Adventures in the Human Realm
IFlapjack
Hunter heard Flapjack's chirps and Gus. They were telling him to wake up.
"Five more minutes." He mumbled, still asleep. Flapjack pulled at his hair strand. Hunter yelled in pain as he got up. "Okay, okay! I'm up now. You can stop pulling my hair, Flapjack." Flapjack released his hair. "Why do you have to do that, Flap? It hurts." Flapjack just chirped.
"Morning, Hunter!" Gus said. "How did you sleep?" Hunter groaned.
"What time is it?" He asked when he sat up from his sleeping bag.
"It's 9:00." Hunter gasped.
"9:00?" He became angry with Gus. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"What time did you want to wake up?"
"I don't know. Four, five, six a.m."
"Why?"
"Because Belos is very strict. He…" He then realized something. "Oh, right. I'm not in the Emperor's coven anymore."
"That's right, so you can sleep in for as long as you want…or when we wake you up ourselves." He then was confused. "You woke up that early when you were at the castle? No wonder why you have bags under your eyes. Well, go on and get dressed so we can have breakfast at IFlapjack."
"Are you sure flapjacks are just pancakes?"
"Yes. We're not going to eat cute, little baby red cardinals if that is what you were thinking."
"Oh, I wasn't." He lied, then changed the subject. "Will I like them?" Gus shrugged.
"You won't know unless you try. Say, where did Flapjack get his name?" This time, Hunter shrugged.
"Don't know. He didn't elaborate. He just told me that was his name."
"Well, I was just curious. Come upstairs when you're ready. We're all waiting for you."
"Okay, I will." Gus went upstairs while Hunter got ready.
The TV was on when Hunter and Flapjack came upstairs. Hunter looked at the TV.
"I have a toy of that kid with the glasses in my old room at the emperor's castle." He stated. Everyone looked at him.
"That's weirdly specific." Vee observed.
"You do?" Luz asked. "I didn't know you could get this show in the Boiling Isles."
"That's why it's weird." Hunter stated. "We don't. Belos didn't let us watch anything on TV. It was strictly work. I also have a pink frog plush."
"Sounds like Belos didn't let you do anything fun." Gus said. "But that all changes today."
"I'll get my keys and we can get going." Camila stated. "You kids meet me by the car. You might want to hide your ears too. Humans don't have pointy ears. Oh, and no animals are allowed in the restaurant."
"Not even in staff form." Luz added. "Humans don't randomly carry staffs around." Hunter, Amity, Gus and Willow were disappointed.
"But I might need Flapjack." Hunter complained. "People are saying he's like my therapy animal, whatever those are." Amity knelt down to her cat palisman.
"Sorry, Ghost." She said to the white feline. "You have to stay here." Ghost mewed sadly. Gus petted his chameleon palisman.
"I'm sorry, too, Emmiline." He told her. "Hopefully, we won't need you guys."
"Looks like you get to stay here and maybe have palismen adventures, Clover." Willow said to the bee. "Make sure they all behave. I know you will. You're such a good palisman. You all are."
"Uh, Luz?" Amity asked when Luz turned the TV off as Camila left. "What's a car? Is it dangerous?"
"Not at all." She informed her. "Unless you're driving. Then it can be. But I don't have to worry about that quite yet, almost, but not yet. Cars get you where you want to go."
"So, like staff?"
"Exactly, except in this realm, cars don't fly…not yet anyways, so don't expect them to."
"Duly noted. So you have to be a specific age in order to drive?"
"16. 15, but only for permits."
"I'm 16." Hunter said. "I bet I can drive."
"Not without a license." Luz told him.
"Then I'll get one. Don't forget, I can pilot airships back in the Boiling Isles. How hard can driving a car be?"
"Very hard apparently since there are car accidents every day, especially in the wintertime with the ice."
"Then I won't get into an accident."
"You really want to drive, huh?" Gus asked.
"Well who knows how long we'll be here." Hunter said to him. "In the meantime, since I'm the oldest one here, besides Camila. I should take responsibility and learn to drive, maybe."
