Nero walked down the halls of Hexside with his hands in his pockets. Under normal circumstances, there'd be a number of students walking down the halls either waving or asking him for favors for obvious, irritating reasons. But at the moment, he was on a free period while most others weren't, so he had some time to himself and figured he'd catch up with an old friend. One of the things he wasn't expecting to see as he turned a corner was his aunt hopelessly attempting to erase said old friend with a mop.
"Uh, Aunt Eda, what are you doing here?" Nero asked. Eda turned to look at him and the graffiti shifted its form to a face wiping sweat from its brow.
"Ugh, hey Nero," Eda said, sounding rather drained, "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to clean this up."
"Didn't answer my question." Nero pointed to the wall and said, "Plus, Graff is actually a pretty good friend that I've been able to talk to, so you're not cleaning them off."
"Graff? Really?" Eda asked with a snort, "That's the best name you could come up with for graffiti?"
"You try naming sentient hall art."
"Touché. Look, I'm sorry for your friend, but they've got to go. Luz wants to go to Hexside and me cleaning up my old messes is the only way to lift her ban from this place."
"Wait, Luz wants to attend Hexside? Why?"
"Hell if I know, but Luz wants to learn more magic, so here I am," Eda groaned as she hung her head. Nero's mind returned to what his aunt said earlier as he scratched the top of his head.
"So, you said you had to clean your messes to get Luz to come here?"
"Yup," she answered bluntly.
"And Graff here's one of your 'messes', right?"
"Bingo," came her second answer, with Graff shifting to a thumbs up, "They were actually one of my first pranks here, being honest."
"So..." Nero thought for a second, "Does that mean I'm cousins with graffiti?"
"No," Eda said as Graff shifted to a "Yes", causing Eda to glare at them before continuing, "Graff here's just paint on a wall that I magically gave sentience for shits and giggles. They're not your cousin."
"Either way, they're a friend, so is there any way you can 'clean up your mess' without getting rid of them?" Nero wanted to make it clear that wasn't going to let her erase Graff, no matter what.
"Hey, if you can come up with a solution, be my guest, but until then..."
Eda move to attempt to erase Graff again, but before she could, Graff shifted into a series of words that spelled out, "Wait! I have an idea!"
Nero and his aunt looked to each other then back to Graff as Eda slowly lowered her mop and said, "Alright, I'll bite, what's you're idea."
Graff shifted form and took the shape of a right hand print. An arrow was pointed to it with a sign that read "Place your right hand here". To top it off, another arrow was pointed directly at Nero, who looked to his right, reptilian hand in confusion before shrugging and doing as Graff explained. Suddenly, Graff's form started to glow alongside Nero's right arm as the wall art contorted and congregated towards where his hand was placed. Within seconds, the glowing faded and Nero lifted his hand from the lockers, only to see that Graff was gone.
"What the hell?" Nero looked all over the locker wall and saw no trace of them, "Graff, where are-"
Suddenly, he felt an odd sensation in his write arm and looked down to it just as a glowing blue illusion of the word "Sup!" popped out of it. "Huh," Nero said as he lifted his hand to his face just as more greetings flew out, "I didn't know you could do that," he then looked over to Eda and asked, "Did you?"
"Kid, I've been expelled from this place for decades and never paid my old pranks any mind," Eda retorted, "Of course I wouldn't know they could do that. I think we should be asking how they know how to do that."
Nero looked down to his right hand again, with Graff flashing out the words, "It was more of a guess."
Nero and Eda both looked to each other before looking back to his hand as Eda said, "Well, that's one hell of a lucky guess," she then put the mop back in its bucket, "Still, that's one less chore for me to worry about. Thanks for that."
"No problem, Aunt Eda," Nero replied, "Just glad you didn't kill Graff."
"Actually, I was thanking Graff, but you're welcome," Eda answered with a jokey demeanor as Nero rolled his eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta clean out the rest of my messes from the snorefest of a school."
"Curse you and your ability to not have to go here," Nero joked back with a smirk as his aunt smiled and raised a middle finger to him while walking away. Still smiling as he walked off, he checked the time and noticed that he still had a few minutes left before his free period ended. He looked down to his right arm and noted the rather odd sensation now that Graff was basically living in it as it's...passenger? Host? Whatever they were, Nero was about to ask them how this whole thing worked, but before he could, a pair of familiar, annoying voices popped up behind him.
"Hey Nero!"
Nero didn't bother to think or turn and face the Blights as he continued walking down the hall. Frustratingly, but as expected, this didn't deter Edric or Emira at all as they simply walked ahead of and stopped in front of him.
