#running spellcheck on text messages is a nightmare so there may be a few spelling errors

[roxannarambles]

title: second chances (chapter six)

ship: goldenlight (luz x hunter)

chapter notes: chapter 6, wherein hunter freaks out over emoji and then makes some technology-related mistakes  😏

other notes: takes place sometime after ‘reaching out’ but before ‘hollow mind.’ (set in my standard canon-divergent AU where everything’s the same except no L*mity)

other chapters: chapter one chapter two  chapter three  chapter four  chapter five

The next morning, when Hunter awoke, it was with a clearer mind, but unfortunately it was also with a much more anxious mind. Looking at the last few texts Luz had sent him, he found himself wondering what they meant, if anything, and he burned with the need to figure it out.

He hesitated for a little while, but then pulled open DMs for somebody on Penstagram.

Rulerzreachf4n:

darius, what’s it mean when a girl sends you this emoji 😘

After a fair bit of delay, he received a cranky response.

AbomadadDarius:

For the love of the Titan

AbomadadDarius:

Why are you messaging me? Don’t you have things to do today?

Rulerzreachf4n:

c’mon darius I don’t know who else to ask

AbomadadDarius:

Good god

AbomadadDarius:

Tell me your uncle has told you about the birds and the bug demons

AbomadadDarius:

if it falls to me to explain it, I don’t know if I have the mental fortitude

Rulerzreachf4n:

what. I just wanted to know what the emoji meant

AbomadadDarius:

maybe I could somehow convince raine to do it . . .

AbomadadDarius:

they seem better equipped to deal with things like this

Rulerzreachf4n:

darius you’re not listening

AbomadadDarius:

you’re using protection at least, I hope?

AbomadadDarius:

does raine need to bring you some

Rulerzreachf4n:

NO

Rulerzreachf4n:

I just wanted to know about the emoji don’t send raine here!! 

Rulerzreachf4n:

darius

Rulerzreachf4n:

please don’t send them over

The texts from Darius had fallen silent, presumably because he was busy. At least Hunter hoped that was the reason. He went to take a shower and start his day.

During lunch, Hunter was still staring at his scroll and worrying over his uncertainty. One table over, he spied Eberwolf finishing up with their lunch, lapping at the bowl’s last little bits. Flicking his gaze around, Hunter checked to make sure it was relatively quiet around them, then switched tables to sit next to Eberwolf.

As he sat down, the Beast Keeping coven head glanced up curiously at him.

“Hey, Eberwolf, um. Do you know anything about Penstagram and texting and stuff?”

The catlike demon pulled something from their pocket, unrolling it and revealing it to be a magic scroll. It was on a Penstagram page decorated with a photo of them riding atop a Slitherbeast, with the screen-name RaisedByDireWolves.

“Ah. Ok. Cool. I just was wondering if you knew what this emoji usually means when people use it. Uh, hold on . . .”

He awkwardly flicked through his scroll and pulled up the last few texts Luz had sent him, then turned the scroll around to show Eberwolf.

“This?”

The demon gazed intently at his scroll with their beady little pink eyes. Then they reached and batted at the scroll with one of their paws.

“W-wait, uh, what are you–”

They quickly pulled up the emoji menu and typed out a number of emoji.

Rulerzreachf4n:

😸😽😽😻😻🐾🐟💛

Hunter stared, confused.

“What exactly is this supposed to mean, though? Should–”

Eberwolf hit another button, and to Hunter’s dismay, it was the ‘send’ button.

“Wait, did you just send that?!”

He scrambled to see if he could undo it, but no, he still didn’t know how to delete texts. If that was even a thing. He didn’t think that was a thing. Eberwolf was purring.

“Ok, I get that you’re trying to help but I don’t think this is going to make things better!”

Eberwolf had already gone back to licking their bowl, ignoring him. Hunter sighed, hoping Luz wouldn’t find the bunch of emoji to be too weird.

Later in the day, during training with the scouts, Hunter was still engaged with his mission of information collection. As the other scouts went through their drills, and a few were taking a water break, Hunter furtively lurked closer to Steve.

“Pssst, Steve.”

The scout glanced up at him. Quietly, Hunter said,

“Um, look, I know this is kind of random but. I need to know if I’m interpreting this correctly or if I’m reading too much into it, you know? What does it mean when somebody sends you this emoji?”

He showed Steve the emoji (and not Luz’s full text, he’d learned by now that was a mistake). The scout squinted at the scroll for a moment and then chuckled.

“I guess it would depend on the situation. Why, sir, are you being flooded with romantic proposals?”

Hunter shook his head adamantly, keeping his voice low;

“No, this is just one person– couldn’t you just give me, like, a general idea? Please?”

The scout tapped his mask a moment as he thought.

“Hmmm, well. It really is hard to say without more context. But if I were you, I wouldn’t read too much into it. I know some people just really like to use emoji a lot, you know? So it could mean nothing at all.”

Hunter nodded, gazing at his scroll.

“Yeah . . . yeah. You’re probably right. She uses emoji a lot.”