"I know how to drive too." Vee piped up. "I can drive you guys places too if you want."
"Well, I still want to drive since I'm old enough and I don't have to rely on Camila and Vee all of the time." Amity then looked at her girlfriend.
"So, let's see that car of your mom's." Amity said to Luz. With that, the children went off.
"This is what a human car looks like." Luz told everyone when they were all next to it in the garage. Her friends all had their ears covered up by their hair. Gus had on a beanie. "You are all very lucky that Mom has a big enough car for all of us to fit."
"Very lucky!" Vee put in.
"Wow!" Gus observed. "This is how humans transport themselves from point A to point B every day? It's huge!" Luz nodded.
"Compared to a staff, then yes. Yes it is. But it's not magic, so don't expect that either."
"Can we see the inside?" An eager Gus wanted to know.
"Gus, calm down." Willow said to him. "We probably can't, not without the keys which Luz's mom is getting." She looked at Luz. "Right, Luz?" Luz nodded.
"Right." She said to her.
"I hope Camila hurries up then." Gus stated. "The suspense is killing me!"
"Mom will get here when she gets here, so don't worry about that."
A moment later, Camila arrived. She opened the car doors with the key and she, Vee, and the kids got in.
"Okay." Camilia stated, buckling her seatbelt. "Buckle your seatbelts." The kids were confused, so Luz showed them.
"Like this." She instructed them. "See?"
"Is that really necessary?" Hunter wanted to know. Luz shot a look at him and Hunter immediately knew that he asked a stupid question and felt embarrassed.
Luz showed them how to buckle a couple more times before they all got it. When they were all secured, Camila drove off.
"What are these?" Amity asked about the cupholders.
"They're cupholders." Vee explained. "You can keep cups of liquids in them or other small items to keep them safe."
"Wait." Gus said. "So you can drink liquids in here? Sweet! You can't do that while flying on your staffs. The Human Realm is so fascinating!" He pointed at the rearview mirror up front. "What is that?" As Vee told him and her friends and more of the car features, Hunter paid attention up front to Camila's driving. He did this for the duration of the car ride, even when it had to stop a couple of times at stoplights and traffic.
When they got to IFlapjack, Camila parked the car and she, Vee, and the kids went inside of the restaurant. Gus marveled at the interior.
"See that, Hunter?" Gus said to him as someone passed by with a pancake on a tray when they all stood in line. "That is what a pancake is, aka, a flapjack."
"Belos told me that pancakes were similar to a flapjack before." Hunter admitted. "But I never saw one in real life before." He sniffed. "It smells good."
"But will they taste good? You're going to find out soon, my friend."
"Had you had them before?"
"I had plenty and I love them, but the question is, will you? Different witches or half witches have different tastes to the kinds of food that they like, and I assume that's the same for humans."
Moments later, they were in front of the line and they all ordered what they wanted.
As soon as they got to their tables and got their drinks, (Vee showed them how the drink machine worked), they found a table where all of them could sit together. While all of them dug into their pancakes, Hunter just stared at them. Gus noticed this.
"You okay, Hunter?" He asked.
"Yeah." He said.
"Then why aren't you eating?"
"I'm just being cautious is all."
"Cautious of what?"
"Well, these pancakes could be poisonous is all. Kikimora poisoned my food before. I just want to make sure." Kikimora did poison him before, but that wasn't why Hunter was uneasy. The truth was, he was thinking of The Collecter spattering his uncle's goo all over the wall;
"The pancakes aren't poisonous, Hunter." Luz told him. Hunter looked at her.
"How do you know? Do you know these humans well enough that you trust them 100%?"
"Well, first Kikimora isn't here. Secondly, I guess I do. Not a lot of people poison random strangers that they just met, especially if they want them to keep coming here and recommend it to their friends and family. Not everyone here is out to get you."
"Yeah." Gus agreed. "So quit worrying and eat these delicious human pancakes! They taste just as good as the pancakes in the Demon Realm, maybe even better!" He had another bite.
