I guess she's not as frail as she seems. I pushed as hard as I could but she said "That's okay."
-TV Girl
"Treasuring hunting?" Hunter seemed unamused by the idea, an eyebrow partially raised.
"Yeah! C'mon, Hunter. Everyone else is gone for the day, and Eda said there's even some old Clawthorne family treasure somewhere out back!" Gus seemed enthralled at the thought, already prepared in old clothes, heavy duty boots and even a shovel in hand.
"Eda also told you that Snagglebacks eat stray cats and unicorns."
"They probably do! King said those things are the most dangerous demons on the isles!"
Hunter sighed, glancing over at Flapjack. The palisman chirped a bit at him, and he understood. He ran a quick hand through his hair before standing up.
"Alright, Gus. Let's go find that 'Clawthorne family treasure.'"
"Edric, do we even know where we're going? You said you had some cool spot to show me!" Amity groaned, following after her completely clueless brother.
"..probably? I mean, it's a demon cat cafe I found the other day while I was out with Hunter. I thought you would like it!" Ed shrugged a bit.
"A cat cafe? Ed, I'm not seven. Didn't Emira take us to one of those once?" She rolled her eyes, watching the streets around her.
"Yeah, didn't you like it? I just thought you might like a little bit of nostalgia."
"I guess.. But why just us? I mean. You could have brought your boyfriend here for a date."
"I wanted to hang out with my little sister, is that such a crime now?" Ed turned slightly to face her.
"No, but why?"
"Why not?"
"Gus. why did you even invite me out of everyone else?" Hunter had leaned himself against a tree, Flapjack in a branch above him.
"Eh, no reason... You think there'd be some treasure in this suspiciously leafy spot?" Gus didn't wait for an answer before he started to dig away at the area.
"Aren't leaves a natural thing? Why would it give away where some treasure is?" He got up from the tree, kneeling next to the pile.
"Eda's sneaky, I don't know how the rest of her family is, or how they'd hide something like this." He shrugged, tossing dirt behind him.
After just a couple minutes of digging, Gus had yet to find anything but a fairly deep hole and confusion.
"A dead end. How sure are we there's even treasure back here again?" Hunter glanced down in the hole before glancing over at Gus.
"Pretty sure. Eda said her family used to be really well respected, probably."
"Edric! Are you even listening to me?" Amity scoffed, glaring over at her dazed brother.
"Yeah, yeah... of course I am. What were you saying?" Edric flipped the map again. Was it upside down or going to the left now?
"I was asking if you knew how much longer it was going to be until we found that cat cafe place you were talking about." She muttered, looking around the plaza they were currently in.
"It shouldn't be too much longer now. Yup, just around this corner!" He laughed nervously, giving up on the map and crumpling it, tossing it in a nearby trash bin (we dont promote littering here kids)
Amity trusted her brother, despite his tricks and antics. They turned the corner, just to find... another street. No sign of a demon cat cafe. In fact, they almost seemed further from their goal at this point, completely and utterly lost in the maze and paths of a never ending street plaza.
"Mittens, don't panic. But I think we're lost."
"Gus, we've been out here for over an hour, we've dug up thirteen holes and we are no closer to finding this so called treasure you've been going on about!" Hunter groaned, Flapjack chirping from a tree above.
"Treasure hunting just takes a while, I'm sure it won't be that much longer." He laughed a bit nervously, looking around where else he could dig.
"I'm going back to the Owl House... Edric and Amity are probably home by now." He stood from where he was sitting on the ground, quickly brushing off his pants and waiting for his bird to fly down towards him.
"Wait, you can't leave yet! We still have so much ground to cover, I don't know how much land Eda and Raine own." Gus seemed panicked the moment he went to leave, dropping the shovel almost desperately.
"You can find treasure on your own... These woods are probably safer than most of Bonesborough." He began to walk off, until the smaller boy grabbed onto his wrist, begging him to stay.
"Hunter, please. Can you stay?"
Amity lead her brother through the town, a tight hold on his hand. He kept pointing out what he felt like she'd like, not to much surprise. Amity though, didn't seemed very enthused. She hadn't even really wanted to go out to this cafe with her brother. She would have much rather have gone with Luz and Willow to the store.
"Edric, why are we even doing this? Does this cat cafe place even exist?" She groaned, turning as she let go of him.
"Uhh, probably. I mean, King said he was kidnapped and taken to one before." He shrugged, glancing about.
"So why did we even come here? I could have just gone and helped with grocery shopping and you could have just stayed at home with your boyfriend. Why drag me all the way out here when it could have been a date between you and your little lover boy?"
"That's the thing, Amity! You're always with Luz, I'm always with Hunter. It's been a really, REALLY long time since it was just me and my little sister. I miss just being your big brother and we just got to hang you." He was genuine with his words, desperate for the time with his family.
"Last time we hung out, Ed, it was because you and Em were making fun of me in a public library. Where I had a job." She crossed his arms, still a bit petty.
"That's the thing, Mittens. It used to be the three of us, but now its the two of us. We don't know if she's okay, and she doesn't know if we're okay."
That seemed to catch her attention, Afterall, Edric was right.
"What are you saying, Ed?"
"I'm saying... we don't have forever. It's just kind of you and I now, and we need to be actual siblings. I don't wanna be as distant as we have been."
Amity nodded, before smiling softly at her brother. He smiled back, holding his hand out for a handshake. He knew his sister had never been the biggest on physical affection. Much to his surprise, she pushed the hand away and instead wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He took a moment, before returning the gesture, hugging his sister back.
A small meow sounded from the alley just behind them. Amity broke off the hug, turning in curiosity. She kneeled down and found-
"Why do you want me to stay so badly?" Hunter stopped where he was, pulling his hand away and crossing his arms.
"Well, it's just... You're you." Gus sighed, fiddling with his hands.
"What does that even mean?"
"Everyone's had some unique and cool, life-changing adventure with you! Edric's.. well, your boyfriend, Willow found her palisman when she was with you, Luz sees you as a brother after all this time-"
"She does?"
"Yes, but please don't interrupt me. You even helped Amity dye her hair, and she is.. Not the biggest fan of you, you are dating her only brother."
"Alright, so I've helped someone in some super cool way. Why do you want me to stay out here so badly?"
"I want a cool adventure with you too! I mean, you are just kind of cool. You're like, almost as strong as Willow, which is a big deal. And you got the first palisman and you even have a cool partner! How much better could it get than even just being able to hang out with you?"
"I.. have a lot more stuff going on than what you see." He was impressed at how much Gus wanted to just hang out with him. "But you didn't have to make up some elaborate treasure story. I would have been fine doing something like just walking around town with you."
"Oh, I didn't make it up. Eda was telling me about it and I just thought it was a good opportunity, But we didn't find anything. Maybe she was lying to us all this time..." Gus shrugged, picking up the shovel again.
However, something sitting on the end chirped at him. and he couldn't help but turn.
"Hunter! Gus! What were you two doing all day?" Willow inquired, sitting down by Gus with a question in her eye.
"We went treasure hunting... but we found this chameleon. I decided her name is Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo." He grinned proudly, holding up his blue palisman friend.
"We didn't find any treasure, if that's what you were wondering." Hunter added, sitting down next to Edric with a smile. "Did you two ever find that cat cafe?"
"No, actually. I think it closed because of animal cruelty?" Ed smiled back at him, taking his hand into his own.
"I have a cat now, though." Amity stated simply. petting the gentle, napping critter in her lap. "Her name is Ghost."
Two new palismen friends and quite a bit of devolpment... a day in the Boiling Isles at its finest.
1534 words.