He relaxed a little. Steve chuckled and crossed his arms.

“On the other hand, some people have really specific ideas on what all these emoji mean, so it might mean something huge! Who knows, right? Haha.”

Hunter’s eyes widened, the anxious knot in his chest expanding again. 

“Wh-what should I do then?”

The scout shrugged.

“I dunno. I guess you could always Ooze it.”

Hunter gave him a confused look.

“Ooze . . .it?”

The scout seemed amused at his lack of knowledge.

“Uh, yeah? The search engine?”

Hunter nodded quickly.

“Oh, right, of course. Yeah. I knew that.”

He did not know that, but that wasn’t important. He would figure it out later.

However, it wasn’t until the evening when he got the chance to work out what exactly this Ooze Search was. Apparently all you needed to do was type your question into the address bar and it would give you search results based on what people had already written.

What does 😘 mean from a girl

He hit enter, but nothing popped up; it just showed his question. Frowning, he tried again.

What does it mean when a girl uses 😘

Ehh, he must be doing something wrong. He tried a few more times, but wasn’t having any luck. Sighing, he decided he’d mess with it later– he had to get dinner from the cafeteria before it closed down.

After a short dinner, he returned to his room and noticed his scroll was buzzing. Picking it up, he found it was a message from Willow.

Hello_Willow:

Hey ummm Caleb, I think maybe you did something you didn’t mean to?

He blinked, confused.

Rulerzreachf4n:

What do you mean?

Hello_Willow:

Well, I saw some kinda weird posts on your Penstagram just now.

Hello_Willow:

Looked like maybe you were trying to use Ooze and posted on Penstagram instead?

He took a moment to process her message, but when he did, he felt a hot rush of panic.

Rulerzreachf4n:

what waitholdon

Quickly, he switched out of his DMs and navigated to his Penstagram page. Oh, shit.

He frantically messed with buttons but had to quickly switch back over to DMs.

Rulerzreachf4n:

How do you erase posts?!?!

Willow coached him through the process of deleting posts, which was a terrifying several minutes, but eventually resulted in him erasing the messages. Once he had, Willow had to reassure him they were indeed gone.

Hello_Willow:

yeah, it’s okay, they’re all gone now. I checked.

Rulerzreachf4n:

you’re positive?

Hello_Willow:

yep, it doesn’t show up anymore, I promise!

He breathed a small sigh of relief.

Rulerzreachf4n:

okay. thank you. 

Hello_Willow:

next time you wanna ooze search something, just let me know. I can help.

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah…I’ll do that. thanks.

Hello_Willow:

so. 

Hello_Willow:

were you . . . just wanting to do those searches for academic reasons or . . . 

Hello_Willow:

personal reasons?

Hunter winced. He should have figured she’d be curious. Reluctantly, he answered her.

Rulerzreachf4n:

personal reasons. 

Hello_Willow:

I see!

Hello_Willow:

mind if I ask who’s the lucky girl? 😊

Rulerzreachf4n:

I’d . . . rather not say

Hello_Willow:

oh, that’s fine! 

Hello_Willow:

I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.

Rulerzreachf4n:

do you think you could tell me about that emoji? I’ve been asking people all day and nobody gives me a straight answer.

Hello_Willow:

you mean the kissy emoji?

Hello_Willow:

this? 😘

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah.

Hello_Willow:

hmmm. well, to be honest, it could mean a lot of things.

Hello_Willow:

it could be completely innocent and platonic. 

Hello_Willow:

or it could be flirty. I guess it just depends on how it’s used.

Rulerzreachf4n:

yeah, that’s what steve said . . .

Rulerzreachf4n:

ugh

Hello_Willow:

you seem really worried about it?

Rulerzreachf4n:

no

Rulerzreachf4n:

I’m just trying to figure it out, that’s all.

Hello_Willow:

hmmm

Hello_Willow:

if you don’t mind the question, do you like this girl?

Rulerzreachf4n:

uh 

Hello_Willow:

nevermind. whatever your feelings are, in my opinion the best way to go about these things is to just be honest!

Hello_Willow:

that’s how my dads got together! papa just marched right up to dad and said, ‘hey, I like you, wanna date?’ 

Hello_Willow:

and that was it! 

Rulerzreachf4n:

I see.

Hello_Willow:

honesty is always the best policy. and it can save people from a lot of hurt or confusion later on.

Rulerzreachf4n:

I guess so.

Hello_Willow:

yeah! and, if she’s your friend, she’ll respect you no matter your feelings, right? 

Rulerzreachf4n:

uh huh.

Rulerzreachf4n:

have you confessed to someone before?

Hello_Willow:

well uh

Hello_Willow:

I guess not exactly, no, but . . .

Hello_Willow:

the point still stands!

Rulerzreachf4n:

right. well. thank you for the help.

Hello_Willow:

of course! I’m always happy to help.

Hello_Willow:

let me know how things turn out!

Rulerzreachf4n:

okay.

It was a relief when they finished texting. Hunter was tired of people trying to speculate about him based on some questions he’d asked. All he wanted to know was that that stupid emoji meant. Sheesh. It’s not like it meant anything, he just was curious. About how Luz felt. That’s all. 

