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Amity had a very set schedule for her life. Well, when it wasn’t being interrupted by her insufferable older siblings. Most days consisted of going to school, then heading straight to the library to do her homework and study, then do any extra credit work she’d managed to pick up, and after all that, if she had some time, she’d doodle or read whichever books she’d decided to enjoy that week. So, it was a little odd to find Luz waiting for her on the front steps of Hexside as school was letting out.
“Amity!” Luz yelled, a combination of emotions in her voice. Luz jogged up to her, stopping then bounced on her toes, nervous energy radiating off her. “Uh, hi,” Amity tilted her head questioningly, unsure of what to make of this unusual event. “Um,” Luz continued to stammer, starting to blush as her bouncing stopped.
“Hello, Luz,” Amity greeted, hoping to encourage Luz to say what she needed to. Usually they ran into each other by accident, or communicated through Willow or Gus. It was rare for Luz to just to show up like this, so Amity assumed whatever it was must be important. “Everything okay?”
Luz flushed darker as she rubbed the back of her head. “I- uh, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour?” Well, that was a bit anticlimactic but Luz was coming to her, so she’d do what she could.
“Depending on what it is, sure.” She motioned for Luz to follow her towards the school gates. It wasn’t a good idea to be on school grounds after hours without an issued pass, especially if you couldn’t do magic as easily as others. Luz followed, her jitters returning but less energetic as before.
“Uh, well, as you know, I’m going to be joining the student body of Hexside next semester!” Yes, she did know, and if she were honest, she was kind of excited about it. Sure, she had friends, but being around Luz felt different. She felt less of a need to outperform her, or compete against her. After they’d had their duel that is. Before she’d wanted to crush her into the ground, but now it felt more like a friendly rivalry that she didn’t need to take as seriously.
“Yes, Luz, I’m aware.” She gave Luz a small grin and that seemed to spur her on.
“Uh, well, I noticed that all the students have some kind of uniform and, uh… I don’t know where to get one of those. Or where to get clothes in general really, and man do I need new ones.” She continued to ramble as she motioned to her current outfit, the one she was wearing almost every time Amity had ever seen her. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve had to wash this thing? So many!”
Amity blinked. “Wait, do you not have any other clothes?” Luz froze, giving her a pretty clear answer. “Has Eda never gotten you any?”
Luz ducked her head, obviously embarrassed. “Well, no… But it’s not like that’s her job. I did kinda invade her house a little.” Luz mumbled the last part quietly, but Amity ignored it. She was too focused on the fact that Luz only had one set of clothes. That she apparently washed herself. Most likely daily if not more.
“Okay, yeah, we need to find you clothes. Come on!” Without thinking, she grabbed Luz’s hand and began walking, dragging the human behind her. “First, we need to get you a uniform, cause it’s against school rules to not have one, and you don’t want to get in trouble on your first day for breaking the rules-” She cut herself off when she looked back, being caught off guard by the grin Luz had on her face, which made Luz burst into full on laughter.
“What?!” She felt her own face heating up, and her ears tingling with a blush. “What’s so funny?”
She stumbles to a stop, shoulders up around her ears as though she could tuck inside herself like a turtle. Luz just covered her mouth with a hand and giggled a bit more before actually trying to calm down.
“Sorry, sorry, it’s just I wasn’t expecting you to be so… enthusiastic about this.” Luz forced herself to take a deep breath before letting out a calming sigh. “I appreciate it, Amity. Thank you.”
Amity felt herself blush even harder, nearly to the point of lightheadedness. It was at that moment she realized she was still holding Luz’s hand. Somehow, their fingers had laced together, the way couples would hold hands like in all the romance novels she’d read. She was sure she was about to pass out from all the blood rushing to her brain when Luz spoke again.
“Alright, where did you plan on going?” Luz didn’t let go of her hand, despite obviously being aware of it, instead she squeezed a bit tighter as she started walking again. “I hope it isn’t too expensive. Eda doesn’t exactly pay a whole lot.” Luz grumbled, only half joking.
Amity was pulled along by their joined hands, and it felt like a dream. She rarely imagined herself in the position to hold hands with anyone, only when she was alone and reading. She’d never let herself imagine holding hands in real life, let alone with Luz of all people. Not to say that holding hands with Luz was bad, it just made her feel very floaty… and a bit lightheaded… maybe a bit detached from reality.
