In the Owl House, all of the inhabitants could be seen in the living room, a plethora of boxes scattered about with various items from the human realm either in or outside of a box. King was propped up on the couch's armrest as everyone else was rummaging through the boxes, and a few were labeled 'Junk to sell.'
Even Trixx had decided to help out, transforming into a lookalike of Luz, with a few minor differences. Trixx's disguise had on a short-sleeved shirt with horizontal white and purple stripes, underneath a navy-green jacket. She had on a pair of leggings matching Luz's, minus the jean shorts. Finally, the strands of hair in front of her ears extended further than the rest, reaching past her chin as she wore a beanie. The changes were mostly just so they wouldn't get mixed up, but Trixx rather liked the look.
The group was currently organizing the items to figure out what to take next weekend for Eda's stand, as well as seeing if there was anything worthwhile to keep. Flint had already amassed a pile of different mechanical parts, including a full car engine (Eda reassured them she'd grabbed it from a scrapyard). Surprisingly, Flint was nearly capable of carrying the whole thing on his own.
There was suddenly a knock on the door as it opened, revealing Gus.
"Hey Luz, Flint, I wanted to ask a…favor..." Gus trailed off, locking eyes with Trixx. He looked between Luz and Trixx in confusion for a bit. "Since when do you have a sister?" Gus asked.
"Huh?" Luz questioned briefly before turning to Trixx, as it registered. "Oh right! You haven't met her yet. This isn't my sister." Luz said, gesturing to Trixx.
Trixx tilted her head. "Is this that 'Gus' guy you told me about?" Trixx asked.
"Yep," Flint said, not looking away from the components he was looking through, inspecting a piece before tossing it over his shoulder into a pile behind him.
"Cool," Trixx said with a smile, lighting up as she backflipped, landing as a replica of Gus, much to his surprise.
"Say what?" Gus cried in surprise, as his copy snickered, reverting to her Zorua form.
"I'm Trixx, I'm a Zorua. I can use illusions to disguise myself." Trixx introduced herself.
Gus' eyes practically lit up. "Cool! I use illusions too!" Gus said, making a spell circle that caused a magical double of himself to appear beside him, waving before dispersing with a POOF.
"Cool! But mine can even be tangible." Trixx boasted.
"So Gus, what did you wanna ask?" Flint questioned, getting the conversation back on topic.
"Oh right! I was wondering if you two could come to Hexside tomorrow. A new member had a bunch of fake human items, and I need you guys to prove him wrong." Gus stated.
"I'm sure we could stop by real quick," Luz said.
"Is he arrogant, acting like a know-it-all, and a complete liar?" Flint asked.
"Yep," Gus responded.
"Count me in," Flint said with a grin. He always loved knocking people off their egocentric pedestals.
Eda scoffed. "Absolutely not. There ain't nothing for you at that dweebus factory." Eda then turned to Gus. "No offense, dweebus."
Gus, for his part, seemed to take it in stride. "It's okay. I come from a long line of dweebuses."
Flint just stared at him for a moment. "I have no idea if you're being serious or not."
Luz slams the box she's holding down, making it clatter. Getting up she looks at Eda with an annoyed look, crossing her arms. "Well, I would love to go someday. Better than unpacking boxes in the Eda Coven." Luz remarked with a hint of venom in her tone.
"Oh, you think you're clever, huh?" Eda sassed, narrowing her eyes on the girl as she got to her feet.
King scrambled to his feet, jumping atop a nearby box. "Ooh! Fight, fight, fight!" King egged on, punching his arms forward with every word.
"Can it, King!" Eda admonished before turning back to Luz. "First off, it's the 'Bad Girl Coven'. And second off, I guess you don't want in on the T-shirt order, huh?" Eda asked, pulling out a piece of paper with a t-shirt drawn on it. She turned to Trixx. "Thanks for modeling the design, by the way."
Trixx took the woman's thanks in stride. "You're welcome!" It is quite helpful to transform the design on to see how it looks instantly.
Luz started getting frustrated. "I don't care about T-shirts, Eda! I want to learn magic, and they teach that at Hexside!" Luz said, gesturing to Gus and making him a bit uncomfortable at being caught up in their argument.
"I mean, yeah, well-" Eda grunts in frustration, as she heads to the door. "I don't wanna hear another word about Hexside, unless it's 'Hexside is on fire' and 'let's grab front-row seats'!" Eda yelled, slamming the door as she left.