It’s not like he was into her.

Hunter hadn’t even realized he’d muttered that outloud until Flapjack spoke up.

I’ve seen that look before, young master. 

Hunter turned and scowled.

“What look?”

Love, the bird chirped. Hunter huffed.

“You’re as bad as the rest of them.”

He knew they were wrong. He wasn’t in love, for Titan’s sake. It’s just that Luz was his first friend. The first person he’d really felt close to. That’s all it was, really. Just some excitement from that new experience. It wasn’t a big deal.

When Luz texted him later that night, answering the weird mix of emoji Eberwolf had sent with a bunch of her own emoji, he ignored how excited he was just to get a message from her. The next day, when she was still caught up with schoolwork and projects and they didn’t talk much, he ignored how much he missed her.

It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t. All day long, he told himself it didn’t.

In the evening when she uploaded a new video on glyphs on her Penstagram page, he told himself he wouldn’t watch it. He didn’t want to. It was fine.

He focused on his reading that night. Then he went to bed. However, like many nights, he didn’t fall asleep easily.

After laying there for about an hour, he cursed quietly to himself. 

“Screw it.”

He caved, admitting to himself of course he wanted to watch it, he was dying to watch it, the last one was amazing, he was so curious what this one was about–

He turned his nightstand light on and grabbed his scroll to navigate to the video. There was Luz, bubbly and bright as ever, with her corny jokes and her easy laugh. And her warm eyes, and her delightful smile, with the silly way it curved a bit crookedly. 

Uhh. Hunter rewound the video, realizing he hadn’t been paying close enough attention to what she’d been saying. He focused this time. Luz spent the video discussing the four base glyphs, her ideas on why they were the elements that all magic was built upon, and giving some practical pointers on drawing glyphs, keeping them on hand, etc. She finished the video with a teaser for her next episode, which would introduce her first glyph combos. 

When the video ended, Hunter realized he’d spent the entire time smiling as he watched. And not just a small little smile, he’d been grinning like a dumb huge idiot the whole time.

Groaning, he flung the scroll aside, which bounced and landed on the bed beside him. He pressed his palms into his warm face and rubbed, grumbling.

“Okay, maybe I . . . like her a little.”

The palisman perched on his bed’s headboard gave a little chirp.

That’s putting it mildly. You seem entirely smitten, young master.

Hunter scowled.

“What does that even mean? You talk like an old man sometimes, I swear.”

It means you have an enormous crush.

“Hey! I do not have a crush on her. There’s no reason to blow it out of proportion–”

You’ve been watching her videos in secret in the middle of the night?

“They’re informative! Who knows when that information could come in handy and save somebody’s life? I might even be able to use it in my research–”

A voice, clear and loud, suddenly piped up from right beside him;

“Hello? Heeeey, yooo-hoo, Hunter! Can you hear me?”

Hunter’s eyes bugged out and he screeched in surprise, leaping in shock so hard he practically fell out of the bed. Looking around wildly, he realized the voice was eminating from the scroll sitting on his bed. There was Luz’s face, pictured there; she seemed to be sitting in a dimmed room.

Hunter stared, wide-eyed.

“Oh, god, I’m sorry– sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Slowly, he picked the scroll up, stammering,

“What . . . how . . . what?”

The little Luz on his scroll was quick to explain.

“I, I didn’t call you or anything– I just came into my room and noticed my scroll was running? I think you might of accidentally turned on video. I heard you talking, and uh, I wanted to make sure you knew it was on.”

Hunter took a moment to digest that, and then a wave of dawning horror descended upon him.

“H-how– how long was I– w-what exactly did you hear?”

She made a reassuring gesture.

“Don’t worry, I uh, I didn’t really hear much, I was too busy being confused. Before I realized you probably turned it on by mistake, and um . . . yeah! You’re good, I didn’t hear any super classified Coven secrets or anything.”

She chuckled, and Hunter felt just the smallest bit of relief; thank the Titan he’d been spared that pain. This was the second time he’d nearly been embarassed due to messing something up with this damned scroll, though– he needed to get a better grasp of how the stupid thing worked so it wouldn’t happen again.

The Luz pictured on his scroll got a bit of an awkward smile and giggled nervously, asking,

“Haha, so anyway, I guess you just got back from a shower or. Something?”

He gave her a confused look.

“No?”

“Oh,” Luz said, her voice going a little higher. She made a wide, vague gesture.

“I just mean . . . with the, the no shirt and everything?”

Hunter looked down at himself, finally realizing what she had been referring to.

“Oh! Nah, I just usually sleep naked on hot nights.”

As he glanced back to her, he saw a wide-eyed Luz blush faster and harder then he’d ever seen anyone turn red. Her voice raised another full octive as she squeaked,

“Oh!”

His eyed widened as he realized belatedly what he’d just said, and he fumbled,

“I mean UH– I didn’t– UM, shit– g-give me a minute! I’ll uh, I’ll be right back!”

