-Luz-
The middle of nowhere / Wednesday January 25th, 18:00 hs
Luz followed Marcus and Lawrence in her staff as they drove to their facility.
She wasn't sure exactly where they were (navigation wasn't her strong suit) but she guessed they still were near the city. Red was tailing along in the sky behind her, she knew that he didn't like following the humans, but it seemed that his curiosity was too big to miss this. They drove past a small grove of trees and parked near a small building. It was one story tall and had no windows, a little suspicious, but well hidden.
"We're here" Marcus announced once they descended.
"Really? I thought you stopped just to stretch your legs" Red commented sarcastically.
"Don't be mean" She flicked him on his ear, like Eda used to do with her.
"Hey! You little-"
"If you guys are done" Lawrence interrupted their bickering "We will take you to the witch now"
Red looked at them and froze, it looked like he just realized something, something he did not like.
"Is she inside?" He asked them.
"Well, yes. Where else would she be?" Marcus said, confused.
"I'm not going in there!" He huffed and crossed his arms.
The three of them just looked at him like he was stupid.
"Ok, suit yourself" Luz made a move to go forward, but then he grabbed her arm "Hey!"
"Why do you hide her there?" He asked.
"Well our main goal is to keep magical creatures hidden. Having a witch running around defeats that purpose" Lawrence scoffed.
Hmph* "This area is well hidden, so I don't see the problem. Can't you just bring her outside?" He demanded.
The two agents looked at each other in a silent conversation.
"Her condition is… Well, let's just say that the lass is not suited to be outside right now" Marcus said.
"Dude, what's your problem" She just forced herself out of his grasp "Let's just go"
"We shouldn't go there! What if it's a trap?" He said.
"Are you kidding me? We've been with them for the past hour. If they wanted to do something, they would've done so already"
"That was different. We were in an open field and away from them, we could've just flied away if they tried anything, but that won't be the case if we go inside"
"Oh, please" Marcus interrupted him "As if ye couldn't just blast open the damned ceiling at the minimum sign of trouble!" He smiled "I like how you think, lad, and if I was in your position I would probably think the same. But consider this: If we try to trap you here there's a high chance that ye destroy the whole place and kill some of my men, we might be able to capture you, but it isn't worth the risk"
Red just stood there, as if considering his words. After a while, he nodded and came forward.
"You make an excellent point, human" Again he pronounced that word as if it was something awful "It's good to see that you know you are inferior to us"
Luz was about to chastise him, but Marcus' laugh interrupted her
"On the contrary, lad. I merely said you aren't worth the hassle" And with that, he turned around and started walking towards the building.
Red just stood there, dumbfounded, while she chuckled and followed the older man.
"These humans…" She heard him complain behind her.
They entered the grey building, and Luz was struck with awe. From outside its cement walls and lack of windows made it seem like just a storage facility, but she saw that it was equipped with all the modern commodities one could want: A fridge, several couches, a TV, some paintings, a few plants, a microwave, and other electronic appliances. The only weird thing there was a glass cube in the middle of the spacious room, and inside of it there was the witch.
"What in the titan…"
She was awake but she did not look fine: Her skin was pale, her eyes had bags under them, and she looked really skinny, as if she hadn't been eating. She was laying on a bed inside the cage, looking at the TV. When they got close she saw them and slowly walked towards the glass barrier, putting a hand on it. She smiled at her weakly and waved, but a big coughing fit made her kneel.
"What the- release her!" Red ordered Marcus while pointing his staff at him.
"Now hold on a second. I know this looks bad but-"
Luz wasn't listening, she had let them take her away before, but not again. She raised her palisman and channeled her light glyph, creating a radiant orb to blast off the glass.
"Stop!" Lawrence raised his gun at her. But she didn't mind him.
"Cover your eyes!" She warned the witch.
She put a barrier around her to prevent any interference from the agents, raised her staff to strike, and-
"NO!" A new female voice screamed.
She stopped when she was almost done casting and her orb disappeared, she knew that voice! Looking around, she didn't find anyone else in the room with them, until the voice spoke up again.
"Over here…"
She followed the noise to some speakers that were above the cage, she didn't see them before. Below those, she could see that the witch was talking to them through a microphone.