"Aw, look what you did," King said. "…I'm gonna go rub it in. Nyeh!" King giggled, jumping off her perch and following Eda outside to do just that, the door opening and closing behind him.
Luz sighs, plopping onto the couch. "Why won't she just let me go there?"
"So many years we hated school, and now the one time we want to go to one, we're apparently not allowed to," Flint remarked.
"Right?!" Luz exclaimed, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "What's up with that?!"
"Hexside is pretty nice when it comes to guests too. And given how Principal Bump sounded like he liked you two, you're probably fine to visit. Principal Bump's a pretty cool guy." Gus stated.
"I'm sure we can stop by tomorrow still. I was gonna discuss a project I'm working on with Eda, but we could stop by around lunch tomorrow." Flint said.
"You know what? You're right. Forget what Eda thinks! We'll be there!" Luz said confidently.
"Mind if I tag along?" Trixx asked.
Gus smiled. "Sure! So I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Count on it," Luz said.
Gus pumped his fist. "Yes! See you tomorrow!" Gus bid his farewell, leaving the house.
Luz turned to Flint in curiosity. "What are you working on?"
Flint waved her off. "I don't even know if it'll work yet, I'll let you know later. It's a personal project," Flint responded.
The next day, Luz and the disguised Trixx made their way to the door. Luz wanted to go earlier so Trixx could see the place more. As they reached the door, Luz turned back to Flint. "Come on Flint!"
Flint is following before he hears Eda grumbling in the other room. Flint thinks for a moment before sighing.
"I'll catch up. See you in a while, okay?" Flint said, gesturing toward the other room to imply his reasoning.
"Okay then, but don't be late!" Luz said as the two left.
Flint walked into the kitchen to see Eda scowling at the plate of food he'd prepared for her.
"Can you stop sending the breakfast a death glare? Being hangry won't do you any favors," Flint snarked.
Eda scoffed at his words, taking her fork and aggressively stabbing the food, putting the bite in her mouth and chewing angrily.
Flint sighed, pulling out the chair and sitting down, resting his face on his balled hand atop the table.
"Alright, what is it really that's making you act like a child who was told no?" Flint asked, getting straight to it.
Eda scoffed. "I'm trying to protect you. I'm trying to protect her. Hexside chews up anything unique and spits out bland mush." As if to emphasize her point she scooped up the chewed food that was currently in her mouth as displayed it.
"Don't ever do that again," Flint said bluntly, staring at the food in disgust.
Eda put the chewed food back in her mouth and gulped it down.
Flint sighed. "I know a thing or two about awful education systems, it's not like the government ever isn't just trying to indoctrinate or brainwash people after all. But that's beside the point."
Flint intertwined his fingers as he hovered his hands in front of his face. "It's because it feels like we don't think you're good enough, isn't it?" Flint asked.
Eda was notably silent about that, her only outward reaction was a pause before taking another bite of food from her plate.
"I get it, okay? It's a sting to your pride as the 'most powerful witch on the Isles' and all that. But look at it like this. You used to go to Hexside, didn't you?" Flint began.
"What of it?" Eda said with a raised brow.
"And you still use at least some of what you were taught, right?" Flint continued.
"What are you getting at kid?" Eda asked, now more confused than angry.
Flint leaned back in his seat. "Then clearly there's at least something worthwhile to learn from there, right? Even if you don't approve of something, it doesn't mean you can't learn from it. Earth's gone through so many wars that the true number is likely lost to time, but even in those horrible events, lessons were learned. Medical science, engineering, psychology, tactics, there's always something. You learn more from multiple sources than you do from just one, even Bump agreed when I told him something similar back when he gave us a tour," Flint said.
Eda mulled over Flint's words for a bit as she finished the last of her breakfast. Looking back on it, there were many things that would've never happened if she'd never gone to Hexside. She originally started in the potions track after all, and it was thanks to the things she learned back then that she started her own business around selling them. Not to mention she might've never met Raine if she hadn't gone. Sure she learned how to handle things all on her own eventually, but the things she learned back then really helped her out in the long run.
Eda sighed. "Why do you always have to make such good points?" Eda asked half-heartedly.
Flint smiled. "I just like to look out for people is all…though all of those inspirational quote videos I watch certainly help," Flint added, getting a snort out of Eda.