"Nero, hold up," Edric started, "We just want to-"
Nero didn't bother listening or stopping as he shoved past both of them. There was an admitted small part of him that wanted to hear them out, but he shoved it aside every time. He wasn't interested in hearing either Edric or Emira's excuses anymore and just wanted them to stay away from him.
"Wait! Please just list-" Emira didn't get very far into her sentence as Nero spun a spell circle with his left hand and manifested a giant ice wall that blocked the Blights' path. Checking the time again, he was actually grateful that his free period was coming to a close, since that meant he didn't have to deal with the Blight twins and their persistence for a while.
Edric could hear his sister sigh in her bed, and being honest, he couldn't help but do the same from his desk. He was supposed to be doing homework, but he spent most of it either drawing pictures or trying to figure out how to make newer, better, completely legal fireworks. Unfortunately, he didn't even have the drive to do that these days.
"We messed up," he couldn't help but drone out.
"Yeah, I know that already," Emira grumbled out as it sounded like she was shifting on her bed, "You don't have to say it at the exact same time every single day."
"Wait, what time is it?"
"4:30," Emira replied just as Edric looked to the wall clock to see that it was actually 4:27, which was close enough.
"Sorry." Now Edric was the one grumbling. "Guess I'm still...bummed out, y'know?"
Emira stopped looking annoyed and looked down as she said, "Yeah. I get it." The two sat in silence, from there. He couldn't really find anything to say, and he knew his twin enough to know she was the same way right now. Things didn't stay quiet for long, as there was a sudden knocking on their bedroom door, followed by their little sister's voice coming through.
"Hey," Mittens began before she entered their room, "Have you guys seen the-" she stopped herself as she looked at them, "You're moping again, aren't you?"
"PFFT! What, no!" Edric got up and put on his best smile. He had no idea if it looked convincing or not, but he assumed it looked convincing.
"We were just...uh...taking a break from smiling!" He turned to Emira and said, "Breaks over!"
"Right!" Emira put on her best smile, and Edric struggled not to grimace at how forced it was. He really hoped his smile looked nothing like that.
"You both look like constipated ratworms," if Mittens' words were any indication, he did look that way.
"Ugh, you win," Emira groaned as she dragged her hand down her face, "We were moping. There, happy!"
Edric looked back to his little sister and noticed that, if anything, she looked rather unhappy. "Honestly, no, I'm not," she said, sounding sincere.
"I...why?" Edric asked before his brain caught up to his mouth. Knowing it was too late, he continued, "I mean, why wouldn't you? We kinda...sorta..."
"Okay, let's not beat around the bush and get to the point," Emira snapped, causing Edric to flinch as his twin looked to Amity with a sigh, "We tried to humiliate you and almost got you killed. You sure you're not even a bit happy that we're miserable? Wouldn't blame you if you were."
"Look, you guys are annoying," Amity started as she rubbed the back of her head, "Like, really annoying. Even when you try to be nice to me, you're still super annoying about it. I mean, sometimes, I just want my space and you both just barge in and-"
"Uh, sis, how's this helping?" Edric raised his hand and asked. He heard a loud snapping sound coming from Emira and looked to see that she just slapped her own face. Worrying about that later, Edric looked back to Amity, who sighed.
"Right, sorry. My point is that no matter how annoying you guys can be, even if you end up trying to humiliate me, you're still my brother and sister. I'm definitely still gonna get mad at you for it, and I still kinda am, but I just don't have it in me to outright hate you guys forever, y'know?"
Edric looked between his two sisters before he felt his face turn to a smile, and it felt a lot more natural this time. Even Emira had a more genuinely happy grin, though it quickly faded after a few seconds. Edric knew why, and now that it was in his head, he felt his smile leave and get replaced with a frown too.
"At least you're not gonna hate us forever," Edric mumbled under his breath, though from the look on his little sister's face, she clearly heard what he said.
"Let me guess, Nero's still avoiding you two?" Mittens asked.
Both of them nodded as Emira said, "I don't get it. We just want things to go back to normal. It's mostly normal around here, so why is everything all messed up over there!"
"Have you tried...I don't know, apologizing for what you did?"
Edric felt confused at his younger sister's suggestion, "But we already apologized to you."
"Ugh, no Edric, not me," Amity facepalmed just like Emira did, "I mean Nero. Haven't you guys tried doing that?"
"Apologizing? He won't even let us go anywhere near him!" Emira scoffed, sounding really frustrated as she crossed her arms and looked away, "How are we supposed to do that if we can't even get a sentence in?" Edric shrugged and tried thinking of a way around that issue.
Maybe we can try...no that'd probably make things worse, Edric thought. Oh! What if I make a firework that can spell out an apology and he...no, there's a chance he wouldn't see it, after a few more attempts, he slumped his shoulders and sat back down in his chair.
