You know how I love these biased, one-sided conversations. So let's discuss the whos, the whys, the whens, the hows, the wheres. But who really cares? If it was all in my mind to begin with.
-TV Girl
Hunter had always had it all figured out. He'd work at the camp as a counselor until he was old enough to take over, become the new face of Reality Check. There were nights he stayed up, dreaming of the glory soon to be his the moment he was able to claim. He had every detail planned; the amount of pride that would surge through his body, the satisfied look on his uncle's face when he did so, the much more recently added detail of the boy he had come to love over such time..
He woke up, literally and metaphorically. Hunter woke up to find himself in a new house, filled of faces on the wall he didn't recognize. Of course, the campers he had grown so fond of were there, alongside his boyfriend. He was there too, but he didn't feel like it. Memories flashed in his mind from the sting of whatever Belos had infected his wrist with. It hadn't left his wrist yet, still stuck on. From the way it had operated and how the edges hadn't begun peeling like they do on temporary tattoos, Hunter could only begin to assume it was now permanent,
What else was permanent? Their new living arrangements? Besides that, what had happened? What was a Grimwalker, what was he? Hunter had been left with more questions than answers, about himself, his uncle, his life, his values...
Edric had always wanted to escape his parents. Being the oldest (and only) son, he was expected to inherit the Blight Industries. That wasn't him, though. He didn't know what he wanted before, until he met Hunter. His life had been changed around and those three months at summer camp, completely parentless and completely in charge made him realize something... he wanted to be himself. And being with Hunter was just a bonus of that.
The absence of his boyfriend besides him had managed to wake him up, since the body that had so often formed the position he had slept in for so long had moved, so would he.
Hunter was sitting on the side of the bed, his leg bouncing, apparently deep in thought. Edric rolled over, grabbing his glasses before sitting up, reaching a hand onto his shoulder. Hunter flinched at the touch, turning immediately.
"You're up early, without an alarm too." Edric commented, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm always up early, but I don't even know if this is considered early here."
"...fair point." He sat up completely, crawling to the other side of the bed to sit besides Hunter. "Do you want to go downstairs? See if someone's awake?"
"And risk running into the Owl Lady? No thanks..."
"Her partner wasn't bad.. the violinist? I thought they seemed nice." He shrugged, standing and offering a hand to Hunter, who took it gratefully and stood up, continuing to hold it.
"Raine? Yeah they seemed fine." Hunter added a bit dully, being a bit preoccupied with how much was on his mind.
"Come on then, let's go see who's downstairs..."
The Boiling Isles had odd delicacies that none of them had heard of before; fairy pies, centaur stew, Griffin eggs... which they actually had for breakfast. Eda had spent much of her late night researching different types of food and even trying a few probably illegal experiments on different vegetables and Griffin eggs seemed to be the safest for human consumption. Turns out, they tasted just like human chicken eggs and were fairly tasty. The table and the living room was prepared for people to eat in, Hunter and Edric choosing the couch away from anyone else.
"...why are they blue?" Edric asked, his face clearly hesitant as he picked at the eggs.
"They're good, you should try some." Hunter's mouth was full of the scrambled, blue eggs. Flapjack flew in from the kitchen, where he was being fed by Eda. Her 'palisman', the witch's talisman and magic pet... or something, was an owl and hence she had plenty of experience with birds.
Did Hunter trust her with his? Absolutely not.
Did he have any other choice? Nope.
Flapjack seemed content though, happily chirping. Just as he had the night before, Hunter could pick out words in English he understood. He knew these words- they were simple. Yet there was no way to properly shift it between those chirps and his human dialect. "Edric? Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Flapjack. He was talking just now."
"Yeah, he always chirps at us."
"No, you don't get it... I mean, talking! Like... like English words!"
"...no? Hunter, did you hit your head yesterday? That cabin floor is pretty hard, and you did nearly pass out..." Edric placed the back of his hand on his head, testing for an abnormal temperature. (...look he doesnt understand temperature is for the flu NOT concussions)
"No, Edric! I promise he is talking, you just don't understa-"
"He doesn't." The sarcastic, free voice of Eda added from the door was, scaring both boys. For a woman in heels and such a loud personality, they thought she'd have issues sneaking up on people.
"...how would you-"
"That bird isn't one of your normal human birds. He's a palisman." She proudly claimed, her hands popped on her hips.
"RAINE YOUR WIFE'S BEING CRAZY AGAIN!" Edric yelled, the bard quickly appearing next to Eda.
"Edalyn! What did I tell you last night about bothering the kids with your crazy talk about... time pools, and-and- and possums!" They scolded her, having to look up at her.
Eda looked back down at them, narrowing her eyes before turning to the boys again. "Where'd ya find the bird?"
"Why do you need to know-" Edric began, quickly interrupted by Hunter... which was strange. The blonde had refused to speak to her the night before.
"Just in the woods, behind our cabin."
"Ah, an ORPHANED palisman, classic case, classic case.." She grinned, nodding her head like it all made sense.
"Flap is not one of your... demon realm creatures! He is a perfectly normal bird I took in!" His hand was outstretched towards the witches as he made a point, and just then...
Flapjack turned into a staff, falling perfectly into the hand of Hunter, causing a new wave of fear, panic, and just sheer utter confusion for the two new to this realm (Eda was very prideful abut it, she loved being right)
"I told ya so!!" She beamed proudly.
"What. The. FU-"
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