"I'm fine, please don't break the wall" She spoke into the mic.
Luz lowered her staff and walked forward. She placed her hand in the glass, just on the opposite side where the witches' hand was and smiled, the woman gave her a weak smile of her own, before having another coughing fit.
"Are you okey?" She asked, worried.
"She can't hear you, the glass doesn't let sounds come through" Lawrence walked up to her "But she is as fine as she can be, given her conditions"
"Now that's clear… Can all of us calm down a little?" Marcus said, pointing at Red who was still aiming his staff at him.
"Fine" It seemed that he wasn't happy that a human wasn't affected by his intimidation tactic "Why do you have her in a cage?"
"For everyone's protection, actually" Marcus walked up to the glass and knocked on it "We still haven't been able to fully cure her condition, it's just weakened"
"What? I thought you said she was better!" Luz said.
"She is! She doesn't have wings, nor does she want to murder everyone she sees, I'd call that an improvement!"
"We are still trying to find ways to cure her, mind you" Lawrance interviened.
"If you still haven't figured out a way to heal her maybe you should leave her with us" Red said "You know, witches might have a better idea on how to deal with magical stuff"
"I assume that you have the proper installations for her? If she catches a small whiff of flesh or blood makes her turn into that thing again, so letting her out of that ventilated cage might not be a good idea" Marcus shot him an unimpressed look "That's why there are no windows here. We usually let her have this apartment for herself all the time, and when we need to come in we tell her to stay in the cage, after we leave we have to completely sterilize the whole place to make sure she doesn't get transformed by our smell"
"Jeez…" He said.
"Exactly, so maybe-"
"Can I say my part?" The witch asked through the speakers. All of them turned to see her "I wish to stay with them, they have treated me well"
Pfft* "Yeah, better than we should. She killed ten of our men"
"Lawrence!" Marcus scolded him.
"What? It's true! And it's not like she can hear us"
"How can I speak with her?" Luz asked, interrupting their dialogue.
Marcus wordlessly pointed towards a mic that was connected to the cage. She walked up to it and pressed the button.
"Can you hear me?" She spoke and the witch nodded "What's your name?"
"Illyana" She said.
"Nice to meet you, Illyana. I'm-" She stopped herself and looked back to the others. While introducing herself might be the polite thing to do, she wasn't just going to reveal her secret identity to the MCU or red, she didn't trust either of them enough yet "It doesn't matter. All I want to say is that I'm happy to see you well"
"Thanks, but I assume that's not all. I have some things to say to both of you" She pointed towards her and red.
The male witch came forward and grabbed the mic.
"You have news from home?" He said.
"Yes, but let me explain my story first" She closed her eyes and sighed "I am 230 years old, and I've been missing the last two centuries"
The two of them looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure about the exact timeline myself. I think the exact number is 198 years, but-" She continued to ramble on.
"I'm sorry" Luz interrupted her "But I don't understand. If you were petrified, then how come you are here?"
"It's kinda hard to believe" She smiled sheepishly.
"We are open-minded" Red said.
"Ok, but it would be better if I showed it instead" She looked at the agents "Can I?"
"Sure, lass" Marcus said.
The witch nodded happily and proceeded to create a golden spell circle with her hands.
"Whoah, hold on. What are you doing?" Red asked but no one answered.
The spell circle grew and exited her cage, engulfing the two of them. The magic surrounding them was peculiar: It had the familiar feeling as illusion magic, but instead of the usual familiar color it was golden. Not to mention that it had some familiar patterns.
"Is that a light glyph?" She muttered to herself.
"It would be better if you relax" Illyana said.
And with that, the light engulfed them.
It all began in the Darwinian era, in the shoulder of the titan, to be precise.
The spell took form and showed them a small village in the boiling isles. For the first time in months, Luz saw red grass, orange skies, and pink seas. It wasn't realistic or well-defined, it was more like seeing a cartoon than watching the real thing, but it still made Luz feel nostalgic.
I lived in a village near the head called the gland, built on top of a mountain. The terrain was rocky, and the animals were fierce, but we had our magic to protect us.
The images changed to show groups of witches working together in the village. The movement of the images wasn't fluid, it slowly went frame by frame to recreate a sequence. They used the earth glyph to build in the hard mountain ground, and then they used the plant glyph to grow crops in terraces. As she watched Luz realized that they were combining the glyphs with their magic circles.