He slapped the scroll face-down on the bed, unable to believe he’d just overshared like that, freaking hell, why was his brain absolute putty lately?! Hunter scrambled out of bed to go throw some PJs on, and then decided to splash some cold water on his face and fuss with his gross bedhead for a minute. Nobody told him his scroll did video calls, and getting jump-scared like that was honestly stressful as hell.

He then quickly headed back to bed, gingerly picking the scroll back up. Luz was still there, although it looked like she’d moved and was sitting on her sleeping bag now, back propped against her wall. Hunter announced awkwardly,

“Okay, I’m back . . . with clothes this time.”

Luz’s eyes widened again and she emitted a noise that was a cross between a laugh and a squeak, which under other circumstances would have been hilarious.

“Titan, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I’m just an idiot sometimes.”

Luz giggled and quickly tried to reassure him.

“N-no, no, no, it’s fine, it– it just took me off guard! Which, I mean, is fair, I clearly scared the crap out of you when I suddenly popped up.”

“Ugh, yeah, I guess,” Hunter grumbled, rubbing his face and still feeling bad. Luz seemed to be taking in stride fairly well, at least. She was still giggling.

“To be honest it was pretty funny, you almost fell out of bed.”

He gave her a mildly annoyed look.

“In my defense I didn’t even know scrolls did video calls.”

Luz grinned. She continued to tease him,

“It’s a good thing you accidentally called me and not somebody else, huh? You could have ended up buttdialing Kikimora or something, that woulda been awkward.”

Hunter scowled as she laughed. She was still pretty flushed but she had recovered from the awkwardness enough to tease him, it seemed. 

“Wait, what . . . what is buttdialing?”

“Oh, you know, when you have the phone in your pants pocket and you sit down and it dials somebody . . . although I guess in this case you didn’t have pants so you literally just buttdialed. . .”

She broke off into giggles, apparently finding this hilarious. He protested,

“I-I didn’t! I just put my scroll down a little forcefully!”

As she laughed, Hunter thought about what she’d said, though. He admitted,

“I am really glad it connected to you and not somebody else though, you’re right.”

Euuughh. He didn’t even want to contemplate how horrifying that could have been. 

“Yeah, you’ll probably wanna roll the scroll back up from now on when you’re done with it. But I’m also kinda happy it happened? I mean, it’s nice to actually talk to you face-to-face! You been up to anything interesting tonight?”

Hunter leaned back against his headboard a little and thought.

“Not really? Just the usual stuff. I’m almost done with my book.”

He gave her a tentative look.

“. . . how about you?”

She looked enthusiastic as she answered.

“Yeah, I just uploaded my latest glyph video, and it’s been getting lots of likes and comments! So I’ve been trying to plan out the next one. I’m thinking a good theme is the visibile and the invisible. You think it’s catchy enough?”

Hunter slipped into an automatic smile at the subject, unable to help it. He speculated,

“So, does that mean you’ll be discussing combinations with the light glyph?”

She confirmed,

“Exactly, yeah!”

Intrigued, he started to ask her questions, but he ended up babbling a little.

“How many combinations have you found so far? Oh, and that reminds me, I was wondering if you planned on talking more about how to visualize what you want the glyph to do? The practical tips for the glyphs seemed useful but they didn’t go over the actual spellcasting aspects. I’m wondering if it works differently from how I use my staff or how traditional witch magic works.”

Luz nodded.

“Yeah, definitely! I was planning on including some of that next time, actually! But . . . I’m a little confused. Didn’t you say you, uh, weren’t watching my videos?”

Hunter’s expression shifted into something embarassed. 

Damn. Caught out. Once again because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He glanced away, fidgeting.

“I, uh . . . I might have taken a . . . quick glance at some of them?”

When he looked back, Luz seemed incredibly pleased. With a grin, she asked,

“Couldn’t resist, huh?”

He ignored how his face warmed and muttered,

“I was just curious.”

Luz didn’t seem intent on teasing him further though. She just continued on eargerly.

“This is actually awesome, because I needed somebody to bounce ideas off of. I was planning on diving into glyph combos next, but I’m worried it might be a little too soon. Do you think I should work more on establishing the basics first? I was thinking maybe one episode per glyph, you know? But I also like the idea of discussing spellcasting and all that with the combo glyphs. I dunno, I wasn’t sure.”

She smiled sheepishly and admitted,

“There’s a ton of stuff I’m excited to talk about but organization has never been one of my strengths. So I’m kinda struggling a little.”

Hunter considered her ideas for a moment.

“Well, from the sound of it, having one episode per glyph seems like a pretty good idea to me. You gave a really nice overview last time, so that’s set up the groundwork to go more in depth on each of them.”

Luz nodded.

“Yeah . . . that does make sense.”

He continued,

“I think your intuition about people getting a little confused is right. Glyph combos might feel a little overwhelming to dive into right away.”

She brightened.

“Okay, awesome. See, this is what I needed, the perspective of a viewer.”

He added thoughtfully,

“It also might help you to write out some outlines for the episodes you have planned. That’ll help you decide what you want in each of them and see how they fit together as a whole. And it should help with the whole organization thing.”

