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thedistrictsleepsalonetonight · 3 years

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Space girl

The beginning of most love stories: the moon falls in love with the sun.

(The problem, however, is that most love stories aren’t set in the Boiling Isles. To confirm that the metaphor works adequately, there must exist at least one moon and one sun in your admittedly bonkers world. Is there a sun? A moon?)

Amity shivers where she’s sitting at her window, stares up at the bright bluish orb hanging over the sky and decides it does, in fact, qualify as a celestial body, whatever the hell that means. Luz has been teaching them about the intricacies of the human world, every bit of knowledge that they would require if in case they ever got transported there accidentally, and that includes something called a smartphone, a bus and the shortest way to the nearest vending machine, preferably a vending machine that stocks Mars Bars. Amity suspects the last is just another one of Luz’s whims, but has no way of confirming.

(And what is the point of confirming anything anyways? It is enough to sit in front of Luz, or beside her or anywhere with a direct line of sight to her, so Amity can listen to her blabber on about chocolate chips and scrambled eggs and something called a Tumblr; enough to get lost in the insistent, sunshine shaped cadence of her voice and forget about the perils of the week.

Plus, is the sun ever wrong?)

A month ago, Amity would have been alarmed at how easily she writes down her utter devotion towards a very human someone who gets beaten up on the regular by some ancient eldritch horror. Now the words just walk out of her quill and plant themselves firmly on the page like they couldn’t belong anywhere else, except maybe her paramour’s heart. That’s the problem with the moon falling in love with the sun. it’s annoying yet ineffable and inevitable. It’s also the easiest thing she’s ever done.

*****

Emira figures it out first. Which probably means that Edric knows as well, since Amity is pretty sure the twins share a single mind and keep passing it to each other like they’re in an eternal Grudgby match. However, he’s not the one who appears in her room in the middle of the night to scare her half to death. That’s all Emira.

“What,” Amity starts, one hand on her chest, other reaching instinctively for her training wand at the sight of a green cloud of smoke that’s materialized in her room out of nowhere, “in the world are you doing here?”

Her sister leans against the doorway, like she’s been there all along, takes in her room. Amity knows it’s clean, knows that there is not a speck of dust hiding beneath the floorboards or an errant cape strewn on her bed, and yet can’t help following Emira’s gaze anxiously as it travels across her neatly arranged trophy on the shelf, her table and the loose floorboard she now hides her diary under, before she comes to rest on hers.

“You never told us what happened at the library the other day,” she says, finally.

Amity blinks. “I did tell you what happened. Otabin turned into a monster and tried to sew me, literally, into a book. Had to be fought off.”

She doesn’t continue with the subsequent thoughts in her head. Luz was there. Brave, idiotic Luz with a tendency of barging into adventures without a second thought. Luz, who I would’ve jumped into fire for. Luz, who made (makes) me laugh.

“You mean you and Luz?” Emira asks, innocently.

She bites the inside of her cheek, tries hard not to betray the smile that’s trying to creep up her face at the sound of Luz’s name. Nods.

“Luz is pretty cool, is she not?” Emira continues, and okay, there’s no reason to say someone’s name this much in one conversation. She ambles around her room, touching things at random, while Amity regulates her breathing. This was pathetic. The sound of someone’s name wasn’t supposed to make her feel like her heart was going to burst out of her, wasn’t supposed to climb up her throat and turn into absolute warmth all over her face.

“Uh huh,” she manages. “I guess. Yeah. Eh. Yeah.” Too much too much too much too much.

Emira is suddenly in her face then. She places her hand on Amity’s shoulders, stares right into her eyes.

“Aw, Mittens,” she chuckles. “You’re adorable when you have a crush.”

And then she disappears.

Amity does manage to chuck the object nearest to her (which happens to be her training wand) at Emira’s retreating figure. Then she sits on the floor and curls up into an embarrassed ball. You know, as one does.

*****

The whole jumping into danger for Luz thing would be a lot more avoidable if Luz didn’t have an equally huge jumping into danger for Amity thing as well.

Which is such a godforsaken Luz thing to do. The idiot immersed herself in a cauldron full of sludge for Willow, who she had met minutes ago, of course she would take on her burden for Grom night. Of course she would somehow break the cage Amity had conjured up for her to come save Eda and Edric and Emira and of course she would help her make things right with Willow. If the girl had one coherent thought when she woke up every morning, it was probably this – Ooh, someone’s in trouble? Let me fix it!

(She does inevitably manage to turn a tiny cut into a gushing wound in absolutely no time at all, but would Luz even be Luz without shenanigans?)

Amity loves it. It gives her a heart attack, but she loves how Luz is always ready to help out a random stranger. She’s never met anyone with a heart bigger than Luz’s and a personality sunnier than hers.

(Also hasn’t met anyone who’s cuter, or prettier, or better-looking in a strange black-pink-frilly-yet-well-tailored attire, but let’s not go there)

Either way, it’s completely understandable that she immediately reaches for her wand when Luz climbs up onto her balcony after Grom night, ready to fight whatever it was that was evidently bothering her.

“No!” Luz holds up her hands, shoots her a quick smile. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Oh,” she says, feeling herself relax. “So, um — why are you — here?”

“I could go! If you — wanted to, sleep or—”

“—no! Absolutely not!” Curse her for picking the absolute worst way to phrase a question. Why hadn’t she said Hey Luz, it’s so nice to see you, what brings you here? Or Hey Luz, please walk into my room and never leave.

(You know. Either works)

“I’m glad you’re here,” Amity says, then fumbles for something, anything, to add on to that revealing statement. “I mean, I couldn’t sleep anyways.”

Luz nods, and then giggles when Amity joins her onto the balcony and in the moonlight.

“What?” she asks, a little self-conscious. Also very charmed. Making Luz laugh was like some form of intoxicating elixir; Amity was hooked onto the feeling. Luz laughing made the world brighter.

(God, she was so gone for this idiot.)

“Your pajamas have tiny owls all over them,” Luz points out.

“Okay, that’s it!” she says, half-turning to go back into her room, when Luz’s hand grabs her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Luz is still laughing. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You look cute.”

Thank you, Luz. That’s very nice of you, Luz. You look nice in your strange clothes and oversized jacket as well, Luz. Those were all potential responses she could deliver.

Instead, she makes a choked-off noise that sounds suspiciously like hngg and closes her eyes.

(She’s so gone for this idiot)

*****

“Does your moon look like the one here?” Amity asks, one night of many, when they’re sitting on her balcony staring up at the gigantic thing. There’s some quiet song about stars and lovers that’s playing on that infernal device Luz is always toting around, and Luz is next to her, her arm brushing against Amity’s, radiating warmth out from the point of contact.

Amity wouldn’t mind if she died happy right at this moment.

“It’s a little different, I think,” Luz tilts her head, regarding it thoughtfully. Then she picks up her phone, taps at it and holds it out in front of Amity. “Here, that’s the moon back home.”

It isn’t bluish like this one. Nor is it smooth, unblemished. It’s got marks all over it, remnants, Amity presumes of outside forces long gone by. Enraptured, she leans in for a closer look.

“It’s orange!”

“It was just that day,” Luz informs her. “It isn’t orange all the time.”

“It changes colors?” That was surprising. Also fascinating.

“Not — not all the time. It’s complicated, I guess.”

Amity likes the wide smile Luz holds when she talks about this. Luz is so expressive, she couldn’t hide her feelings to save her life. Most of the time in school, when being faced down by exasperated teachers Amity thinks of it as a curse. Now, however, at midnight, while it’s just the two of them, and she is privy to this unbridled display of everything that makes up Luz, she’s enamored.

“Why do you like the moon so much?” she asks, curious.

“Why do you like the sun so much?” Luz shoots back, playfully.

Oh. That one’s easy. “Because it turns everything golden. Because it’s airy and light. Because it makes me feel warm inside.” Because your eyes turn a particular shade in the sunlight and it’s hard to look at you directly, you shine so bright. Because every time the sun comes up, it is a precursor to me seeing you in school.

Because it reminds me of you.

Luz looks at her, her eyes uncharacteristically wide and serious. “I like the moon because it makes me feel seen. Because it’s almost as lonely as I am. Because I can trust it enough to know that it’s mostly always there, even if it’s behind the clouds at the moment.”

They’re staring at each other, eyes wide, and Amity can’t breathe. She thinks of a lonely Luz staring up at the night sky back in the human world, talking to the moon, and it twinges, sorrowfully, like a ukulele out of tune, at a place deep underneath her chest. Some strange mixture of I’m sorry you had no one to talk to and I wish I’d been there, I wish I’d known you back then — I’d have listened to all your stories.

“Plus,” Luz smiles, “it’s pretty.”

Amity blinks, and the spell is broken. Luz jerks, as if coming out of a dream, and stands up straight. Stammers, fumbles, makes a truly terrible joke about broomsticks and King and the annoying owl slash security guard slash housekeeper and runs off, leaving her completely confused.

*****

It’s when Gus finds out that Amity discovers that everyone and their parent has known about her Grometheus sized crush on Luz the entire time.

“But why didn’t you tell me?” He’s still sulking about it in a corner, while Amity is faced down by Willow, Edric, Emira, Eda and King at the same time.

“Nobody told anyone, strange little child,” Eda waves a hand impatiently at him. “We just have eyes.”

Edric casts a momentary silencing spell on him, but Amity is pretty sure he’s mouthing the words “But I have eyes too”. Not that she’s too worried about Gus. He’ll be fine.... eventually. It’s more the fact that she now has to figure out which parts of her behavior have apparently clued in the whole world to the fact that her heart is waddling around in an idiot’s chest, most times.

“How about the fact that you can’t stop smiling when I bring her up?” She does not—

“Or that you did some pretty advanced magic trying to save her when that Slither-Beast had us?” How did he-

“You nearly combusted when she picked you up after our Grudgby match?” It wasn’t that bad.

She buries her head in her hands. Then looks up at King.

“Do you want to add anything?”

“No,” he replies. “I had no idea until today. I just didn’t want to be lumped in with Gus over there.”

She stands up, picks up her bag. “Okay, I am clearly at a disadvantage here—”

“Mittens, come back,” Edric grabs the back of her shirt, lets her flail for a minute before she gives up.

“I just — I just wanted to get her something nice for her birthday tomorrow, okay? And instead I’m being ambushed by the entirety of Boiling Isles.”

“But we are trying to help you, kid,” Eda tells her, now lounging on the couch with King on her lap. “God knows I love that child, but she has not an ounce of common sense in her. There is no way she’s ever going to figure out you’re in love with her if you don’t—”

“—whoa, whoa, whoa, love? That’s — please — completely crazy — idea. I’m not — in — love. That’s—”

She’s not. She’s not. So what if she keeps interrogating Gus on human things so she can impress Luz with her admittedly flawed knowledge on all things non-Boiling Isles? So what if she hasn’t slept more than five hours for the past one month because Luz comes over at night and they end up talking until past midnight? What does it even matter that Luz is the only person who she feels any form of innate comfort around? Or that every time she lends Luz her jacket when it gets chilly, the sight of an awkwardly clad Luz in that oversized thing makes her heart feel full to the point of bursting?

That’s not love.

(Some strange whisper echoes through her head, leaving echoes of But it could be behind)

Luz is the sun, okay? Bright and beautiful and adored by everyone. There’s no reason she could, or that she even should pay attention to Amity. Her affection is easily given, evenly split between all her friends and the citizens of the world; there’s no way Amity could ever hope to exert enough gravity to make Luz notice her, no way she could dare to hope for a greater portion in Luz’s long list of priorities.

(After all, does the sun even know that moon exists?)

*****

“Come on, Amity!”

She presses her lips flat, tries not to burst into laughter at the sight of an impatient Luz, vibrating by her side, hands opening and closing in the air.

“I know you have a gift for me! And you’ve been hiding it from everyone! Nobody at the party knew!”

“Aren’t you tired from the party?” she asks, knowing the abrupt change in topic is just going to annoy Luz more. It had been a hectic affair, after all. Monster complications in the morning aside, the Owl House had seen an impressive number of guests who wanted to wish Luz a very happy birthday. An impressive number of guests along with an impressive number of gifts.

All except one.

“Nope. Not tired at all,” Luz tells her, promptly. “Completely alert and ready to receive the gift that I know you’ve gotten me but aren’t giving me yet, because you like messing with me.”

Amity twists her face into the visual equivalent of Who, me but conjures up a wrapped box either way. It falls into Luz’s outstretched hands, and then she has to tell her to shush unless they want Amity’s parents grounding her, forever.

(Not that it pleases her, much. She hates telling Luz to quiet down, because it tends to break her out of whatever spiel she is embarking upon, and Amity adores it when Luz rambles. Her eyes shine, and her hands move around animatedly, and her voice, her voice is so, so sweet she doesn’t mind it telling her about things she cannot comprehend)

She puts a hand on Luz’s right arm just as she’s about to unwrap it. “Luz,” she starts, already embarrassed, but determined to power through, “this, is probably not the best gift, and probably not even accurate as well, so you have to tell me if you don’t like it, okay? I’ve got other backup gifts I’d planned on giving you, so no worries, okay? Just—”

“Amity,” Luz cuts in, her excited smile morphing into something a little quieter, gentler, “I already love it.”

“You haven’t even seen it yet.”

Luz shrugs, like it doesn’t matter, still looking at her. Only resumes unwrapping it when Amity nods. Opens the box, and thankfully isn’t looking at her when Amity starts talking.

“I tried — to make it as close to the real thing as possible,” she says, watching Luz look at the off-white orb in wonder. “King helped. He went on something called the, the internet? And turns out your moon has a lot of craters! But it’s pretty regardless, so I tried — to. Yeah.”

She’s not exactly surprised when Luz leans over and hugs her. They’re sitting side by side so the angle’s a little off, but it’s not like she cares. Luz, beautiful, happy, Luz is here and she’s solid in her arms, and she can feel her smile against her neck and Amity is going to die—

“Thank you.” Luz disentangles herself from the embrace, but still pretty close. “I — Amity. Thank you. You didn’t have to.”

But I want to. I want to give you things, and I want to give you things that you like and that will maybe remind you of me. She places a hand on the orb between them, sees it light up.

“It also does this,” she informs Luz, unnecessarily. Then places a hand again, watches it turn orange. “Changes colors. Like yours does.”

She finally looks at Luz again, after a moment of complete silence, only to see her staring back. The look in her eyes is so — so intense (Amity can think of no other way to describe it), that it makes her want to turn away and cover her face. Like it’s going to burn her up if she keeps looking into her eyes.

And then Luz quickly darts forward to press a kiss to her cheek, and Amity combusts.

(Only inside. You’d think it was possible, wouldn’t you? It was the Boiling Isles, after all. But no. Nobody had spontaneously combusted since Elaric the Great and as far as anybody could tell, it didn’t have anything to do with romance)

The kiss lands half on her half and half on her skin because she’s pretty sure Luz hasn’t exactly thought it through either. There’s a single, blissful moment of peace, and then then her heart goes into overdrive, beating away like it’s trying to catch a train.

Speaking of things trying to catch a train, however....

“I have to go!” Luz scrambles away, gets up. Her face looks red as well, and Amity, a little stumped, watches it happen, as though in slow motion. Even through her haste, she picks up the replica of the moon carefully and wraps it up in her jacket. “I’ll — see you tomorrow! At school! Where we both.... go. So. Yeah. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight?” Amity replies, softly.

Right before she’s about to climb down, Luz stops. Turns around, and very quickly says something that Amity for the life of her cannot figure out.

(Also, because she’s still in the tummy-woozy, mind-blank state of just having a kiss pressed to her cheek by the most perfect girl in the world)

“Can you say that again?”

“I, uh,” Luz slows down, deliberately, her voice coming out quieter. “Did you totally hate that?”

Oh.

Oh, gosh, the idiot.