"You need to give these people a chance." Amity said to Hunter.
"Just like we gave you a chance." Willow put in. Hunter smiled at her.
"You're right, Captain." He took his fork and took a bite.
"Well?" Vee wanted to know. "What do you think?" Hunter swallowed it down and lit up like a Christmas tree.
"It's delicious!" He said joyfully. "It's the best thing I ever had!"
"See?" Gus said with a smile. "I knew you liked it." Hunter had another bite and another and another. "Wow, you really like them!"
"So," Camila said to the kids. "While you are here, what do you want to do?"
"We need to build a portal back to the Demon Realm, Mama." Luz said to her. Camila smiled at her daughter.
"Of course, mija. I meant in the meantime."
"I just want to spend time with Luz." Amity said. "The best girlfriend in both the Human Realm and the Demon Realm."
"Aw!" Luz marveled. "I can't wait to show you what the Human Realm has to offer."
"I, too, want to see what the Human Realm has to offer." Gus said. "I especially want to see a real life giraffe! After all, since we're here, and we no longer have them in the Boiling Isles, this will be a great opportunity to get up close to them."
"We can see them at a zoo." Camila stated. "Anything else?"
"I want you or Vee to teach me how to drive." Hunter stated.
"The beach could be fun." Luz admitted. "I told Eda we didn't have time to go to a beach, but since we're here for who knows how long, and through the power of Fanfiction, we have time for that now."
"O…kay." Camila said. "So far, the beach, teaching Hunter how to drive and the zoo are on the table. Don't forget, you have to think of school, Luz. It's starting back up again soon."
"School?!" Luz said. "I can't think of going back to school now."
"I know you're stressed, mija, but school is important. You have to."
"Your mother's right." Amity told her. Luz looked at her.
"What about you guys, huh? You guys have to be enrolled first and none of you guys are."
"Don't worry, Luz. We'll find a way to be entertained. You just go to school." Luz sighed, but smiled.
"You're right, Amity. I'm sure you will. I'll go back to school when the time comes." This time Amity smiled.
"Do we have to beat monsters in order to enroll to prove ourselves worthy of human schools?" Gus wanted to know.
"No." Luz said to him. "It's a bit more complicated than that." Gus looked disappointed.
"Aw, dang it! I kind of like beating up monsters to impress the school."
"I have to use the baño." Camila said when they all went up front after they were all done eating and drinking. "Wait right here until I get back.
"Okay, Mom." Luz said. "We'll be right here." Camila went off.
"Psst, Luz." Amity said to her. "What's a baño?"
"It means bathroom in Spanish." Vee explained before Luz could.
"Oh. I guess we should try to learn Spanish too while we are here."
"Good idea!" Willow agreed. "Learning about different languages might be interesting."
"Yeah!" Gus agreed as well. "It can be used to our advantage!" Willow was confused.
"How's that, Gus?"
"Think of it, our enemies won't know what we are saying!"
"Unless they speak Spanish as well." Luz put in. "Mama and I aren't the only ones in the Human Realm that know Spanish you know." Gus snapped his fingers in frustration.
"Aw, man!" He cried. "You're right."
"We can still learn Spanish." Amity said. She looked at Luz. "We'll do it for you, Luz."
"Aw," Luz said. "You don't have to do that."
"But we want to." Luz smiled.
"Ok, batata." This time, Amity was confused.
"What?"
"I just called you sweet potato in Spanish."
"Aw!"
"What about you, Hunter?" Willow asked him. "Do you want to learn Spanish?"
"Sure." Hunter said. "Why not? It's something to do and might be as you say, interesting"
"Then it's settled then!" Gus said. "We'll all get together and learn Spanish sometime while we're here."
"I know some Spanish already." Vee spoke. "And there's also a language learning app, so whenever you guys want, just say the word and I can show you."
"Oh no!" Luz panicked as three girls came in. "Not those three! Not now!" Amity looked at them, then at Luz.
"What is it, Luz?" She wanted to know.
"It's those girls." Luz told her.
