amity didn't even bother correcting him as they began to make their way there.
It had occurred to Luz how this could both answer a lot of questions she never had about the Collector, and create new ones.
She and Amity had led the Collector back to the Owl House, and to the bathroom (Keeping as much of the mud as they could off the floor as they did).
Amity turned the bath on, and began to look in the cabinets for something. While Luz turned to the Collector, somewhat sheepishly.
"So... Do you want me to... Look away, while you get in, or...?" Luz asked, feeling a twinge of embarrassment as she asked.
The Collector blushed, rubbing his right arm. "Well... I guess so..." He replied.
Luz turned around, facing away. "Just tell me when you're in the tub, okay?" Luz said.
"Alright..." The Collector replied from behind her, still sounding a little sheepish.
As Luz waited for the Collector to undress, her eyes wandered over to where Amity was, still looking in a cabinet.
"What'cha looking for, Sweet Potato?" Luz questioned, as Amity took out what looked like a large bottle of blue glue... That was bubbling rapidly inside the glass.
"Bubble Brew." Amity shook the bottle a bit, "Doesn't do anything except make soapy bubbles in water."
"Oh, so like bubble bath!" Luz said, smiling a bit.
"Yeah! Well, close enough to bubble bath..." Amity remarked, unscrewing the cap off the bottle.
"Okay, I'm in!" The Collector announced from behind them.
The two girls turned to see the Collector was now in the tub, his lower section hidden by the water (Thank whatever gods remained in the Demon Realm), and his muddy clothes now in a pile next to the tub.
"It's pretty warm!" The Collector said, moving in the tub a bit to get more comfortable.
"Glad you're comfy..." Amity said in response, going over, and pouring the bottle's contents into the water.
Soon enough, soapy bubbles began to form in the tub, and the Collector smiled at the sight of them.
"Ohh, bubbles!" The Collector chuckled, splashing the water a little.
Luz and Amity both giggled. "I had a feeling you'd like it." Amity remarked, sitting on a nearby stool next to the tub.
The Collector smiled, and pulled out a rubber ducky... That heavily resembled King, and began to play with it in the water.
"Wait, where did you even get-" Amity began to question.
"Okay, let's get some of that mud off of you!" Luz said, unknowingly interrupting her girlfriend mid-thought, and getting a cup and washcloth from the nearby cabinet.
She scooped up some of the tub water, and poured it over the Collector, and began to use the washcloth to wipe the mud off from him. He giggled a bit in response.
"That feels weird!" The star child chuckled, which Luz copied in response.
As she moved on from the Collector's chest area, Luz washed a part of his hair... When she noticed something that interested her.
"Hey... Your ears! They're round, like mine!" Luz pointed out, having parted the Collector's wet and muddy hair to clean it better, thus revealing the Collector's round ear.
"Yeah, so?" The Collector seemed slightly embarrassed by Luz pointing the fact out.
"I just think it's... Kinda interesting." Luz remarked, and couldn't help herself to poke one of his ears as if to make sure it was real.
One of the main reasons Luz was so taken aback by the Collector's ears, is because most if not all of the humanoid creatures and witches she had encountered... They all shared the same trait of not having round ears like humans did. But the Collector actually had ears like her! It was both interesting... And kinda cute in a way.
"Huh, round ears... There's another interesting thing about you." Amity murmured to herself.
The Collector blushed slightly, but smiled nonetheless. Amity looked at a nearby clock on the wall.
"I better go get started on those pizza bagels." Amity said out loud, getting up off her stool, and walking out the bathroom door.
"Good luck, and don't burn the house down! Eda will be sorta annoyed if you do that!" Luz called after her.
Amity smiled and waved her off as she left for downstairs.
For the next hour, Luz continued to bathe the Collector the best she could. And after a while, the mud was all but off the star child. She was pretty happy with the result, and it seemed the Collector was too.
"I think I'm all clean now Luz!" The Collector answered, getting his wet hair out of his eyes.
"Alright, come on then..." Luz took a towel from off a nearby hook, and wrapped it around the star child as he stood up in the bath (thankfully covering up whatever parts dwelled in his crotch section).
With not much effort, Luz picked him up out of the tub, and onto the towel she had laid down on the bathroom floor.
That's when they both heard a faint crash and hiss come from downstairs in the kitchen.
"OH TITAN, IT'S ALL OVER THE FLOOR!" Amity's voice was heard crying out from downstairs.
"...Sounds like the food's almost ready." Luz flatly remarked, to which the Collector stifled a chuckle.
After drying the Collector off, the three were now on the couch downstairs... The star child now wrapped in a towel like a living burrito, with Amity feeding him the pizza bagels she made as she sat next to him.
"Mmm... Cheesy goodness..." The Collector murmured, mouth full.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Amity lightly scolded him, "But I'm happy you like them. First time I've made them, you know..."
"You did a good job! They're perfect!" The Collector claimed, swallowing his mouthful.
"I agree, they are pretty good, my sweet potato~" Luz complimented, having tried one of the bagel treats herself.
"Thanks..." Amity smiled at the compliment.
"Uh... Thanks by the way." The Collector sheepishly said, "I really enjoyed that bath, even though I didn't really think I would..."
The two girlfriends smiled warmly at the star child.
"Anytime Collector! We were happy to help clean you up." Luz replied, side-hugging him on the couch.
"Just maybe try and avoid chasing frogs through mud puddles in the future?" Amity asked jokingly.
The three all chuckled a bit... Until a loud irritated voice was heard.
"WHO THE HELL GOT MUD ALL OVER THE KITCHEN?!" Eda's voice shouted from the other room.
"...Whoops." The Collector smiled sheepishly.