"It must be the beginnings of plant and construction magic! They came from glyphs!"
She watched in rapt fascination as some hybrid animals she didn't recognize approached the village and tried to enter it.
Not only that, we also have an incredible power that no other witch possessed: The ability to shift.
When the strange beasts attacked they were chased away by the witches, but something was off about them. Each one had a different animalistic feature: One had bear-like claws, the other had bird wings, and she could see gills on a third one.
Thanks to that unique ability, we were able to partially transform into the creatures of the isles, obtaining their characteristics.
"I… haven't heard of magic like that" Red said.
We kept it secret for centuries. That was enough to keep us protected for a while. But then, he arrived
The spell shifted to show them the arrival of a lone figure to the village. It was too small to distinguish much, but she could see some brown hair.
We did not know who he was, only that he proclaimed to be a human.
"Wait, hold on. A human?" Red asked.
There had been several reports about humans managing to find their way into the boiling isles. However, most believed those were myths.
We did not know how he ended up there, neither did he, or so he said
The image shifted to show the human walking in the middle of the town centre and being greeted by the witches.
He told us he was in a quest to return back home and he needed our help. He seemed genuine, so we agreed.
The spell showed them the human guiding the witches through a cavern. The human was holding a round object that she couldn't distinguish, it looked like a tray.
But it was a trap. Inside the mountain where he took us resided the source of our powers, and he seeked to acquire that for himself. We tried to prevent that, but he was too strong.
Another change. This time it showed the witches being attacked by a strange black shadow, as the human walked towards an ornate door carved in the stone wall.
"Wasn't he a human?" Red asked "You could've dispatched him easily then"
The details aren't very clear, but I recall that he had some sort of help.
A new image appeared. The human in a spacious stone room, in the middle of it, she could see a small lion statue. The carvings in the wall told Luz that it was at the other side of the ornate door. There was only one witch near him, she was bloodied and bruised, but she looked familiar.
I managed to sneak up to him as he tried to grab our relic, and touched it at the same time as him. The powerful magic in the statue infused us both.
The spell shifted to show the two of them reaching out to grab the relic, only for it to start blasting them with golden energy. The scene changed to the witch starting to transform into the same monster she fought before
That was when I got my curse, although I didn't realize at the time. Before I recovered from the blast something else happened to me, I was shifting, but it was stronger than before and I couldn't stop it. Soon I grew to become that beast you saw and my consciousness faded away
The images disappeared, it all went to black.
I did not know how much time had passed from that, I wasn't fully aware. But when I woke up I was in a whole different place, with people dressed in white cloaks. I was tied up in some sort of laboratory and they were all talking about things I did not understand.
The light appeared again and it showed coven scouts walking around a room, with Illyana in her beast form inside a test tube. Several other similar containers held people inside them.
I was still a beast, so my mind was a bit fuzzy, but for the first time in decades I could fully process what was happening around me. The few words that I could catch told me that they were going to send me, and everyone in those tubes, somewhere else. Then a new person showed up, a man with a golden mask and a staff.
Luz saw an image that she often saw in her nightmares, the emperor walking in front of her. This cartoonish version of him lacked the terrifying aura that he carried whenever he went, but it was still imposing.
He gave some orders and the others started to work. They pushed my prison towards a strange arc of metal. I tried to fight it off with my paws, but the golden man used his staff on me.
Belos aimed his staff at her and she started to turn grey. Luz had seen this before, it was Belos' petrification spell.
The last thing I saw before I was turned into stone was a strange light starting to form in the arc. When I woke up again, I was with you.
The spell showed them the scene when Luz defeated the Chimera. After that the spell faded, leaving all of them in the room again.
"After that I was in and out of consciousness for a while, until they healed me" She nodded towards Marcus "They brought me up to speed, they told how much time had happened in the boiling isles. It was… hard to accept" She looked at the ground with sadness
"I'm sorry. I have no idea how horrible must've been for you" Finding out that everyone you knew and loved passed away over a century ago would be devastating.
"I try not to think about it" She gave them a weak smile.
"But that's not why I wanted to talk to you"
"What do you wish to speak about?" Red asked.