Amity shakes her head, grins at her, hoping that says what she isn’t brave enough to say yet. “No, Luz. I didn’t hate that.”

*****

She keeps the picture of Luz’s tremulous, answering smile wrapped in the fist she presses to her heart a long time after she’s gone.

*****

And that’s how the story ends. With the sun smiling at the moon.

#the owl house #lumity #luz x amity #fanfiction #okay so i finished the owl house like yesterday and god do i think every single character in it is cute? hell yes #but amity! turns out im not immune to mean lesbians either because first episode and she was already my fav #also because she's exactly as much of a mess as me when i like someone #but anyways #here's a rambling oneshot i wrote about them being cute #also about them being the sun and the moon #so metaphors abound!

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rohad93 · 4 years

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Moonlit Masquerade: ch 7

Luz starts Wednesday by slipping a piece of paper into Amity's locker first thing in the morning before anyone else arrives at school. No gift this time, she's waiting for the perfect time to give Amity her final gift, one she really hopes she'll love.

~ ~ ~

‘All the gold in the Boiling Isles could never shine as bright as your eyes.’ ~ Your Secret Admirer.

It’s one simple line and it’s undeniably corny as far as lines go and yet, it makes her ears burn hotter than it should.

She's really started wondering who it is that's been leaving her these gifts, it's interesting and she's undeniably a little flattered at the effort they're putting in.

It's suspicious too.

No one outside her family knows about her affinity for Thornberry tarts. It’s possibly a coincidence but it just feels to spot on to be one.

She interrogates Emira and Edric, who swear on an eternal oath that they didn’t put the tart in her locker or ask anyone else to do it for them. They’re telling the truth, which leaves her even more confused.

She’s looked at all the notes several times and comes to at least one solid conclusion: They’re written by a girl.

She’s never met a boy who had handwriting as neat as this, of that she’s sure.

The other thing that bugs her is that it looks familiar, but she wracks her brain for a long time and can’t place where she’s seen the handwriting before.

She knows with certainty that it's not Boscha or any of her cohort, so why does it seem so familiar? It bugs her.

Amity likes mysteries, but she has discovered that she enjoys them more when she's not at the center of them.

She's so deep in thought that she doesn't hear the quick patter of feet coming up behind her.

"Hey, Amity!"

She jerks at the voice she both loves and dreads to hear. Whipping around she comes almost nose to nose with Luz and makes a garbled sound as she jerks back.

"Oh, sorry…" Luz grins sheepishly, taking a step back.

"It's okay…," Amity grumbles, straightening herself out I'm trying to look more put together than she feels at Luz’s sudden close proximity. It’s to early in the morning for this.

"Whatcha got?" Luz asks, seeing the note in Amity's hand and feels giddy at the flush that is still staining her cheeks.

"Oh, well…," Amity explains the note as well as the other gifts she had been getting from this ‘secret admirer’ Maybe Luz can help her puzzle it out.

“Sounds like someone has the hots for you.” She smiles coyly and shoots the witch a pair of finger guns. “Can’t blame ‘em.” Amity’s faded pink face is suddenly crimson, even her neck is red. It feels like her whole body must be glowing red after Luz says that with that sly smile.

“I-it… they...you…” She can barely form words much less even half a sentence.

‘Maybe that was too much…’ Luz thinks to herself as Amity struggles to form coherent thoughts over the shrieking in her head.

“Seriously though, I think it’s kinda romantic, don’t you?” she fishes, hoping to get a feel of Amity's feelings about all this once her face has returned to a normal color.

“I… guess, yes.” she nodded, smiling. "I just… feel a little bad for whoever it is is going through all this trouble …I can’t return their feelings." She looks down at the note, smile falling.

"Because of your grom crush?" Luz asks, frowning too, that definitely wasn’t what she wanted to hear and she felt frustration bubble up in her gut. She quickly tries to stomp it down.

Amity bites her lip, and glances at Luz from the corner of her eye, and gives a little nod.

“What if they’re from whoever you wanted to invite to grom?” Luz tries, curious what kind of response the question would get and immediately regrets it at the sudden distressed and melancholy look on Amity’s face, her eyes are cast down, locked on the note.

“They’re not,” is all she says, but it’s said with a sad certainty that makes Luz’s brow crinkle with concern.

“You don’t know…,” she starts, not even sure why she’s pushing this, she’s supposed to be trying to win Amity over from this mysterious person, not encouraging it, as selfish as that makes her feel.

Amity quickly cuts off anything else she might have been about to say, which is good because Luz isn’t even sure at this point where she was going with the line of questioning, but Amity’s tone does not make her feel one ounce better.

“Yes, I do.” The note crumples in her fist as she lets the mouth of her locker snap shut. “I need to go to class, bye Luz.” She hurries away without another glance, leaving Luz standing alone in the middle of the hall.

She frowns, watching Amity disappear before a growl slips out of her throat and she runs her hands violently through her hair, anything to let out some of her angry energy.

All she did was make Amity feel bad!

Why was she so bad at this!? Her fit of frustration burns out quickly and she sighs tiredly, eyes downcast.

How could she make this better? It didn’t seem like this was the right move after all, or at least she wished she had never opened her mouth about Amity’s grom crush.