Looking eager, she said,

“Yes! Outlines! Perfect. Uh. I don’t usually do those. Would it be okay if . . . maybe I sent you some outlines and you tell me what you think of them?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, of course, I’d be happy to.”

She gave a happy litte squeal and cheered,

“Yeah!! Oh man, this is going to turn out amazing. Thank you so much, Hunter.”

Hunter fell quiet a moment, trying to cope with how adorable Luz was and realizing how much he’d been missing from just texting her.

“O-of course.”

The camera on Luz jostled a little as she shifted on her sleeping bag to slide further down comfortably and lean against the wall of her room, wearing a dreamy little smile.

“Man, I wish my old teachers could see me now. They were always like, blah blah blah, if you don’t follow the rules and learn how to fall in line your life will be a mess, blah-dee-dah. Look at things now! Doing great in magic school, lots of friends, making videos to help spur a societal revolution . . . not too shabby, if I say so myself.”

Hunter studied the human witch, feeling deeply curious. It was so strange, how different they were in some ways. He asked in a wry tone,

“So you were always this rebellious?”

She seemed tickled with the question. Grinning, looking a little self-conscious, she answered,

“I guess so, yeah. I had . . . uh, a reputation, you could say.”

Hunter gave a little snort and lifted his fluffy brows.

“I see. I’m gonna need to hear some examples.”

Luz rubbed her chin and hummed,

“Well, let’s seeeeee . . . I’ll need to pick a good one. Hmm . . .”

She suddenly gestured as if seizing an idea.

“Ah! Ok, this is from a pretty long time ago. Like the third grade, I think. They used to have our class do art projects on Fridays. It was supposed to be a fun thing, give us a creative outlet, right? But the thing is, our teacher was the biggest BORE on the planet.”

She looked incredibly annoyed as she recalled the memory, clearly still holding a grudge.

“Get this: this guy gave us all detailed directions on how to do our projects, like real specific things down to every single step, and he expected us to follow them exactly. He wanted our group to basically have perfectly identical art projects so that when we displayed them in the front of the classroom, everything matched. So every Friday that’s what everybody did. I hated it so much. I always tried to do something different, but he scolded me for doing it ‘wrong.’”

She heaved a sigh and continued,

“Anyway, that was a battle I went through every week. Then one week they wanted us to do the art projects while we were at home and we’d bring them in the next day for class. They were supposed to be these caterpillars made out of cardboard, like, the cardboard containers they have for eggs. Each little egg thingy was a segment of their body. And we also were gonna crush up eggshells and use food coloring and then glue the shells on the outside of the cardboard to decorate it. Glue googly eyes to it and little pipe-cleaner antenna. All that stuff.”

Hunter nodded, indicating he was following her. She carried on,

“Right. So. Of course I’m not gonna do that. It was ridiculous. The teacher even had directions for what color each of the body segments were supposed to be. This guy was messed up, I dunno man, who does that? Anyway, I made a huge cardboard snake with wings, and– oh, huh, I guess technically that would make it an amphiptere, huh? Hah, that Beast Keeping class comes in handy! Anyway, it had these wings that could flap and this huge articulated jaw with fangs, and it was curled around a nest of eggs, it was pretty great! I put a lot of work into it.”

Luz grinned and rubbed her hands together.

“But the finishing touch, the pièce de résistance, was the elephant toothpaste.”

Hunter lifted a brow.

“Uh. The what now?”

Luz seemed to realize she had to back up a little.

“Oh, uh, human realm stuff, right. So, there’s this little science experiment you can do with hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and yeast. I don’t really remember the exact chemistry behind it, but you combine the peroxide and soap and then add the yeast as a catalyst? And when you do, it suddenly gets super foamy and hot and makes this big ol’ overflowing mess of bubbles. Like it expands and keeps expanding and just goops everywhere. Really neat. Anyway, I set it up so inside the snake’s– the amphiptere’s mouth, there’s this plastic watter bottle full of the peroxide and soap, hidden down in there. As a special little treat once I got to class.”

Hunter could see where this was going.

“I’m guessing this didn’t go over well with the teacher.”

Luz laughed.

“Not really. When I lugged the sculpture to class and put it up with the others, he had a fit. I thought that maybe the science experiment part might help convince him that it was good . . . it’s educational, y’know? But, uh, I kind of underestimated how vigorous of a chemical reaction I was going to get.”

She gestured the path of the elephant toothpaste.

“It went fooooommmm and just kept going and quickly enfulged everyone elses’ projects. And then kept going further and leaked all over the table, onto the floor . . . it even reached the first row of student’s desks. Boy, the teacher was mad. I got into so much trouble.”

Hunter couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the thought.

“Somehow this story doesn’t surprise me in the least. What did the teacher do?”

She gave a casual wave.

“Oh, y’know, the usual. Send me to the principal’s office, call my mom. Made me clean up the entire classroom. Took me like three days. Then the teacher carried a bitter grudge against me that lasted the rest of the school year. Constantly called on me in classroom to scold and belittle me. Then my classmates started avoiding me as the weird troublemaker girl. Nobody would play with me during recess anymore . . .”