"Okay, maybe we should think about how to apologize later," Emira suggested, "If we can figure out how to approach him first."
"Right, you guys do that. I'm gonna go see if I can find Luz's Azura book," Amity said as she prepared to walk out of the room.
"Wait!" Emira jumped off her bed and rushed over to Mittens' side, "Do you need help finding it?"
Edric jumped at Amity's other side and gave her his most eager grin. He also wanted to help if he could, still feeling he hadn't fully made it up to his little sister for the library incident, plus he needed a good distraction from all the moping from before.
"Guys, it's fine. I can find it on my-" before Amity could continue, Edric turned to Emira for a second and they nodded. They both gave their sister the most pleading faces they could muster, making it clear that they really wanted to help. After a few seconds, Mittens' grunted, "Even if I say no, you're still gonna follow me and help me out, aren't you?"
Both of them nodded as their sister reluctantly sighed and continued out of the room, "Okay, fine, let's make this quick."
"Mom! I'm heading out!"
Lilith could hear her son call out to her as she finished sipping Apple Blood from her favorite mug. In a few short minutes, her son was out of his room and walking through the kitchen as she asked, "Where are you going?"
"Oh! Uh, y'know...out?"
Lilith raised an eyebrow to her son's non-answer and asked again, "Out where, exactly?"
"Just...hanging around Bonesburough, seeing sights and all that," Nero replied with an slightly nervous inflection that made the gears in Lilith's head turn. Ever since he came home late the one time, he hadn't had that issue again so far, but she still couldn't escape the knowledge that he was hiding something from her, and that where he was planning to go now involved where he was previously.
Furthering her suspicions was how he tended to hide his arm from her whenever it glowed, something he never did before. The first time it happened, his right hand emitted a message that read "Hello, Lily!" and she was quick to ask what that was about, as nobody called her by that name except her sister. Her son quickly said he had a few illusionary messages prepped up for class, but he told it so frantically that it was an obvious lie. To top it off, when she walked past his room that same day, she saw the door open by a crack and peered inside to see him talking to the arm as it showcased more messages in the form of a full-blown conversation.
"Very well then," Lilith answered as she stopped pondering over past events for a moment, "Just make sure that you're careful. Okay?"
"I will," he said as he started headed out, "And I'll try not to be out for too long, but I'll call in case I'm gonna be late."
"Yes, please do that," Lilith stood up and gave him a brief hug and a peck to the side of his head, "Stay safe my little raven."
Her son nodded before he walked out, closing the door behind him. After just about a minute, Lilith held out her hand and summoned her staff from the living room. "Coronis," she addressed her Palisman, who lifted himself off the tip of the stave, "Look, I know what I'm going to ask of you may seem...wrong, but I would like for you to follow after Nero and report to me what he's doing."
Coronis just gave her a questioning look that she knew the meaning of. In response, she scoffed and fired back, "Yes, I know that I shouldn't spy on my own son, but you remember how he came home late and how he dodged answering! This is for his own safety. I just..." she looked down, "I just want to make sure he isn't in trouble. Could you please just see where he's going at the very least? You don't have to do much more than that."
Her Palisman stared at her for a few seconds before he gave a small sigh and nodded. He then lifted off and flew out of her sight, opening and closing the front door as he left. How Palisman's were able to physically open doors was something she was never able to understand, but she decided to just accept it as reality.
Speaking of reality, the weight of what she'd asked for sank in as she retook her seat at the table, running a hand through her indigo hair. She reminded herself that this was absolutely necessary for her son's safety. She just wanted to make sure he was safe and not doing anything unsavory.
Please just let it be nothing, she thought with worry, hoping that she was just being paranoid.
Eda whistled as she gathered ingredients to get a stew going. King was playing with that teddy bear she brought over from the human realm and Luz was out with that Blight girl she brought up every now and then, so with some time to herself, she decided she needed a half-decent meal, although she was also waiting for the inevitable moment when the domestic peace would be ruined by someone barging in on her.
"Hey, Aunt Eda." Sure enough, before she could get started, Nero barged into the kitchen.
"Hey, Nero. How's it been?" Eda asked, grumbling a bit.
"Been mostly good, aside from some annoying crap here and there," he answered as he walked in, "Graff said he wanted to visit and try something out. Plus, I figured I'd be able to pick up Red Queen while I was here, so..."
"Sure thing, but first, I want to see what Graff wants," Eda stepped away from the counter as Nero looked to his right arm, which glowed and flashed out a message that read 'Put your hand on the wall'. Somehow Eda knew where this was going, but she still wanted to see what happened. Sure enough, Nero put his hand on the closest wall and his arm glowed for a second as her old wall art exited the hand, morphing into a thumbs up on their new home.