Flint snapped his fingers as he donned a look of realization. "Now that I think about it, even that project of mine plays into all that. I've been meaning to ask what you think about it, and if it'll work," Flint added.
Eda cupped her chin. "Oh yeah, I looked at that. It'll take some work, we might need to raid a few places for certain materials, but I think it's a great idea. Might be a way to finally put some of those stupid things to good use," Eda said.
Flint smiled. "Cool. I wanna make it a surprise for Luz though. We'll have to make a prototype first to see if it'll work without needing to draw from a bile sac."
Eda nodded before standing up, stretching a bit before drawing a circle in the air and making her dish float into the sink.
"I guess I'll head over there with you and see about getting you two enrolled. We can talk details along the way." Eda suggested.
Flint nodded, pulling out his sketchbook from...somewhere, as he followed Eda out of the house.
When Flint and Eda made it to Hexside, they quickly split up to do their respective tasks. It wasn't quite time for him to meet up with the others, so Flint waited on the steps for a bit as he fleshed out some of his drawings. Flint did catch the sight of Eda and Bump going around to different areas of the school. He supposed Bump must've decided to have her do something first in order for them to get in. Bump's face after he mentioned Eda last time reminded him of the 'PTSD flashbacks' meme.
When lunch was getting close, Flint headed inside just before the bell rang. He walked around looking for Gus, Luz, or Trixx, when he ended up noticing Amity.
"Hey, Amity." Flint greeted her as he approached, while she took a lunch bag out of her locker.
Amity turned to him with a hint of surprise. "Flint? What're you doing here?" She asked curiously.
"Gus needed Luz and me for something and invited us to come, but I arrived a little later because I needed to talk about something with Eda first. Now I think Bump is blackmailing her by having her do something in order to get us enrolled." Flint told her.
Amity snorted. "The Owl Lady does have quite the reputation. She caused a lot of trouble when she used to go here, you know."
Flint shook his head. "I don't doubt it. Say, you're looking a little better than when I last saw you. Are you…are you still having those nightmares?" Flint asked hesitantly.
Amity shook her head. "No, not anymore. I have still been a bit…hesitant, when I think about lighting one of my candles though." Amity admitted a bit bashfully.
Flint scratched the back of his head again. "Sorry again about that."
"It's okay. You couldn't've known. I do really need to get over it though." Amity stated.
Flint thought for a moment. "Hey, do you know any fire spells?"
Amity shook her head. "Not that I can cast on my own, no, but I was planning to fix that. I was going to head up to the Knee so I could practice it safely."
"Then what say I come with to help?" Flint offered, surprising Amity.
"You don't have to do that or anything." Amity tried to shoot down.
"I still feel bad about causing you all that trouble in the first place though. Besides, what better way to get rid of something than to go to the source?" Flint suggested.
Amity cupped her chin in thought. "True. Plus I'm still not quite done going through the Azura book Luz lent me, so I could return it then before we head out." Amity nodded. "Alright. So I'll see you then?"
Flint flashed her a bright smile. "Count on it. See you then." Flint agreed before bidding his farewell.
Flint eventually found Luz, Gus, and Trixx. The four went to the Human Appreciation Society meeting room. Looking out at the items that an annoying guy Flint learned was named Mattholomule. And given Flint recognized him as the idiot who made himself a living Funko Pop, he already knew the guy wasn't working with much up there.
And when he saw what Gus had brought them in because of…let's just say he had some choice words.
"I'm going to say this as nicely as possible, what the hell is wrong with you people?" Flint asked. He was nothappy in the slightest with what he was looking at.
A rock painted to look like a cell phone called a 'cellular phone.' An egg with a skull painted on it titled 'human skull.' And mostly annoyingly of all, a clump of mud, leaves, and twigs named 'sports footwear.'
"What are you talking about?" The girl whose face was just an eye asked.
"Oh for crying out- not a single one of this guy's items is real! Nor should you have been fooled by them!" Flint used a spell that ended up cutting the rock in half. "This is just a rock-" Flint then grabbed the egg, crushing it in his hand. "-this is an egg-" Flint unclenched the hand and exasperatedly gestured to the 'sports footwear' "-and this is just mud, leaves, and twigs in the shape of a shoe!"
After looking closer, the other members looked to Mattholomule with looks of betrayal.
"Look, I'm new here at Hexside. M-Making friends has been hard, so I lied. They're all fakes. I thought if I was important enough people would like me. But I've caused enough drama." Mattholomule said sadly.
