Chapter Text
Sand crunched under her boots as she walked, Vee kicked at the ground sending a spray off into the water.
Vee muttered to herself “she just doesn’t get it, she wasn’t there”
Vee kept walking, trying to get the argument out of her head
Hiss*
Vee turned to see Stringbean flying towards her
“Hey Stringbean” she said softly “worried about me?” She scratched at the side of Stringbean’s head “Me and Luz will make up eventual… she can just be so!” Vee let out her own hiss at no one in particular as she kept walking along the edge of the Boiling Sea
“I love my sister I really do but she can be so stubborn sometimes.”
She stopped a moment to exhale before getting moving again
“I’m just working myself up again, she’s just worried about me”
Stringbean curled against her neck
“I know” she sighed “I’ll just try and sleep on it, forget this whole disagreem-“ Her foot meets no resistance sending her tumbling forwards
For just a moment Vee felt herself submerged, the water wasn’t particularly hot and somehow without effort or intention shes escaped back onto the sand.
Vee brushed sand out of her hair as she pushed herself into a sitting position
She blinked away the blurriness and then blinked a few times more
A forrest of green met her encircling a lake. Now normally a nice green forest would be comforting to her considering how much she prefers the Human Realm… But she wasn’t in the Human Realm just a moment ago, she was on the beach near the Owl House looking out at the Boiling Sea.
Stringbean nuzzled her cheek
“I know Bean, must have been a natural portal or something” she frowned
Vee got up turning to try and find any sign of human civilization, she saw some immediately
The familiar cabins of the summer camp that changed her life sat there looking identical to how she remembers it so many years ago
A few campers are milling about Seeming to not notice her, one person did see her and was heading her way, someone she recognized.
Counselor Melinda Smit made a beeline towards her, obviously not recognizing her considering how many years it had been and the new face she was sporting “are you busy, wait actually are you supposed to be here?”
“Not really but I’ve been here before, and I do know counselor Mitch” Vee answered
Melinda pursed her lips a few moments “you good with kids?”
“I’ve babysat my younger brother King before”
“Good enough, need someone to supervise the group from Cabin Seven”
“Uh yeah sure” Vee replied wide eyed
Melinda looked very impatient “Good, they’re over there” she pointed to one of the far off shelters “just make sure they don’t hurt themselves with the hot glue guns, I’ve gotta go put out a fire.” The counselor ran off
Vee chucked to herself, she remembered her time at camp fondly, hopefully that fire she mentioned was just metaphorical, although Vee remembered a small fire in the kitchen back in her time at camp, the whole indoor dining area had to be closed off for a month.
Stringbean emerged from hiding to curl around her wrist, peppering her tongue across Vee’s hand, the snake shifter looks up at her “we’ll get back to Luz soon, might as well help out while I’m here and see if I can’t borrow a phone” wish I hadn’t left mine at the Owl House.
Stringbean disguised herself as a bracelet around her wrist.
Vee was more than familiar with the layout of the camp so she had no trouble finding the group she was meant to supervise at the out of the way shelter, no finding them wasn’t the problem.
The campers from cabin 7 were there alright, but they weren’t strangers as she expected, no she knew them, she was them
There before her was herself, or more so herself looking like a teenaged Luz Noceda working on a craft project with Masha, Jess and Dan all chatting amicably
It was like looking at an old photograph, like her past had leaped to life in front of her
That wasn’t a normal portal was it.
She hides behind a building, running through plans of what to do next.
She shouldn’t talk to them should she? That seems like a bad idea, Luz has specifically emphasized whenever the topic comes up that time travel is a bad bad bad idea… but she’s already here and has already been asked to make sure cabin Seven doesn’t get into trouble…
No bad idea! She’d definitely remember meeting her future self right? Maybe?
Vee banged her head on the siding
They’ll be fine, she’ll be fine, she knows how not to hurt herself with common household craft supplies… her past self who’s only been human a few weeks however…
Nope! Not talking myself into this!