"Yeah, saw that one coming," Eda said as she got back to the counter, "Look Graff, if you're gonna live here, just try not to piss off Hooty. He can be pretty territorial, if you catch my meaning."
Graff shifted and morphed to say, "Okay mom!"
"For the last time, I'm not your-Oh, forget it." Eda cut herself off and went back to her stew as Graff started traversing across the walls to explore the house.
"So, where'd you put Red Queen?" Nero asked.
"Hmm? Oh! I put that thing in the armory in the back. Just head down that hall and you should find it," Eda pointed to the hall where the armory was located.
"Hey, Eda!" Nero's voice yelled from down the halls, "I thought I told you not to mess with Red Queen!" at the sound of heavy footsteps, he walked out, looking a bit annoyed as he held his sword out for her to see. Eda leaned in and smiled as she saw him point out her handiwork.
"Oh yeah! See, you only told me that I couldn't sell the thing. Never told me anything about being able to mess around with it or modify it."
Nero stared for a second before he sighed, "Okay, I should have expected that," he then looked back at the blade and asked, "So what exactly did you do anyway? I don't really recognize the seals or spells."
"That's because I like to think outside the box and make up my own special spells. See, I made some alterations to the fire runes at the hilt to make them last longer and dunked the entire thing in a revitalizing potion for about a few hours, kinda forgot it was there and left it for a few days before I remembered and pulled it out."
"You did what!?"
"Yeesh, cool your jets, kid," Eda casually replied to Nero's outburst, "It didn't damage the sword, plus I was working to make the whole 'Exceed' spell less of a pain in the ass to reapply," she finished, making sure to add extra snark to the dorky name of the spell.
Nero looked down at the blade and flicked his wrist, setting it on fire for a second. Sure enough, the spell charge started restoring itself right after the use, taking a total of five seconds. "Huh, this is honestly pretty badass," Nero turned to face Eda and said, "Thanks, I guess."
"Don't get all sentimental kid, I only added it because I got sick of having to reapply you're little spell every time I used it all up," Eda snarked as she remembered when she was trying Red Queen out. It didn't take her too long to replicate the spell Nero put on the sword, but it was both boring and time consuming to reapply it every single time the thing ran out of spell charges.
No part of her wanted to do it to give her surprisingly cool nephew a small present to fill out her roll as 'the cool aunt'. Nope, not even a little.
"Next time I leave something with you, I'm gonna have to be a lot more specific," Nero bemoaned as he sheathed the sword on his back.
"Hah! Bold of you to assume I'd follow any instructions you give me," Eda laughed off as Nero shrugged.
"Point taken."
"Now, if you'll excuse me..." she then went back to the counter again and removed her hand to hold the cook book open. Though she stopped when she saw her nephew give her a bewildered expression as he stared at her removed hand. Realizing she had to explain some things, she gestured to the stump on her arm and said, "Side effect of the curse."
Nero recovered from his surprise and walked over to get a closer look. "That's...I don't know if that's cool or concerning," he mused out loud as Eda snorted.
"Believe it or not, this is actually one of the fun side effects."
"The curse has fun side effects?" Nero asked unbelievingly.
"Yeah, it's not all bad. There's the whole limb removal thing and..." Eda stopped as she tried to think of any other side effects she'd gone through over the years that weren't so bad. Instead, she could only say, "Huh, actually that's pretty much it."
"EDA!"
"And there goes my chance to relax," Eda groaned at the sound of Luz's voice calling throughout the house. I few seconds later, she watched the kid stumble into the kitchen and plop face-first on the floor.
"Eda! You have to teach me a new-Nero!" Luz dropped whatever she was babbling about earlier as she jumped up to greet Eda's nephew, "What are you doing here?"
"Picking up Red Queen and dropping Graff off. So what's got you faceplanting?"
"And more importantly, can it wait until after I manage to cook myself a meal?" Eda was really annoyed now. All these interruptions and she hadn't even gotten started on lunch yet.
"Wait, who's Gra-you know what, never mind," Luz waved off what Nero said and rushed to the counter so quickly that Eda was briefly convinced humans had latent super speed, "Eda, listen, I need to learn a new spell!"
"Why do you need to learn one?" Nero asked as he leaned his back against the counter and crossed his arms.
"Because it's the only way for me to get into decent classes at Hexside!" Luz exclaimed as she pulled out a sheet of paper with her light glyph on it, "Right now, I can do light magic," she then pressed on the glyph, causing a flash of light to envelop the room that forced Eda to cover her eyes, "But that's it! That's all I've got!"
Being as much of a drama queen as King, Luz collapsed to the floor. "And just whose fault is it that you don't know other spells?"