“Good going, Noceda,” she grumbled to herself as she headed to class.

~~~~~~~~~

It's sometime after lunch when she starts hearing the rumors whispered among the other students.

She only hears muttered snippets as she passes by groups of kids talking among themselves.

A dance.

Blight manor.

The Blue moon.

She's intrigued by whatever it is that has the student body so excited. It sounds like something is going on at Amity’s house and she’d like to ask her, but Amity hadn’t sat with them at lunch today, seemingly avoiding them, but Luz knew she was actually avoiding her and her heart twisted at the thought.

She’d pushed too hard. What else was new?

Maybe she would never learn to look before she leaped into situations.

While she ultimately decides to leave Amity be for the rest of the day that doesn’t stop her from running headlong into a different Blight at her locker.

“Hey, Luz.”

Luz jumps as Emira appears, leaning against the lockers with that knowing smirk she’s come to associate with the elder Blight children.

“Oh, hey, Emira. Where’s Edric?” She glances around but the girl’s other half is nowhere in sight.

“Our professor wanted to talk to him, which was lucky because I want to talk to you.” She smiles and Luz up at her.

“Uh, sure, what about?” she asks, putting some stuff in her locker.

“Your crush on, Mittens.”

Luz freezes, dropping the book she had been holding.

“W-What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammers, face heating up.

“Uh-huh, so just a couple days after I mention Thornberry tarts to you, Mitten’s secret admirer just so happens to put one in her locker?” Emira is still smirking like the cat that ate the canary and Luz’s palms are clammy.

“What a crazy coincidence?” It sounds more like a question than a statement. Emira keeps looking at her but Luz holds fast to her denial. “Sorry, Emira, I don’t know what to say. Coincidences and stuff.” She grins and it’s so cracked and forced Emira almost feels bad.

Almost

“Hey, Em, you ready to go? We still have invitations to hand out” Edric walks up to them, drawing Emira’s intense gaze off Luz.

It’s then that Luz remembers all the quiet whispers.

“Are you guys having a party?” Luz looks at the twins who smile in unison.

“Sure are, a dance, Saturday, on the night of the blue moon.” Edric informs her.

“A masquerade party, you’re not allowed to reveal who you are until the end of the night.” Emira finishes.

“Oh, that sounds so cool!” Luz bounces on her toes. “Can I come?” she asks, looking between the twins with barely restrained glee.

The Blight twins share a long look, seemingly having a silent conversation with each other before Emira reaches into her pock and pulls out a small, dark purple and black envelope and places it in Luz’s eager hands.

“Thanks, guys!” She grins and the twins smile.

“We’re handing invitations out to people so that no one knows who else is going to be there; Increases the mystery.” Edric grinned.

“So don’t tell anyone who could be a possible guest that you’re going, ok?” Emira holds up a finger.

“Got it!” Luz salutes and the twins’ chuckle.

“We better get going, see ya around, Luz.” Edric waves.

“Bye,” Emira smiles and winks before the two turn a corner and vanish from her sight.

Luz looks down at the violet envelope with black trim and puts it in her bag. She’ll look at it when she gets home.

She heads back to the owl house, not seeing Amity out front and she figured as much but it still stings that Amity is most likely avoiding her.

Eda and Lilith are sitting on the couch practicing their glyphs when she walks in.

"Hey, guys." She smiles.

"Hello, Luz." Lilith nods

"Hey, kid." Eda looks up at her and grins. "How was school?"

Luz hums with a frown as she plops herself onto the floor at the coffee table across from the two sisters.

"It was okay… I think Amity is mad at me…," she mutters.

"How come?" Eda leans back and looks at her apprentice questioningly.

Luz explains what happened at Amity's locker after lunch and the sisters share a knowing look.

"I don't think she's mad at you, Luz." Eda finally says.

"Well, maybe not mad…," Luz corrects "more like, I upset her." Though there wasn't much distinction if you asked Luz.

"Well, you probably did that yeah." Eda nods and Luz slumps. Lilith rolls her eyes at her sister's bluntness. "I guarantee you, she should get over it soon enough," Eda goes on, and the look on her face is one of knowing that Luz can't decipher but she just sighs and flops onto her back on the living room floor.

"I just wish I knew what to do… should I stop all this nonsense and just give up?" she asks aloud to no one in particular.

"No!" both Clawthorne sisters shout, making Luz look up at them with wide eyes.

"What we mean is…," Lilith starts when Eda looks at her with a face that clearly says she doesn't know what to say to explain their reaction without giving anything away. "Sometimes persistence is key. For now, you should continue on as you have, you haven't yet given Amity the chance to actually accept or turn you down. A little more time and effort may be the key," she says.

"Yeah, what Lilly said." Eda nods along. "You still haven't given her that little trinket you bought her," she reminds.

"Yeah…" Luz trails off uncertainly, thinking of the small maroon-colored box tucked away in the chest in her room.

She sits up and digs through her bag, finding the dark-colored envelope the twins have given her and peeling open the seal.

It's a simple card, it read the date, time, and location.

Saturday, 8 pm at Blight manor.

As well as a line reading that formal wear and mask are required.

She hums in thought.

"Whatcha got?" Eda asks and Luz hands over the invitation for the sisters to look at.

"Masquerade party, huh?"

"Ahh, I've been to one of the Blight parents masquerades before." Lilith says. "it's quite interesting the things some people will do behind the anonymity of an enchanted mask," Lilith says, picking up her teacup sitting on the table and taking a long sip.

"Enchanted?" Luz is immediately interested. Lilith nods.

"The sort of masks used at these parties are enchanted with a minor glimmer, in order to conceal the person's identity even from someone who knows them."

"So if I wore one of those masks, even my friends wouldn’t recognize me?" She looks between the two and Lilith nods

"Yes, but if at any point you take off the mask and they see your face the glimmer will no longer work."

"That's so cool!" Luz grins and Lilith smiles at the girl's enthusiasm. The young human has grown on her in the last couple of weeks.

"Maybe you should wear a mask when you tell baby Blight how you feel?" Eda snorts a laugh but Luz blinks at her wide-eyed.

"Eda!" She jumps up. "That's a great idea!"

"It is?" the sisters echo.

"Yes, I can introduce myself as her secret admirer at the party where she doesn't know who I am and win her over!" Luz explains to the two.

"Well, it's not the worst plan you've ever had," Eda admits.

"It certainly has an air of romance." Lilith agrees.

"One problem kid. The glimmer on those masks are designed for witches, it's not going to cover those ears, which will give you away faster than A Slitherbeast can swallow a jackalope." Her mentor points out.

Luz reaches up to touch her distinctly rounded ears.

"I'll… figure something out…" she says.

"Well, you need some fancy duds then…, you can't wear what you wore to grom it'll give you away. The glimmer only works on your face. Hold that thought." With that, she stands from the couch and disappears up the stairs.

Lilith and Luz share a confused look. After a few minutes, Eda comes back with a small pouch and holds it out to luz who takes it and almost drops the small, but heavy bag.

She can feel and hear the snails jingling in the bag and looks up at Eda with a confused face.

"Take this and run to town, buy what you need," her mentor says.

"What, no! I can't take your money, I just paid you back for the flowers!" She tries to hand back the money but Eda holds up a hand.

"Look, Luz don't worry about paying me back, if you get the girl I'll consider it money well spent."

Luz looks up at her with wide, watery eyes, and Eda sighs before holding out her arms just as Luz flings herself into her, almost knocking the older witch over.

"I love you, Eda," she mumbles into her torso and Eda squeezed her back, resting her chin on the girl's head.

"I love you too, kiddo." With that, she pulls away and turns Luz around before giving her a gentle shove toward the door. "Now go, before the shops close, remember it's formal; no otter suits."

Luz takes off with a grin, ignoring Hooty's attempts at conversation about a bug he saw earlier as she goes.

"And make sure it's something you can wear to your next three school dances because that's the only pair of fancy pants I'm going to fund!" Eda calls out after her as she runs down the dirt path leading to Bonesburrough.

#Lumity #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Eda Clawthorne #Lillith Clawthorne #Edric Blight #Emira Blight #fic #the owl house

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atomicblasphemy · 3 years

Text

7 x 1

After the worse defeat in Banshees history, the players try to process the loss. And Boscha learns of her new responsibilities to the team.

“Okay guys, I know… Today didn’t… Go as planned. But we have to keep our heads held high right now, next season is around the corner and...”

Last time something like this happened people were burning Hexside jerseys and flags in the streets.

“Boscha...”

Last time something like this happened riots broke out through Bonesborough.

“Please… I know you’re the captain and all that, but...”

Last time something like this happened the Emperor himself had to step in, declare a state of emergency in the whole realm.

“Just shut up.”

And last time, years before any of the current players in the Banshees were even born, the humiliation was nowhere near what they experienced today. Semifinals, home-field. No, this hadn’t been mere humiliation, humiliation was what that Half-a-Witch and Amity – along with that… human – did to them that other day. This, this was tragedy. Epiderme’s team were not witches, they were machines, that’s the only explanation Boscha could come up with. And that didn’t convince her, not one bit.

Normally, Boscha wouldn’t stand for Skara’s insubordination. It would be bad enough it they weren’t wearing the Banshees’ uniform. Still at the end of the day she was her best friend, that granted her some privileges. Now, however, they were in their uniforms and Boscha was the captain. All fight had left her after Epiderme’s third goal, however. And what they heard and saw from the many fans wearing their blue and yellow colors didn’t help her to get some optimism back.

The four of them were alone in the dressing room, Skara’s voice lacking any sass, let alone alone her usual bubbliness. Off to the side, a few feet away, Cat tried to debatable success to console a still softly sobbing Amelia. “I only wanted to bring my people joy” the crying girl moaned over and over, in a lower volume every time. None of them could actually look at each other. None of them could start to point fingers and throw blame around, not yet at least.

Worse part was that should they have kept playing the way they did up to that fulminant counter-attack that resulted in Epiderme’s first goal they could have won. They dominated the first ten minutes or so of the game, barely giving any breathing room for their adversaries. Then the first goal came and whatever motivation, that old flame, they still harbored vanished. Their tactics broke down. But tactics was a generous way of putting it. Only a madman would have Skara in a starting position, and those were her own words in the locker room after each and every training session.

And it was the wrong moment for this sort of thing to happen to Hexside. The scandalous decision to have a human exchange student was just the tip of the iceberg. The school as a whole was ongoing a slump of sorts, under-performing in academic and sportive competitions alike. While once upon a time parents would enroll their children as soon as they knew they were expecting, Glandus and the other schools serving as something of a plan B, now Hexside was turning into this second echelon. Some, like Boscha herself, would place the blame on Bump’s somewhat erratic methods. His stubbornness in one hand, his weird pedagogic gambles on the other, and, of course, his rotten finger when it came to picking staff. Today’s tragedy was but a symptom of a more pervasive condition, that was her conclusion.

But Bump wasn’t the sole culprit here was he, Boscha? The time for pointing fingers arrived.

“Guys… I… We all are to blame here…”

Before continuing, the captain was cut off by the striker, the striker that for just the third time ever started a game in the bleachers. The one that was still trying to console the left fielder.

“Are we? Are we really though? I mean, four of seven goals came from your side of the field, the side you were the one supposed to be defending.”

Boscha’s mouth stopped in it’s tracks, she couldn’t refute her friend. Sure, she could throw her usual words to get her back to her place beneath her. But today wasn’t the day for something like that.

“Cat, back off a bit, will you? We all are feeling the same way, and it was the first time she played that position.”

“Come on Skara, you know I’m right. She is all talk before the game, but now she just won’t act like a captain. That’s a cap out.”

Skara, leaving out a tired sigh looked Cat in the eyes and, carefully, rebutted.

“Look, all I’m saying is that nothing good can come from this argument. Seriously. It wasn’t Boscha’s fault alone. Heck, we all really have a share of the blame.”

Cat just huffed. “Wish we got Willow instead”, she muttered under her breath.

“HEY!”

“DON’T HEY ME, BOSCHA!”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK, RIGHT NOW!”

“NEVER!”

Amelia gingerly placed a hand on Cat’s shoulder. The girl’s anger seeming to seethe, she lifts both her hands, open, in front of her face. Looking down, avoiding the captain, she sits down.

They all sit there, silent, for a long time. Amelia’s sobs subsiding. Cat’s muscles relaxing as she calms herself down. Skara looking straight ahead, studying Boscha’s void expression.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

Cat finally let out.

“Sure… Just don’t do that again.”

The mood around Hexside and the whole town, at least the part that rooted for Hexside, had been optimistic since the tournament started. It had been a while since the Banshees had this amount of support. It wasn’t because they had a particularly prodigious roaster. They were okay, but far from capable of overwhelming any qualified opponents. No, the reason for the optimism was simply due to that being the first time a single school was hosting all matches. A series of – rather suspicious one might say - beast attacks prevented the other schools from hosting any events, the only option the league had was to have Hexside receive all the spotlights. It would be the first time in history Glandus and Epiderme would host Grom Night outside their premises, and together no less, as to be able to afford the venue’s rent.

And Bump took as much advantage of the roll of the dice as possible, it was the school’s first chance in years to shift their decaying image and more then a few conspiracy theories were floating around the hallways and streets. And if the spotlights were on Hexside, on the Banshees, then all that means was that they also were on Boscha, on the team’s glorious, spectacular, competent captain.

This had been the game with the most press coverage any of them ever played. The stands were filled to the brim. The colors of blue and yellow taking over taking over the stands, the shouts of support bordering on overwhelming. Boscha was born for a day like this, her underlings were visibly anxious. But not her, she knew the only possible was victory, confirmation of who she was. If the arena had been a chocolate box she’d devour it in one bite. And as any captain would, she tried to convey to the rest of the team what she was feeling. They could not mess this up for her, it was important that they remembered that, but it was also important that they remembered that the four of them combined were far superior than Epiderme’s team, despite them being on an undeniable winning streak and being traditionally one of the most competitive teams in all of Bonesborough or even the whole Isles, much like the Banshee’s themselves. Matches between those two were always neck to neck, often ending in draws with few scored goals, if any. The coach echoed Boscha’s position thoroughly, he was after all the one that led up to about a fifth of Hexside’s many titles. Him being the one on the side lines was maybe the main cause for optimism among fans, he came back from retirement just for this season after all. His professional image was on the line much like Boscha’s. Both were confident they managed to convey the importance of the game to the pale looking girls.

“Where’s coach, by the way?” Boscha asked, breaking the silence.

“Scolari? No idea.” Skara answered.

“Last time I saw him he was storming off, saying something about how the press kept on ganging up on him or whatever. Pretty sure he left before punches started flying.” Cat continued.

“Oh...”

Having calmed down, Amelia now browsed her scroll seeming oblivious to the others’ conversation.

Eleven minutes. A shock with Epiderme’s first goal, but that came with the nature of the game. All they had to do was to make a goal of their one and they would be back in equal footing, Boscha doing her best to ignore the many ways she could have avoided that score, Skara and Amelia looking lost but trying to muster on some determination. Twenty three minutes, the difference increases. Twenty four, Boscha fails again. Twenty six, they would need to put up the best performance in Banshees’ history to turn this into so much as a draw, the stands growing deafeningly silent, Boscha failed again. Twenty nine minutes, Boscha failed again, the other team looking ever so slightly less enthusiastic in their celebrations. This couldn’t be real.

As they left the field after the referee declared the end of the last half she saw, they all saw, the booing, crying, lost faces in the audience. That illusions track kid, one third of the human’s trio, clenching those flags to his chest hugging them like a baby while his father tried prying questions about their performance from Scolari. This all felt like a dream, Boscha was just not capable of failing this badly, she was just not capable of belief herself capable of this kind of failure. And she couldn’t wake up.

“Hey… They are making a live interview on Penstagram. Epiderme’s team, I mean.” Amelia finally said, seeming to get back into the conversation.

The other three just look at her, expectantly. Taking that as something of a confirmation she raises her scroll’s volume.

“… shocked too. We didn’t expect the game to go as it did. Hexside, the Banshees, they did so much for Grudgby. I mean, so many of their old players are personal heroes to anyone who loves this sport. So yeah, we didn’t want to humiliate them, we have a ton of respect for their team so during the break we all agreed to take a bit of a step back, you know, show proper respect to their history. We are proud of winning, but not of how we won. So we tried to keep our heads on the game and we were lucky enough to score twice more. Here’s to hoping they can manage to fix the problems they’re having right now. The sport deserves and needs the Banshees we’ve always known back. Now we gotta start thinking about who we might face in the finals. Both teams...”

Amelia turned her scroll off. They heard all they needed.

How kind of them.

The uncomfortable silence in the locker room only grew louder.

With the game undeniably settled by a seven neill score half way throw the second half the stands steadily grew more and more empty. Only a few of the fans still there to see Cat score their consolation goal after replacing Skara. They only managed to do something resembling sport again in the very last minute. Those few last fans alternating between boos and supportive chants about “Hexside pride”, but the cheers were so timid might as well not have happened at all. Boscha would take the former over the implicit pity of the ladder any time.