Illyana took a deep breath and looked at her straight in the eye.
"Belos is going to send more beasts, and then he's going to start an invasion on earth"
-Amity-
A cafe in gravesfield / Friday January 27th, 11:00 hs
"You can't be serious…" Leah told her with tears in her eyes.
"I'm afraid I am" She said with more confidence that she was feeling.
It was curious, a few weeks ago this girl felt like the most important person in her life, but now she was just something that she wanted to get rid off.
"Please! I-I know that I did was wrong but-"
"You lied to me! You were the one who told my mom that we were dating and where we were, if it wasn't for you she wouldn't have found out! It's thanks to you that I had to go through all of that"
"I had no choice! My dad got a new job and he was being relocated to another state, I was going to lose him!" She cried "It was bad enough living with parents in two different cities, but one in the east coast and the other in the west? I'd become a stranger to him" She stopped a second to blow her nose
Her conflicting emotions raged inside of her. On one side, she wanted to be compassionate towards her, but on the other… She wanted to chastise her for what she did. The worst part was that her mother was the one who taught her
"Then I found out that he tried to apply to Blight industries, but they rejected him. I-I I thought that if he got accepted… I'd get to stay"
"So what? You contacted my mom? How?" She was honestly surprised by that.
"I… I remembered that you showed me her office. I stood outside waiting for her to come out and sorta ambushed her. She said she was impressed by it"
Amity closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. A big part of her wanted to hurt, to spite her ex for it but she was trying to be better now, so she quelled those emotions. Besides, Leah may have been the one that caused all of this but Amity was sure that her mother would've found out eventually.
The issue with trying to calm herself was that her mother was the one who taught her how to do it, and every time she did it, she could hear her mother's voice in her head telling her to concentrate, and that did not help in her current situation.
"Well, congratulations, your plan worked. Your father has been hired by Blight industries, so you won't have to move now" She said in the most apathetic tone she could muster.
"Bu-But I did it so we can bet together! Now I that my dad lives here I can enroll in cliffside and-"
"I strongly advise against it" She raised her hand to stop her "You knew what the situation with my mother was, and you still decided to do it. You could've talked to me, and maybe we could've come up with something to help you, but you betrayed me instead"
Her glossy eyes were full of unshed tears. For a second, she felt the urge to reassure her, but she refrained.
"I need you to understand something: I don't hate you, and I don't harbor any remorse from you. But we can't keep dating after what you did, I hope you can understand that"
Leah cried a little, but then she wiped her tears and nodded. Amity reached towards her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, making her smile. She paid for their drinks, got up from her seat, and accompanied her outside. Giving each other one last hug, they parted ways.
Amity reflected on her inner struggle as she walked through the streets. She was thinking of what her mother would do in this situation and trying to do the opposite, which wasn't a healthy way of making her own choices. In a way it was funny: All her life she was trained to obey that voice in her head that told her how to act, and now she was still hearing it, but she was using it as a guideline on what not to do.
"In a way, I'm still letting her decide what to do with my life. That ends today"
She took a deep breath and readied herself for what was to come. She still had one big challenge left for today.
Thirty minutes later / Blight industries main building
"-and don't even get me started on the revenue loss, do you have any idea how much money has your little scandal cost me? I'll give you a hint, more than my secretary earns in a year!" Her mother ranted at her.
She was in Odalia's office, lounging in her chair. As soon as she had seen her, the older Blight had grabbed her by the wrist and janked her towards her office. Amity had followed her along without much resistance because she wanted to let her think she had the edge, for now at least.
"Sounds like you need to raise her salary" She couldn't help but smirk.
"This is hardly a time for jokes, young lady" Her mother glared at her "This is a PR nightmare! What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I hope you have a good lawyer?" She joked.
"I-I, what is it with you?! What has provoked you to do such a thing?" She exclaimed.