"Uh, aren't you her teacher? Pretty sure this is on you," Nero casually pointed out as Eda grumbled to herself, Betrayed by my own family.
"Exactly!" Luz shouted as she jumped up, "Don't you have anything! It can be any spell, even evil ones!"
"Why don't you just ask Nero to teach you something?" Eda pointed to her nephew with her still attached hand before she spun a spell circle to summon a pan towards her, "He's here and available, meanwhile I haven't eaten yet."
"Thanks for the offer, but no," Nero said as he looked to Luz, "Sorry to say kid, but the magic you can do is way to different from anything I know. Can't really teach you anything. Hell, I don't even know how to teach in the first place."
"Well neither do I and I think I've done pretty good so far!"
"What part of "I only know one spell" did you not hear?"
"Ugh! Look, I may have been doing some research on wild magic that could theoretically help you learn a new spell," Eda was starting to get tired of being ganged up on here as she started levitating ingredients, "But I'm a bit too busy trying to make a decent lunch here, so if you want to learn some new magic, it'll have to wait."
"Come on, Eda!" Luz begged as her tone grew more determined and a tad more angry as she continued, "You're the most powerful witch on the isles! What would people say if they found out that your apprentice got stuck in Hexside's baby classes."
That made Eda stop what she was doing. Sure, she just had to make sure Luz got into Hexside, which she did manage despite her dislike of the place, but the idea of her protégé being at the bottom level of Hexside's learning curve struck a cord with her. Well played, Luz, she thought with a swell of pride, Well played.
"Alright then," Eda grabbed her other hand and screwed it back onto the stump, "Guess we're doing some magic boot camp!"
"Did someone say Boot Camp!" King suddenly walked in with his teddy bear as all eyes turned to him, "If we're doing one, then I'm running it."
"How long have you been listening in?" Nero asked, something Eda would have wondered if she didn't know King liked to eavesdrop every now and then. Though she wondered where he picked up the habit.
He couldn't have gotten it from her. No siree, no way he got it from her.
"A king doesn't have to answer such questions, now let's get this Boot Camp started!" he shouted.
"Nope. Sorry King, but Luz needs to focus, and she can't do that if you're being all adorable and distracting," Eda said.
"Don't you DARE call me adorable!" King shouted as he stomped his foot all adorable like. As if on cue, Luz went all gaga over him, even when he slammed the door to leave, which he did again, and again, and again. Eda waited for him to do it again, but it looked like he was done.
"Anyway, how'd you like to join us, oh nephew of mine?" Eda asked, looking to Nero, "Even if you can't teach for crap, I could use the extra hand. Preferably one that won't fall off."
"Eh, I don't know," Nero rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, I got nothing better to do, but at the same time I cut it close last time with Mom, so..."
"Oh don't let Prissy Lily get you down, this'll be fun!" Eda interrupted as she rubbed her hands together and called forth some winter coats for the Knee's cold climate, "If we're going to train Luz, we need to head somewhere were magic just flows all over the place. Plus, there could be some big monsters for you to fight..."
"Well..."
"Please! It'll be like one big camping trip!" Luz added with that extremely cheery glint in her eye, "We can tell ghost stories and-"
"I'm in!"
"Eh?" Eda and Luz were on the same page as Nero immediately changed his tune, almost looking just as excited as Luz. The whole giddy look on his face looked...very out of place, if she was being honest.
"I said I'm in. When do we head out?" he asked. But before she could answer...
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY WALLS YOU WALL JACKER!" Hooty's voice rang throughout the entire house as a lot of crashing could be heard in the background, "THIS IS MY TERRITORY! STAY OUT!"
From the sound of it, it looked like he and Graff just met.
"I'd say we're leaving right about now," Eda threw the winter coats to her nephew and apprentice before she opened the back door, "Now let's get moving before they get to where we are!"
Not a second later, they were out of the house and walking through her neck of the woods to get to the Knee, the sounds of Hooty's rampage fading in the distance. As Eda looked around in her walk, she saw what looked like a white bird fly out of a tree and out of sight. For a second, the bird looked an awful lot like Coronis, but she shook her head at the thought.
Just a trick of the mind, Eda. Why would Coronis be out here? she thought with bemusement, No way it's to spy on Nero. Not even Mom's that overprotective.
Nero breathed in the cold air of knee as he found himself unable to stop smiling. He was kind of expecting to feel more apprehensive about coming here, given how he got his arm, but instead, he was actually really excited even as he adjusted the hood of his navy blue winter coat. The prospect of getting to go on his first camping trip seemed to erode whatever fears he would have had.
