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“How’d your classes go so far?” Vee asked, repinning her hair back and settling down across from Luz at the lunch table.
Luz was uncharacteristically quiet. “Not great,” she murmured, hugging the backpack on her lap tightly.
“No?” Vee inquired, scooting in closer to her and clasping her hands in front of her. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
Luz let out an exasperated sigh and nodded. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I guess I kind of forgot how lame I was back in the Human Realm... I figured it would be different now that I was a harpy, but...” She groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I didn’t think it could get any worse! I’m, like, double weird now!”
“But is double weird really that bad?” Vee asked gently. “I mean, you’re you. Why bother trying to cram yourself into boxes to be something you’re not?” She blew her bangs out of her face and rested her cheek in her palm. “I’d been doing that for so long before we found out you still existed... It’s a nightmare to have to be anxious about keeping your walls up all the time. I think you should just be focused on being Luz: my super cool harpy big sister.”
Luz had her hands up over her mouth to hide her agape expression and her wide, black scleras had tears swimming along her waterline. “You think I’m super cool?” She asked, her voice so touched. Nobody called her super cool except for King and her friends back at Hexside.
Vee giggled and set her lunchbox on the table in front of her. “Of course I do,” she assured her, unlatching the metal box and squealing excitedly at what Camila had packed her. “I don’t know why you insisted on making your own lunch. Mom makes the best cheese sandos.”
Luz pulled her Azura lunchbox from her backpack and chuckled to herself. “My tastes have changed a lot since I became a harpy,” she said, clicking open the latches and slowly opening the tin just a bit. “Gotta make sure they don’t get out.”
“They?” Vee asked, tilting her head playfully and leaning over to catch a glimpse of what was in Luz’s lunchbox.
With a careful hand, Luz pulled a wriggling field mouse from the box before closing it back up tight. “I’ve picked something of a... rodent habit,” she explained, grinning awkwardly and trying to shrug it off.
Vee laughed and looked away. “Cool! Just don’t make me watch. It’s hard for me to see you eat live,” she said, still smiling even as her eyes were clenched shut and she brought her cheese sandwich to her mouth.
“It’s hard for most people to stomach,” Luz said, dispatching the mouse in her mouth easily and swallowing it in one go. Just like Eda had taught her to. “But thanks for understanding.”
“I’ve eaten my fair share of weird things around Mom,” Vee said through a mouth full of sandwich. “You’re still my super cool harpy big sister. I’m not gonna let some live rodents get in the way of that.”