"Are you really going to pretend that you don't know? Alright, let me do the list: You used me for your publicity stunt, outed me in front of the whole town, spied on me, ruled every aspect of my life, made my childhood hell, forced me to separate from my best friends, made me suffer Boscha, and used grandpa's death to trick me into wearing a tracker. Yes I know about that and don't try to convince me otherwise" She raised her tone when she saw that her mother was about to interrupt her "Do you have any idea how fucked up that is? To see a kid mourning and only think on how you can capitalize on that loss? Of course you don't! Because everything is a business for you"
"That's just how life works" She scoffed "Everyone only looks for what they have to gain for themselves, and uses whatever chances they get"
Pfft* She laughed "With strangers? Sure, but never with their own child, their own family. Only real assholes do that" She stared at her while a fiery rage burned in her heart.
"Amity!" Odalia gasped "Watch your tongue!"
"Or what? Asshole" She spat at her again.
Amity rarely ever swore, it felt bad to her core. Years of good manners drilled into her since before she could speak were fighting against her right now. She felt the impulse to cover her mouth and shy away like the good girl she was trained to be.
But yet, she didn't back down, even as Odalia's stare made her want to crawl under the nearest hole she held her ground and kept looking at her in the eyes. This new sensation of rebellion was freeing, intoxicating even, and she felt as if she could do anything or face anyone.
"Amity. Blight" The tone was the most urgent tone Odalia had ever used on her. It made her skin crawl and the hairs in her neck stand up "You did not just call me that. Apologize in this instant!"
That yell might have been enough to make Amity bow down and not speak for a whole week before, but not now.
"No" She was proud to hear that there was no shaking in her voice.
"I can't believe it! we raised you better than that!" Odalia roared.
"No you didn't! I was raised by Lilith, the twins, and the dozen tutors and nannies you hired! You only saw me, what, once a week? That's not enough!" She got up from the chair and was shaking "Living under your rule has been hell on earth, and I'm tired of it!
"Alright, that's it. I'm not going to tolerate more of this silly behaviour from your part" She went to grab her phone from her desk "I'm going to call our driver and he will take you to Blight manor, once I'm done with work and you had time to calm down we are going to have a serious discussion about you language. Then, we are going to record you apologizing for that stupid little video you posted and send it to grant, understood?" The way she pronounced the last word made it clear that there was no room for discussion.
Amity sighed. A small (and stupid) part of her still hoped to appeal to Odalia and have her in her life, but she knew it wasn't possible. There was no coming back from what she was about to do, that bridge was going to get burnt.
But on the other hand, she needed to do this.
"No" She said quietly.
"What?" Her mother asked, appalled.
"I said no, I'm not going to do it" She walked towards her and crossed her arms.
"Amity Blight. I am your mother! You are going to do as I say or I'll-"
"Or you what? What are you going to do?" She asked with more bravery than she felt "Are you going to send me to my room? Take my phone away? As if that'd help your situation!" She laughed.
Odalia seemed stunned for once, she could not form a reply to that.
"Oh, what else can you do, let's see. Take me to a different school? Good for me, at least I won't have to deal with Boscha. No more basket practises? That was your idea to begin with. Piano lessons? I never liked those. My job in the library? I need that for college" With each word she took a step forward and made her mom back against a wall "You have controlled every aspect of my life, but it came at a cost. Now you can't take anything from me without hurting your future plans. What are you going to do? Take me from tutoring?"
Odalia was shocked. Her right eye was twitching and her mouth was wide open, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. She slowly walked back towards the chairs.
"You want me to apologize? Hell no, I won't" She sat back down again and smirked "You can't make any of this go away, but you can stop it before it gets worse"
"W-worse?" It was the first time she heard her mother stutter "What do you mean by worse"
"Oh, I can keep going. Do you think it's bad now? What would happen when the newspapers find out about Grant's love affairs? He really likes them young. Or what about Blight Industries' secret chinese imports? Because you told all of our investors that our products are made in the US"
"Those are company secrets! How did you-"
"I've been in Grant's office and Blight industries ever since I could crawl. What can I say? I've seen things" She shrugged "You taught me how to look for weaknesses and exploit them, but I bet that you never thought that I would use it against you"
She unzipped her bag and grabbed a stack of papers from it. She put them on the desk alongside a pen.
"But I won't do it unless you sign that paper"
"What is that?" She eyed the document suspiciously.
"My emancipation papers" Amity announced proudly.
"WHAT! Are you insane?" She was outraged.
