Chapter Text
“ As soon as my eyes shut the slide show begins
Yesterday is gone now and panic sets in
With a weight upon my chest
And a ghost upon my back
And the numbing sensation of everything
I lack that leaves me
Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming
Your real world away”
Hoot...
Hoot.
Hoot!
HOOT!
Luz woke up. The bed might have been dusty, but she was so comfortable that she didn’t dream. So where did the hooting come from? She saw a tall figure in the doorframe and a small, fluffy weight in her lap, with another one at her side, which must have been King. She sat up to investigate and saw Hooty in the doorway and a random small, brown owl in her lap. “Uh, Hooty, what’s this owl doing here?”
Hooty gave a wide grin. “GOOD MOOOOORNING LUZ!!” The owl hooted in alarm and flew to Luz’s shoulder. Ouch, owl talons are painful. Luz awkwardly took the owl from her shoulder, which felt more painful than it looked, and put it back in her lap with an annoyed yet slightly amused look. “Hooty! You didn’t answer my question!”
Hooty continued grinning, barely blinking. “Eda wants you to come downstairs! She says she needs to set some guidelines with you!”
Luz groaned and got out of bed, almost falling as she rubbed her eyes. Did I do something wrong? Usually when someone wants to “set guidelines” it’s usually because I did something wrong and they want to tell me not to do it again. “Alright. Let her know that I’ll be downstairs soon,” she mumbled, shooing away Hooty. Hooty let King follow him out the door as he left. She looked over at her clothes from yesterday and realized that she didn’t pack anything else to wear. As she finished putting on her cat hoodie, she saw her phone peeking out of her backpack. Oh shoot, I haven’t checked it since yesterday! She frantically checked her phone and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she only had a message from her mom.
Mami - 2:34 am
Goodnight, mija! I love and miss you so much!
Luz smiled and messaged back.
Luz - 8:27 am
Love you too, Mom! <3
See you tonight?
She waited a moment for her mom to message back before realizing she was probably asleep. She sighed and put her phone in her pocket before grabbing her backpack and heading downstairs.
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Eda’s POV:
Eda had always hated rules, but she knew she had to lay down some groundwork for Luz. After all, Luz was a teenager, worse, a teenager with a record. She chuckled to herself as she sat in her chair at the dining table with a mug of apple blood. Of all people, Eda should be the least concerned about managing a troublesome kid. She was startled out of her thoughts by King jumping up into her lap and putting his front paws on the table expectantly. Eda smirked and put him back on the floor. “No, bud, you can’t have apple blood. You’re a cat.”
King flicked his tail at her and walked over to the fridge, pawing at it. He meowed loudly before going back to Eda and pawing at her leg. She rolled her eyes with a small smile and went to the fridge. “Alright, fine, I’ll make you eggs. What kind do you want?” She asked the cat. King meowed again, this time slightly different. Eda sighed, setting the eggs down on the counter and grabbing a bowl from the cupboard. “Scrambled eggs it is, then.”
--
She was just putting King’s eggs in his bowl when she heard a creak from the stairs. She looked up to see a fully dressed Luz, looking slightly confused. Luz looked her in the eye.
“Eda, why was there an owl on me this morning?” she asked slowly.
Eda gave a small chuckle. “Oh, I forgot to tell you about Owlbert!”
Now, where is that little guy? She whistled, and her small brown owl came swooping in from upstairs to land on top of her head. She smiled earnestly at Luz.
“Luz, meet Owlbert. Owlbert, Luz.” She said, reaching up giving Owlbert a scratch on the head. Luz smiled back but still looked a bit confused.
“Um, nice to meet you Owlbert. Eda, that still doesn’t explain why you have an owl in your house.” Luz said, finishing her descent down the stairs to stand at the bottom.
“I got him from, uh,” Eda hesitated, taking the time to pluck Owlbert off of her head to put him on a nearby perch while she thought of an answer. Should I tell her? No, she would probably tell someone. She can’t know. “I got him from the local sanctuary! He, uh, was raised in a house, and, uh, wouldn’t do well in the sanctuary! So I, uh, offered to take him in!” She finished by grinning at Luz. Nailed it. Luz raised a quizzical eyebrow, seeming to take the answer. Eda watched Luz’s gaze fall on the scrambled eggs in the cat bowl and back to Eda, who tried not to seem very concerned about it.
“So,” Luz started, “King’s a picky eater, huh?”
Eda breathed an internal sigh of relief, happy to be off of the subject of Owlbert. That was close. “I guess you could say that,” She said hesitantly. “I always make him something special on Saturday mornings since we open late.”
“Oh, ok,” Luz said, sitting down in a chair across the table from Eda, letting the silence settle between them. She looked around and spoke again, a smile on her face. “What’s for breakfast?”