She blinked, as if startled by her own train of thought. 

“Uh, so, um, y’know, stuff like that!”

She shrugged and gave an uncomfortable laugh. Hunter frowned. Quietly, he said,

“That’s . . . that’s actually kind of awful?”

Luz tried to dismiss his comment, saying breezily,

“Aaaw, nah, it wasn’t so bad! I mean, it was worth it, you know? I wasn’t gonna let that teacher tell me how to make my own art.”

He remained silent and just looked at her sadly. Her artificial smile faltered a little. 

She sighed and admitted softly,

“Okay, I guess parts of it sucked.”

Hunter wished he knew what to say, but he really hadn’t a clue. However, before he could ponder it further, Luz seemed to brighten up again and pivot to a new topic.

“Well, hey, what about you? I’d love to hear one of your stories!”

He balked a moment, taken off guard. Talking about himself . . . that wasn’t very appealing. 

She looked so excited, though, and he couldn’t bear to say no to her. He chewed his lower lip and pondered it for a few moments. 

“W-well, uh . . . I guess . . . I guess there was that one time on the mountain. I could tell you about that? It was pretty classic.”

Luz beamed.

“Yeah! Tell me all about it, I wanna hear what a classic Hunter story’s like.”

He smiled hesitantly.

“Okay, well . . . this was back during my basic training with the other scouts. One of the things they did was fly us out to the top of the Knee in their airships. They dropped us all off and then told us to fend for ourselves. No equipment, no food or water, no weapons, just our cold weather clothes. They said they would return for us in 24 hours, and we had to survive until then.”

Luz’s eyes widened.

“Wow. That’s pretty hardcore.”

A bit of a boastful smile reached Hunter as he recalled the events.

“Well, the Coven’s training doesn’t mess around. Also, this was the dead of winter, so temperatures dipped dangerously low after dark. We were dropped off late afternoon and only had a few hours before nightfall, so it was pretty important for us to get our act together quickly. Especially considering a blizzard was likely going to arrive later that night. Plus, if the snow didn’t get us killed, then the Slitherbeasts certainly would.”

Luz seemed to be having a hard time accepting the premise of his tale.

“Did they really just . . . not give you anything, though? What if there was an emergency, was there any way to contact them?”

Hunter chuckled.

“No, of course not. That would have invalidated the purpose of the test. We weren’t 100% defenseless, though. We had our magic, remember.”

Luz gave her face a little smack and said,

“Oh, right, magic! Jeez, of course.”

Hunter nodded.

“The group I was with were pretty inexperienced, but they did know their basic spells. Meanwhile, I had the artificial staff that Belos had recently given me . . . I was still learning how to use it, though. It put my magic pretty much on par with everyone elses’ at the time.”

He frowned a little.

“They, uh, didn’t quite see it that way, though.”

Luz gave him a curious look.

“What do you mean?”

He paused. Reluctantly, he answered,

“They thought it was unfair I was the only one with a magic staff. They saw it as proof of Belos’ favortism.”

Luz scoffed.

“That’s ridiculous, you would have been literally magicless without it!”

Hunter shrugged. 

“I know, but they didn’t understand that, I guess. I was also a lot younger then the other scouts, so they kind of didn’t take me very seriously . . .”

Luz’s expression pinched into something sympathetic and Hunter quickly carried on.

“I-it doesn’t matter, though! That’s beside the point. The point is, we were dropped off there, and we needed to plan fast. Everyone started talking about what they thought we should do, and most people seemed to be in favor of scavanging for food before it got dark.”

Hunter puffed his chest out a bit and spoke in authorative tone,

“That was a terrible idea, though. We could survive just fine without food for 24 hours. What we needed to prioritize was finding shelter and building a fire to prepare for the night. If we didn’t, we’d quickly die to hypothermia. I explained this to everyone, but they didn’t heed my warnings. They were making short-sighted decisions based on on their stomachs instead of using their heads. So most of them went off to follow their foolheardy plans. Only one other scout decided to go with my plans, so the two of us went off in search of shelter. We all agreed to meet up again in one hour.”

Luz seemed very absorbed in his story. Eagerly, she asked,

“So what happened?”

He sighed.

“It was a complete mess. When we met back up, the sun was starting to set and the windchill was picking up fast. Nobody had found anything to eat, one of the scouts had gone missing, people were freezing and everyone was starting to panic. Somebody needed to step up and take charge, otherwise the Coven would be bringing back a whole lot of its scouts in body bags when they returned.”

Luz looked sufficiently horrified, which Hunter appreciated, as she seemed to understand the gravity of the situation he’d been stuck in. He carried on explaining,

“That’s what I told everyone. It took some arguing, but I finally convinced them to listen to me. Me and the other scout had found a few potential locations, but they hadn’t been large enough for our whole group. So I issued orders, creating a search party for the missing scout, directions on how to mark their paths and not get lost in the snow, while creating two other groups to search the most promising locations for shelter. I knew the Knee had several extensive cave systems and there had to be some openings we could find.”