"What about them?"
"I know them from my school. They're really mean and they like to pick on me because I'm weird."
"Nonsense!" Willow said. "Bad people can change. Hunter and Amity did. If they can, I believe they can too. Let's go talk to them and say hello."
"Willow, no!" But it was too late, Willow walked right up to them. "No, no, no! Willow doesn't know what she had gotten herself into."
"Will you relax?" Amity asked Luz. "It might not be as bad as you think it is."
"And plus," Hunter began. "You have all of us. We'll protect you."
"Yeah!" Gus said. "We have your back." Luz smiled.
"Thanks, guys." She thanked them. She then sighed. "Yeah. It's been three months. Who knows? People can change within three months." Amity smiled.
"You know it." She said to her.
After Willow chatted briefly to the three teenagers, they all approached Luz and the gang with trays of their food and drinks. Luz waved to them.
"Hello, Diana. Hello, Debbie. Hello, Danelle. These are my new friends I made at camp. This is Hunter, Gus and Amity. And you already met Willow. So, how are you girls' summer doing? Ready for school because I sure am!"
"So, Luzer," Diana said to her, ignoring the question. "…did you actually learn something at camp or turned your friends into weirdos too?"
"Luzer?!" Amity spoke up, now mad. "Who are you calling a Luzer? This is Luz and she's an awesome person and just so happens to be an awesome girlfriend, definitely not a Luzer." Hunter went closer to them, also mad.
"If you girls continue on being mean to Luz, I will personally beat the living…"
"Hello, Luz's schoolmates!" Gus piped in, not wanting a fight. "It's an honor to finally meet you. As Luz said, my name is Gus."
"How did you guys know that I was at camp?" Luz wanted to know.
"You just admitted you made these friends at camp." Danelle put in.
"I did?" Luz laughed nervously. "Oh, I guess I did."
"Plus we heard it from the whole school." Debby added.
"How did the whole school know?" Debby shrugged.
"It doesn't matter." Diana said. "All we know is, your mom made you go to that camp so you wouldn't be such a weirdo anymore, so did it work?"
"Ye…" She then realized something and changed her mind. "You know what? No, no it didn't. You know why? Because being weird is just who I am and I am not changing anytime soon. My mom told me that sending me away to that camp was an awful mistake. So yes, I may be weird, but so what? I bet all of us are weird in some ways. You should just love yourself for who you are because everyone is unique in their own right."
"I bet she didn't even go to camp." Danelle whispered to Diana.
"No, she did." Diana said to Danelle. "She is just too far gone in being a weirdo that that camp couldn't do anything to help her. And she turned her new friends into weirdoes too."
"That or they were already weirdos." Debby put in. "Maybe that's why their parents sent them there too. So they were easy prey."
"You got a point there, Debbie." Diana stated,
"Well, it's like I always say." Luz began. "Us weirdos got to stick together."
"Spoken like a true weirdo."
"Weirdo or not." Amity said to her. "I love her for who she is." Diana grinned.
"Good for you….weirdo." Amity 's face turned beet red. "Now as you excuse us, we're going to eat our food. Goodbye, Luzer and Luzer's friends." They all laughed as they walked to find a table to sit down at with their food and drinks.
"What is it with those girls?" Amity said. "Was I ever horrible like that? Gosh, I'm so sorry if I was."
"I'm sorry, Luz." Willow apologized as well. "I just wanted to make more friends."
"It's okay, Willow." Luz told her. "You didn't know. Your heart was in the right place."
"Hey, Luz." Hunter spoke to her. "What did they mean when they called you a Luzer?"
"Oh, nothing to worry about, Hunter." Luz told him.
"No." Hunter said. "What did they mean by that? I really want to know."
"No you don't. It's fine, Hunter. Let it go."
"No! Tell me!" Luz couldn't take it anymore and started to cry.
"It means I'm a loser, alright!? They started calling me that dumb insult ever since middle school because of my weirdness!" Hunter was surprised.
