kaisou | Recentering Priorities

Recentering Priorities

WHO: Luz & You
WHERE: Owlery and outside in Kaisou
WHEN: August 22
WHAT: Luz is doing various things!
WARNINGS: none

[Closed to Eda/Amity]

I. The Owlery

Between the dinosaur attacks, the fights she had with people ABOUT said dinosaurs, her injury and then people's reactions to all of that, Luz's feelings were already taking a turn. She felt the guilt of knowing people were hurt or killed because of the experimentation Varian had done taking a turn. She was frustrated that people thought Varian meant harm and was told in full ferocity how bad things had gotten. Luz had done her best to help, lost contact with people, was then injured and told after said injury that she needed to not get herself involved in dangerous situations.

And then? Amity Blight, her girlfriend, arrives, and all of that takes a backseat.

Because Amity has some stories of her own, and now? Luz knew exactly how bad things got back home. The spell Phillip casts almost kills everyone, narrowly stopped by the actual Collector, but now all of them were locked out of the Boiling Isles, stick on Earth.

Devastating to her? Certainly. But Amity, a witch who had lived her entire life on the isles? That had to be a blow she was doing her best to recover from. Right now Luz is watching her hermosa sleep, deep in thought. She barely looks up when Eda enters the room.

II. Undertown [Open to those affiliated with the paranormal]

The setback with the dinosaur and then with Fern had cemented something into her head: she had to get better. She had her full abilities now, but even still there was a chance that things that could hurt her. So Luz was now in deep reading, looking at ways to perfect her glyphs, ideas for protections with the glyphs she could use. She still couldn't used combined glyphs, she knew that well enough. But what about what she could do with the powers she had?

She was scanning books she could get her hands on right now, carefully leafing through what she could to get ideas on how she was going to give herself added protection. You could see around Luz there were scribbling of plan foliage protecting her, or pictures of her with fire surrounding her.

The time for Luz being idle was over. She had to start making plans for what happened the next time things got really bad.

III. Shopping Street

Luz may have been determined to get better at her magic and whatever spiritual craziness might happen, but she also knew something else: August was almost over. She was, against her better judgement, going to have to BE a kid: she was going to have to go to school again, and that meant preparing for all of the things that came with it. If you were a student (or teacher), she was going to say hi and probably pump you full of questions about what she can expect!

IV. Cemetery (Closed to Amity)

She hadn't told anyone about this, and she honestly wouldn't know how to anyway. Then here comes her girlfriend in tow, changing just about everything, and then comes the day she didn't expect would be creeping up on her, but here it is. So Luz leaves Amity a message, just a single one.

Be at the cemetery. Please? Need you.

And Luz is here already, with as big a bouquet of flowers she could make.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well it looks like we saw it up close! How come I was there before all of you guys anyway? I heard you saying you had to go there to help me."

She would probably understand her own reason, she just didn't know what it WAS yet. What she didn't hear was Hunter telling Amity and the others what he was, the whole Grimwalker thing.

"You haven't talked to Hunter here, have you?"

"Kikimora tried to take Hunter back to Belos, to curry favour, I think? But you, of course, had other ideas. A bit of illusion, and it was you that she took instead. A Luz Special."

She groaned at the latter, shaking her head.

"A little bit. Badly. I can't get through to the Hunter we know, and I can't trust this one, because, well, he's still loyal to Belos from everything I've seen."

"That jerk!" Luz spewed out, full of venom. Of course she would do something like that! Hunter hasn't been through enough with Bellos!? Of course I'd switch places!"

Luz remembered full well what had gone down in Belos' mind, including all the times he'd made a Grimwalker to do his bidding. He tend appeared to both Luz and Hunter, and specifically tried to kill Hunter. Luz had spent a few restless nights remembering his face frozen in fear.

"Y-yeah, he hasn't had that day with me yet. The one time one of those memories leaked out, that one day on the Knee, he ignored it and rebuffed it. It wasn't just a memory though. At the time, I was in a dream world trying to retrieve something I'd lost. When I entered the nightmare realm, I saw a vision of what Belos had been attempting, but with all of you guys instead."

It had been an awful splash of water at the time, and she probably hadn't been absolutely petrified in fear because she'd been searching for her common sense at the time.

"I never told you about the memory at the Knee, did I?"

Edited 2022-08-28 17:40 (UTC)

She frowns. It all sounds...awful. And horrifying.

"No...no you didn't."

"Right. I didn't know if my future self or future Hunter talked about it at all. He probably mentioned what he found out about the Day of Unity. He likely didn't mention how we knew."

Luz's mouth was dry, so she wet her lips. She didn't love retelling this story, for good reason.