Before today, the Banshees were known as the best Grudgby team in Bonesborough’s history. Whether this title would now go to Epiderme or someone else Boscha didn’t know. But it was high time she made peace with the fact it wasn’t theirs anymore. That she was the captain during the team’s - no, the sports’ - greatest fiasco. But Boscha was stubborn, she still wouldn’t take this hit alone.

Before she could dwell further, Amelia asks a question that seemed to be burning on everyone else’s minds.

“What now?”

“What you mean?” Boscha can’t turn to see her as she asks.

“Well, Boscha… You’re the captain… You are the one who decides. We have been talking though… Before the game, I mean. For a few days actually.” Skara, the second in command was the one to ask.

“I’ll figure something out… Wait, you’ve been talking? About what?”

“Yeah… Sorry about going behind your back… You just seemed so, I dunno, hyped. It was kinda cute and we really didn’t want to make you worry, but...”

“But we been kinda expecting something like this to happen actually. I mean, we wanted to believe your speeches... But yeah… So…”

Cat was the one to continue, every word both from her and Skara were deliberate. They had known each other for so long, was she really the type of friend that called for this type of carefulness when breaking bad news? Was this the kind of stuff that made the Blight leave their click? She shouldn’t be thinking about any of that, not right now.

“Okay then… Stop dancing around the issue and give it to me straight.”

“Well, that will be a bit hard” Amelia, showing some agency said to the curt nods of agreement from the other two. “But, I guess the main thing is the leadership style we’ve been having. Not you, not just you. But… coach was… tough, and pretty boneheaded… I mean, we all tried to convince him that Skara should not be a starting player, that she is our fastest player sure, but she hasn’t the endurance for the whole game, she can pull off counterattacks, so she should always enter later when the other guys are already too tired to keep up. I mean, that’s how we always played and it always worked well enough. But no. He wanted to use the same tactics as he used way back when. Anyway… I guess my point is I think, we all think he’s the first and foremost culprit. And well, I mean, I guess you didn’t really… help… But…” The desperate girl shoots pleading glances to both Cat and Skara.

“Look, all we are trying to say is: your leadership style is not exactly the best for a captain, and his is definitely not the best for a coach. We know it, you know it I guess, Bump knows it, the fans know it, literally everyone knows it. So… We figured a few changes need to be made.”

Cat, with a rather coy tone of voice, took the lead again. For whatever reason there always seemed to a silent agreement between the four of them that she should always be the one to break the bad news, especially when Boscha was to be the recipient. Like that one time when Amity had to cancel their sleepover. Even those outside their tight social circle seemed to acknowledge this, like that time when the professor had Cat be the one to announce to Boscha she was on the brink of failing her Into to Beast Keeping class. Despite Skara being her closest friend, Cat was the better one at disarming the captain.

Of course, in a time like this this only sounded ominous. But something else was bugging her.

“What you mean my leadership style?”

“Boscha, come one. I mean, seriously. Do you really think yelling ‘do this or that for me’, or ‘my legacy as a Grudgy player depends on you’...”

“Don’t forget the classic ‘I swear to Titan guys, you can’t mess this up’.” Skara commented.

“Or ‘If we lose today because of you I’ll haunt all of you in your sleep. See you in your worst nightmares.’” Amelia added.

“Yeah… Do you really think any of that helps? As a captain, as someone that’s on the field with us?” Cat finally finished.

“Come on… You know I wasn’t being serious right? I can’t be that bad...”

As she watched her fellow Banshees trading wary glances with one another, Boscha just sat and waited. With none of them saying anything, she chose to get back to the main topic.

“In any case… What do you mean change?”

“Well… You see. Here’s the thing. This leadership style of yours… It isn’t entirely ineffective. Titan knows we wouldn’t have passed the quarter-finals without this… Rough nudge… And it actually is better than what coach has been giving us since day one. I mean, you both were always essentially saying the same things but at least with you we have a bit, at least a bit, of reason to actually care, a bit. Sooo… We were thinking… And we talked to Bump about this already… Again… Sorry for going behind your back on this one… He said it isn’t entirely impossible… But you kinda have to be the one giving the last say...”

“Can you please, for the love of the Titan, just say it already?”

“Boscha.” Uncharacteristic firmness in her voice, Skara called her friends name. “We want you as the Banshee’s next coach.”

“WHAT?”

“We want you as the Banshee’s next coach.” She repeated with the exact same voice tone, not even a semblance of wavering or stuttering.

“I heard that… But… Doesn’t the league forbids it?”

“It does… But there’s a loophole in the rules.”

“A loophole?”

“Yeah, it means the rule book wasn’t all that well written and that there are specific ways to interpret it so we can do something that would otherwise not be allowed.”

“I KNOW WHAT THE WORD MEANS… I just… What, pray tell, is this loophole?”

“Well… You see, according to Bump, all it says is that in order for someone to be a coach they need to be a part of the school’s staff, as in an employee of the school, pay check and all. It doesn’t say anywhere that they can’t also be a student at the school in question.” Cat took back hold of the conversation, sending shivers down Boscha’s spine.

“So… What are you saying is that I will become a teacher or something before graduating? How would that work? I also still to play, you know.”

“We’ll get to that last part eventually… Anyway… I said staff, not faculty. You wouldn’t get any classes, according to Bump… So… You know Kyle right? That old janitor that was working at Hexside even before our parents went there? He is needing a break, according to Bump. He just can’t handle full time work there anymore and… Well… Bump has been scrambling to find a suitable replacement.”

“...”

“You see… Kyle’s... specialty... is actually illusions. Now that I think about that kinda explains why so many of our classrooms smell like mold. But anyway… So… The best case scenario for Bump would be to hire someone more capable at potion making. You know, someone who could make and use appropriately all the cleaning potions… Aaannd. Well… That’s pretty much what you’d be doing?”

“Oh… Just that, huh? You say it like it’s ‘just’ that. Like it’s nothing. I have an image to keep, you know?”

“I know, I know… Look. It would be just a part time thing. Besides, you’d mostly just be cleaning the bathrooms. All you’d need to do is to put up a sign, shut the door, and no one would even know you’re there. And you’d be getting paid. Sure, not a lot but something. So yeah, Junior Janitor Assistant.”

“You know there’s no way I’ll agree to that, don’t you Cat?”

Skara stands up, slowly stepping closer to Boscha, her eyes never leaving the captain’s. She kneels down in front of her friend, her oldest friend. She places a place in the witch’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

“Boscha, I’m not happy to ask you this, the girls aren’t happy with it either. Heck, I think that if Bump was here he wouldn’t be happy about it either. But the truth of the matter is that we need you, Hexside needs you, the Banshees need you… to clean some very, very clogged toilets.”

“Why can’t one of you guys do that?”

“Because you are the leader. This should be obvious, Boscha. You are the leader and we follow you. But this time… This time for you to lead us… You’ll need to clean some extremely dirty toilets. And yes… This does include that one on the second floor that has been closed off for a couple of years for mysterious reasons. Bump was clear on that part.”

“This is a joke right?”

“Do I look like I’m joking, Boscha?”

Skara was right, all their faces revealed nothing but the utmost seriousness of their predicament. The kneeling girl continued.

“Either you do that or, and this is what Bump told us, we’ll have to ask Bob.”

“Bob?”

“Bob.”

“A Bob.”

“THE Bob.” The girl solemnly shock her head from side to side.

The madness in Skara’s words was impossible.

“Bob Bob?”

“Bob. Bob Bob.”

The room grew silent as the concept sunk into Boscha’s mind. After a long moment of disturbing quietude she finally mustered the much needed courage.

“No… No… We can’t have that.” A deep sigh, all her eyes looking even further defeated. “Fine… I’ll do it… But people can’t know about it, I swear. This is between me, you girls, and Bump.”

“And Kyle.”

“Yeah, sure. Kyle. No one else.”

“Promise.” They all said in unison. Amelia timidly complemented. “Thanks, Boscha. We can visit you during your shifts if you want.”

Deadpanned, Boscha responded.

“You guys just want to watch me humiliating myself, don’t you?”

“NONONONONO… No… No… Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous… No...”

“Sure… Sure…”

“And look.” Cat said, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Bump even said he can make it look as though you’re just doing office work. Anyway… You start on Tuesday and your shifts are on the afternoons.”

“Tuesday? Isn’t that the day the Human said she take over the kitchen and make us… what was it? Tacos? She seemed pretty pretty worried about the ingredients and how we’d… agree to them… whatever that means… Can’t I start literally any other day?”

“Nope… Bump was adamant - yes, Bump - it has to be on Tuesday. This Tuesday to be more specific. Yup, Tuesday you’ll start on your new job. And we’ll be there… Cheering you on. Yes, cheering.”

“Well...” A stoically empty façade on her face, Boscha continues. “Could be worse I guess… I don’t know how it could be worse, but yeah… Too bad I’ll have to stop playing though… I’ll miss it.”

Skara, a small and sincere grin forming on her lips.

“Not necessarily… The rule book doesn’t say anything about the coach also playing either.”

“REALLY?”

Finally some good news came Boscha’s way. She couldn’t find it in her to contain the sudden burst of excitement.

“Yeah, really.” Skara continued. “But…”

“There’s a caveat, should be obvious really. Have you ever coached anything before Boscha? It isn’t the same as being captain. You’d need some time learning to do it, not to mention all the adjustments you’ll need to make in our training plans, tactics, and so on… So… You’d eventually be able to carry on both role, but not right from the go… In the mean time you’ll need to find someone who can replace you… Temporarily, of course.” Said Cat.

“Oh no… Nonononono. Don’t you even think about suggesting that. I know where this is going and NO. Absolutely not.”

“Boscha… You know well enough who is the person in all of Hexside that’s most suited for the job.”

“No, that’s going too far. I am not asking her, anyone else. Even the human.”

“Boscha… You need to give up on your pride. You need to ask Willow to join our team. To join us. It is the only way. Together, all of us will make a team that will conquer all adversaries.”

“No. That’s impossible. I’ll never do that.”

“Look into your heart, Boscha. You know this is the only way.”

“Nooooo...” She whimpered… This was her least favorite part of today. So far at least.

But it was a losing battle and she stood alone.

“Fine… I’ll do it.. I’ll ask the Half-a-Witch to join the team...”

“Willow.”

“What?” Boscha growled. Low, menacingly.

“You’re not asking the Half-a-Witch to join the team.” Cat stated matter of factly, defiantly even. “You are asking Willow. Boscha… It’ll be a negotiation. You’ll to need convince her to join us, to flex all of your… charisma… on her. You can’t do that if just go around insulting her all the time.”

“But… Come on, I get why I need to be the coach instead of any of you. But why this? Why do I have to be the one to this.”

The answer came immediately.

“Because you’re pretty much the main reason why she’d refuse.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement as clear as day.

“I… Fair enough… Fair enough. You know what? I’m the captain in the worst defeat in Banshees history, my reputation is probably all gone, and today I also learned I’ll have to clean toilets on a daily basis. What is another loss compared to all this. I can do this. I can do this… I… I can do this. I mean, even I can admit I don’t have much face left to save. So yeah, let’s just get this over with then. I’m gonna shoot her. A TEXT. I’m gonna shoot her a text, Titan danmit you don’t need to look at me like that. Anyway, does anyone have her number?”

“Sure” Came all three voices, Skara and Cat reaching for their scrolls.

“Seriously, all of you? I can understand Amelia, but you two as well? You know what, you know what? I don’t care. Nope, I don’t care at all. I’m serene, beautiful, powerful young witch that doesn’t care about stuff like that anymore.”

“Don’t you think you should, I don’t know, do this in person?” Skara ignores Boscha’s remark.

“I will. Just gotta set up a meeting with her or whatever, get off my back.”

“Sure… Look, we’re here to help, you don’t need to get all snappy like that.”

“Skara, I swear to Titan… Just give me her number already.”

She, with her lovely lovely friends’ assistance, manages to write a short, to the point, message to the Half-a… Willow. She messaged Willow. It was a polite, some might even call elegant, thing. She didn’t dwell on it, not on the text, all of the girls were insistent on that being something she’d have to do when face-to-face with Willow, but she tried to convey some degree of repentance over her previous treatment of the girl. Her hopes of it being effective were slim to non-existent.

All done, she remains sat on the bench. She remains there for a long while, the silence returning to the dressing room as the other, concerned, members of the Banshees watched her, waiting for her next move. Head downcast, jaw clenched tight, rubbing her closed middle eye with a couple fingers she tries to process the day. Finally, through gritted teeth, she lets out.

“Guys… I hate you… I hate each and every one of you.”

Had Boscha been looking at them she would have seen their relieved smiles, or maybe even the quick wink Cat shot Skara, who nodded in response before answering the former captain.

“We love you too, Boscha. Now. Come on, lets get out of here. We still have to face the music.”

“Titan...” Boscha said, standing up. “I almost forgot about that… I guess we have no choice, do we?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Lets get this over with then.”

As they left the dressing room together, as a team, Boscha felt the scroll in her back pocket vibrating. She grumbled at the thought of her future. “For the Banshees”, she thought, less than enthusiastically.

#THE OWL HOUSE #toh boscha #toh skara #toh Luiz Felipe Scolari #toh #toh cat #toh amelia #2014 FIFA world cup #huehuehue #fuck fifa fuck cbf #too klose to home #not my best stuff i think but eh... whatever better just post it than leave it collecting dust i guess

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thetorchwoodnineroleplayerwriter · 3 years

Text

Popular!Luz AU concept post

This au concept is something me, @crispyclown , and @molotov-does-stuff worked out together on @pastatiger ‘s TOH discord.

The basic concept is “what if Luz never did become friends with Willow and actually did become popular” based on an offhanded comment from boscha in ‘Understanding Willow’ that went to the effect of “that human could have been popular if she wasn’t hanging out with Willow”.

Here’s all the headcanons we’ve all put together:

Timeline:

1) 'teenage abomination' never happens. Luz just has a boring day and becomes vaguely aware of Hexside.

2) during ’Covention’, Amity and Luz meet for the first time. They don’t hit it off but they don’t not hit it off either. After the Lilith speech, Amity still steps on King’s cupcake, but it’s completely by accident. Amity tries to ‘keep up appearances as a Blight’ and ends up accidentally insulting Luz and King while attempting to apologize. Luz ultimately still has the “Bog of Immediate Regret” line, but Amity doesn’t really care one way or the other, so she nearly says ‘you read Azura too?!’ Before instead accepting. Amity and Luz’s bet is pretty low stakes — Amity apologizes to king if she loses, Luz apologizes to Amity if she loses, maybe? But Eda and Lillith get waaaay into the bet and both sides cheat as canon. Amity still breaks down when the construction glyph is revealed, but Luz formally concedes anyways (with low stakes she doesn’t have any serious need to win, and she still would rather be this girl’s friend than her enemy), citing their own relative skill levels, before going and talking to Amity. Amity is still DISTRAUGHT about the whole ordeal, but she and Luz have a much more in-depth heart-to-heart, where Luz explains what she did, tells Amity how cool Luz thinks she is, and manages to tell her the “I’m not a witch, but… I’m training to be one“ line. Amity leaves Luz with the line, ‘they say humans can't learn any magic. But... I don't think that's going to stop you.' And… they’re, maybe friends? Unclear friends? Probably just acquaintances but the point is its nonnegative relationship development.

3) ‘Hooty's Moving Hassle' is removed.

4) in ‘Lost in Language’, Luz is still a little over-friendly with Amity (Amity respects her for serious but also She Has A Reputation, Luz) when they meet in the library. Luz still gets sucked in to the twins’ chaotic energy, and Luz still thinks hanging out with them will somehow translate to brownie points with Amity. When Amity walks in on them in the secret room, she’s much more visibly and viscerally betrayed by (what she thinks) Luz did. However after saving themselves from evil Otabin, Luz does convince her the twins tricked her, they book trade as canon, Amity actually clearly thinks of Luz as a friend at the end of it all.

5) the moonlight conjuration incident happens after the library incident. Amity spins a BS story about Luz being a skilled witch to her parents and invites her to the conjuring. While initially their conjuring goes as canon (ie nowhere), Luz turns it to a regular party with Boscha, Skara, Amity, and herself. (and Cat, i think? Whoever their canon fourth was, she’s still here.) Eventually they try again, and since (in this au) the conjuring's power == your conjuring group's friendship's strength, and everyone here is at least somewhat friends with luz now, they do manage to animate a few things.

6) at some point here, Luz, Boscha, and Skara team up for a pickup game of grudgeby, and Luz learns the fireball glyph.

7) During ‘Once Upon a Swap', both Skara and Boscha notice how out of character King!Luz is acting. They can admit King!Luz is being cool, if a lil dorky, but they have an out-of-character moment where Boscha tries to ask 'Luz' if she's okay. King doesn't get it, but the others walk in on it so Boscha resumes acting like a challenged alpha bitch. (Luz eventually explains to Skara what was goin on that day. Luz ‘conveniently’ never got the chance to clue Boscha in.)

8) at some point around here, Luz manages to get Eda to enroll her in Hexside.

9) 'adventures in the elements' is changed bc Luz does know two glyphs. However, She and Amity want to hang out some more and Amity thought Luz's fire glyph could help her learn the fireball spell, so they still go to the knee together (with Eda, Emira, and Edric as terrible excuses for chaperones.) Luz learns the ice spell under Eda’s somewhat hands-off tutelage, possibly after accidentally angering the Slitherbeast as in canon.

10) In ‘First Day', Boscha is looking forward to finally getting a read on this girl who wormed her way straight into Amity's heart. (she's not jealous. nuhuh. not even a little. YOU’RE jealous!) Luz still immediately gets Detention'd, tho, but this time Amity and Boscha show up to bust her out unprompted, leading to a VERY awkward moment where Viney (and Jerbo and Barcus) refuse to trust Luz on the basis that Boscha and Amity are her friends, and both of them are notorious jerks who would ABSOLUTELY bully the DT kids. Amity has to duck out for her performance tho. the episode concludes as canon.