"You're not weird. You're just yourself. We all are, aren't we?" Luz smiled at that.
"Thanks, Hunter. But, unfortunately, nothing will change their minds. I will always be a Luzer in their eyes." Hunter grew mad.
"Well, maybe I can change their minds." Hunter went off. Luz started to panic and ran after him.
"Wait, Hunter! Wait, don't do it! Hunter!" Her friends all went after Luz as well.
"Excuse me!" Hunter said to the girls. They all looked at him.
"What do you want?" Danelle asked him.
"I didn't like what your friend called my friend." Hunter said. "Luz is not a Luzer. She is kind and the bestest friend anybody can ever have. I think you should apoligize to her."
"Do you think Diana cares what you think?"
"She should."
"Well I don't." Diana said. "And I don't think I will apologize. Luz is a luzer. It's a fact of life." Hunter grew more mad.
"I warn you. You don't want to cross me. I know how to fight, so I will mess you and your friends up real good."
"OOOOHHHHHH!" Danelle squealed. "Girls, we're talking to a bad boy!"
"I'm serious!"
"Yeah, right!"
"Say," Debbie spoke. "Why are your eyes red? Is there something wrong with them?"
"No, they're not red. They're magenta and my eyes have always been like that. It's how I was clon…, I mean born."
"Whatever." Danelle said. "Now go away."
"No! I'm not going to go away! Not until you say you're sorry for insulting my friend and making her upset."
"Hunter, please!" Luz begged him. "Let's just go. It's okay. I've been called worse."
"Yeah!" Diana said. "Listen to Luzer and go away now you red-eyed, blond haired freak!" That did it! Hunter had enough and punched Diana. Diana fell to the ground. Everyone gasped as Diana now had a black eye. People ran over to the commotion, including nearby waiters.
Camila, who left the bathroom, saw the commotion.
"Oh no!" She said and ran over to the commotion.
"My name is Hunter!" Hunter said to Diana. "And I told you my eyes were magenta! I also warned you that I knew how to fight. I had a lot of training. Now apologize because there's a whole lot more where that came from. You're lucky that I don't have my pailsman with me. This is your last warning!"
"Pails… what? Diana asked. "Get away from me, you weirdo!"
"What is going on?!" Camila commanded to know.
"Hunter punched that mean girl who was saying rude things to Luz." Gus explained to her.
"What?!"
"Madam," A waiter told her, "Is this kid yours?"
"Well, no. He is my responsibility for the time being. I'm so sorry about him. I'll take him home." The waiter nodded in agreement.
"You better. You're lucky my boss didn't find out." Camila looked at Hunter, mad.
"Hunter, let's go home." Hunter looked at her.
"I'm sorry, Camila, but this girl was really mean to Luz. I was just defending her."
"I don't care! Let's go home!"
"But…."
"Home!" She looked at the other kids. "All of us." Hunter groaned, but followed her and the other kids to the door.
"And Diana is colorblind you jerk!" Danelle shouted after Hunter.
The kids didn't talk until the car left the parking lot. Hunter looked up at Camila.
"Camila," He began. "Again, I'm sorry. It's just that…"
"I'm driving, Hunter!" Camila interrupted. "I'll talk to you when we get home." Hunter sighed sadly. From Camila's tone, he knew that he messed up. His friends all felt sorry for him, but were silent the whole time.
"Hunter," Camila said to him as soon as they were in the house. "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"Yes." He said. "I punched a girl, but if you just let me explain. I…"
"Doesn't matter what she did or what she said. I know you're new here, but you need to know the laws here. Violence is never the answer. You don't punch anyone, ever. Do you understand?" Hunter sighed.
"Yes, I understand. I'm really sorry. Does that mean you're not going to hit me?" Camila looked surprised, but seeing Hunter's scar, understood why he would ask that. The poor kid must have come from a very abusive home, and now expected this kind of behavior.
"No, Hunter." She just told him. "I'm not that kind of person." Hunter was surprised.
"Oh, I thought…never mind. I should be punished anyway. I deserve it.
