Amity and Luz flew down to Hexide on their palisman, and slowly set down on the dirt road. The school was in rough shape. Walls were caved in, windows were smashed on almost every floor. But Luz was panicking like it was a presentation on grudgby in front of the whole school.
Amity gave her girlfriend a little push. "You'll be fine. It's not like much has— changed, about you." she tried to reassure Luz but failed. It had only been about a few days since the change, and thankfully she no longer had those void back eyes. Yes, her irises did stay the same glowing golden, but at least her features resembled a little bit more human. A little bit more of herself to go around.
Luz's leg was bouncing, and her eyes were darting around - she continued to glance down at herself, still feeling the light breeze of nakedness. But the brushing of her soft and wild naby fur and wild hair kind of coping with her fears. It still wasn't enough to fully make herself calm down, but it was doing something. She could imagine it. Clear as day. The eyes all pressed on her subconscious, the whispers between all of the students.
Students. Luz recalled, and her expression instantly brightened up. Gus, Hunter, and Willow were still in there. They had gone to Hexide when Lilith dismissed everyone to their own roles for rebuilding. Luz reminded herself.
As Luz was pondering and thinking to herself, the students had already come out of the school to greet Amity and herself, unknowing of Luz's new... look.
Principal Bump gasped, looking back to Gus and Willow. "So you weren't wrong. when you said she would look— different." He pointed out, taking another double take.
"What? You thought we were joking when I specifically said 'Luz looks part Titan now?" Gus furrowed his eyebrows, taking a deep sigh and shaking his head as he looked away for a moment.
"I thought you were being sarcastic..." Bump trailed off, and took another few shimmying steps forward to Luz, who was stiff as a board; Amity to her side, holding her hand. "...the only word I could think of is just... how?"
Willow pushed through the awestruck crowd of students, even catching the quick eyes of Boscha in her peripheral vision. And even she was shocked, holding her grudgby ball to her side.
Luz sighed, "It's a long story."
"I believe so." Bump agreed dryly, and nodded a few more times.
There was a quiet pause. Before Willow finally got up and in front of the students. "We're glad you made it." She spoke for the school, walking up and going on her tippy ties in order to hug her friend. Willow gave a warm smile. "You wanna try helping out?" She questioned, tilting her head.
Luz shrugged. "I mean... I can try," she said nervously, looking down at Stringbean, who lightly nuzzled her cheek.
Bump chuckled. "Alright, but don't break anything. Understand? I don't want to have to get the school council involved even more than it already is with our... situation." He gestured momentarily to the school, then twisted back to Luz.
Amity gave an understanding nod, and after a few seconds, the clamoring students still didn't disperse. On the other hand, Willow and the rest of the Plant and Illusion Coven were more than interest than fearful. Barkus coming right up and giving a welcoming smile.
"Wow." one of the students said, and took a few steps forward.
"Are you really a Titan?" another questioned. Not fearful at all.
Luz, absolutely baffled by their bluntness and boldness, she let out a slightly shaky breath. "Well, not fully." she explained. "I'm sort of…half? You could say?"
"Cool…" one smiled, looking to Willow.
"Sorry, they're the first years." Willow dismissed the younger ones. "Ever since the Day of Unity and the Collector's work, we had to store the younger ones somewhere." she sighed, obviously tired. More than Luz had even seen in Eda - and chasing around Luz constantly must've been draining, let alone a few dozen little children.
"That makes sense." Luz agreed.
There was a pause.
Amity slid herself back into the conversation quickly. "So, are you ready?"
Luz nodded in agreement. "Yeah."
Amity pulled Luz from the front of the school, to the back (to where there was subsequently more damage done from a star-shaped meteor shower) and she summoned Ghost to her side.
"Alright. Lesson number one of magic casting," Amity begun, casting a very small circle outline, as it glowed and shimmered. A small rock leaning on the side of the school gained a sparkly purple aura around it. The small rock moved and twisted on an axis with Amity's motions, until she dragged her hand back down, and broke the spell; allowing the rock to fall down.