11) we get an extended time where we see how Luz easily makes friends with almost everyone at Hexside. She's friend-shaped and she gets a HUGE popularity boost for being honest friends with Skara and Amity. (she gets rancid vibes from Boscha when they’re at school together, but she can't put her finger on *why*. and besides, Boscha calls Luz her friend too, so that probably counts.) during this time Luz meets Gus, who is one of E&E's classmates. Gus can have an episode, as a treat.

12) Luz finally meets Willow, and gets slapped in the face HARD with confirmation that Amity and Boscha are kind of massive assholes. Luz tries to befriend Willow, but Willow refuses to trust her due to how often Boscha, Amity, and the rest of the popular girls who make up most of Luz’s closer friend group have bullied her.

13) Luz tries to get Boscha to take it down a notch. Boscha takes it up a notch. Luz tries to get Amity to help, Amity asks why it matters — it’s just ‘half a witch willow’, no one cares. Luz realizes, awkwardly (and probably with the assistance of Jerbo and/or Barcus), that while she currently has a lot a friends and is popular, if she defends Willow from Boscha’s bullying she’ll lose a lot of her popularity. Luz kind of has a small breakdown over this, because she doesn’t want to risk friends here when in the human world she has so few, but at the same time, she has Principles! She can’t just ignore this! As one of her schemes to help Willow without going against Boscha directly, Luz manages to get Willow transferred out of Abominations, although Willow is kinda annoyed by this since even though she’s in plant track she feels a stranger. (This alienation eventually goes away, but not before…) 

14) Luz snaps and punches Boscha in the face one day for bullying Willow once too many times. Boscha gets PISSED and Luz is NOT BACKING DOWN, even though she’s scared. Boscha basically exiles Luz from the friend group, which has the added effect of making almost all of Luz’s friends stop talking to her, most painfully Skara and Amity. Willow starts to tolerate her, but only barely. (Gus is still Luz’s friend tho. In fact, Gus, the DT kids, and E&E Are the only Hexside students at this point who’ll be caught dead with Luz.) 

15) ‘Understanding Willow’ Is changed; Luz catches Amity burning up Willow’s memories. However, since Amity, Luz, and Willow are distinctly *not* talking to each other, the quest to save Willow’s mind is *much* more tense. Luz keeps taking potshots at Amity for abandoning the both of them, Inner Willow hates both of them, and Amity is trying desperately not to have fun with people who hate her and also trying desperately to defend her actions. Amity still reveals the same secret of the day she stopped being Willow’s friend; Luz, meanwhile, reveals some bad memories of her own human school that make it very obvious how much the chance to be popular meant to her and how she genuinely empathizes with Willow’s whole situation. Ultimately ends with a bit of a tense moment between the three where they admit they’re not friends yet… but at the very least they’re all willing to be friends, now.

16) We get some time watching Luz slowly re-making her friends throughout the school, as people decide they really do like Willow and Luz as people and they’re kinda tired of Boscha been an alpha bitch. Maybe spliced with Willow & Luz & Amity hangin out, being friendly, or with Boscha been salty and Skara et al. being here by obligation even though they *clearly* wanna hang out with Luz some more.

17) ‘Wing It Like Witches’ happens largely beat for beat here. Boscha attempts to re-assert social dominance, Luz invokes the sacred rites of a game of grubby with a bet, Luz tries to get Willow and Gus in for it but Gus can’t and Willow won’t; Amity talks Willow into forming a 3 person team with her. Extra angst from the fact that Boscha and Luz did actually have some bonding over being on the same team on an earlier grubby game.

18) Grom happens now, largely as canon. When preparing Luz for the main fight, Amity theorizes (incorrectly) that Luz’s greatest fear is losing her friends on the boiling isles; Luz goes along with it, because ‘I already faced that fear once this year, it’ll be a cinch’. Grom tries it but it doesn’t work, but then from turns into her mom. (We see Amity nearly cry from Grom turning into her, but realizes what’s going on, and then has a massive blush from being called ‘her’ Amity. Skara rolls her eyes, bc she’s been clued in. Boscha is deliberately not caring.)

20) Boscha eventually gets to the point where she decides to apologize to Willow. She starts with a BS ‘lol sry’ approach, ends with a record-scratch-sudden rant where Boscha really does break it — and herself — down in honest apology. Some of the bad attempts are played for comedy, this one played completely straight.

Miscellanious other elements:

Unrequited Boschamity / exes Boschamity, boscha has cool banter with her friends (mildly platonic boschluz banter, snarky boschamity banter, member boschkara banter, etc), Boscha being really jealous of Luz, Everyone — EVERYONE — pines at Skara, Luz also pines at willow eventually, BOSCHA ACTUALLY GETS A REDEMPTION ARC AND ITS WELL WRITTEN AND NO ITS NOT IN SERVICE OF A SHIP, Boscha::Azula Amity::Zuko wrt redemption arcs, Boscha joins the inevitable rebellion as one of those ‘everyone in public thinks I’m an enemy of the rebellion so I can help them out real nice in the DL’ people, and yes we ARE overthrowing the government at some point in this au just not right now, right now we’re having ANGST and LUMITY, boscha is actually very nice to her friends when she wants to be she just usually doesn’t feel like she Should Be Vulnerable, any episode that’s just ‘Luz With Willow And/or Gus doing Hijinks’ (ex ‘Really Small Problems’, ‘Something Ventured, Someone Framed’) that hasn’t already been mapped to an event in this timeline is skipped completely, yes that means Mathholomule successfully becomes president of the human club, none of this aus cast is actually friends with him tho don’t worry, Edric has been quietly dating Jerbo for a while now but his sisters don’t know, Emira is a disaster lesbian for Viney and the teasing is relentless, Emira is a terminal prankster with a maladapted sense of boundaries as a result of her parents, this is a point of contention for her courtship of Viney who can and will go OFF on her for crossing the line and not feeling guilty, Edric is very aware of boundaries but he also finds looking to her for direction gets him in trouble the least at home so he just feels terrible afterwards and tries to get Emira to tone it down and/or apologize, basically the library incident was her idea in this au and he went along with it because of blight child optics stuff, Luz’s memory may out Luz to Willow and Amity, Willow and Amity absolutely say ‘gay rights’, in fact the entire isle says ‘gay rights’, this au tricks you into thinking ‘oh easy lumity’ but then Willow comes in like a wrecking ball, during that murky period when Luz’s friends all hate her bc she punched boscha all the people still willing to talk to her get friendly REAL fast, yes that includes willow and amity once they all stop hating each other, nobody lets Amity live down “Oh, wow,,, sports” except Luz who didn’t get it, Everyone has a song assigned to them at the sleepover, Luz’s is Bad Reputation, Skara’s is Caramelldansen, Boscha’s is Money Machine, Amity’s is Eminence Front because I say so

#the owl house #toh #toh luz #toh amity #toh skara #toh boscha #toh willow #toh au #feel free to use #but please tell us #also feel free to comment

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slimy-vore-bog · 3 years

Text

Going Through Lots of Denial

Alternate title: Encounter with another Beast

Alright this story is definitely not to everyone’s taste... (pun intended) Let’s get the warnings/contains out of the way (mostly warnings this time)

Contains: prey Luz and Amity, feral pred, a tiny bit of lumity, (Luz is completely convinced Amity’s dead in one point in the story) assumed fatal vore (but both characters make it out alive) mentions of hard vore, mentions of digestion. (Luz also assumes she bumps into Amity’s remains after she’s eaten, but Amity quickly screams back, so it sorta becomes a funny scene?)

Either way... This is not much worse than a child accidentally seeing an 13+ animated movie on accident, in terms of how bad it is.

(most of the shock comes from the unexpected, but I don’t want to not warn people properly. Not since Worrying; I felt really bad ‘bout that one)

So the rating is 13+ for the somewhat unsettling imagery (and some minorly depressive tones after Amity’s eaten)

This is the pred character, but I do describe him in the story itself: The Beast I was too Lazy to Name

word count: 6.5 k

***

Luz and Amity were taking a stroll through the forest, Luz had gently grabbed the other girls had a couple minutes ago. Amity seemed nervous, but Luz did her best to convince the young witch everything was going to be fine. That was why she had opted to hold her hand. Totally not because she wanted to hold her hand and just the thought made her flustered. That was definitely not it. The only reason her heart was fluttering was, because it was dark and they were both nervous… Definitely.

Amity’s hand felt clammy against hers. The green haired witch’s gaze flicked to her and away again, but she never did anything to protest the hand holding. She even leaned a bit into Luz while they walked. But that had to be because the witch was anxious too.

Luz shifted her shoulders, feeling a bit awkward, “so, what about the forest is so dangerous?” Amity had mentioned some sort of beast that lived out there, but she couldn’t remember why exactly the beast was something to be feared. “The thing that lived out here hasn’t been spotted in a while, right? Maybe it’s dead?” They hadn’t run into anything scary yet, and they were quite far into the forest at this point.

Amity looked at Luz with an unreadable expression. “Or maybe the beast has just caught the last few witches that saw it.”

A chill went through Luz’s body. “There’s no way, Amity!” Luz spoke louder in her unease. “It can’t be that hard to not get caught by that thing you told me about.” Luz paused. “What does it even look like?” She couldn’t remember if Amity described the creature.

Amity thought about it for a couple seconds. “It’s over twelve feet from the ground to the shoulders… It looks like a manticore, but without the batwings and the scorpion tail… It has bird legs in front, and a giant underbite…” Amity let go of Luz’s hand while thinking about it. “I think there’s something about the tail… It’s scaly.”

They continued to walk beside each other, now more on edge than before. Neither of the girls made the move to grab the other’s hand again. “So it’s a lion with a scaly tail and bird legs? Does it have a mane?” Luz didn’t know if that meant it was male or female, having learnt about maned lionesses before, but she wanted to know what to look for.

Amity nodded. “It does have a mane.” She thought about Luz other question. “I guess it is like a lion, but it doesn’t have spikes across its back and two tails. A regular lion doesn’t have all the traits of the beast either.”

Of course, a lion wouldn’t look like an earth lion there. Luz should have guessed that. If there wasn’t a Boiling Isles equivalent, Amity wouldn’t have known what that even was. “There’s sure a lot of creatures that looks like earth lions here,” she stated with a bit of a laugh to her voice. Her smile faded, as a thought hit her. “But if it does find us, what exactly are we supposed to do?” Luz didn’t want an encounter with a twelve-foot-tall lion, but she wanted to know what to do if it did find them.

Amity tensed. “I don’t know…” She glanced over at Luz, before her a realization hit her. “You’re human! I don’t know what humans are supposed to do… If I get caught, please just run without trying to save me.”

Luz had no idea what Amity was on about. Was there a protocol for getting caught by a monster? “I’m not going to leave you to die! Amity, let’s just head back before anything happens.”

Amity nodded, relieved at Luz’s suggestion to head back. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”

Luz wished that was how it had ended. Amity and her deciding to head home, maybe Amity and Luz having a sleepover at the Owl House due to how late it was. But, of course, she wasn’t lucky enough for that. She would have to live through something traumatic to ever get something half as good.

It was eerie to walk through the quiet and dark forest. Luz could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at the slightest shuffle of pine needles. Even the ones that rustled under Amity’s shoes, nearly made her jump. Amity had suggested getting left behind for Luz’s sake and Luz wasn’t going to let that happen. She had grabbed a tight hold of Amity’s hand; there was no way Amity was leaving her side now.

Amity’s hand was holding onto hers too, but it wasn’t as tightly. They walked in silence, glancing into the forest and back out on the path they were following. Amity’s ears twitched and turned from time to time, her grip tightening when she heard something Luz couldn’t. But it turned out to be nothing.

“I think there’s something stalking after us,” whispered Amity, making Luz jump and eep in surprise from the sound of her voice alone. “Sorry…” she apologized quietly. “But I swear I can hear something walking out there.”

Luz couldn’t hear a thing, but there was no reason to take risks. “Alright; is it better to walk or run?” she knew that running from a normal lion would cause it to give chase, but maybe the Boiling Isles were the opposite.

“We need to walk, and seem like we’re not worth eating.” Amity let go of her hand. “We can’t match anything like that in size…” She thought about it for a few seconds. “I’m going to summon an abomination.” She cast the spell, as the abomination rose from ground. It was puny compared to the one she had made grom night, but it was still taller than her. “It can defend us, if anything is out there.”

It groaned behind them, staring down at them with the hollow sad look in its eyes.

Amity commanded it to be quiet. It stopped the noises immediately, but still stared down at its creator.

Luz grabbed Amity’s hand again, slowly moving towards the Owl House. But Amity didn’t seem to want to hold her hand anymore. Luz wouldn’t let go when Amity told her to. “I’m not going let you fall behind, if we have to run!”Luz couldn’t explain how horrible the thought of that was. She unintentionally tightened her grip on Amity’s hand. “If you get eaten; it would be my fault!”

Amity shushed her. “Please be quiet!” she hissed out. She spoke, after calming down. “If the beast hasn’t found us yet; it’s going to.” Amity’s ears twitched, as she heard something even Luz could hear. The quiet slow pats of something hitting the pine needles just beyond the trees.

They both stood completely still, watching as the creature stepped out from behind the cover of trees.

Amity’s description hadn’t done the creature justice. If Luz had known it looked like that, she would never had taken the risk of heading out into the forest. Luz took a step away from it, clutching onto Amity’s hand.

The lion watched them with intense orange eyes. Its mane was dark and matted, and so was the fur on its legs… At least where there was fur. Its front legs were birdlike and covered in thick reddish-brown scales, ending in long claws that could pierce through them with tiniest amount of pressure. It began to drool, as it watched them.

Luz took another step away, tightening her grip on Amity’s hand. Its tail, the same color as its legs, flicked, as it focused on Luz. It tilted its head, before she could see its nose twitch. Its mouth was wide. Luz noticed just how wide that was, as it dragged its split tongue the entire way across its mouth. A couple teeth stuck out towards end of it. It opened its mouth to adjust its huge fangs in the bottom of it over its upper lip. It was bone thin, even some of its spine was visible.

It felt like she watched the starved creature for hours, but at most a few seconds had passed.

Amity yelled her command to the abomination in a panic, “Abomination attack!” She tightened her grip on Luz’s hand, before she began running away from the creature dragging Luz after her. “Run, Luz!”

It took Luz a second, before she managed to get her legs to work, but when she did, she immediately outran Amity, dragging her behind her instead. The lion growled. Luz could hear splatting noises behind them, before it gave chase.

Its footfalls were loud, and felt like thunder in Luz’s panicked ears. Her adrenaline was in top gear, as she made the decision to run in between the trees. Amity had managed to match Luz’s speed. Luz wasn’t sure she wouldn’t get lost, but getting lost would be nowhere as bad as eaten.

She realized she would have to let go of Amity’s hand, if they wanted to escape. It was slowing both of them down to hold onto each other. “This way!” Luz yelled, after letting go off Amity, and changing directions sharply. Amity followed just behind her.

The lion barely took notice of the sharp turn it had to make.

It was catching up to Amity already, and before another second passed Luz heard the girl scream.

“LUZ!” The thundering footfalls stopped, and Luz skidded to a halt. She spun around to see Amity pinned under the beast’s claws, as it dragged her farther away from Luz.

Luz let out a scream of her own. No words could express the horror she felt as she watched the lion drag Amity away from her. She couldn’t even scream her name.

A burst of anger exploded in her.

She immediately broke out of her horrified trance, running towards the lion with a handful of light glyphs. It was not going to eat Amity.

She activated them two feet from the lion’s face, while it watched her in confusion. It let go of Amity, and Luz help her up to her feet again. “Come on! We can still get away!” Amity dizzily stumbled on her legs panting for breath, before she managed to stand up straight, still trying to catch her breath. Luz began dragging her away from the lion, and tried to get Amity to run. “Come on, Amity!” Amity finally got her legs working, but she was nowhere near as quick as before. “Please, I can’t leave you behind!” Her eyes stung, as she pulled on Amity even harder, trying desperately to get her to go faster.

The lion grumbled and snarled behind them; Luz knew they didn’t have long, before it would be chasing after them again. She knew that it was hopeless, but she would never be able to live with herself, if she didn’t try her hardest to save Amity. “Amity, please!” She hadn’t felt so desperate to save someone for a long time. She felt the tears stinging in her eyes finally fall.

Amity gave up completely. “Luz, you have to leave me behind. I promise I’ll figure out a way to get out of here alive, but if you’re caught I can’t.” Luz wanted to protest, but Amity continued before she got a word in. “Please, just save yourself.” The beast was ready to chase them again. Amity looked at the lion, casting a fire spell. “Get away, Luz!” She held the flame close Luz’s arm. “I’ll burn you, if you don’t run right now!”

Luz involuntarily took a step back. She tried to grab Amity, but she moved the flame to where Luz was trying to grab her. “Amity!” She couldn’t believe what the girl was doing. Was she trying to get herself killed? But Luz didn’t get a long time to think about it, before Amity tried to set her on fire again.

She backed away, watching the panicked look in Amity’s eyes. The lion watched what they were doing, carefully, before it hesitantly stalked towards them. “Luz, just go!” shouted Amity, before the lion sprinted towards them and grabbed Amity by the legs. It quickly began dragging Amity away again.

Luz stared in disbelief, feeling her skin itch after Amity had tried to set her on fire. She had hit her with the flame. The lion watched Luz with a scowl, before it flipped Amity over on her back, sniffing her hungrily. Luz ran towards the lion, but as soon as she did; it grabbed Amity in its mouth, running towards Luz, leaping over her.