"Huh, that's a bit weird," Aunt Eda's loud musings drew Nero out of his own thoughts as she continued, "Normally you'd see a Slitherbeast here or there. I don't know, somewhere at least. But it doesn't look like there are any around."
The mention of a Slitherbeast did make Nero freeze up for a brief second as he rubbed at his reptilian arm, but he brushed it aside, remembering that was years ago and he was already past being afraid of those.
"What's a Slitherbeast?" Luz asked as she adjusted her winter hat.
"Giant ass monster with white fur, eyes in its mouth, and a pissy attitude," Nero answered with a small growl, trying not to think back on when he was here as a child.
"Eh, I wouldn't say they're pissy. It's more of a "Leave me alone and I won't bite" sort of deal," Aunt Eda waved her hand.
"Whatever, we gonna set up camp or what?" Nero asked as he sped up to the front of the group, even turning to face them while walking backwards, "The sooner we do that, the sooner we can do all the fun camp crap."
"Just remember we're here to teach Luz a new spell, kid," his aunt reminded him as he rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah."
"Huh, you know, I don't think I've ever seen you this excited about...well, anything," Luz wondered out loud before asking, "Have you ever gone camping before?"
Nero sighed and shook his head, "Nope, never have. I used to ask Mom about going camping back when I was a kid, but she always shot the idea down."
"Doesn't surprise me. If there's one thing I know about Lily, it's that she sure as shit ain't the outdoorsy kind of gal," his aunt snarked, resting her staff on her shoulders as they walked through the ruins.
"So, if you guys didn't go camping, what did you do for fun?" Luz asked innocently, though the very question made Nero's eye twitch as he stopped and recollected...those times. Those annoying, boring times.
"Mom," a seven-year-old Nero said to his mother on the couch next to her, "Why can't we ever go camping? It looks like fun."
His mother sighed and gently hugged him. "Nero, I know you'd like to do that, but going out into the wilderness can be rather... dangerous, to put it lightly," she retracted from the hug and held him in her lap, "and I don't want you to get hurt."
"Is this about my arm?" Nero rubbed his lizard-like limb.
"No no no, it really doesn't, I promise. It's just that personal experience has taught me that camping isn't fun." Lilith shuddered as if she were remembering something painful or embarrassing. "Besides, there are plenty of fun things we can do from the safety of our home that are a lot more fun."
"Really?" Nero looked up at her with wide eyes, "What can we do?" Lilith smiled and spun her spell circle to bring the Crystal Ball remote to her hand.
"Why, we can watch a show that I think you might like. You know how you like to draw and paint sometimes?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, here's one of my favorites series. I'm sure you'll love it," she then clicked on the remote and the Crystal Ball flipped to a channel just as the episode started.
"And welcome back to part 3 of our 20 part documentary series: Understanding the Drying Walls. Today, we will discuss the process of how ink dries, and the many intricacies of-
Aaaaaand now I'm bored, Nero wanted to get up and go do something, anything, else, but he looked at his mom's smile as she watched and saw how happy the documentary made her. How and why she liked this was something he couldn't figure out for the life of him, but she liked it, and he wanted her to be happy. So he decided to put his personal feelings aside and watch the whole thing from his mother's lap.
And so he sat through it all. All one hour and fifteen minutes of it. One hour and fifteen minutes of pure, unrelenting, unspeakable BOREDOM . By the time the episode finally, FINALLY ended, he didn't know what was worse; the pain of his arm getting slashed by a Slitherbeast, or the monotony of...this. Either way, he was glad it was done so he could go find something-
"Oh! The next part is starting!"
At his mom's excitement and at the next part's opening credits, Nero could only think one thing, Aw crap!
The sudden snap of fingers rang in his ears as he realized where he was; not watching the most tedious thing on the isles, but actually back on the Knee, this time with his aunt and her apprentice.
"Let me guess, her idea of fun involved the history of balusters or some crap like that?" his aunt snarked as he groaned and shook his head.
"More like watching how ink dries."
"Figures," Eda rolled her eyes and walked forward ahead of the group, "Lily really needs to get a new definition of fun."
"On the plus side, actual camping doesn't have things like that," Luz chimed in as she followed just behind her mentor, with Nero following behind her, "We get to tell scary stories, eat snacks, catch fish in lakes, and make contact with a bunch of poisonous plants!"
Before Nero could say anything, his aunt spoke up, "And here we are!" before she stopped in front of them around the center of the ruins, prompting them to stop too, "We'll set up our little Boot Camp here."
"Yes! Second spell, here I come!" Luz spun around before she started looking at the views.
"You know, this kinda takes me back to when I was a kid," Nero mused as he looked up to the cloud formations in the sky.
"How so, kid?" Eda asked.