"It all depends on the size of the cast, and the want behind the spell." She begun. "The bigger the cast, the stronger the spell. Make sense?"
Luz looked down at the rock gently resting on the side of the wall, and took a deep breath, nodding. God, she felt like a Jedi now. Not only being able to learn the magic, but to do it without the aid of glyphs was a huge jump for herself.
She was going to at least try, and most likely fail.
Who really is keeping count anymore?
Luz took a deep breath, and held out her arm, only to feel a tap on her shoulder.
"Move your foot back a little." Amity reminded, and Luz could hear her take a step back once she slid her foot back to keep herself balanced. As when casting spells (to which she learned from not so fun past experiences), they have some form of backlash.
Luz slowly held out her finger, and carved out a circle, yellows and purples crackled from her tip, and she could feel the energy humming through her blood. Like she'd just had three shots of espresso. Completing the circle, she opened up her hand with one swift motion.
Nothing happened.
Her eyes quickly opened, blinking for a moment. "What? Nothing happened?" she tried again, and again, and again. But nothing.
Amity looked at her with a smile, it was encouraging. "Lesson two, you can't just cast a spell to cast a spell." she paced around Luz, arms behind her back, holding the stick to her palisman. "You have to have some sort of reason. A spark to start the spell." She finished. "Try again."
Luz chuckled, pulling down her arm for a moment. "When did you become Yoda?" She smirked, and Amity turned bright tomato. Half embarrassed and half flustered.
"Who— who's that?" She questioned.
"It's Star Wars. You're like the cool teacher. Actually," Luz second thought her choice. "Eda is more like Yoda, and your like Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"I still don't get it." Amity deadpanned for a moment, collecting herself. "Okay we are straying away here." She cleared her throat, and Luz straightened at attention.
She sighed, and locked her eyes with a small rock, almost the size of a tennis ball, maybe a little smaller. Just got to find the spark. Luz told herself, slowly closing her eyes. Foot back…. She focused, slowly bringing out her arm, and extending her finger. Sparks of golds and purples illuminated the surrounding area, as Luz carved a smooth circle, finally stabilizing in front of her - but she still didn't open her eyes. Keeping her head straight and focusing. She begun to slowly lift her finger up, her pointer soon conjoining for more control. A purple and mirrored gold aura illuminated the stone, as it rose high off the ground, dirt and moss growing on the boulder had snapped to the ground.
The dust picked up, and went right into Luz's nose, quickly breaking the connection; the boulder slammed to the ground in a groundbreaking thud.
Amity jumped and yelled in accomplishment and joy, while Luz had fixed her sneezing fit. "You did it! Oh my Titan you did it!"
"I—" Luz sniffed, her eyes all bugged out. "I did?" She questioned, and a little bit of snot ran down her nose, and she quickly wiped it away.
"Yeah!" She smiled, and Stringbean hovered over, smiling proudly for Luz's accomplishment. Which with all the excitement, she wanted to give it another try.
Amity backed up quickly, once she saw the present determination in her girlfriend's eyes. "You wanna try again?" she asked, a little cautious this time.
"I think I got the hang of it." Luz slid back her body, shifting her weight to the front.
Worry hit Amity's insides for just a moment. Amity knew how much the Titan had stored up power, and Luz hadn't even scratched the surface of what the true abilities could do. And they couldn't make another magic emergency any time soon. "Just, be careful." Amity warned.
"Alright." Luz evidently listened.
Again, Luz made the same circle gesture, just a lot more…… scaled.
"So how's Luz doing?" Eda landed with the help of her Harpy form, and Camila had let out a sigh of relief once Owlbert landed on solid ground.
"She's doing good." Willow smiled, looking and watching everyone picking up and fixing the walls of Hexide.
"What is she up to?" Eda questioned, tilting her head as her wings retracted back in.
"Amity is teaching Luz some basics on magic and casting." Gus shrugged, only for his bland expression to be met with a yelp; as the ground began to shake.
"What the—?" Eda, Camila, Willow, and Gus all gasped. Feeling the heavy tremor under their feet.
The group all looked up to the sky, and their eyes widened, while their mouths dropped.