Luz only registered happened, after the lion was running away from her. She sprinted after it, as soon as she realized what it just did. “AMITY!” She screamed after it and her friend.

It stopped to look back at Luz for a moment; it had already nearly put a two-hundred feet distance between them. Luz could still see Amity struggling in the beast’s jaw. At least the beast hadn’t killed her by biting her into her, when it landed on the ground.

The lion dropped her on the ground, letting her get up on her feet, before it grabbed her again, shoving her straight into its mouth.

Luz’s heart skipped a beat in pure shock. This was happening. Amity was getting eating in front of her eyes. She couldn’t move a muscle, as her body was frozen in horror. Any moment Amity would be chewed to a bloody mess, or ripped apart by the massive teeth and claws the beast had.

The lion tilted its head back, before more of Amity disappeared into its giant mouth.

It took Luz a second to realize what it was doing, but when she did, she could do nothing but stare in horror. She backed away, her brain still processing what it meant. Amity was being swallowed alive by the lion… The lion was swallowing Amity alive… Luz’s gaze fell on the beast stomach.

Luz couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe, and she was suddenly aware of how out of breath she was. She collapsed into the forest floor, watching as the lion jerked its head forward and Amity disappeared from the outside world. Luz squeezed her eyes shut in pain, letting her tears run down her cheeks. She began crying, sobbing in between the burning breaths she was taking. She couldn’t move an inch, even if she wanted to. Everything hurt. Her legs, her heart, her lungs, and her arms; they all hurt, and she was completely exhausted.

She looked up at the lion seeing the last of a bump on the its throat move farther into its body, before it licked its lips, its split tongue dragging across its whiskers. It barely took a couple more seconds, before a slight bump protruded at the low end of its ribcage. She squeezed her eyes shut once more, knowing that that bump on the malnourished creature’s body was Amity.

She could hear the creature step closer to her, but she couldn’t find the energy to fight for her life. The only thing she could feel was the dread as the creature moved closer. Her efforts in trying to save Amity had been in vain and now she couldn’t even live for Amity’s sake… She should have run the moment Amity told her to.

The lion slowly strolled over to her with a content joy in its orange eyes. It licked Luz’s face a couple times, before it grabbed Luz by the back of her hoodie, not trying to eat her just yet. It walked deeper into the forest, with the defeated girl limply hanging from the creature’s jaw.

Luz felt exhausted, but unable to sleep, as the beast carried her to its den. Amity was undoubtably dead in its belly now; there was no way she could breathe in there. It put Luz down next to some bones that were splintered beyond recognition.

Luz watched the lion, as it began cleaning itself. It dragged its snakelike tongue through its matted fur, but it barely made any progress in brushing out the knots. Yet it still continued washing its fur. Luz wondered if it knew how much it hurt her by eating Amity, as it groomed the fur on its chest.

It gave up after a couple minutes of this, and walked over to a big pile of pine needles, before lying down in it and yawning. It rolled over on its side, exposing its slight too round belly.

Despite feeling like crying again; Luz realized that if the lion went to sleep that could be her chance to escape. She could still make Amity’s death count for something. She was going to make it out alive for Amity. She had to get back and tell people what had happened.

It only took a minute for it to fall asleep. It looked like it was in the middle of the best sleep it had ever gotten, as its face relaxed into a “smile”. It almost made Luz want to kick it awake. It had killed Amity… It deserved it. But she had to stay calm and leave the cave it slept in without getting noticed.

She carefully got up on her legs, not making a single noise, as she took the first couple steps towards the exit. The lion didn’t react, other than a particularly deep sigh. Luz faced the lion, as she took another hesitant step toward the exit. The lion still didn’t wake up, but Luz wasn’t relaxing until she was out of that cave.

It went on like that, the lion peacefully sleeping, and Luz backing away, before Luz finally stood under the trees again. Her legs were aching from her adrenaline fueled run earlier, but she was convinced she could make it far enough that she wouldn’t get caught again.

She kept backing away, until she unwittingly backed into a tree. She slammed her head into it in surprise, but she managed to keep herself from crying out in pain. She finally decided to turn her back on the lion and the cave.

She couldn’t run, and she had no idea where she was. The fact that she had lost Amity to a hungry beast definitely didn’t help either. She wanted to wake up, but this wasn’t a dream; she knew it wasn’t. The burns on her arm were too real, and so was the pain in her heart from the loss of her friend. And her exhaustion. Nothing about this was a nightmare; everything was too real.

Luz shivered, feeling the cold night air on her bare arms. When she was with Amity, she knew that they could just snuggle up together, if they were really cold and lost, but now… Amity wasn’t there, and she would never be ever again. The thought itself weighed her down to the point of near collapsing, but she wasn’t far enough away from the lion’s den.

The only thoughts that kept her going was Amity’s last wish, and the thought of Eda and King waiting for her to come home. She would come home to them again. She had to.

She felt her legs shake under her, but she knew she could make it somewhere. Maybe she wouldn’t make it to the Owl House, but she could make it to town. Or another nearby building. She hoped she wasn’t wandering straight into another beast’s territory, or further into the forest.

She continued walking in the same direction, despite everything that hurt. She didn’t want to think about what happened to her friend. Instead, her mind felt hollow, as she barely had the energy to move on foot in front of the other.

It continued like that for minutes, and every step felt like it took all the energy out of her. She no longer thought of Amity’s last wish as her driving force; that would mean she had to think of Amity. She focused completely on getting home to Eda and King. Thinking of Amity took too much energy out of her.

Minutes turned to over an hour and she still had no clue where she was. Everything felt real and fake at the same time, but she had given up any hope of waking up from this living nightmare.

She eventually realized that she couldn’t move a step farther and slumped down against a nearby tree. She didn’t want to sleep, but after everything that had happened; her body knocked her out on its own.

She woke up to the snarling and growling from the lion, as it was barely a foot from her face. She screamed, slamming her head into the tree in her panic to get away. She tried to stand up, but the lion held her back with a single foot. It only took a moment to lick at her, before it opened its mouth.

Her eyes widened, and she immediately kicked against the creature’s leg. But it barely took any notice of her struggling, as it shoved her into its mouth. It lifted her up off the ground. It continued to lap at her as she felt it starting to feel it walking.

She swung her leg into the creature’s jaw, but it barely took notice of it. She felt powerless, as it threw its head back and sent her flying into its throat. She tried to squirm in its throat, but nothing could help her anymore. The lion was quick to swallow again, sending her farther into its body.

She tried to push herself back into its mouth by writhing backwards, but its throat kept shoving her down. She hadn’t even entirely realized what was happening yet; her mind was still half asleep, despite the panic.

Her legs were the only thing left of her in the lion’s mouth was her legs, but it barely took it a second to swallow them down too. It still didn’t click in her mind what was happening to her, the only thing that registered was how scolding hot it was to her cold body.

The smell of the lion’s gut nearly made her want to puke, as her head was quickly squeezed into the belly of the lion. But she knew something was off, as her head bumped into something that wasn’t the slime flesh it should have been.

Despite the heat of the creature’s body; she felt a chill running through her body, making everything hair stand on end, as she screamed. That could only be the remains of Amity’s body.

But to Luz’s shock; the thing moved, before it screamed too.

She stopped screaming immediately, and the last of her body was forced down into the creature’s stomach. Was that Amity? How could she possibly still be alive in there? There was no way it was her! But that scream sounded so familiar. She reached into her pocket, but the water damaged paper tore apart between her fingers.

The stomach lit up in a light purple shine, as Amity casted a spell. Luz felt weird, as small pang of something that felt like an electric shock went through her entire body.

Luz stared where she had seen Amity’s face just a second before. “Amity? How are you still alive in here?” Luz hadn’t believed her eyes in those few seconds she had seen Amity. But she was there; she felt it, as the small space forced Luz to lie on top of Amity.

Amity cast a light spell, her eyes wide in panic. The girl ignored Luz’s question “How did you get caught? I thought you got away from it! It’s been hours!”

Luz didn’t know how to respond. She took a breath, trying to ignore the foul smells. “I thought you died and I couldn’t bring myself to move!” She had a hard time processing what the hell was going on. “I’m sorry… If I had run; I could have gotten help.”

“That doesn’t explain why it’s been hours!” Amity looked past Luz. “The thing slept for two hours!” She held out two fingers, as she seemed more annoyed than scared. “And as soon as it woke up it growled and chased you down!”

The beast growled above them; it was probably annoyed by the fact that its belly was being so noisy.

Luz explained what had happened to her, before shifting back to the fact that Amity was still alive. “But I still don’t get how you’re alive…” It obviously wasn’t that she was upset with that fact, but she didn’t understand why Amity wouldn’t have told her she would be fine.

Amity shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry that I didn’t explain anything to you… I know a spell, but I didn’t want to give you false hope in case the beast ripped me apart.” She took a moment to look at Luz, before she looked away again. “I figured with its wide mouth; it would probably swallow its prey whole.” Amity looked back at Luz, who was a little baffled that Amity had put that much thought into it. “It’s standard procedure.”

Luz nodded, “so, what’s the plan now?” She hoped that Amity did have a plan. Or at least knew of something they could do.

Amity summoned her scroll. “Don’t laugh, but I had to message my brother and my sister over Penstagram.” She looked over the messages. “Hold on, Ed has seen it!” Amity stared expectantly at the magic device, but nothing was happening just yet. She looked up at Luz. “Do you think he believes me? Should I have included a picture?”

Luz couldn’t help being a bit amused at the thought of taking a picture inside a lion’s stomach. “I don’t think that’s necessary.” She suppressed a snicker, before continuing. “But if you think it’s going to help, sure, anything to get out of here sooner.”

Amity gave a quick nod, snapping a picture. “Do you have any idea where exactly its cave is?”

Luz thought about it. She was carried quite a while… They had run into the forest and then taken a turn… So they had been following the path. Problem was she had no idea if it were to the north, west, east or south of the path. “It’s to the left of the path from where we walked into the forest.”

“That’s in the northern part of the forest…” Amity wrote a quick message to follow the picture. “Do you remember any landmarks?” She looked at Luz expectantly, but she couldn’t remember anything other than feeling sorry for herself.

“The cave is pretty big…” She felt embarrassed. “I didn’t see anything else eye-catching.”

She gave another nod. “So the beast lives in a cave at the northern part of the forest…” She sent the message to her brother. “That could be enough for them to figure out where we are…”

Luz didn’t like the sound of that. “Could be? What are we going to do if they don’t find us?” She knew that Amity couldn’t keep them alive forever. “You do have a back-up plan, right?”

“I think the lion will throw us up eventually…” Amity looked up where the lion’s head was. “It’s hopefully going to realize we aren’t digesting properly…” she trailed off, looking ashamed. “I really don’t have any plans after that; there’s not a lot I can do…”

They both fell quiet after that. Luz had to think about what had happened. She and Amity had been out walking, before the beast attack them. She had thought Amity died. She realized how thankful she was that the girl was sitting right in front of her and alive. She threw her arms around Amity, squeezing her tightly. “I thought you were dead!” Luz felt tears build up in her eyes again, but this time it was out of pure relief. They could still make it out alive. Both of them.

Amity’s arms hovered hesitantly to Luz side, before she wrapped them around her. “This is really not a hug moment…” Luz heard her mumble.

Luz didn’t care, as she squeezed her tighter. “I never want to feel like that again…” She had been completely convinced her friend died. “Te quiero…” She whispered to Amity, as her heart ached with the thought of ever losing her again.

Amity sensed that Luz had said something important. Luz knew that when Amity’s hug started feeling even more awkward. “What did you just say?”

The words slid of her tongue easier than they should have. “I love you.” It wasn’t completely a confession; it was more so a statement. She loved Amity. She wasn’t trying to get anything romantic out of it. “I never want to lose you ever again.” It was her heart that commanded her to speak. It helped ease the pain to get the words out.

Amity was quiet; she didn’t even breathe for a few seconds, before she shook her head. “You definitely didn’t confess inside a beast stomach… What does te quiero actually mean?” Amity’s pronunciation was impressively on point from hearing the word once.

Luz thought about it… “I’m not confessing.” Her thoughts hit the brakes. “Wait, hold on.” Luz had a realization hit her that exact moment, before she wiped her tears away. She did love Amity… She wanted to hold Amity’s hand… Sometimes she had wanted to give Amity a kiss, but quickly had shoved the thought away again. “I wasn’t trying to confess,” she corrected, realizing now what she meant and had felt for a long time.

Amity stared at her, mouth agape in disbelief. She closed her mouth, before opening it a couple seconds later to speak. “You seriously confessed to me inside the stomach of a beast…” Amity slammed her fist into the creature’s stomach wall. “Couldn’t you have waited until we were out of here?”

The lion grumbled at the hit; at most it was mildly annoyed.

Luz wasn’t really sure what to think of Amity’s reaction. “Do you not like me back? I’m sorry!” It would be super uncomfortable to be pressed up against someone you didn’t even like, after they confessed.

Amity stared at her, slowly blinking in confusion. “You think I don’t like you back?”They didn’t get any further with their discussion, as there was a noise from Amity’s scroll. Luz had forgotten Amity still had it out.

“Edric has contacted someone!”

After Amity had replied, the two argued back and forth on multiple things. Why Luz decided that that was the best moment to confess and why she hadn’t picked up on anything on Amity’s part.

They argued for the most part, but after a while they fell into a gentler discussion. It was still odd to talk in the lion’s stomach, but they didn’t have anything else to do to waste time.

Eventually they heard the lion roar in anger, and people yelling commands to each other.

Luz had been worried about them needing to cut the lion open, but Amity had told her they more than likely would have a vomit inducer. She didn’t want to be covered in blood; she couldn’t care less about what they did to the lion.

It didn’t long, before they felt the lion fall to the ground.

They heard the lion roar and growl in protest, before it began retching.

Luz had thought being swallowed by a lion was bad enough, but this was unarguably worse; the only thing that made it better was that this was a way out of the creature’s gut.

Luz and Amity were both puked up in a matter of seconds. Both got up to scramble away as quickly as possible.

They both got up on their feet, staring at the beast.

The people who had saved them, however, were fixated on Amity Blight. With emphasis on Blight. “You know we don’t do this job for free, right?”

They both snapped their heads towards the person speaking. Amity was quick to reply. “I don’t have any snails on me.”

Luz felt a bit defensive of Amity. “Yeah, and how many snails do you think she could keep in her pockets?” Luz gestured to Amity, “I’m pretty sure her dress doesn’t even have pockets!” She lowered her arms again, deciding to crack a joke. “And besides; what are you going to do if we don’t pay you? Shove us back in?”

Nobody laughed. “We just might, if you keep being a little brat!”

Luz raised her hands, and took a step back. “Hey! I just meant that Amity can’t pay right now!” She realized it sounded like she meant they were trying to sneak their way out of paying. She didn’t understand why they would have to be paid, but she wasn’t going to argue. “And I was making a joke…” She was disappointed that Amity hadn’t laughed.

The person glared at her. “Well, ha ha, very funny,” he said, giving them another judging glance. “But we fully expect to be paid handsomely for rescuing a child of the Blight family… And whoever you are supposed to be.”

Luz felt a bit uncomfortable, even as Amity took the word again. “If you want to get paid; you need to get my parents.” Amity shuffled nervously. “If we pay extra, can you help us get home?”

The people looked around at each other. “You’re sure your parents will pay that much for a brat like you and her friend? This isn’t going to be cheap, little Blight.”

Luz could tell that hit a weak point on Amity, but she quickly shook it off. “My parents will pay to have me back home.” Her voice was confident, but she clearly wasn’t. “And you’re not getting anything if we get lost out in the forest.”

“Alright, you win,” said the leader of the group, “come on, let’s help them get home.”

They stood outside the gate to the Blight manor. “You know, your house is really fancy.”

Amity didn’t take much notice of her remark, as she seemed lost in thought. She turned to the rescuers. “I’ll go get my parents, and then you’ll get your money.”

Luz didn’t want to be alone with the people. “Can I go with you?”

Amity flinched, before she spoke, “sure.”

They walked up to the door of the house together. Luz pulled her hoodie over her head. She didn’t think Amity’s parents would be particularly happy to see their daughter with a human.

Amity’s parents opened the door, before they even got up there. “Amity!” yelled her father. “What were you thinking?” But his voice calmed as he noticed Luz. “Who is your friend?”

Amity was quick to respond, “it’s just someone from school. She got eaten with me, because we had something that needed settling.” Luz didn’t like how quickly Amity came up with the lie. That wasn’t a good sign. “But I got to know her a little bit and she lives a long way away from here, so I was wondering if she could stay over? Or at least borrow the shower?”

Her mother gave her a skeptical look. “What were you two settling out in the forest?”