With a proud little smile, he said,

“And we did it! They followed my orders and pulled themselves together. They located the MIA scout and we finally found a cave opening, right in the nick of time. We set up shelter there and gathered enough fuel for a fire that could last all night but also had enough ventilation so we wouldn’t asphyxiate. Some of the scouts had early signs of hypothermia or frostbite but with our shelter, they were back to normal in no time. Heck, before long everyone was talking and joking around the fire like it was just a fun night out.”

Luz grinned, looking pleased with his story. She said,

“Awesome! It must have felt wonderful when they finally respected you as a leader, huh?”

Hunter’s proud smile began to fade.

“Yeah . . .”

He grew pensive for a few moments. Quietly, he said,

“It felt great.”

Luz seemed confused and a little concerned. Hunter glanced away.

He wasn’t going to tell her this part, he hadn’t planned to– but something about Luz always seemed to compel him to blurt things out. Sighing, he said,

“I think I realized that night that respect really isn’t the same thing as . . . liking. The scouts were relieved and they trusted my judgment, but . . . when I tried joining in with their storytelling and joking around the fire, they didn’t . . . really . . .”

He abandoned his sentence and grunted,

“I don’t know, I thought maybe I was just being awkward, so it made them uncomfortable. I gave up and left to make one last quick scrounge for fuel before we turned in for the night. When I returned, I sort of . . . overheard them talking. About me.”

“Oh,” Luz said, in a tone that made it clear she knew it would not be pleasant.

Hunter fiddled with the scroll in his hands as he thought back to it, not looking at her.

“They said I was great at being a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, and I was great at giving orders, but they . . . were still mocking me. And resenting me.”

Gently, he heard Luz say,

“That’s horrible. I’m sorry, Hunter.”

He gave a bitter chuckle.

“No need to feel sorry. That’s just how things work, you know? You work together with people, but you never trust them all the way. Only as far as you need to get something done. People only help each other so long as it benefits themselves.”

Luz answered quickly and indignantly.

“Wh-what? Hunter, no. That’s not how it works! Friends don’t just use each other like they’re disposable tools. Even colleagues don’t do that! Or, that’s not how it’s supposed to be, anyway . . .”

Hunter gazed at her, surprised at how upset she seemed to be about this. He thought about things before admitting quietly,

“Well, maybe the Coven just works differently, I guess.”

She looked sad, incredibly sad, actually; Hunter was about to tell her there was no reason to feel sorry for him, he was fine, but then Luz spoke again, asking softly,

“So what happened after all that? Did you all make it out okay at least?”

He nodded.

“Yeah. Well, there was a little mishap with a Slitherbeast, but that wasn’t so bad.”

Luz arched a brow and protested,

“Wait, hold on, you can’t just say there was a ‘mishap with a Slitherbeast,’ this is stuff you can’t just skip over in a story!”

Hunter chuckled.

“Sorry. Well, there isn’t much to tell, really. I volunteered for first watch that night while everyone else slept. I knew the Slitherbeats tended to use these caves for shelter for the same reasons we did, so we had to keep watch. Unfortunately we were visited by one. I thought about waking the others, but there was a good chance they would panic and that was the opposite of what we needed. So I decided to lure it away from the cave and get it to follow me out into the open snow.”

Luz looked impressed.

“Pretty gutsy.”

He smiled and told her,

“It was pretty touch and go for a while. The blizzard was in full force out there and it was the middle of the night, so it was freezing, dark, and almost impossible to see. I lit my way with my staff as best I could, but . . . the beast was in its element, unlike me. It could track my smell for miles with ease, and it was quick.”

Luz made a noise of disbelief and shook her head.

“Jeez. How did you manage to not die? I was up against one of those once, and lemme say, it’s not something I’d like to repeat. And I had help!”

Hunter answered thoughtfully.

“Well, there were a few moments I was pretty sure I was going to die. I wondered if they’d even find parts of my body or if the Slitherbeast would digest everything and there’d just be no remains. Nobody would have even known what happened to me. My spells weren’t enough to stop the beast; the best they could do was just annoy it. I was just running and running. Nowhere to hide. Any tree I climbed, the beast could just pull down.”

Her eyes wide, she squealed,

“Aaaa, what did you do?! Enough buildup already, just tell me!”

He laughed at her impatience.

“All right, all right. Well, I knew these things couldn’t see well, they operate mostly by smell. So I realized I could try and use that to my advantage. I took off my jacket and used my magic to float it right in front of the beast, so he’d get a good whiff, and then I floated it away, leading it away from me. To a very convientent location, just under a ridge.”

“Oh?”

He pointed a finger and went,

“Zap! I triggered a landslide with my magic and it knocked the damned thing down the mountainside. Gave me the chance to finally escape. I scrambled through the storm and managed to drag myself back into the cave before I froze to death. Everyone else was still sleeping soundly, none the wiser.”

Finished with his tale, he sat back and gave her an amused smile.

“Pretty funny, huh? We still laugh about that night.”