"Well, you're my guest, so I don't know. How about I just give you a warning?"
"No! I did something bad and it disappointed you. I deserve whatever punishment you would give Luz if she did something wrong."
"Okay. How about you go down to the basement and think of what you did?"
"You know what I…" He sighed. "Alright. I'll do that." And with that, he went down to the basement.
Hunter plopped himself on his sleeping bag. Flapjack chirped at him, concerned for his owner.
"I really messed up, Flap." Hunter said to the bird palisman. "I disappointed Camilia and I think I embarrassed Luz. I hate disappointing people. There's so much about the Human Realm that I still have to learn." Flapjack chirped, making Hunter smile.
"Thanks, Flapjack. I know I'll get used to this place, It'll just take time."
"Hunter?" Luz said, now at his side. Hunter looked at her. "You ok?"
"Yeah." He answered. "Luz, I'm sorry I confronted those girls. You tried to stop me, but I didn't listen."
"It's okay." Luz said to him. "Those girls are jerks. And you know what? Now that you're here, Diana knows it, then that way maybe she'll back off and not be mean to me for a while."
"But I can't fight her. Your mom won't like that."
"You don't have to fight her. Just by being here, she'll think you will fight her and she and her cronies will be too scared to pick on me." She then frowned. "Of course when you're gone, they'll pick on me again."
"When I'm gone?"
"Back in the Demon Realm."
"Oh, yeah." The truth was, Hunter didn't think he even wanted to go back. He knew his friends wanted to because they had reasons to go back. They all had families back in the Demon Realm. He, however, had no one to go back to. He had no real reason to go back.
"But if you do choose to live here and be my adopted big brother, Diana and her goons hopefully will never bully me again."
"I still haven't decided. Do you think your mom will still let me?" Luz shrugged.
"Maybe. And don't worry, you have time to think about it. You need a good home, Hunter. You're still young. You shouldn't live on your own. There are people out there that care about you."
"I know. And I shouldn't have run away from the Owl House after we escaped from Belos' mind. I should have just stayed. That was stupid of me."
"You were scared. You just learned that Belos was a horrible person. He still is. You thought you could trust him. You thought he cared about you. And to learn that none of it was true, that your life was nothing but lies, that would be earth-shattering for anyone. Just be glad that you learned the truth before it was too late."
"I guess." He then changed the subject. "Your mom's still mad?"
"She'll get over it. She knows that you're not from here. Just be glad she didn't use Chancla on you."
"Cha…what?"
"Chancla. It's a punishment that involves throwing flip flops at misbehaved children."
"That sounds painful and it sounds like violence. Your mom's not like that, remember? Violence never solves anything."
"Yeah. I know."
"Anyways, if I were to stay here and if we are going to be here for who knows how long, I'm going to have to learn the rules and the laws, the dos and don'ts."
"You will. Mom and I will teach you guys. And if you forget, we'll be here to remind you." Hunter smiled.
"I know you guys will. Thank you, Luz."
"De nada." Hunter was confused.
"Huh?"
"You're welcome. We'll also teach you Spanish too if you still want."
"Oh, yeah. Don't worry, I'll learn. I'll learn everything about the Human Realm soon enough."
"I know you will. I'm going to go back upstairs. Mom, Amity and I are going to my dad's grave at the cemetary."
"Luz?"
"Yeah?" Hunter pointed to the sewing machine.
"I've been meaning to ask you. What is that?" Luz saw it, then turned back to Hunter.
"That's a sewing machine." This sparked Hunter's interest.
"Sewing machine? You think your Mom can show me how to use it so I can practice and eventually I can impress Darius when we get back?"
"I don't see why not."
"Cool. I'll do that, but not right now. I'll just stay down here while you, your mom and Amity go to the cemetery. I'm still being punished."
"You do that, Hunter." And with that, she went back up the stairs. Hunter looked at Flapjack.
"Don't worry, Flap." He said to the bird. "This may be a strange world to us for now, but pretty soon, we'll learn to love this place. Like I said before, It'll just take time."