Amity was waiting outside the Boneborough Library, anxious. She had messaged Boscha on Penstagram to come, and although she was skeptical, since it was "really important", Boscha begrudgingly agreed to come.
It had been around 10 minutes since she sent the message, and Amity was worried Boscha wouldn't be able to show up. That is, until she saw Boscha running from the distance.
"Why... did you make... me do this?!" Boscha asked, in between exhausted breaths.
"Wh- why didn't you just take your Palisman?!?" Amity asked, more shocked than anything.
Boscha groaned. "I don't have a Palisman, remember? My old one got confiscated after it set fire to the kitchen."
Amity looked unconvinced. "And by that, you mean you blamed it for setting fire to the kitchen?"
"It's an unfeeling animal! Better it take the fall than something that actually has a purpose in life!" Boscha retorted, slightly annoyed by what she saw as an unfair accusation.
Amity was going to list multiple reasons on why that was a terrible idea and how seeing Palismen as unfeeling animals is an incredibly shallow mindset, but she felt there was more important matters. Plus, it's Boscha. She never listens.
"Okay, well, you wanna tell me what this is all about?" Boscha asked, still irritated. "I did not go outside a library at midnight just for some dumb festival, so it better be something actually important."
Amity looked away. "I... you know... uh, remember that human?"
Boscha's eyes widened, but she stayed silent. She looked... angry? Thoughtful? Concerned?
"...Bosch?" Amity asked, slightly concerned.
Boscha clenched her fists, seething. "I swear to Titan, if they pulled some stunt that got you fired, I will personally give them a hand-to-hand beatdown until they beg for whatever 'mercy' is left in my soul."
Amity said nothing, so Boscha continued. "And if they did something worse than get you fired, than I will rip open their stomach and tear out every single-"
"Okay! I get it!" Amity exclaimed. "You don't need to be so be so violent all the time!"
Boscha just shrugged. "Violence gets results."
Amity looked at her with a mix of disgust and indignation. "Let's just... go inside?"
"If you had told me the human was here, I'd have brought my brass knuckles." Amity glared at Boscha. "Just saying."
Amity cleared her throat. "Let's. Go. Inside."
Boscha rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything else. Amity took this as an agreement, and went inside. Boscha soon following, of course.
Amity could hear someone talking, so she grabbed Boscha and hid behind a bookshelf.
"Ow! What the heck, Amity?!" Boscha complained. "Shh!" Amity retorted.
"Oh wow, Boiling Isles romance." Amity overheard. It sounded like... the human. Of course, she was expecting the human to be here, but that didn't ease her nerves at all. "That's totally lame. Uh, unless you guys are into it...?"
"Ugh, I can't believe she's grovelling to your siblings. What kind of desperate hack would..." Boscha turned towards Amity, who was frozen.
"Amity." Boscha called out.
Amity didn't answer.
"Amity. Hey." Boscha went directly into Amity's eye line. "Are you okay?" Boscha asked, in an unusually soft voice, causing Amity to snap out of it.
"I-I'm okay. I'm fine." Amity breathed shakily.
Boscha stared at her for a couple more seconds before slowly looking back over to Luz, Emira, and Edric.
They must have missed something, because there was suddenly a secret room visible. Boscha was confused, but Amity was nervous. Nervous and angry, but mostly nervous.
"Your clubhouse is like, my ultimate secret hideaway!" Luz spouted, in admiration.
Edric rolled his eyes. "We don't hang out in a library. 'Uh, teacher, I'm in love with a dictionary!'"
"'I'm studying the dork arts!'" Emira mocked, causing the twins to share a laugh at Amity's expense. "No, this is Amity's secret hideaway."
Amity sighed in defeat. And waited for Boscha to mock her. But she didn't...?
"What? You think I care you hang out with books in your spare time?" Boscha scoffed. "As far as I'm concerned, this is just an employee's only room."
Amity sighed in relief, and focused back on the trio. She could make out Edric and Emira laugh, but she didn't know why.