"Philips' managed to live a long time, long enough to start forming his plan about how he wanted the Day of Unity to play out. He started with preaching about the Titan and Wild Witches by showing what these supposed "wild witches" were doing. Basically, he'd have help razing the town with explosives and stuff and saying it was caused by the wild witches attempting to put down his messages. But we didn't see how it would work until...the knee.

You ever wonder why it's all abandoned, why no one lives there? Well people did once, and he was still doing his whole bait and switch, and the people there were scared, enough that they were the first to get sigils for the "good, titan" magic. Only a moment after they got it, it invaded their bodies and left them barely breathing husks, unable to do anything. They were barely alive. When Philip saw this in the memory, he said "then we still have work to do," because he didn't want them alive."

Luz was quiet. "In the nightmare realm, I saw that happen, only to you and Eda and all my friends. It was pretty bad. I couldn't sleep for a few days after."

Her hands went to her mouth, her look one of horror.

"By the Titan..." she replied, after a long moment. And oh, did that provoke such terrible thoughts. Thoughts she didn't even want to whisper, let alone speak about.

"Luz..." she said, and unfolded slowly, if only to enfold her girlfriend in a hug. "I wish you'd told me. It's too late for this, but at least I can hug you now."

The hug wasn't unexpected, but the moment it happened, Luz's felt her tears come forth, something she didn't expect to happen. It was only now that Luz was starting to understand what keeping that to herself had done to her.

"It was hard," she said softly. "When we escaped Bellos' mind that day, Hunter was freaking out, and we left in a hurry. All that stuff we saw, it was so much, and before I could tell Eda what I saw I was whisked away here."

And that was the worst thing: having all this happen and being able to tell virtually no one how bad things were. Thinking about it just made her bury her face into Amity more, not sure how to deal with how much crying she was doing right now.

That was two of them, now, tears unbound. United in loss and the terrible things they'd had to endure.

"I'm so sorry," she said. Though even her Luz hadn't shared much. She wondered why about some of that - then again, there had hardly been much time, had there?

This was not at all how Luz wanted to share time with Amity. She'd been overjoyed that she was here with her, she thought she might be willing to let all the bad things that happened to her recently go unnoticed.

But that was feelings for you. They didn't let you do whatever you felt like.

"It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault but Bellos and whatever strange magic pulled me here. I hate that it did it to you too, but in a way? I'm so happy you're with me right now. I thought I was just going to have to keep all my feelings to myself."

But it's how it always went, wasn't it? Moments of joy linked together by grinding, awfulness, and worry.

"And you can't really talk to Eda," she says in reply, knowing that's also an issue for Luz. "You didn't have anyone else you could talk to? In the months you've been here?"

Luz was going to do her best to cherish what she had right now. Was she sure she was going to feel miserable about her friends being stuck in her world? Of course! Was she mad that technically Amity was in the same position she was with Hunter? Absolutely!

But Amity was here, and she was in this with her. So as torn as Luz was feeling, there was still a lingering happiness that refused to go out!

"I talk to Eda about things here, because this is her home," Luz said sadly. "It wouldn't be fair to keep expecting her to be someone she isn't."

At this, Luz smiled. "About specific things with the Boiling Isles? No, I had to keep that to myself. Hunter was here before me and has friends: there's no way he should know what happens with Bellos yet. But there have been some nice people here I've talked to about frustrations, and even made friends with. Despite the Spirit Vein being unpredictable, this is actually a really nice place!"

Now if only she didn't feel guilty every time she thought this...

And her, not yet understanding any of this: "Are people just...different people, or are they being changed somehow against their will? Like is it your Eda, just under a spell?"

As for the latter point with Hunter.

"Except he's the Hunter we can't trust. The one who might hurt you, or anybody, if he thinks it means getting back to someone who doesn't care about him at all."

It's fuelled by where she is, having seen what she's seen - but 'animosity' has definitely been a featuring word with Hunter, thus far.

She sighs, rubbing her face.

"I don't know what to do, or what to think. I want to have that other Hunter back. I want to have everyone back. I don't want to be here, but I'm here with you and away from danger and, gah, by the Titan nothing is going the way I'd want or that I plan."

"I wish I could tell you. I barely get it myself. And Eda is not even the only one. There are a lot of people like that here who have loved ones, or they themselves have these memories they never even knew about! So I'm not really sure how this Spirit vein magic stuff works."

It was honestly one of the most frustrating things about this place.

"I wouldn't say he's hurt us, especially not now. There are a lot of people here who care about what happens to him, and MOST of them think exactly what we do about Bellos. But Hunter isn't going to know that until he confronts that memory, and he hasn't gone through it yet."