Amity barely hesitated, as she lied again. “She challenged me to a witches duel, and I had to show her who was the better witch.” Amity thought for a few seconds, probably trying to find holes in her story. “But she is actually really nice. Can you let her stay?”

Her father gave Luz a cold glare. “What’s your name?”

Luz looked over at Amity. She decided it was better to lie. “Light!” she replied a bit too loudly. “My name is Light.” Maybe using the translation of her name was a little boring and risky, but she was only pretending to be this Light for one night. They both eyed her suspiciously. “Sorry, it’s just… you’re a really important family, and I got into a fight with your daughter…” Luz laughed anxiously. “I’m really nervous.”

The two adults looked at each other. Her mother spoke up. “You can use the guest shower, while we figure something out.” He stopped, before turning to Amity. “You take a shower too.”

Amity stood still for a bit and so did Luz. “Actually… The people who saved us need to talk to you… They expect to be paid a lot for saving me.”

They nodded coldly, and eerily in sync. “You two get inside. When you’re done showering; throw the clothes out.”

Luz and Amity nodded and rushed inside.

She borrowed some of Amity’s clothes, before getting shown which bathroom to use.“You should take this too.” Amity handed her one of her school cowls. “Just say that you don’t like to show the back of your head. Say you got an extra eye you’re insecure about, if they ask.”

Luz was still confused at Amity having such an easy time lying. Nothing about Amity told her “liar”. If anything, it was the opposite. She was not at all prone to cheating. She tried to tell on her siblings, and she was a top student. So something had to be going on for her to be a good liar. “Thank you,” was all Luz said. Amity definitely wasn’t ready to talk about her past or parents with Luz.

She was pretty sure she had never felt better after a shower than she did at that moment. Clean and insanely soft clothes on her body felt great. The only downside was that she had to wear the cowl up. But it didn’t bother her much.

Amity’s parents called on her a few minutes after she had gotten done showering.

Luz waited for them to speak, having a feeling they wouldn’t take kindly to her taking the word.

Amity sat farther away from her, also waiting for her parents to speak.

Finally, they did. “How far away do you live?”

Luz looked away from them. “On the other side of town…”

“Then you can stay for the night,” replied Amity’s mother. She turned to Amity, with an unreadable expression. “We’re going to have a talk tomorrow.”

Amity nodded nervously, her eyes flicking between Luz and her mother. “Do I need to get the spare room ready?”

Her mother’s response was short and simple. “Of course.”

Amity quickly got everything set up, refusing Luz’s offer to help. It wasn’t proper manners to have a guest fix up their own room, according to her.

Initially that upset Luz, but after a while she could only focus on the fact that she would have an actual bed to sleep on. And on top of that; it looked to be very high quality everything. At least higher quality than her sleeping mat.

Amity stood and watched for a few seconds after getting everything done. “So… Why did you call yourself Light?”

Luz shrugged. “My name means light, not much other reason than that.” She sat down in the bed, watching Amity tiredly. “Can I just go to bed now?” She tried to suppress, but it easily escaped her.

Amity yawned too. “Yeah, it’s fine.” She turned around just before she left. “Goodnight, Luz.”

“Goodnight, Amity,” said Luz, before climbing into bed, and even if she had something to change into; she wouldn’t have bothered.

***

That’s the end! I got bored... Sorry. I mostly wrote this just to be angsty, but then it shifted a bit and I just wanted to finish it. Yes, Eda and King are worried out of their minds, but Luz will get home... Eventually.

Also could have been really angsty and wrote “Luz opened her eyes, realizing that everything had been too good to be true. She was still under the tree she where had fallen asleep, and she had to face Amity was gone.” But that’s not actual ending; what’s above the *** is the true ending. I just like edgy stuff, but not actual fatal.

Te quiero are the right words here btw. Te amo is a lot more meaningful and Amity and Luz aren’t that close yet. It’s mostly for long established partners and sometimes nearest family members.

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loosescrewslefty · 4 years

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A paranoid/scared part in my head keeps telling me that Camilia will turn out to be a jerk, if only because of the show's "found family" theme- but three things have quelled those thoughts. 1. Finding family doesn't mean you've lost your other family. 2. There's literally been no implications or such that Luz's home life is bad, not even a throw away comment, so that would come outta nowhere, and 3. What if it isn't from Luz's angle... but from Eda's? King's? Amity most definitely.

I don’t think that’s the case, myself. Camilia sending Luz to camp wasn’t done because she wanted to change Luz or because Luz was causing problems for Camilia herself, but rather because she was hoping Luz would learn new skills and perspectives that would help make it easier for her to make friends and lessen her struggles at school. And Luz has done that on the Boiling Isles. Luz from before unintentionally caused a lot of problems that made things difficult for her teachers and peers. But on the Boiling Isles, while Luz still does things in unconventional ways, she’s also learning more about respecting other people’s boundaries and realizing that reality doesn’t always play out like the scenarios she cooks up in her head (And as an ADHD nerd, that aspect of her character is something I really, REALLY relate to and struggled with overcoming as well).

And to be honest, as much as people said that Amity’s story arc in Enchanting Grom Fright was supposed to be about fear of being judged by her peers because she’s LGBT, it didn’t quite read that way to me, especially after Wing it Like Witches. It feels a lot more like a girl who’s scared of getting rejected by this one person in particular because she likes them so much that she has trouble putting it into words.

But all the stuff with Camilia and Luz? THAT came across as a LGBT teen terrified of coming out and how her mother could potentially react to that. Everything about Luz facing down the Grom demon and having it manifest into the fear of Camilia finding out that Luz had been hiding something so important from her and Camilia being horrified by all the things about the Boiling Isles that Luz has come to love felt WAY more like a parallel to a closeted kid who’s exploring their sexuality in LGBT spaces, but can’t bring themselves to tell their parents the truth yet because once you’ve taken that step you can’t take it back and everything is going to change and that’s scary as fuck.

Dana Terrance said working on this show is what gave her the strength herself to come out as Bisexual to friends and family, so I don’t think those parallels are unintentional, and I don’t think the show would linger on them so much if they only intended to hurt us with them in the end. We’ve seen lots of signs Luz and Camilia have a loving relationship- Luz has at least two different photos her and her mom together in her room, and Camilia has a keychain on her bag that looks like it’s related to Luz somehow- so while I believe there will definitely be some rough waters about the lying stuff for a little bit, I expect the Nocedas will patch things up and their relationship will be stronger than ever.

And then Luz will have to restrain her mother from murdering the Blights with her bare hands because What sort of parents forces their own child to denounce their best friend???? And at their child’s own birthday party???

#toh #the owl house #luz noceda #camilia noceda #LGBT

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everyonesomething · 6 years

Text

Session 21b

Grim: "I like that, you're good folks."

Malkas: "My girl said she was goin' and what was I gonna do without her, you know?"

Grim: "You are just hook line 'n sinker for her, huh"

Malkas grins a little lopsided. His jaw is sore. "Yep."

In this session, Grim and Mal bond and the group blows off steam.

The set-up: The day after the cyclops encounter, at a nondescript truck stop.

The Game: After dinner, Mal and Grim are loitering outside in the parking lot. Mal sees a halfling struggling to change a tire and goes to help him, getting paid with a bag of Luhix—a popular recreational drug—for his troubles.

Looking to unwind, he and Grim go to a nearby bar to chat and swap stories.

Malkas: "Don't kidnappings, decapitations, all that happen literally everywhere? There was a beach in Waterdeep too and a kid from down my block got eaten by a real big mother Displacer beast."

Grim: "Sure. Ain't everywhere that floats its economy off it, though."

Malkas: "Except Waterdeep probably does. Didn't you ever hear about that crime boss beholder?"

"Ruled the city for three hundred years and didn't even have thumbs."

Grim: "Shit, don't talk to me about the Waterdeep families. There's damn few jobs I wont touch, Malkas, but even I got more sense than working that city."

Malkas: "It was a very interesting place to grow up in."

Malkas finishes his beer in one slug.

Malkas: "When I was a kid, I remember, before the houses around us got so built up, there were these two big guys, a dwarf and a half-orc maybe, digging a big hole in an open field."

"And I was, maybe seven? And I wander over there..."

Grim lights up a cigarette while she listens

Malkas: "Tell me they're playing a real fun game of Hole-Digging."

"And give me, like, a shovel."

Grim snorts softly

Malkas: "And they just... let me dig for a while. And then when it was starting to get dark, they take back the shovel, give me a handful of candy and a pack of smokes and send me on my way. And "Don't tell anybody."

Grim: "Real trusting kid."

They drink some more, talk some more, add a little spice to their evening with the Luhix, and decide to do some bar-hopping to burn off a little steam. They've both been feeling too tightly-wound between the monster fights and being cooped up in a car that a change of pace would do them some good.

Malkas: "Alright, usually when I was high, I'd go find somebody who would call me Horns or Imp and get into a fistfight."

Grim grins, wide and crooked

Grim: "You're speakin' my language, Malkas."

Malkas: "I don't know if we're gonna find anyone racist around here."

Grim: "In a shitstain truck stop asshole've the midwest, are you kiddin' me? Practically grow 'em for export, towns like these."

"Hell, all we gotta do is get off've the roadway here, head on out where the money from nonhumans don't spend."

Malkas: "Arright, well I'll be buzzing for another hour, so let's boogie."

Grim elbows him and heads off along one of the smaller roads

Grim: "You're a whole lot more fun than you act, I'll tell you."

Malkas: "Whaaat? How do I act?"

Grim: "Oh shit like you ain't playin' up the butter don't melt in your mouth, never done a crime good kid for Edith day in an' out."

Mal confesses to Grim that he's always been under pressure to be the good kid, his two older brothers were a handful for his parents. He did his best, but he wasn't perfect, and it's still something that puts a strain on him—worse now that he's head over heels for Edith and doesn't want to ruin their relationship.

At another bar, Grim asks Mal how things are going with Edith and apologizes for accidentally causing tension between them. It's water under the bridge for him, he's a lot more concerned now about going to her parents' place.

Malkas: "We, we're .I-it's gonna, uh... Her parents are kind of awful and I hate 'em a lot."

"And I sure as [infernal] don't wanna GO and stay at their house but but but"

"She wants me there with her."

"So I'm going."

Malkas reaches over his head to scratch his left ear with his right hand.

Grim: "Sure they sound like fuckin' grade-A fuckin' assholes, but what the hell d'you say to that, kid's clearly got a blind spot size've a boulder over them."

Malkas: "Yeah yeah yeah I know but its her parents so.... What'm'I gonna do? I made you guys come see my dumb family."

Grim leans back in her seat, rocking one leg restlessly while they talk

Grim shrugs and toys with her empty glass, spinning it around and around in one hand

Grim: "Shit, I don't know what the hell kind've advice you think you're gonna get from me, I don't know jack about none've this."

Malkas drums his fingers on the table. Incessantly. "Oh no, I don't want advice, there's no angle here, I just mean we're doing great aside from the impending parents disapproval, you know?"

Malkas: "Because their grandkids might come out looking like demons. Devils."

"It's just a thing! That's happening. I need another hit do you want another hit?"

Grim: "Fuck 'em, who needs 'em? Ain't like Runekill's got trouble standin' on her own two feet. Hell d'you need with a lotta near strangers getting up your ass about whatever the hell- fuck yeah let's do it"

Malkas: "Yes good."

Honestly confronting your fears and concerns with a close friend can be helpful!

They decide the bar isn't doing it for them and head back out into the night to find a more physical activity. Since rockwall climbing hasn't been invented yet, they just climb the side of a building to loiter on a rooftop.

Malkas balances on the thin wall around the roof.

Grim dumps her pack and hat on the top of the roof once she gets up there and turns to survey the town while she lights up

Grim: "Y'ever think about how fuckin' easy it would be to just take a bunch've people out?"

"Fucked up."

Malkas: "Hahaah this place sucks."

"What, like, shoot people from a rooftop?"

Grim: "Sure, or whatever. Blow 'em up. Lure in a monster, drive into some big ass building. Don't take fuckin' nothin' to mess up a whole lotta people good. Kinda crazy it don't happen all the time, y'know?"

Grim huffs out smoke

Grim: "Set a fire."

Malkas: "Maybe it does out in the wilderness."

Grim: "Yeah, but there ain't so many people all together in one place."

Malkas: "Mn."

Grim sights down her rifle and scans the darkened streets for a few moments, then snorts and sets it aside

Grim: "Fucked up shit, man."

Malkas rocks on his heels, his tail swinging around to set his balance on the wall.

Grim sits on the edge of the building and draws her knees up, leaning over precariously

Grim: "How long 'til we all bite it out here, you reckon?"

Malkas: "We're not gonna die out here."

Grim: "The hell we ain't, we all got a timer. Someone's kickin' it sooner or later."

Malkas: "I I just - I just think tha-that weeee're... Gonna be fine. We got somebody to heal us. And Syd, Syd's obviously got a through line to Bahamut."

"And I don't see us ALL dyin' until we're up against something too big."

"Like Tam."

Grim nods

Grim keeps nodding

Malkas paces up and down the thin wall.

Grim: "Man, I want somethin' to fuck me up good though, y'know that feeling? Like I want to get laid out, it ain't enough 'til somethin' takes me the fuck down."

Malkas: "Or maybe tomorrow, a red dragon's gonna fly down outta nowhere and toss the car into the ocean."

Grim: "S'a convertible, red dragon'd just eat us."

Malkas: "Alright alright okay okay okay okay GRIM."

"Grim."

Malkas turns and faces her, "Grom."

Grim: "I know about red dragons, man, I know some shit - about dragons."

Malkas: "The only thing I know how to do anything. Is by pretending that whatever dumb shit I'm doing is not ever gonna kill me."

"It's the only way I could keep breaking into old dungeons filled with spike traps and swinging axes and the only way I keep fucking with mummies."

"So... Yeah, we're all gonna die horribly! Probably. But, you know. Pretend we're not. And then we won't maybe."

Malkas hops off the wall.

Malkas: "What about dragons?"

Grim: "Dragons'll eat a car, ain't the point. Ain't the- point is that's your shit, Mal, that's all you an' prob'ly Edith and hell, most normal folks, but that ain't my shit. That ain't how I get goin', alright."

"Somethin's got a mark on me an' somethin's gonna take me out someday, an' I ain't goin' without a fight; So I gotta go hard, I gotta want it, that's how the fuck I keep on goin', I gotta find that shit that's gonna wreck me for good."

"If I ain't lookin' for it, I ain't doin' all I can do, an' that ain't me."

"Fuck man, I wanna see my death comin' an' look it right in the eye an' get at least a good shot off first."

Deep, philosophical conversation about the nature of life and humanity with a close friend can be helpful!

After a lull in conversation, Grim talks Mal into having a spar with her on the rooftop. It starts clean and friendly, even though they both nearly fall over the side at different times. They devolve into taking pot-shots at each other before Mal pulls out his trump card.

Helia (GM): The rooftop goes black.

Grim freezes

Malkas punches Grim and then the darkness evaporates.

Grim stumbles and grabs for her rifle instinctively

Malkas snickers.

Grim casts around wildly and levels it at Mal before she realises what's up and curls her lip

Grim: "Fuckin' asshole, magic's cheatin'."

Malkas: "It's not really magic, it's just the gifts that my ancestors gave me."

Grim: "Magic gifts. Asshole."

Malkas holds up his hands, "Alright, alright."

Grim sets her rifle down and spits blood again, then wipes her chin

Grim: "Goddamn magical creature shit, ain't no less magic just 'cause it's in your blood."

Malkas: "Alright, I'm sorry. You want a free swing?"

Grim: "Nah, I'm good. Ain't out to kill your paper tissue ass."

They call the match at that and split a post-workout drink before deciding to go back to the diner. Grim verifies with Mal that they're friends in time for them to both slip and fall off the building on descent.

When they get back to town, they join the rest of the gang—Edith more than a little alarmed at their roughened state.

Edith Runekill springs to her feet and rushes over to Grim and Mal, looking horrified.

Edith Runekill: "Oh no!! What happened to you two? Are you okay????"

Pepper steadies the table as Edith rams into it, it's already mostly supported by soggy napkins shoved under the legs.

Malkas: "Heyyy Edi-bell! What? We're good, we're great. Great great great. Keen even."

Pepper squints at Mal.

Malkas: "How's it goin', Pep."

Edith Runekill cocks her head to the side. "You... don't really look it. Did you two get in a fight?"

Grim raises her tray of pie out of Edith's general radius

Grim: "Goddamn Runekill, back up off my ass there will you?"

Pepper: "Oh, it's going. You're awful bright eyed and bushy tailed for looking like you got run over by a truck."

Malkas: "No, nonono, just... General roughhousing. No big deal!"

Edith Runekill: "Should we get Capridi? Or... or Millicent?"

Grim: "Yeah, nah, nah, we ain't been into much, weren't much but a li'l scrappin'."

Edith Runekill dabs at Mal's face with a clean napkin.

Edith Runekill: "You two... are speaking kinda oddly. Did. Um. Did you drink a lot?"

Sweet, sweet Edith.

Grim and Mal reassure her that they just had a sparring lesson, no serious damage done. She accepts his explanation, but sends a message Pepper asking her if she thinks they're acting weird. Pepper's not getting in the middle of this one and just tells Edith to let them ride out the evening and worry about it in the morning. Edith is on board with this suggestion, until Mal and Grim let slip that they both fell off a building.

Edith isn't going to just worry about this in the morning and questions if the roof of a building was the best place for a sparring lesson. Edith points out that someone could have been injured or killed for no reason—everyone is already risking their lives on the journey, there's no need to go looking for more trouble. Grim gets defensive at the lecture, it's not news to her that any one of them might die on the trip.

Grim: "Shit, Runekill, we ain't all the same person out here, I ain't about that shit and I ain't interested in playin' at it. Yeah man, prob'ly gonna die, prob'ly a couple of us before this thing's through, turns out it's one hell of a lot easier stickin' the whole lifestyle out when you want that."