Luz was staring at him in disbelief. He asked,

“What?”

“You . . . Hunter, I feel like there are plenty of words to describe that story, but ‘funny’ is not high on the list.”

He frowned.

“What? . . . did I tell it badly?”

She shook her head.

“No, you told it fine, it’s just– dude, didn’t you just say you thought you were gonna die and you didn’t know if your friends and family would even find a body?”

“Yeah?”

“Well how is that a funny anecdote?!”

Hesitantly, he answered,

“Well, I mean . . . you gotta laugh at it, right? It’s pretty crazy.”

She asked,

“So you consider it a good memory?”

He laughed,

“Oh, hell no. Of course not.”

She blinked. He continued,

“But it’s funny, you know? All the hijinks we got up to during training. It’s funny . . .”

He paused, trying to understand why Luz still looked so horrified, the same way she’d looked throughout much of his tale. Suddenly starting to question himself, he asked faintly,

“Is it . . . is it . . . not?”

Something about the sadness in Luz’s eyes finally made something click into place for him. Quietly, he said,

“It isn’t. Is it?”

Luz sighed gently. After a long pause, she said,

“It’s nice that you’re finding the good in it, and what you did was really admirable . . . but also, I think it’s kinda really messed up they made you go through that to begin with.”

A few moments passed, and she added,

“Although. I guess . . . my story wasn’t super funny either in some ways.”

They were both quiet for a bit. Hunter contemplated things. She had a point. Maybe they both kind of had warped ideas of what was funny. 

Or maybe laughing about it had felt like the only option.

“Well,” Luz said suddenly, with a defiant smile,

“I guess that just means we’ll have to make some even better memories, right?”

She looked to him with a glint of hope in her eyes. He smiled faintly at her, then agreed in a mellow voice,

“Yeah. I’d be down for that.”

With a rush of inspiration, she said,

“Oh, I know! When we finally meet up, we can go camping!”

He tilted his head slightly. He asked,

“What’s camping?”

Her eyes sparkling with excitement, she answered,

“It’s kind of like what you did at the Knee, except without the horrible blizzards or Slitherbeats or constant fear of death looming over you!”

Hunter frowned.

“That doesn’t really explain much.”

She tried again.

“Okay, so. Basically, you go out into nature, and you bring tents and sleeping bags, and you build a cozy little campfire, and you go on hikes and go fishing or swimming or just skip stones on the water and just kinda vibe, you know? It’s great.”

Still confused, he asked,

“But . . . what’s the point?”

Exasperated, she said,

“To be in nature! To relax and breathe some fresh air! It’s super peaceful!”

He hummed skeptically,

“I see . . .”

Undaunted, Luz continued to try and convince him.

“C’mon, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t enjoy it. Imagine: we go out into the wilds of the Boiling Isles, maybe somewhere in the Chest Valley? Eda says it’s pretty nice out there, I’d love to see it sometime. And then we just hike in the forest and listen to the birds, maybe climb a tree . . . make a fire later on and roast some weenies or something. And then watch as the stars come out. No stress, no worries. Just chilling and doing whatever we’d like.”

It had been difficult for Hunter to understand what Luz was on about, but he felt like he was finally starting to grasp it. It was just that the concept of relaxing was still so foreign to him.

He admitted quietly,

“Okay . . .  I guess that does sound kind of nice.”

She looked so happy at his response and cheered,

“Yeah! Exactly! We gotta be sure to actually do that sometime when all this Coven crapola is out of the way.”

Slouching down even further on her sleeping bag, she mused,

“Mmm, man, we’ll need to see if we can get ahold of some marshmallows, though. That would be perfect. Can’t have a good camp out without marshmallows.”

Slouching in his own bed himself, he asked in an amused tone,

“And what are marshmallows?”

“A human delicacy,” she told him,

“You stick them on a skewer and roast them over the fire. They taste best when they’re a little bit burnt, though.”

“That . . . doesn’t sound good.”

“It is, I swear! Crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside.”

“That’s just describing most of the bug demons around here.”

She laughed,

“No! I swear, they’re good, they’re . . .”

A yawn intterupted her, and she made a little squeak as she stretched. It was not adorable. It was not.

“They’re amazing. Especially with graham crackers and chocolate.”

“And what are those?”

“Chocolate is another human delicacy. And graham crackers . . . well, actually okay, they’re not that great on their own, they’re kind of like sweetened cardboard, but for some reason when they’re combined with chocolate and marshmallow they’re really great.”

“This isn’t a very convincing argument.”

“Hey, when have I steered you wrong before? Trust me, they’re perfect. The chocolate sort of half-melts when you put ‘em together and it’s so good and everything smells like wood smoke and there’s just the popping of the fire and the sound of frogs and crickets, and it feels so special. The way it does when you’re up late with somebody, y’know?”

Hunter was only half-listening to Luz by now, but he found that he wanted to continue listening to her babble about camping for as long as she wanted. Smiling lazily, he said,

“Yeah.”

And despite how late it was, he continued to chat with the strange human on the other end of the line, his darkened room lit only by the gentle glow of his scroll.