"Maybe I am, but it doesn't change anything" She grabbed her backpack and got up from the chair "If you don't sign that, this scandal is only going to get worse. It's your choice"
She got up and left the office. Her mother's screams echoed after her and she smiled.
-Hunter-
Fazbear's family dinner / Monday January 30th 18:00 hs
Hunter was struggling with a lot of things at the same time. Which it was becoming a common occurrence in his life
Not only was he gripping with the usual dread that came with being trapped in a foreign dimension, he also was struggling with the threat of the possibility of having a gargantuan land shark attacking. But it wasn't the worst thing: Earlier this week he had received the message that the Emperor Belos planned to invade the human realm by sending beasts through rifts between dimensions, which was insane! If Emperor Belos could transport people, he'd surely have brought him back home by now.
"That's just plain stupid! Why would Belos invade the human realm? There's nothing here that he could want. This world sucks, and he already has a whole dimension for himself!"
"Hey, Hunter! Are you going to stay the whole day there sulking or what?" Jeff's angry shouting scared him back into reality.
"Sorry. I'm coming"
He Got up from the counter and went back to work. His job at the diner was really demanding, but he was a diligent man, and could adapt very well. Customer's service was tough, but climbing a mountain when you were seven was harder.
"I'll take care of the dishes, you go to table eleven" His boss said.
"You got it" He started walking towards the customer area.
"Hey. Hold on a sec! Where's your uniform?" Jeff asked.
Hunter grimmanced. His uniform consisted of orange pants with vertical brown stripes, a yellow shirt with a purple bowtie, and huge black shoes. Those things were bad on their own, but to top it all off he also had a brown hat that resembled the face of the restaurant's bear mascot, furr and all. It engulfed his entire hair, so it looked like the bear was eating him.
"Do I have to?" He pleaded.
"Yes" His boss grabbed a spare hat and forced it on his head "Now go"
Hunter begrudgingly picked up the menu and went to the aforementioned table to start his shift.
And then he stopped immediately.
Sitting across from him, in the table he was supposed to go to, there was the girl with glasses that he had talked with before. She was talking with another girl their age and, judging by the books open in front of them, they were studying.
"Ah crap…"
Now, he didn't have anything against the girl, she had been pretty friendly the last couple of times they interacted. But the thing was that his new job required him to do… embarrassing stuff in front of the clients. As if his uniform wasn't enough. He took a deep breath and decided to tough it up and do it.
As he walked towards them, he heard them talking.
"...No Skarra, the periodic table does not work like that. You need to-" Then she took notice of him "What?"
He put the best smile he could muster, which wasn't especially big, and lowered his hat so th.
"Welcome to fazbear's family diner! Where dreams come alive! What can I do for you on this faz-tacular day!" He did the mandatory jazz hands and something died inside of him.
The two of them just looked at him and laughed.
"I'm sorry. I know it was mean, but you have to admit that was lame" The white haired one said.
"I really hope they pay you well for doing that" Willow said after wiping a tear.
"They really don't" He grumbled.
"I'm sorry for you. We'll just take some medium fries and soda each" Willow said.
He nodded and left to take care of their orders. He was so happy that he wasn't recognized…
When he came back with their orders he overheard them talking again.
"I can't believe that you convinced me to come here, Skarra. This place creeped me out when I was little!"
"Are you kidding? Fazbear is a classic. My parents took me here every weekend" Skara said.
"Who in their titan damned minds would bring their kid here? this place is terrifying!" He thought as he watched the furry animatronics sing and dance in the background.
"Ohh, food!" Skarra said as he laid the plates on their table.
"Thank you!" Willow looked at his chest for some reason "Wait a minute…"
"Uh-Oh"
In his haste to not be recognized he had forgotten about the name tag on his chest.
A spark of recognition flashed on Willow's eyes.
"Hunter? Is that you?" She asked with a tint of amusement in her eyes.
"Aww man" He lowered his head in shame.
"Wow, so you work here now? What happened to the old place?" She asked.
"Got fired…" He grumbled under his breath.
"What! Why?"
"I had an interaction with my previous boss" That was a lie. In reality he quitted because Abigail knew where he worked and he couldn't risk it "But it's fine now. I managed to find this place and the pay is better"
"It is?" Willow asked. Looking at the poor conditions of the restaurant.