Vee sighed looking at Stringbean on her wrist “what do you think Bean, bad idea or…”
Stringbean looked to her “Hiss hiss hiss Hiss, hiss hiss.”
“I don’t know what I expected” Vee deadpanned
Stringbean looked annoyed, the Snakeshifter suddenly flew up turning to staff form
“Oooh” Vee grimaced “I guess if anything goes wrong I could use Eda’s ‘forget you saw anything’ spell. never thought I’d actually have to use it” she muttered under her breath
Vee breathed deep changing up the details, making sure she looks completely human, no basilisk ears or yellow eyes, nope a perfectly normal human woman that is definitely not memorable
“Okay let’s do this”
Vee confidently walked over to the campers, she is totally a counselor here, she definitely isn’t Vee from the future “Hey” she waves “Melinda sent me to keep an eye on everyone, what are you working on?”
Everyone quieted with the arrival of the stranger
“Jewelry” Masha answered half heartedly
Vee as Luz glares at her suspiciously before quickly looking away sniffing
“I’m Verity by the way” Vee says using her official government name.
“Yeah sure” Masha says dismissively as they worked on gluing a bit of cloth to wire, they accidentally touch the hot end of the glue gun “Fu-“ they cut themself off “uuuuuuudgd.. yeah fudge is what I meant to say” Masha attempted
“Well I’m glad you haven’t completely forgotten that I’m here, not that I really care about swearing…” Vee hummed a moment “you okay?” She asked “didn’t burn yourself too badly?”
“Yeah yeah I’m fine” Masha replied
…
“are any of you having fun?” Vee asked plainly
“No” Jess stated quickly
No one tried to dispute her claim
Dan shrugged
Vee studied the materials that the young version of herself and her friends were using, it was mostly cheep plastic beads, wire, thread and cloth “I have an idea, let’s take a walk and see if we can’t find some better materials to work with.”
The group looked between each other a mix of emotions on faces
“Sure” Masha said suspiciously as they and the others hesitantly got up, her past self still giving the occasional suspicious glance.
Vee lead the group onto a small trail that looped just a mile to the beach and then back to camp.
She pointed out the various species of Connecticut flora she’d learned over her years living in the Human Realm.
“Ah this might work” Vee said picking up a couple of smooth bits of colorful glass off the gravel of the beach “I think these came from the neck of a bottle” she held the abandoned glass up for the campers to inspect with a smile goofy smile
Masha’s face scrunched up “I thought we’d be looking for something ya know a bit more natural”
She shrugged “humans and every living thing are a part of nature, just because these broken bits of bottle weren’t here originally don’t mean they haven’t come to belong” she points a finger to a bit of algae growing on the surface
Vee continued “See how it’s smoothed into a soft ring shaped, being broken and worn down by the lake has changed it for the better, now we can use it for our own purposes.” Vee said in a wistful tone
Masha didn’t look particularly convinced but the words seemed to resonate with the girl currently known as Luz.
“Of course if you see anything else interesting we can use feel free to point it out.” Vee said
The group looked around finding pretty stones, interesting slices of wood from some previous cutting and plenty of pine cones
As the party made their way back to camp Masha asked her something “so how long have you been working here Verity?”
Vee grimaced “I don’t actually work here, Melinda just sorta saw me and told me to watch your group”
“But you know who Melinda is” Masha interrogated
“Yeah I went to camp here when I was your age” she said “lotta fond memories here”
“Wow, I didn’t think anyone liked it here except you and Luz” Masha gestures back to the totally normal human Luz ”not even the teachers”
She looks back at the rest of the group with a fond smile, Jess telling some story to Dan and the young basilisk
“Maybe you should believe your friend, it’s really not so bad here” Vee says
The group returned to the shelter and their craft supplies
With renewed energy the campers of cabin 7 got back to their project, now with a bit more to work with
Wire was twisted around smooth rocks to make enclosures and tree off cuttings were attacked with whatever was at had to make holes
The natural met in synthesis with the artificial as scrappy rings and necklaces were made
Vee’s past self, the girl currently known as Luz held up an impressive string
Five green beads sat in the middle surrounded by other materials in counts of One, Two, Three, and Four
The color choices brought her back, back to her cell mates, her family before her family
Little Vee was honoring the other basilisks
She teared up a bit, her younger self’s gaze snapping to hers
She looked hesitant, scared even, this wasn’t surprising for her younger self but it still hurt, the young girl seemed to have an inkling that Verity wasn’t quite human either and was afraid.