"What?? Isn't that taking it a bit too far?" Luz asked, concerned.
"No. We're her family. It's tough love." Emira shrugged. "She needs to learn to lighten up."
Luz's eyes narrowed. "Uh, w-well, I definitely don't see any diaries in here!" She put her hands on her hips and faux smiled.
Amity's heart skipped a beat. They're looking for her diary.
Boscha's eyes narrowed in anger. They're looking for her DIARY?!
"That's it!" Boscha prepared a fire spell. "They're going down."
Amity smacked Boscha's hand. "BOSCHA! Don't burn the library down!"
"Ow..." Boscha rubbed her hand.
Amity's eyes flickered to concern to anger to back to concern before settling on stoic. "Are you okay?" Amity asked, half-heartedly.
"OoH, vIoLeNcE iS bAd, yOu sHoUlDn'T bE sO vIoLeNt AlL ThE tImE!" Boscha snarled. "Hypocrite."
"You were literally going to shoot fire at my siblings! I had to!" Amity persisted.
Boscha rolled her eyes and looked away. "Just tell me not to next time..." She whispered to herself.
Amity groaned. "Show me your hand."
"Excuse me??" Boscha recoiled.
"Before I change my mind!" Amity exhorted.
Boscha hesitated, not really trusting any act of 'kindness', but held her hand out anyway.
Amity touched Boscha's hand, which made her wince slightly. "I guess I don't know my own strength..."
"Yeah, I'm sure you get real strong carrying around purple... goo all day!" Boscha blurted.
Amity looked at Boscha unamused. "Wow. Great comeback. 10/10. Really hurt my feelings."
"You can just, shut...!" Boscha glared at Amity.
"Ow, my feelings are so hurt, oh no, you're so caustic." Amity put her hand on her head in mock offense.
Boscha groaned, before struggling and failing to resist snickering. "Shut up, you brainless bookworm." She replied, in a more lighthearted tone than her usual remarks.
Amity smirked lightly, until she heard the sound of her own voice coming from where Luz and the twins were. "I saw that... human girl again."
Boscha and Amity's heads immediately snapped towards the area.
The diary.
"Ever since that night at the Covention... I can't-" Diary Amity's thoughts were abruptly cut off by Luz closing the book. "Nope. Not doing this." Luz announced.
"...What've you got there, Luz?" Edric asked in suspicion.
Luz hid the diary behind her back. "Nothing! Just, um, a Good Witch Azura 5 where she goes goth, and stuff."
Amity was surprised that Luz was trying to protect her secrets, but her admiration was quickly cut off by Boscha. "What's a 'Good Witch Azura'? Sounds like freakish propaganda."
"It's not propaganda!" Amity noticed her passion towards the topic and quickly tried to recall it. "It's just, like, a book series that I may or may not be super into..." She found herself faltering the more she explained the situation.
"Wait... is it that geeky cartoon book that everybody who's a nobody talked about, like, 10 years ago??" Boscha stifled a chuckle, and before Amity could respond, she continued. "Oh my titan, you're a nerd!" She started laughing, almost on instinct.
Amity's cheeks reddened. "For your information, it's a graphic novel!" Her defensiveness only made Boscha laugh harder, which she quickly tried to stifle as to not give their position away.
"Sorry, sorry sorry sorry..." Boscha couldn't help but lightly giggle a bit more before finally stopping. "You can be into geeky trash like that. It's cool."
Amity's eyes narrowed. "So what was the laughing about?"
Boscha stifled another chuckle. "It's just... a bit unusual, is all." Her face grew serious when she saw what Luz and co were doing. "Amity. Look."
Amity turned around and saw her diary pages scattered across the floor, all being personified due to the Wailing Star.
Boscha looked Amity dead in the eyes. Amity nodded, seemingly understanding what Boscha was thinking.
Without any further adieu, Boscha walked over to the three.
"HEY, TWERPS!"