“I-uh… it’s at the market.” She stumbled through her answer, trying to reboot her brain all the while. Luz just nodded, oblivious to Amity’s internal turmoil, and started heading in that direction. Thankfully leading the way and giving her time to come to terms with what was happening. Or compartmentalize and lie to herself that she’d figure it out later. The second option seemed more likely at the moment.
“So, uh,” Luz started. “How were classes today? Learn anything interesting?” From anyone else, Amity would have felt they weren’t actually interested in what she’d done at school and only asked out of politeness and a need for small talk, but with Luz she knew it was a serious question. The human had shown a great interest in magic from the moment she’d met her, so Amity didn’t have to look too hard to hear the genuine curiosity in her voice.
“We worked on abomination refinement.” She went into a long spiel about what that meant, the steps, why it was necessary to create stronger abominations and how it could be applied to other fields of magic. Talking about school and magic was something she could do on autopilot, no brain power necessary, something she was thankful for because it nearly took the entire walk to the market for her to bring the world back into focus. Throughout it all, Luz listened with rapt attention, absorbing every word.
“And that’s why you practice refinement. It lowers the energy and material cost of a spell.” She finished her impromptu lesson just as they reached the entrance to the market. It wasn’t too crowded just yet, the after school rush not quite starting.
“This way, most students get their uniforms from here.” She takes the lead now, tugging Luz along. The shop she goes to is one of the permanent ones, rather than the stands scattered around the market square. A large sign over the door read “Cloaks, Clothes and Couture: Madame Marin’s Shop for the Fashionably Dressed Witch” in a flowing font that was just on the edge of hard to read. The front window was full of enchanted manikins that slowly moved to different modelling poses, each dressed in what was considered the latest fashion on The Boiling Isles.
“Oh wow, that’s a nightmare in the making.” Luz mumbles as they pass over to the door.
“Hm? What do you mean?” Amity didn’t always understand what Luz meant when she made quiet comments to herself, usually chalking it up to her being human. She didn’t see how enchanted manikins could cause any problems.
“Remind me to tell you about human horror films some time- oh wow.” Luz grows quiet as they step into the shop, eyes growing wide. From floor to ceiling, it was full of all sorts of tunics, pants, dresses, cloaks, and other various pieces of clothing. Amity blinks as Luz starts making a high pitched noise in her throat. “Oh my gosh, Witches Clothes.”
Luz’s eyes practically sparkle as she stares at everything around her. Her grip on Amity’s hand grows tighter, almost to the point of discomfort, but then it’s gone entirely as Luz let’s go to take a look around. Amity has to suppress the negative feeling that tightens her stomach, pushing it into the corner with all her other feelings from earlier. She’ll deal with it later. Or not.
She follows behind Luz, not really looking too much at the clothes. Instead, enjoying the sight of Luz nearly losing her mind at all the options. Amity lets her wander for a bit, as they didn’t feel like they were in a rush to get this done.
Eventually she loses sight of Luz among all the racks and shelves, but she can still hear her excited giggles echoing around the store. Chuckling a little to herself, she takes out her scroll and checks her messages. She didn’t really expect any, checking just to give herself something to do, so she raised a brow when she saw one from her brother.
Tapping it, an image popped up and it took her a second to register what it was. Apparently her siblings had seen her and Luz leaving the school hand in hand, and decided to take a picture. She flushed as she saw how dopey and distracted her face looked as she was dragged along by Luz. Underneath the picture was a message saying ‘Having a nice date, Mittens?’
She flushed even harder, feeling her lightheadedness return with a vengeance. If Luz hadn’t popped up and startled her when she did, Amity might have ended up passed out on the floor.
“Amity!” Luz sprung from behind a rack, scaring her into taking a breath. “Look at this! It’s soooo cute!” Luz held up a tunic with an image of a cat blepping and playing with a ball of yarn embroidered on the front. “Gosh, I honestly want everything in this store.” Amity took a deep breath and sighed. Right, she needed to focus on the task at hand.
“Why don’t we get you your uniform first, then we’ll see how much money you have left.” Luz pouted, her eyes going wide and shiny with faux tears. Amity sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to feign exasperation. In reality, she needed a moment to collect herself after looking at the cute display. “Luz…”
“Uuuugh, fine.” Luz let out a long exaggerated groan. “I’ll put this back… for now.” She trudged back among the racks, disappearing again for a few moments, then reappearing with a pronounced pout on her face.