"It was when my mom was teaching me how to do ice magic," he explained as he reminisced, rubbing at his right arm again, "Ended up pissing off a Slitherbeast and got slashed in the arm."
"Oh...oh shit, is that how-"
"Yeah, pretty much," Nero interrupted his aunt's aghast question, "Look, that was years ago, and I'd like to think that's done and over with, y'know?"
"I hear ya there," Eda said sympathetically as she looked around, eyes falling on where Luz was, likely thinking about her curse and how she almost killed her apprentice because of it, "It's just that I don't want to make yo-LUZ! LOOK OUT!"
Within a split-second and almost faster than Nero could react, his aunt lunged towards Luz and brought her to the floor just before a light purple fire ball could strike her dead in the face.
"Eda! Luz! You guys okay?" Nero said as he ran up to them as Eda got up and held her staff in the direction of the fire ball.
"Yeah, we're fine," Luz answered, "But what was-"
"Sorry about that!"
Hang, on, was that... Nero turned in the direction of the familiar voice and sure enough, he saw Amity standing far away with a practice wand that still emitted some smoke, meaning she was in the middle of her own training. Now, normally, he wouldn't be bothered by seeing Amity, except for one major thing. Or rather, two major things.
"Hi Nero!"
Edric and Emira were with her.
"Titan fucking dammit," Nero cursed, now officially regretting coming here.
"Y-You can't be serious. Please tell me you're not serious." Lilith probably should have cared about how desperate she sounded, but she was too flummoxed to do so. Unfortunately, the serious look in Coronis' adorable, dopey eyes confirmed his findings as she stood up from her seat in the living room, her Palisman flapping his wings just near enough from her as she walked to the kitchen, clutching at her forehead. "Alright Lilith, there's no need to panic. I mean, just because your son is sneaking out behind your back to visit your uncouth rebel of a sister who just so happened to give him a large, dangerous weapon as a gift, doesn't mean anything bad for him. It's not like Edalyn's going to be a terrible influence on him that will lead to him being branded a wild witch and petrified for the rest of time or anything!"
Needless to say, it wasn't working.
"And don't give me that look, Coronis!" Coronis flapped backward just a tad. "It's not like I'm jealous or anything." Lilith ignored his questioning head tilt. "I mean, sure, based on your descriptions, he seemed to be engaging in casual conversation with her much easier than he usually does with me, and he was smiling more than he has here in recent years. And now they and Eda's human pet are all going out somewhere to have fun. More fun than he has with his own mother..."
Lilith realized she was rambling and said, "But that means nothing! I'm just...concerned for his safety is all! Edalyn's idea of fun is just so damned chaotic and I don't want him caught up in it."
Lilith closed her eyes, but that didn't stop her Palisman from pecking at her shoulder. It was rather funny, how despite Coronis' normal appearance, he could manage a great deal of intensity when pressed. Still, she stood her ground before immediately rushing to the bird perched on the counter and dialing her son's number.
"Nero Claudius Clawthorne," she muttered, "You are in so much trouble."
But as she brought the bird to her ear and heard the tone, one thought ran through her mind.
Please be safe.
Welp, this camping trip's officially fucked, Nero grumbled as Luz and Eda were in the middle of talking with Edric and Emira. Well, Luz was, at any rate, since Eda was too busy trying to fit several snowballs into her mouth. The sight actually made Nero chuckle a bit, but it was still marred by the fact that the dumbass twins were still in view.
"Ugh, just forget it." Nero got up from the pillar, hands in his pockets, as he started looking around the frozen forest. "Better find something to do while Luz's training."
"Hi Nero!" Nero swore under his breath and turned to face the twins.
"Does the phrase 'Piss off' just go through one ear and out the other with you two?" Nero asked.
"It does with Edric," Emira said, much to her twin's chagrin. "What? It's true. So, Nero, we wanted to-" Nero didn't even bother putting up a wall and just started walking away.
Sure enough, however, they quickly walked side-by-side with him, Edric asking, "So, what's with that sword on your back? Looks pretty awesome!"
"Weren't you two annoying your sister earlier?" Nero asked in annoyance.
"First off, we weren't annoying her...this time," Emira fired back, "We were training her, and right now, she's going over some drills we gave her. Secondly, would you just quit the grumpy attitude and listen to us for a change!"
"Hmm, let me think about that," Nero pretended to scratch his head, but before he could say no, a loud cawing came from overhead, followed by the last voice he expected to hear.
"Nero!"
Nero blanched and looked up to see a call bird flap its way down to him and hover close by. "Nero Claudius Clawthorne, I know you can hear this. Answer the bird right now!"
