𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥『↬』The Owl House fanfiction (𝗛𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗦)

𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢: 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 :𝟏𝟕

Hunter nodded. "Did you say something important that you had to punch my arm?"

"Nah," Annika waved her hand in dismissal, "I was just making small talk."

Usually, the blonde would've left it at that and let them both sit silently until the brunette interrupted it. However, the boy was only occupied by thoughts of Belos's disappointment in him, so he let the conversation continue.

"Fine, then; what was your subject of today's small talk?"

Annika chuckled at Hunter's query. "I was just commenting on the fact that this mission seems to be much more dramatic than our usual missions."

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied before his eyes shined brighter. "Speaking of our mission, I made sure to do thorough research on the Pokris-"

"Shocker," the girl commented with a slight smile.

The boy knitted his brows. "Must you always not take things seriously?"

"Depends," she countered. "Also, do you honestly think of me as an underprepared individual?"

"Yeah, kind of," Hunter bluntly replied.

"Goldilocks!" The brunette gasped and put her hand on her chest while the blonde remained unfazed. "You wound me with your cruel assumptions!"

Her dramatic expression soon relaxed. "But don't worry, I brought any important books I could find about the Pokris with me. So I'd say we are very prepared."

"Where is it then?"

"Luggage. But we can look over it when we get to our inn."

"Okay," Hunter responded before sitting beside Annika and knocking on the small glass window to catch the coachfolk's attention after opening the divider. "How long will we be riding for?"

"Not long," one of them replied.

"And how long will 'not long' be?" The blonde pressed on.

"Well, if we can cross this next bridge safely, then it should take about half an hour, Golden Guard," the other coachfolk answered.

Hunter sighed as he closed the slot and turned to face Annika, who was on her scroll—sitting on the seat in front of him that he previously occupied. "What are you doing?"

"Hexing."

The blonde was quiet before he asked. "Do you have any... games we can play?"

The girl looked up from her scroll before raising her brow and smirked at the boy. "Bored?"

Hunter's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. "Maybe."

Annika put her scroll away and stepped to sit next to the blonde. "We can play twenty questions. It's better than I spy."

The boy nodded, and after the girl taught him the rules, the two played until they reached their destination.

The city of Aglin was recently attacked and terrorized by a Pokris for months, and the two teenagers were obviously assigned to help them out.

One main thing that made this mission different than all the other missions was that they were assigned to join the city's beast hunters in this task instead of just Hunter and Annika. The boy was naturally not a fan of this outcome, while the girl remained unbothered.

Except it wouldn't be so different if the blonde hadn't begun behaving too strangely for Annika to dismiss. Every time Darius had mentioned that the two teens would have to work with the other beast hunters, the boy mumbled to himself—the only words she could catch were Belos and approval.