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“I don’t get it,” the Collector says, his mouth curled into a frustrated pout. “What kind of game is this?” He casts his arm out to gesture to the board in between them, staring at the pieces Camila arranged.
They’re alone in the Owl House. Eda went out shopping, and took King and Hunter with her, Luz is at class, Vee is hanging out with her human friends, and Raine is off at work somewhere. The Collector’s been painfully bored for the entire day, until Camila came to stop by and took pity on his suffering. Though, they’re not really confident yet that this is going to be a decent respite. It looks dumb. They'll try it out anyway, though - they love trying new games.
Camila chuckles. “A human game. It’s called Chess,” she explains, “Each player takes turns moving their pieces, and the goal is to trap the other player’s king. Different kinds of pieces can move in different ways.” She starts explaining what each piece does, and the Collector listens intently, chin in their hand as they slouch over the board.
“The queen,” Camila picks up the piece next to the king, and continues, “can move in any direction for any amount of spaces. Probably the most powerful piece.”
“What’s the horsie do?” the Collector interrupts, picking up a horse-shaped piece. Luz told him what a horse was a few weeks ago. The Collector likes horses. Maybe he should get a pet horse.
“That’s the knight. It moves in an ‘L’ shape,” Camila tells him, and then demonstrates a few of the ways it moves. “It’s also the only piece that can jump over other pieces.”
“The horsie’s my favorite,” the Collector announces proudly and sets it back down.
Camila smiles at them fondly, and then draws back in her seat, straightening her posture. “Alright,” she says, “did I explain all of them?”
“I think so.”
“Would you like to use white or black pieces? White goes first,” Camila says. The Collector grins.
“I wanna go first!” he declares excitedly, practically leaping forward in his seat. After a moment, they lean back, expression shifting to something nervous. “Well, unless you want to…” he adds. He’s been working on not taking control of things all the time, but he always gets too excited. They just hope Camila isn’t mad.
“Don’t worry, you can go first,” Camila reassures.
The Collector smiles at her gratefully, and takes ahold of one of his knights. He moves it forward and to the right. Camila hums and moves the pawn in front of her queen forward two spaces.
“So, why do humans like games where they just sit there?” the Collector asks, moving his ‘b’ pawn forward.
“Well,” Camila begins, as she moves her queen one space down. “Not all of us like board games, but I like Chess because my father taught me to play.”
The Collector reaches over the board, and then stops, frowning. “You’re threatening my horse.”
Camila hums in agreement.
“That’s mean.”
“It’s alright, though, you see?” Camila points to a pawn positioned behind it and to the left. “Your knight is protected. I’d end up losing more than I’d gain if I took your knight.”
“Oh.” The Collector’s frown disappears, and they smile. “Well, watch this.” They move the knight to the left and forward, threatening Camila’s pawn.
“Good job,” Camila says, and calmly moves her pawn a space forward.
The Collector’s brows furrow. “Oh.”
Camila chuckles. “There’s still a way you can win my pawn,” she says, and the Collector ‘hmph’s, picking up the pawn above their king and moving it a space forward. “There you go,” Camila encourages. She takes the Collector’s pawn, and he quickly takes back.
The Collector leans back in their chair, smiling smugly. “I’m great at this game.”
Camila nods, moving one of the pawns on the right forward two spaces, threatening the Collector’s knight again. Their smug expression drops, and they pout.
“Why are you always bullying my horse?” they ask, moving it to safety, threatening the pawn in the process.
“I have to keep you on your toes,” Camila teases, and then says genuinely, “I know you get bored easily. I want to make sure you enjoy this game.” She moves a different pawn forward, one on the left side of the board, leaving the other one free for the taking. The Collector takes it immediately.
“...Thanks, Camila,” the Collector says, feeling a little bit sad all of a sudden. He’s never had a mother before. Is this what that’s like? he wonders, and looks at Camila to try and discern if the answer is yes.
Camila smiles at them with that same brand of mushy, fond look she reserves only for her kids, moving her bishop out to the side of the board. The Collector moves his own bishop in turn, threatening one of Camila’s pawns, which she moves forward one space and threatens his knight.
“Seriously, you’re totally bullying my knight,” the Collector grumbles, withdrawing their knight so it doesn’t get taken.
“I’m trying to encourage you to use your other pieces more,” Camila says. “They’re all quite powerful. The queen especially.” Like punctuation, she moves her other bishop onto the field.
“Yeah, yeah.” The Collector rolls their eyes, and then perks up. “Ooh, I have an idea!” he says. He moves his knight to the left and up.
Camila raises an eyebrow, moving one of her pawns forward to threaten the Collector’s bishop. He shrugs it off. “That’s okay,” they say, and move their bishop a few spaces, threatening Camila’s queen.
“Oh, I see,” Camila says as she realizes. “That’s a nice bait, Collector. I’ll let you have it.” She takes the bishop with her queen.
Smiling widely, the Collector proudly takes Camila’s queen with their knight, and then pumps a fist into the air triumphantly. “Woo-hoo! I got your queen! That’s the most powerful piece, right?”
“It is, Collector.” Camila holds her fist out for a fist bump, and the Collector obliges enthusiastically.
“Your turn now,” the Collector says. Camila nods and moves a pawn forward. The Collector notices a free pawn for him to take, and he does so gleefully.
