Work Text:
“Why does Hunter get to be in front?” Luz asked right by Raine’s ear, an insulted tone in her question.
“Because Hunter was in two fights while you were in one. I need to keep an eye on him,” Raine answered while continuing the chores. This was their first time trying to do the chores with both teens wrapped in a sling, and they made the mental observation that it wasn’t much more difficult than doing chores with only one of them.
“Hah,” Hunter weakly bragged, spitting his tongue out over Raine’s left shoulder opposite of Luz leaning over Raine’s right.
Luz made a little grumbling noise before spitting her tongue back.
“I should remind you both that while the sling is usually a comfort,” Raine interrupted before they could start bickering again, “in this case, it’s a punishment for fighting.”
“We know, to keep us separated until we cool off,” Hunter said, leaning against Raine’s chest to rest, but mostly listen to his parent’s heartbeat like he usually did when wrapped like this.
Raine picked up some scattered things on the floor, both children making a noise at the shift when they bent down then back up. They took the things to their appropriate closet, and started putting them away. “You know, Principal Bump uses the sling as a punishment.”
“He does?” Luz sounded confused but intrigued.
Once the items were on their proper shelves, Raine closed the closet to find the next chore to be done. “Yes, at least I think he still does. He only reserves it for regular troublemakers like Eda, though. Something about maintaining his sanity.”
“What happened?” Hunter wondered out loud while Raine grabbed a broom and the dust pan demon.
“Usually when he decides detention isn’t working for particular students, he decides to put them in a sling and make them spend the whole day with him.” Raine swept while instructing the dust pan demon where to sit. “From what Eda told me about her experience, he doesn’t wrap them casually like I do with the both of you. He wraps them tight, like not enough wiggle room to cast spell circles with your hands tight. Like a furrito to keep any meat from falling out.”
“Don’t you mean a burrito?” Luz checked.
“If that’s what you have in the human realm, yes. Here we have furritos,” Raine replied before getting back to their story. “Anyway, he wraps the troublemakers that tight so they can’t cast spell circles and cause more trouble while they’re with him. It keeps them from having fun during what’s supposed to be a punishment.”
“Makes sense,” Hunter said.
“So, since she couldn’t do spells to keep herself entertained, Eda was bored the whole day. He mostly sat in his office filling out paperwork, double checking guidelines, and only occasionally stepping out to talk with another teacher. That whole time, he had her wrapped in a sling.” Raine finished sweeping, and had the dust pan demon dump its load in the trash before they took the trash out. “Except for one- or two-bathroom breaks, he never let her out of it until the final bell.” They snickered at a memory. “That included lunch break, so he had to feed her lunch. I remember when he walked into the cafeteria with her. If it weren’t for how noticeable the sling was, you would have thought Principal Bump had a giant, orange furball on his shoulder.”
Luz giggled at that. She had seen the pictures of Eda’s orange, wild mane when she was a Hexside student.
Raine tied a garbage bag shut and went outside to put it in the trash can. “Yeah, Eda was a bit embarrassed by the exposure to the rest of the school. It turned out Bump did that with every troublemaker to try putting a dent in their pride so they would think twice about breaking a rule.”
“So what happened at the end?” Hunter asked, slightly cringing at the smell of the garbage that had already been rotting away out there.
The bard slammed the lid back on the trash can before carrying their children back into the house. “At the final bell, he let her out of the sling and warned her he would be happy to do the whole day again if she got in more trouble.” They chuckled again. “Of course, Eda being Eda, she kept getting in trouble and Bump wrapped her in a sling at least four more times before she dropped out because of the curse. One of those times, she tried to annoy him into letting her go early but he simply cast a silencing spell on her and lifted it at final bell.”
“Huh.” They felt Luz shift in the back sling. “Do you think he still does it? I mean, I know he replaced detention with the detention track, but I haven’t seen him do it with anybody at school.”
Raine shrugged. “Probably. He’s a strong witch, and I don’t think he’s at the age where back problems would make him stop altogether yet.”
Luz would get an answer a few days later when Principal Bump entered the cafeteria during lunch break with Edric Blight in a sling on his front and Emira Blight in a sling on his back.