"PFFT! I still can't believe your middle name's Claudius!" Edric giggled alongside Emira, who was trying to clamp her laughing mouth shut.
"Shut it!" Nero yelled before he grabbed the bird and cleared his throat, "Uh, h-hi mom."
"Hello, son," his mom's voice was way too serious for his comfort, "So, care to tell me where you are?"
"I'm-"
"And Nero," she interrupted, "Don't tell me that you're "hanging around Bonesburough". If you do, I'll know that you're lying," her voice calmed down a tad, "Just...be honest with me. Where are you?"
"Uh, I-I..." Despite his mother's insistence that he tell her the truth, there was no way he could say what he was actually doing, knowing she wouldn't take it well at all. For a brief second, his eyes landed on the Blight twins, and he said, "I'm with Edric and Emira."
There was silence on the other end of the call for a second before Lilith asked, "Are you now?"
"Yeah," Nero said. It wasn't a complete lie, seeing as he was currently standing alongside Edric and Emira, much as he didn't want to be. It was just that he left out the part that he was on the Knee of the isles, and carrying a sword with intent to go monster hunting, and that he originally came here with Eda and Luz.
"I see." Just like that, the line went dead as the bird flew away.
"My my, going behind mommy's back?" Emira's questioning dragged him out of his reverie. "Who knew Claw Boy was so-"
"Not. One. Word," Nero snarled.
"Eh, not like we're judging. I mean, we go behind our parent's backs all the time," Edric added, shrugging his shoulders, "Pretty sure Mom and Dad still don't know about my back alley fireworks deals."
"Too be fair," Emira cut in, "Dad doesn't come out of the lab often enough to noti-"
"Would you two just piss off already!?" Nero shouted, but was quickly followed by another loud cawing. Looking up, he saw another call bird flying down, this time towards Emira.
"Hello? Miss Blight," Nero's eyes widened as his mom's voice came from the bird, "Could you please pick up? I need to speak with you."
Nero's blood ran colder than the air around them as Emira gave what was probably the most evil smirk he'd ever seen in his life and grabbed the bird. "You know," she droned out as Edric's own face mirrored his sister's, "I could tell your mom what you're really doing here."
Nero's eyes widened for a second before returning to normal, almost feeling a bit of acceptance. It looked like this was it; his mom would find out, he'd have to tell her the truth about everything, and also probably end up grounded until he was-
"But I won't."
...fucking what now!?
"Miss Blight, if you're there, please answer the bird," his mom said from the other end as Emira talked over it.
"We won't tell her anything," Emira said before her expression turned serious, "In exchange for at least ten minutes of you actually listening to us for once!"
Nero couldn't believe what he'd just heard and, in the span of a few seconds, weighed down his options. On the one hand, he still wasn't in the mood to be talking with the twins for any reason. But on the other hand...
"Fine," Nero groaned, "You want to talk? We'll talk. Just don't tell her anything. Please."
He winced at how pleading his tone sounded, but he couldn't help it given the circumstances. The twins' faces softened up for a second before Emira clicked the bird and answered, "Hey Miss Clawthorne! What's up?"
He couldn't quite make out what his mom was saying, but he was pretty sure she was asking where he was. Thankfully, Emira answered, "Yeah, he's hanging out with us at our place," more talking from the bird came before Emira said, "Sure thing," she then gave him the bird, "It's for you."
Nodding, he took the bird and said, "Hey mom."
"So...you're really spending time with the twins?" she asked.
"Yes. Yes I am," Nero answered, feeling a tad less nervous. Suddenly, Edric took the bird from his hands with a "Yoink!" and started talking to Nero's mother.
"Sorry Miss Clawthorne, but we're all gonna be watching a movie marathon for a while. He might get home a bit late," Edric casually said, Nero realizing that the Blight just gave him an alibi in case he was late again this time, "That cool with you?"
There was silence on the other end before some terse, indecipherable words came from it. They didn't seem to be anything bad, considering Edric nodded and answered, "No worries Miss Clawthorne. He'll be just fine with us. Anyhoo, gotta go, BYEEEEEE!" and with that exuberant goodbye, he hung up and tossed the bird into the air, letting it fly away, "That was fun."
"For you guys maybe," Nero took a deep breath and let all his stress out in one exhale, "I damn near had a heart attack!"
"Well, that's what you get for having crappy lying skills," Emira joked, Nero returning it with a glare, "But thankfully, you're frie-uh, I mean, acquainted, with the masters of lying to adults."
"Right," Nero said, realizing that Emira was about to say "friends" originally. For some reason, it hurt to think about, but he had a deal to make good on, so that could wait. "Either way, a deals a deal," he crossed his arms and stood upright as he looked the twins dead in the eye, "So, what did you want to talk about?"