"Well… I manage. Who is your friend?" He pointed at the dark-skinned girl.
"Oh, this is Skarra. I'm helping her study for the upcoming exams"
"Pleased to meet you!" She offered him a hand and he shook it "Willow, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" Skarra grinned mischievously.
The two of them looked at her as if she was stupid.
"Excuse me?" He had barely interacted with this girl!
"What? It's pretty obvious! I'm good at this stuff" She proudly proclaimed "Say, what is your sign?"
"Excuse me?" He repeated.
"I'm just trying to see how compatible you two are. I know Willow is a cancer, so-"
"Skarra, stop. You are making this awkward" Willow said.
"Aww, it's ok Willow! There's no need to-" She shut up when Willow closed her book with a slam.
"You are not doing this. Skarra, I met him once when he worked in a different restaurant and we talked for five minutes, that's it. I know you like to ship people, even if they barely interact, but its weird when you do it with strangers" Her voice's tone was stern, like scolding father "We are only here to study, not to find me a partner"
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Skara lowered her head in shame.
Hunter raised an eyebrow at that. He hadn't interacted much with Willow, but from what he could gather she was always calm and tended to have a gentle nature, this kind of assertiveness was new.
"Good for her. People need to toughen up in this world" He silently left them to their studies.
An hour later
He finished all of his duties and was supposed to go home seven minutes ago, but his boss had other ideas.
"Just take a look at the damn thing already!" Jeff asked for the third time.
"I'm off my shift! And I'm not even a technician!" Hunter pointed out.
"You are a smart lad, figure it out!" His boss said.
One of the restaurant's animatronics was malfunctioning and his boss wanted him to repair it without getting paid extra. Now to be fair, this might've happened because he had been bragging about his mechanical expertease before, but still! Those skills of his were reserved for repairing his staff, not for tinkering with oversized dolls that somewhat smelt like corpses (And what was with that anyway?).
"Without extra pay? You still haven't paid what you owe me for this month!" He said.
"I will do it once you finish this. You are not done for the day"
"Get Mike to do that stuff" He pointed at his coworker who was smoking at the side.
"He doesn't know shit!" He yelled.
"Uhh, sir. Actually I know-"
"I DIDN'T TALK TO YOU, MIKE!"
"Agh! You know what? If that's how you are going to be I'd better quit, this place is hell" He threw his outfit away and started walking off.
"Yeah that's right, and don't bother coming back!" Jeff's voice accompanied him "Hey, Mike. How do you feel about going full time?"
As he was storming off he started thinking about his options. He was really close to fixing his staff, but he needed money to pay for the parts and his rent had just gone up. So far he had been in and out of jobs for almost a month, and he couldn't afford to keep going like this.
"It was that bad huh?" A voice at his left startled him.
He jumped and assumed a combat stance just out of instinct because of his honed training. But when he turned to face his aggressor he saw Willow waiting for him.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her.
"Waiting for my parents to come pick me up, they were delayed" She yawned and stretched "You still haven't answered, was it that bad?"
He huffed "Yes. I want to leave with my dignity intact"
"Well I think that it's too late for that, the silly dance took that away" He frowned at that "But I can help you, if you want"
"No thank you. I don't want any charity" If he couldn't get out of this situation on his own, then what was even the point.
"It's not charity, more like mutual help" She grabbed something from her backpack and showed it to him, it was a help wanted sign "My dads' flower shop is looking for workers. You do seem to be good at customer service, so I was thinking of telling them about you"
He looked at the flyer. He had been at her shop before, but he wasn't particularly interested in flowers. Then again, he also hadn't been interested in furry animatronics before he signed in for this job.
"So, are you in?" She asked and jabbed a thumb towards an approaching car "Because that's them. Do you wanna do an early interview?"
Hunter smiled and shook her hand.
And we are back!
I'm sorry it took so long, I think I broke my two legs. No, literally, I did something and now both my knees and ankles hurt if I start walking too much. It also sucks bc the doctors don't find anything weird in those, they say I need to build more leg muscle to stop it from happening, but that stuff takes time.
Besides that things have been shit here, I failed my classes and I'm struggling to find a job, but other than that, it's fine.
I want something positive in all of this, what's a show you have been interested in lately? For me it's invincible and solo leveling