Luz and Gus shared a sympathetic look.
Flint and Trixx, however, did not.
"Bullshit," Flint said with a glare, causing everyone but Trixx to gasp.
"Flint!" Luz admonished.
Flint ignored Luz momentarily as he stepped toward Mattholomule.
Mattholomule had a nervous look on his face as Flint approached him, backing up as Flint got closer. "H-Hey man! I'm sorry, okay?!"
Flint said nothing, looming toward the boy, ominously quiet.
"I-I'll leave, okay?! J-just leave me alone! Stay away!" Mattholomule cried out in fear, turning around as he tried to head for the door.
Flint only continued to follow, tracing a spell in the air and summoning a tendril made of light as it wrapped around the boy like a lasso. Flint pulled the lasso back, bringing Mattholomule only a few feet away from him.
"S-say something! Anything!" Mattholomule pleaded.
After a moment, Flint decided to speak.
"We have a saying on Earth. Liar, liar, pants on fire." Flint finally said.
Mattholomule shot a look of confusion at Flint. "Huh?"
Flint held his left hand forward, summoning a fireball the size of a baseball in the hand.
"What say we make the phrase a little more…literal? I'm sure you know just how strong my fire can be. You were at the Covention after all." Flint said ominously, bringing the fireball close to the boy.
Mattholomule struggled in his binds as Flint directed the ball to come closer to him. He began to feel the heat emanating from it as it got closer, closer, closer-
"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! I JUST WANTED POWER! And drama!" Mattholomule confessed frantically before turning away.
Immediately, the flames went out and he was unbound, faceplanting on the ground from not being held up by the lasso anymore. He looked up to see a sickly sweet smile on Flint's face.
"See? Now was that so hard?" Flint said, his words passive-aggressively lined with hate.
Mattholomule shuddered at the voice he used, scrambling as he quickly ran out of the room like a bat out of hell.
With the liar gone, Flint dusted his hands, a satisfied smirk on his face as he turned back to the others.
"Well then, how about we show you some real human tools and what they do, shall we?" Flint asked as if the last few minutes had never happened.
Everyone else, minus Luz and Trixx, stared at the boy like he was insane. [spoiler alert: he is]
"Was all that really necessary?" Luz asked bluntly, a brow raised. She had long since gotten used to her friend's antics.
"Probably not," Flint admitted.
"See, this is why you never get to be the good cop," Luz said.
Flint shrugged. "Fine by me. You can't even pull off being the bad cop anyway. Besides, I was 92% sure he was lying."
"And what about the other 8?" Luz asked.
"Does it really matter if I was right?" Flint countered.
Trixx gave a so-so gesture. "I mean, he has a point."
A while later, Principal Bump and Eda arrived at the room's entrance. When Bump saw Trixx, he turned to Eda.
"How do you keep finding more of them?" Bump questioned accusingly.
Trixx just snickered, dispersing her disguise. "Not human. I just like looking like one."
Bump blinked. "What a curious creature. Anyway, congratulations you two, it pleases me to inform you that you shall officially be enrolled in Hexside School next semester." Bump revealed to the two humans.
Luz gasped before vibrating in pure excitement. "Really?!"
"Uh, hold on. Hold on." Eda interrupts, putting her hands on Luz's shoulders before sending a glare at Principal Bump, shooing him away. In response, the principal takes exactly two steps back.
"Look, I'm only doing this because I have faith in you and Flint. I know you're too smart to fall for that One-Witch, One-Coven nonsense." Eda turned to Flint. "You were right kiddo, school wasn't all bad like I made it out to be. There's a lot you can learn from the witches here." Eda glanced over at Bump briefly before she began to whisper with a smirk. "And you could teach them some of that Bad Girl Coven magic too," Eda said.
Principal Bump blinked, unfazed by Eda's antics after everything she put him through decades ago.
"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that, and remind you, Eda, that we have some paperwork to fill out." Bump pointed out before exiting the room.
Eda looked appalled. "Wait! I gotta do more stuff? Ugh!" Eda turned back to the two. "You better enjoy this place," Eda stated before following Bump.
Flint smiled as he wrapped an arm around Luz. "Look at that Luz. One step closer." Flint said.
Luz adopted a wide grin on her face as she laughed in excitement. Seeing her like this only made Flint's smile grow even wider.
He could never get enough of that smile.