“Do… do I know you?” The young basilisk asked hesitantly
Vee smiles “no, not yet at least… but” she shook her head “you’re gonna be okay.”
The young basilisk raised an eyebrow a look flickering to Stringbean on her wrist.
“You’re really weird” Masha commented offhandedly not catching the vibe
Vee shrugged “if there’s one thing this camp and my life has taught me it’s that it’s okay to be a bit weird, and that’ll no matter how much of a weirdo you may be you’ll probably meet someone even weirder, and you might just become friends.” She smiled thinking of all the human, witch and demon weirdos she considers friends and family
“Super weird” Masha scoffs
Gravel crunches behind her, Vee looks back to see a flustered Melinda walking towards the group “ah good, everything okay here?” She asks
“Yeah, Cabin Seven has been perfectly behaved” Vee answered
Melinda studied the campers and their works “are those.. broken bottles”
“I wasn’t satisfied with the materials” Vee stated
Melinda put a hand to her forehead in exasperation “no one’s bleeding right?”
“No blood here” Jess said “Verity was actually being really annoying about making sure we didn’t pick up anything dangerous”
Melinda sighed “okay, Verity was it, you’re off the hook, you can go now.”
“Okay I’ll get out of your hair” Vee said “have a fun rest of camp kids” she wished to the campers of Cabin 7
“Bye Verity” Jess said
“See ya later” Masha said
Dan just gave a quick half salute
Her past self didn’t say goodbye at first, she ran up to her
“Will..” her words stuttered “will I, we see you again?” The young basilisk asks, voice quivering still unsure of who or what this stranger Is
“Yes you will, in about a decade” Vee answers cryptically bopping the girl on the nose “see ya” before turning about and heading back towards what was hopefully a time pool home
“So weird” Masha says to no one
“You’re one to talk” Jess says
“How about that Bean” Vee whispers to the Snakeshifter “not too bad, didn’t even have to use the spell, now let’s go home.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the present and home in the Human Realm Vee dug through long buried boxes
“So what are you looking for?” Masha asked watching Vee push another box aside
She answered the question with another question “do you remember Verity from back at camp?”
Masha thought a moment “I think so, the sub for that jewelry making class right, yeah I remember Verity being cool” they scratched their chin “wait is that where you got the name Verity from?”
“Ah hah!” Vee holds up the aged bead necklace
“Oh yeah, I remember you making that” Masha eyed the necklace willing the memory to come back to them “Verity… wait! Was that you!?” Masha shouts “have you been messing with time?”
“A bit, accidentally of course” Vee says in half hearted defense
Masha scrunched their brow “okay I feel like the fact that I actually remember present day You back at camp means you weren’t as careful as you could have been” Masha said
Vee stared at the necklace “yeahhhhh maybe” she hummed “it was nice seeing it again”
“You know we can visit the camp any time we want, well not anytime we’d have to get permis-“
“Not that… it’s just… I’m just being nostalgic, that summer we met were some of the first happy days of my life… and I very much enjoyed being able to make it a little better for my past self.” she smiled
“I do remember you being a more engaging teacher than Melinda” Masha shook their head “so weird to think about”
“Speaking of weird, little you called me a weirdo, like multiple times” Vee says with a wry smile
“You are a weirdo, you looked at me” Masha pointed a thumb to themself “and decided you wanted to smooch me”
Vee scoffs “yeah guess that does make us a pair of weirdos”
“Me? I’m a perfectly normal enby goth” Masha laughs “you’re the one who actually likes sports and stuff”
“Yeah.. Hey we should get Cabin Seven together for a camping trip” Vee says
Masha smirks “sure, I’m in!”
END