Edith Runekill: "I don't want some historian to sit down in the year 2100 and read about how Szass Tam conquered the world because the people trying to stop 'im got drunk and fell off a roof."

Grim: "And guess what, that ain't gonna happen, cause here's some news: we ain't goddamn dead."

Malkas sits up a little straighter.

Edith Runekill: "And I'm terribly glad of that!! But it's just... [infernal] fuck, [common] the odds're stacked against us enough without just taking... completely unnecessary risks..."

"I made peace with the fact that I'm probably gonna die out here but that doesn't mean I wanna and I won't try not to."

Grim: "Who the fuck are you to tell me what's necessary, Runekill?"

Malkas: "Hey, okay, come on."

Pepper: "C'mon, man," she throws her spoon on the table.

Grim glowers over at Edith, lips pursed around her cigarette

Malkas: "Edi, let's get some fresh air, okay?"

Edith Runekill: "I mean. I'm just having kind of a hard time seeing how knocking one another off a dang roof is 'necessary'. I know I'm just a naive country girl but I'm having a bit of trouble figuring that one out..."

Malkas looks pleadingly at Edith.

Malkas looks a little less deranged with his pupils less dilated,

Grim: "Girl, I spend day in day out dead on the inside an' livin' on the out. You fuckin' tell me I ain't entitled to feel like a real person once in a while, like a livin' thing. You don't see it cause you ain't gotta, you got your warm feelings about doin' right an' keepin' lore, an' your li'l devil boy on your arm. You ain't ever had to take a punch to keep goin' another day. Don't you come at me like your world's my world, it ain't."

Pepper taps the table like "annnnd there it is".

Sydney Gaydos is sliding in at the worst time! "Oh! There you all are!"

Malkas slams his hand down on the table.

Helia (GM): Everyone falls asleep.

Edith Runekill , who has had a traumatic, near-death experience every day for the entire adventure, doesn't need to hear THAT from Grim.

Sydney Gaydos does in fact have the worst timing.

Edith Runekill falls face-first on Pepper's fries.

Malkas is shaking a little, looking beyond furious.

Pepper doesn't sleep but doesn't really react.

Grim is Out like a light

Mal gently wakes Edith and leads her outside, nudging Sydney and the waitress awake as he passes. Sydney joins Pepper and the sleeping Grim at the table as Mal and Edith sit on a bench outside. He tells Edith he got upset and cast Sleep on the diner by accident, angry over how Grim was talking to her. He also tells her what he and Grim were up to with the Luhix and apologizes for worrying her and taking on extra risks.

Malkas: "Anyway, uh... Grim gets a little more aggressive apparently."

Edith Runekill: "Just... just say you'll be careful, okay? I... I'm afraid enough of losing you without it just being some stupid mishap."

Malkas: "I will. Sorry. We were just feeling a little pent up, I guess."

"But yeah. I'll, uh, be more careful."

Edith Runekill: "I mean. We all do in stressful situations. And frankly we all get kinda blasted. Just... maybe not on a roof...?"

Malkas: "I suggested tree."

Malkas: "Also, we were very, very high."

Edith Runekill: "On... cannabis?"

Malkas: "... Remember when you found me in that deli at 7am?"

Edith Runekill: "When you drank all those espressos? At least I was pretty sure that's what happened."

"When I was trying to reconstruct the chain of events that led you there."

Malkas: "... No, uh, I helped a guy change his tire and he gave Grim and me some Luhix."

"And usually, for me alone, leads to tree climbing, bagels, maybe one streetfight against some asshole calling me "devil boy."

Malkas shoots a look at the diner.

Malkas: "Turns out, Grim's ... uh, she's a pretty bad influence on me?"

Edith Runekill: "...Luhix? Really?"

"Um."

Malkas: "It's not that rare in Waterdeep."

Edith Runekill: "No kiddin.'"

"Uh... yeah. Maybe Grim is kinda a bad influence on you...?"

Malkas: "Mom used to rub it on Lem's gums when he was teething."

Edith Runekill: "Well, in medicinal quantities, I assume...?"

Mal gets one last thing off his chest with Edith: he asks her if she's just dating him to make her parents upset. She denies this, of course. She loves Mal with all her heart. Aw, these two.

Inside the diner, Pepper fills Sydney in on what she missed. Neither one of them are too impressed with how the evening ended up, but they're content to let it go for now, there's more important issues at hand.

Grim tenses with a sharp intake of breath, as if startled, and then freezes for a second, totally disoriented by waking up slumped on the table

Pepper: "[Elvish] for the love of--" she recoils as Grim comes back.

Sydney Gaydos: "... hello Grim!"

Grim looks up in the direction of Syd's voice, half buried under her own hair and looking a little like a cornered animal for a moment

Grim: "Th'fuck?"

Pepper: "You were asleep forrrr," she consults the clock over the lunch counter. "I dunno, a few minutes?"

Grim glances around warily and then runs her fingers across her mouth, wiping away a little of the blood from her split lip

Grim: "What the fuck just happened?"

Pepper slides a glass of water over in Grim's direction.

Grim eyeballs the water and then Pepper with fairly open hostility

Sydney Gaydos: "Now now let's all be civil here..."

Pepper: "You were asleep," she repeats herself as if it's the first time she said it. "In a magic kind of way. After you lost your head at Edith."

Grim sits up and rakes her hair out of her face, gaze twitching from Pepper to Syd and back

Grim: "Who th'hell's been castin' goddamn magic on me?"

Pepper: "Well first off, you should know it was an accident. Probably even hit some poor asshole just trying to use the toilet."

Sydney Gaydos slowly begins to tense up. "Right, an accident."

Grim growls, gaze fixed on Pepper now

Grim: "Who"

"Cast"

"Goddamn"

"Magic"

"on me"

Malkas throws a pebble at the window.

Malkas: "Well. Remember me as I was."

Grim flinches and looks up, then spots Mal and scowls

Grim confronts Mal who apologizes up-front for the Sleep spell and then gestures for her to follow him outside for a private conversation. He tells her the evening was fun, but Grim crossed a line talking to Edith the way she did. Grim considers his words, and they both make up.

Malkas: "I get the idea we have to ... hold it together a lot."

"Probably have been the only ones holding it together for longer than most people should have been at our ages."

Grim exhales smoke slowly, watching Mal, and gives a nod and a half shrug

Malkas: "And so... letting loose, as we did tonight, while fun..."

"Man we agree on some terrible ideas."

"I'm sure there's some deep reason for that, but I'm not really interested in that."

Grim: "You don't gotta justify it, Mal."

Malkas: "And I am sorry about the spell. You went off at Edith and that Devil Boy crack... I dunno, I was about to go over the table at you."

"Came out a little differently."

Grim has to think about that

Grim: "Don't even recall what I said there. More temper than anything, I guess."

Malkas: "Oh, you know, it was your basic "YOU DON'T KNOW ME" thing."

"Yeah. Temper. Me too."

Grim scratches the side of her head, thinking

Grim: ".....y'said y'were lookin' for someone to fight. Who'd call you devil boy."

"......I'm a hell of a shit stirrer when i want to be."

Malkas snorts a laugh, "Oh... I DID, didn't I?"

Grim: "Been spoilin' for a fight all night. Still am, kinda."

Malkas stands up and refolds his sleeves.

Malkas: "Okay. Take two?"

Grim: "For real?"

Malkas nods. "Yeah. Let's get this out of our systems. Because I'm still a little pissed about the Devil Boy thing."

Grim studies him for a moment, then nods

Friendship restored.

Back inside the diner, Edith beats herself up over what happened—the stress of trying to hold herself and the group together boiled over for her tonight, too. Pepper and Syd reassure her that it wasn't her fault and Mal and Grim will work the situation out between them. She's still unsure as the two re-enter the diner even bloodier than before, but accepts that they've made up in their own way.

Grim apologizes to Edith for what she said. With some of the stress and tension resolved, the group settles back in the diner booth for a late-night post-fight meal.

Edith Runekill looks from Grim, to Mal, to Grim, to Mal again.

Malkas takes a sip of water.

Grim leans over and spits blood into an empty cup

Edith Runekill in a very small voice: "oh auril i have a type"

Pepper: "[Elvish] Plaguewrought girls are weird," mostly to herself.

Edith Runekill: [Elvish] "We kinda are."

Pepper: "ANYway." She points to Grim. "This place makes a pretty amazing plate of hashbrowns, if you're not going to bed for awhile. I was probably gonna get a plate, myself."

Malkas: "Sounds good. Blow my mind, diner."

Grim looks up at Pepper and studies her kind of warily for a second. Then nods slowly, perplexed.

Grim: "Sure."

Pepper goes up to the counter to order because the servers sure-as-shit are avoiding the table at this point.

Grim goes back to cleaning the worst of the blood off her face. And knuckles.

Pepper wanders back. "It shouldn't take too long, but I think I gotta pick the plates up from the counter when they're done."

Grim gives Pepper another odd look but says nothing

Edith Runekill: "I guess... we look like a pretty rowdy bunch, huh?"

Pepper piles up some of the empty plates from the table to make room.

Pepper: "Oh yeah, you're a killer-diller."

Edith Runekill: "A real rough and tumble crowd."

Grim: "Reckon we are a pretty rowdy bunch."

Edith Runekill: "Often with literal tumbling."

Grim looks down and dips her napkin in some water to clean off her hands

Malkas: "I'm gonna ... wash up."

Grim is starting to feel kind of like absolute garbage in both the physical and moral sense

Malkas smooches Edith on the cheek, leaving a slightly blood kiss mark.

Edith Runekill smiles, not noticing that she has blood on her face, gross

Sydney Gaydos: "... Ah Edith, you have a little... let Gaydos get it." She tugs a piece of her jacket sleeve onto a finger to gently wipe the blood off of her cheek.

Edith Runekill: "Oh! Thanks, Sydney. Didn't... didn't see that."

Pepper glances over at the counter when she hears a bell dinging. She takes a stack of the dirty dishes with her and comes back with plates of food. "Told'ja it wouldn't take long, they really wanna get rid of us."

Malkas returns, cleaner but bruised.

Grim moves down the booth to make room for them, only leaving a light smudge of blood in her wake

Pepper slides a plate to Mal and sits down to eat.

Malkas searches for a fork.

Grim slides him the one she tried to stab his tail with earlier

Pepper surveys the table. It's a crime scene. "Everyone's got enough cash on 'em to leave a good tip after this mess right?"

Malkas: "Yeah."

Grim grunts

Edith Runekill: "Yeah. Don't worry about it."

Grim remembers the property damage they committed earlier and feels kind of shitty about it

Grim adds it to the laundry list at this point

Sydney Gaydos is 100% just going to leave some of those gemstones they got from the cyclops killing.

Pepper dumps what's left of her food onto Grim's plate because she's really been eating non-stop for hours, she's hit her limit.

Grim pauses when this happens and gives Pepper another of those odd looks

Grim: "....thanks."

Pepper grins. "Welcome."

Grim glances along the table at the others briefly, as if looking for some sign that they might be in on whatever this is

Grim looks back at Pepper, then slowly goes back to her food

I think these kids'll be alright.

#previously on #summary #neverwinter 1933

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nyskateboarding · 5 years

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youtube

video edit by @nelphotomedianyc

@xmikey662x photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@the_ssps photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@switch_nolly photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

NYC transition skaters wrapped up their first summer contest on Saturday July 13.

The “NYC Pool Series 2019”, took place at the Hudson River Park Pier 62 Skatepark, and was jointly organized by NYC Skateboard Coalition and the Hudson River Park.

Much thanks to the ground crew: Ian Clarke, Ali Axelrod, Schuyler Sattin, DJ Pork Chop and Emcees Andrew Gelles and Brian Koskuc.

@ali_axelrod @iansk8nyc @the_ssps phtographer @sk8duartic

The competition attracted skate talent from both NYC and special visitors out of town.

Jonny Gasparotto from Brazil, a Creature pro, took home second place in the under 35s. Gasparotto tore up the Pool Brazilian style.

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

Skaters competed under four categories divided by age and gender: Groms 13 and under, Girls, Under 35s, and 35 and over.

The under 35s was total gnar and mayhem. NYC local rippers Michael Massagli, Michael Dworak and Dean Mendez, Dimitri Sanford, Jabari Watson and other locals skated hard with classic full power pool skating. Michael Massagli’s full commitment lip tricks traversed multiple coping blocks.

Juan Pinero and Gasparottofrom (Brazil) took home first and second place. Local heroes Michael Massagl, also known as Mikey, came in third, and Dean Mendez was fourth.

@xmikey662x photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@switch_nolly photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@skateinpeace photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@xmikey662x photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

@xmikey662x 1 photographer @lolonyc

@skateinpeace photographer @lolonyc

photographer @lolonyc

@xmikey662x photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@yoey1862 photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@gasparojonny photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@alienorgy photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

photographer @seehearinc

@stoned_gizzelle photographer @seehearinc

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

@godawful_idea photographer @seehearinc

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

@skateinpeace photographer @seehearinc

@switch_nolly photographer @seehearinc

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

@jabariwatkins9 photographer @seehearinc

@xmikey662x photographer @seehearinc

@skateinpeace photographer @seehearinc

@gasparjonny photographer @seehearinc

@skateinpeace photographer @seehearinc

@xmikey662x photographer @seehearinc

@shark_dog photographer @seehearinc

@jabariwatkins9 photographer @seehearinc

@switch_nolly photographer @seehearinc

@skateinpeace photographer @seehearinc

@_coolcat photographer @seehearinc

@xmikey662x photographer @seehearinc

@xmikey662x photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@alienorgy photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@switch_nolly photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@_coolcat photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

The 35s and over category may see some older skaters, with some even over age 50. But make no mistake, these guys rip.

Shark Dog was hitting his huge bag of tricks with authority and precision, full power boneless, lien to tail, airs and rock and rolls and more. Original Zoo York skater, Jaime Puppet Head Affoumado, threw down some gorgeous old school style with deep end lay backs and many other gnarly tricks and great lines. DJ Jon aka Pork Chop took runs in between spinning vinyl with his gnarly fun style, always keeping it positive.

@jaimeaff photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@the_ssps photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@jaimeaff photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@the_ssps photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@shark_dog photographer @seehearinc

@jaimeaff photographer @seehearinc

@the_ssps photographer @seehearinc

@shark_dog photographer @seehearinc

Ben Chalmers photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@the_ssps photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@shark_dog photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@the_ssps photographer @nelphotomedianyc

The girl transition skaters are coming on strong with 13-year-old Bombette Martin. Martin put on a huge bag of tricks and won first place. MameBonsu, who came after Martin, hit all parts of the pool with full speed and power.

@bombette_martin photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@bombette_martin @sydgnar @im.an.echo photographer @nelphotomedianyc

mary martin and @bombette_martin photographer @lolonyc

Francesca photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@im.an.echo photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@bombette_martin photographer @nelphotomedianyc

For the the Groms, those under 13. All eyes were on the 9-year-old Kayo Martin. Martin is a fast rising star and took first place. Max Rabdau ripping into second place.

@kayo_martin photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@ali_axelrod photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@kayo_martin @maximillion2007 @gabriel_pas_ photographer @nelphotomedianyc

@kayo_martin photographer @nelphotomedianyc

Jet photographer @lolonyc

daughter photographer @lolonyc

Kayo is the younger brother of Bombette, the winner from the girl’s category. The brother and sister pair are a fixture at Pier 62, thanks to their supportive parents Bomber and Mary, and are both progressing rapidly and developing their style, lookout for the Martins.

@bombette_martin photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

@kayo_martin photographer @_Glenn_Joyce_

On the music side, our resident ripper/DJ Jon aka Pork Chop @the_ssps was spinning vinyl and squeezing in a few amazing runs in the over 35s skating to the Anti-Nowhere League. Pork Chop has held down the music end of our transition events for a number of years now with the incredible range of genres in his collection and Pork Chop takes his title as DJ seriously. In Pork Chop’s words, he played NYC block party style un-classic hip hop and funk classics, with punk and rock sprinkled in to break up the vibe while keeping it righteous and fun for all, we love you Jon.

@the_ssps photographer @lolonyc

NYC is known for it’s street skating because NYC has been denied good skateparks forever.

But thanks to the amazing Pier 62 skatepark with it’s 10 foot pool, we now have a serious crew of transition skaters.

With the new 11 foot pool under construction at Riverside Skatepark, we can only expect stronger pool skaters coming out of New York in the future.

The NYC transition skating scene is a tight-knit community that’s really a family with long term bonds and friendships we call the “62 crew” and made from an amazingly diverse group, including all age ranges and genders.

The next contest in the NYC Pool Series 2019 will be held at the Owls Head Skatepark, Brooklyn in the fall.

Thank you to all that made the event a reality:

@acesand8sdecks, @nimbus845, @acetrucks, @autonomyskateboards, @triple8nyc, @187killerpads, @rockstarbearings, @shutnyc, @lipstickskateboards, @bodegaskateboards, @nyskateboarding, @all_one_universe, @all_one_japan, @diamondsupplyco, @blades, @juicemagazine, @severedlegproductions, @nysmclothing, @ggi.skates, @unclefunkysboards, @sillygirlskateboards, @gritandgraceskate, @apositiveseed, @newyorkskateboardco, @littlepawnyc with special thanks to @nysmclothing who made a custom “62 crew” hat for the event.

Full competition result:

Under 35s

1 Juan Pinero @skateinpeace 2 Jonny Gasparotto (brazil) @gasparjonny 3 Michael Massagli @xmikey662x 4 Dean Mendez @stoned_gizzelle

35 and over

1 Shark Dog @shark_dog 2 Ben Chalmers 3 Jon aka Pork Chop @the_ssps 3 Ian white 3 Jaime Puppet Head Affoumado @jaimeaff

Girls

1 Bombette Martin @bombette_martin 2 MameFremah Bonsu @im.an.echo 3 Sydney Tomer @sydgnar 4 Francesca

Groms (13 and under)

1 Kayo Martin @kayo_martin 2 Max @maximillion2007 3 Gabriel Paskin @gabriel_pas_ 4 Riley

Event Recap: NYC Pool Series – Pier 62 Event (2019) video edit by @nelphotomedianyc NYC transition skaters wrapped up their first summer contest on Saturday July 13.

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