“Come on, you big baby,” Amity huffed to cover up her laugh as she grabs Luz’s arm and drags her towards the back of the store. Soon the various designs turned into homogeneity as they entered the uniform section of the store tucked in the back corner.
From this area of the store, they could see the sales counter and Madam Merin, an old witch lady with spectacles perched on her nose, fast asleep in a rocking chair. On the counter, a fat wrinkled sphynx cat watched them with beady black eyes.
“Alright, what you need are leggings, an under tunic, tunic, cowl, a belt, and black shoes.” She starts to grab each item as she says it, estimating the sizes that might fit Luz then handing them off to the girl in question. “The leggings and undertunic colours are based on what magical track you’re in, but colour is pretty easy to change if you know the spell.” She’s just about to back track on her last words as she remembers Luz probably doesn’t know the spell, but doesn’t when she hears a loud excited gasp.
“Oh my gosh, can help me learn the colour change spell?” Luz’s eyes are huge with excitement. The pile of clothes in her arms getting squished as she hugs herself in glee. “Pleeeeaaase?”
Amity sighs, unable to hide the fondness behind it. “Sure, later though.” Luz nods at a worrying speed. For a moment Amity thinks she might get whiplash, then Luz pirouettes excitedly and darts off towards the changing rooms.
As Luz changes, Amity has a moment to breathe and pull out her scroll again. The message from her brother glares at her from the enchanted parchment. She jabs at each letter as she types her response. ‘It’s not a date.’ She pauses for a moment then adds. ‘Jerk.’
She shoves her scroll back into her bag and leans against the wall to wait. She wouldn’t let her siblings ruin her time with Luz. She’d been asked specifically for help, showing Luz trusted her, so she was going to make sure everything was perfect!
A minute later, Luz stepped out. Dressed in Hexsides standard uniform, she looks almost like any other witchfolk you’d find at the school. The only give away to her human status was her small, rounded ears.
“It’s perfect!” Luz pirouettes again, nearly stumbling into a rack of cloaks in her excitement but manages to right herself. “Thank you so much, Amity!”
Amity feels another rush of warmth to her face, but forces it away. “You’re welcome, now let's pay for this, then see if we can get you a new shirt or something.”
It turns out Luz had just enough money to get her uniform, a new tunic, sadly not the cat one, and a pair of socks. Madam Mirin awoke only to process their purchases, then went straight back to sleep. The sphynx cat continued to watch them, and Amity got the feeling that the cat was certainly enough security to prevent any thefts while the owner was sleeping.
Luz giggled as they exited the store, her bag of clothes clutched tightly to her chest. “Gosh, I’m so excited!” She bumped her shoulder against Amity’s gently. “Thanks again, I would have had no idea where to go to get this stuff, and Eda and King aren’t exactly helpful with this sort of thing.”
Amity nodded, feeling of warmth filling her chest. “Any time, Luz. I can also help you find textbooks and other things later…” She trails off when she sees Luz’s eyes widen.
“Uuuuuugh, I forgot about those,” Luz buries her face into her shopping bag. “I think I need to talk to Eda about getting money for those…” She lets out a huge sigh and straightens. “But that’s okay because I’m going to Hexside!” She poses dramatically, forcing her enthusiasm to radiate around her. Amity chuckles and shakes her head. Luz takes a deep breath to calm herself down then turns to face Amity again. “I guess I’ll see you later. Eda wants me at the stand soon.”
“Alright, see you later,” Amity playfully sticks out her tongue on impulse. “And try not to get into too much trouble, human.”
Luz gasps with exaggerated offence. “Me? I never get into trouble.” They both giggle as Luz walks away, quickly out of sight among the crowds. Amity feels almost sad when she can’t see her anymore.
“Mittens!” Oh no. “So how was your date?” She felt an arm lean on each of her shoulders, and she knows exactly who it is before she even looks. Her brother and sister grin at her teasingly, fully expecting the angry outburst she delivers.
“It wasn’t a date!” She shrugs off their arms and stomps through the marketplace. If she’s lucky, she’ll be able to lose them among all the stands and people.