And the thing was, Amity didn't KNOW the worst part about that for Hunter. And if she didn't know, chances were that he didn't tell anyone.

"Trust me Amity, I was thinking that a lot before you came here. Even when I wasn't feeling miserable and I was having fun with people here, I felt guilty for enjoying myself when people could be getting seriously hurt in the Isles."

It looked like she wasn't wrong about that either.

"And we're the only ones who even have that memory. If only we could share it with him."

"Seeing him...fading. Dying, I think, based on what Belos did. It was so completely awful. In an endless wheel of awful. And to see him back there...I don't know. I can't...reconcile the two things, you know?"

She ran her fingers through her hair. "Titan, is my family even alive?"

"It wouldn't be the same. I think he'd have to see it for himself. Otherwise, I don't think I could do that to him. There's too much that we saw that day. I can't even begin to imagine how he processed it when he ran off."

For that memory, she was sure that her friends still only had a little of it.

"It must be really hard, since it looks like he's our friend there. I've been trying to be friendly with him, but he's still eyeing me suspiciously, still calling me 'human' sometimes. Like you used to."

She didn't mean to be biting with that, but when she spoke it out loud, she realized how much hearing that had gotten to her. With Amity, she dealt with it, but hearing it from Hunter had reminded her that even here, she still felt that divide from her and people native to the Boiling Isles.

Even if Hunter technically wasn't himself.

"I'm sure they're finding a way to stay alive! Your dad is strong, and your brother and sister are way too wily to die! But I promise, we'll find a way to go back! I'll...I'll make sure I can do something!"

She's fairly certain that if it meant protecting Luz, and everyone else, she could. If she could pass on what she'd seen, she would, without hesitation. And oh, she's familiar with him still calling her 'the human' sometimes, and it rankles her deeply, which hardly helps with her overall feeling towards him.

Which probably...probably isn't fair. But she can't help it - how can she feel otherwise?

"Right," she replied, quietly. Hoping it were true and pretending she wasn't still worried. But...yes, there was Luz. Taking it all on her own shoulders, and she bursts out, a bit frustrated:

"We'll make sure we can do something!"

Amity was perfectly ok feeling that way. Luz knew that unlike most people here, Amity had her own dealing with Hunter that was not the best introduction to him. Even if she got to see him change, that was on the Boiling Isles, where he'd already seen the truth. He was still in the dark here.

She looked at her girlfriend, startled, but a little sad.

"You shouldn't be stuck in my world, Amity. You guys have never been there before, you have no idea if any if your f-families are OK."

Luz winced, thinking of Eda. Of King.

"I feel awful this happened. But...you're right. You're here now, and it's not like doing things on my own has accomplished much. I can't even be on my own here, how would I even begin to help you get back home?"

Luz hadn't wanted to admit it, but it was true: she was feeling pretty useless right now.

She looked to her, sighing.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out."

"Yeah."

Luz looked over at Amity and put a hand to the girl's shoulder.

"We have a lot to feel sad about, but I have to say. You showing up here has made me the happiest I've felt in months, and I haven't always been feeling bad. I'll do my best to get you adjusted here, until we can find a way to go back to the Isles."

That helped. A lot. It...really did. Sure, things outside this place were...pretty dire. But in the meantime, at least they were here. And could be.

She shifted position, standing up, offering a hand to pull Luz up.

"Good, because now you have to teach me all the Spanish, if I'm going to keep up."

Luz smiled at her girlfriend. She wished she could tell Amity how much better she felt, seeing her here, and tell her she'd do anything to make sure that she would be ok after this. But they could be mushy later.

Luz gladly took Amity's hand and was up.

"Oh, is that what I'm doing? You know, you're going to school now, they'll probably offer it as a foreign language! I can help you with that if you really need me to!"

"Sure they probably will," she replied, standing next to Luz and slipping her arm in hers.

"Buuuuut I was thinking it'd be nice to have a tutor, who is sweet and encouraging."

"Yup," Luz said, her heart skipping a beat a little when she felt Amity's touch.

I can't believe she's here. I feel bad but...so good that I can see her face again.

"You know, I think I might know the right person for the job," Luz said, gently booping her nose against Amity's. "She's a little zany, but she's caring and will go just at the pace you need, without even asking."

Edited 2022-09-08 06:15 (UTC)

"I had a feeling," she replied, softly. "Sounds like she has a way of getting into your heart no matter what."

Cool. COOOL. Not going to tear up or anything. Play it cool Luz. COOL.

"Well" she said softly, "some people make it really easy to want to be with them. They're stubborn and strong and soft all at the same time, and you can't help but want to be around and care about them. Such a crazy thing, right?"

Recentering Priorities

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