“Oh, you’ve got me in check,” Camila says.
“What’s that?”
“It’s when you’re threatening my king, but he’s not completely trapped, so he can escape,” she explains, moving her king diagonally down. “When he can’t escape, it’s called checkmate.”
“Cool,” the Collector says. “Oh, look! I can take your other guy, too!” They grin, swiping Camila’s rook as well.
Camila looks slightly alarmed. “You’re quite good with that knight, Collector,” she tells them.
“Thank you!” the Collector replies. “I love horses. Maybe I should get a pet horse.”
“Where would it live?” Camila asks, moving one of her knights out.
“I’ll build it a stable in the yard,” the Collector says simply. They bring their queen onto the field, moving it three spaces forward and diagonal to threaten Camila’s knight. “Can I get a horse, Camila?” he asks, blinking innocently at her.
Camila huffs out a laugh, moving her knight out of danger. “Ask your-” she hesitates, something like alarm passing over her face. “I mean, ask Eda,” she corrects herself, “It’s her house.”
The Collector frowns, moves their knight to threaten Camila’s bishop, and asks, “You have a vote, too, don’t you? If it was up to you, would you let me get a horsie?”
Camila picks up her bishop and sets it once space away, out of danger. She thinks for a moment, tapping her finger to her chin. “I don’t know, Collector. Horses are pretty expensive.”
“That’s okay, I can just make one. Or steal one!” the Collector replies brightly, smiling. “Eda would be proud of me if I stole one.” He moves one of his pawns forward, baiting one of Camila’s.
Camila gives a sigh and takes the bait with her pawn. “As much as I wouldn’t like to admit it, you’re right. She would be.”
The Collector beams at her as he reaches to take back. “Mm-hmm!”
Camila looks at the board for her next move, and hums softly as she notices something. She swiftly picks up her bishop and takes the Collector’s queen with it.
Their jaw drops. “Y-y-you…You killed my queen,” they say, devastated. “How dare you?!”
“You left her out in the open! And I was getting revenge for mine,” Camila defends herself, crossing her arms and giving a half-hearted frown.
“Hmph!” The Collector glares and takes her bishop with a pawn, face fixed into a very affronted scowl.
Camila’s frown slips away quickly, and she starts to smile, reaching over to pat the Collector on the head, messing up his hair in the process. “I’m sorry, mi hijo . It was simply too good of an opportunity to pass up,” she chuckles, giving him that weird maternal look again as she pulls her hand back, moving one of her pawns forward.
The Collector huffs. “Yeah, I know,” he grumbles. He reaches to make his next move, but then stops and asks, “Hey, what does ‘mi hijo’ mean?”
“Did I call you that..?”
The Collector nods.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant Collector,” Camila says quickly, looking embarrassed.
“Does ‘mi hijo’ mean Collector in your, uh…human language then?” The Collector asks curiously, picking up one of their rooks.
“Spanish, Collector,” Camila corrects, and then hesitates. “And…no. It means my son.”
The Collector stills, the piece dropping from his hand. “Oh,” is all he says, stunned. She…sees them as her son?
“I’m sorry, Collector, I…” They don’t hear the rest of what she’s saying, too overwhelmed with both shock and joy to register it. They didn’t realize they were actually family…they’ve never had a true family before.
And then his stupid eyes are leaking again, but it doesn’t make sense because there’s not even anything bad happening and he’s not even sad , but his cheeks are still wet with tears.
“Are you crying? Ay, mi chiquito.” Camila stands and crosses over to him, kneeling before them and placing her hand on their shoulder. “I’m sorry, Collector, are you okay?”
The Collector doesn’t think before he throws himself at her, now full-on sobbing. They hug her so tightly they briefly worry about hurting her, but she just holds them securely and comfortingly, and, he realizes, like a mother.
He sniffles, face buried in the fabric of her sweater, and says, “I’ve never had a mom before.”
Camila smooths his hair back, and the Collector can feel the warmth of her affection. “I know, mijo . It’s high time we fixed that, then?”
The Collector blubbers incoherently, but nods.
“Yeah?” Camila says softly. “I know Eda and Raine would love to be your parents, too, if you can stand to have three,” she jokes, though her tone remains gentle.
“I can,” the Collector mumbles, and Camila scoops them up into her arms, brushing the tears out of their face.
“Are you okay now, mi hijo ?” Camila asks, positioning him on her hip like a baby.
The Collector nods, burying his face into her shoulder. Camila smiles and presses a kiss to his forehead.
“Let’s get you a napkin, and then I’ll heat up some pizza bagels, yes?” she offers.
The Collector sniffles. “What about our game?”
“Do you want to continue it right now?” Camila asks, handing them a tissue.
“...Not really,” they say.
“That’s okay then.” Camila heads to the kitchen. She always keeps a bag of microwave pizza bagels in Eda’s icebox, and even though Eda doesn’t have a microwave, fire glyphs can always work just as well. “The good thing about human board games is that you can always come back to it later, right where you left off.”
“Oh. Alright…Mama,” the Collector says hesitantly, looking to Camila for her reaction. She only smiles warmly, opening the bag of pizza bagels, and so the Collector lets their head fall back on her shoulder.
They kind of like having a mom.