A firm rapping broke the silence of the morning the next day. Outside of a motel door, there stood three officers of the law, two in uniform and one dressed in a suit.
No response.
"LAPD! Anyone here?"
Another rapping was started but interrupted by the door opening. Strangely, it seemed like the door had opened by itself; they couldn't see anyone.
"Hello?" The detective asked, confused and hoping to not catch whoever was in this room at a bad time.
"Yes?"
The assembled party looked down to see a little boy with mismatched eyes had opened the door, hiding behind it until he saw who was there.
"…Well, seems she found him." One of the officers mused, their colleagues letting out sighs of relief and wiping brows away. One reached for their radio and announced:
"Ease up on the searching parties. She found him."
As those on the other side of the radio similarly reacted with relief, the detective knelt and smiled at the boy.
"Hi there. Sorry to bother you, but…is your mom available?"
"Mama?" Olivier called out. "There are a couple of Scouts and a rich guy at the door."
"…Scouts?" The officers asked.
"…Rich guy?" The detective replied in kind.
"I'm coming Ollie, go back to your coloring books!" The reason for their call, a beautiful red head with grey streaks in her hair, groaned as her son did just that. "Sorry, where we moved from, things are a little different; he's going through culture shock. Come on in."
The officers did just that, spying a mostly kept motel room with the boy doodling and coloring while he sat beside what looked like a miscolored Cubone stuffy and a backpack with a wooden Owl head on it. The TV had a sticker on it that said 'NO!' and the coffee pot was finishing up a brew.
"Um…Eda Clawthorne?" The detective asked as the woman handed them and their colleages half cups.
"That's me." Eda smirked as she downed some coffee, gagging on it. "…Really should've stocked up on Apple blood…"
"You mean juice?" One of the officers asked.
"….N-yea…Oh, whatever." Eda groaned, not being in the mood for any of this, but she leaned in and whispered. "So…am I going to jail?"
The former Owl lady didn't regret what she did, but she knew she was going to get in trouble for her rampage yesterday. Humilating the law was fun, but doing BETTER than them? Oh, she knew she was cooked!
'So much for a fresh start.' She sighed, mentally prepping for the hell that would be splitting up from Ollie, better he gets a better life here. 'Just wish I could've had some more of that Thai place…maybe let that Ned guy take me out for one dinner…See Ollie have friends not in the fam.'
"Well…technically you should." The detective said.
This caught Eda's attention.
"But a lot of us in the LAPD are parents ourselves. If it was us? We'd have done the same." One of the officers said.
This brought a smile to the witch's face. Maybe she was just lucky, but it was good to see some of the enforcers here had good hearts.
"So…in exchange for us not taking you in…" the detective began.
"Though she'd probably be able to break out."
"Simmons!"
"Woman flipped a gosh darn squad car and put six to seven pervs in the infirmary. I stand on what I stand!"
Eda smiled. This 'Simmons' had a brain and heart.
"…Returning to the point…" The decretive said, taking a sheet of paper. "You sign this, which basically forbids you from ever speaking of your rampage that made us look bad? And you'll get a third of the money from all the dealers you helped us apprehend."
Eda signed without a second thought. She'd sped-read the contract of course; no sharing the story with the press or media of any kind, no thinly-veiled artwork or writing even loosely like it? All for what seemed like a pretty big sum of human world money?
Easy choice.
"Again, sorry for all that." She said
"Again, as parents? A lot of us would do the same." An officer mentioned, smiling at Olivier. "He seems okay."
"Yeah, he lost his way sneaking to the park down the road." Eda explained, smiling at her little boy and motioning him over. "We're from a…small place, so the city is a bit much for him.
As she held and hugged her son, while admiring his coloring, Eda noticed the LAPD become concerned.
"Um, Miss Clawthorne?" The lead said, getting her attention. "We probably can't do much, maybe hand it over to the FBI, but…Do you roughly recall where you were held?"
Eda feigned thinking and downed the rest of apple juice.
"…The nearest town, about an hour away by foot, was Gravesfield."
And at that name, the officers all irked back in slight disgust.
While it had a great, award-winning hospital, the majority of Gravesfield was stuck in the mindset of fearful churchgoing sheep and were proud of such; the town was infamous for its dislike of outsiders (save for tourists during Halloween) and being staunchly obessed with being 'normal' yet embracing its history of witch-hunting….even if 99% of those killed had been just normal people and those 'witch-hunters' were petty zealots who let power go to their head.
Eda smirked, now even happier she'd moved to California rather than setting up shop in that town: She did not want her and Ollie surrounded by idiots who bragged about killing their kind, even if they had been non-existant for the most part. Plus, she WAS already kind of banned from a few businesses….Not her fault she was so breathtaking she scared lesser people! Or that she didn't realize that Snails apparently were not accepted as currency…
California was bigger, some card games that paid well (Eda was already practicing a few games), good weather and if yesterday was any indication, an interest in exploring and sharing cultures.
"How long are you staying in the motel?" The detective inquired, trying to move the conversation elsewhere.
"We were supposed to be out two days ago." Eda groaned in annoyance, letting Olivier back down, even as he reached to comfort her. He settled for hugging her leg as she explained. "My ex-husband gave us a place before he died."
"I'm so sorry, he sounds like a good man." The detective cooed, as his colleages felt sympathy for Eda and Olivier rise.
"He'd disagree with you on that, but yeah. He was." Eda smirked, her mood uplifted.
Stanley 'Stanford' Pines. Her husband of 45 minutes, give or take. A proud scammer and con-man, the likes of which she might've considered spending her life with had Raine not already won her over. But for all his great hustler skills, Stan was a softie.
When she, Ollie, King and Hooty had first escaped to the human world, she'd instantly looked towards Gravity Falls first and found him running a tourist trap. One thing led to another and Stan, after being assured that Olivier was NOT his kid (which he seemed saddened by) recalled a small house in LA he still owned…or rather, one of his previous identities that he'd bought back for cheap.
And as it turned out, someone in the area owed him a favor he had yet to cash in.
Shame that said someone was taking their sweet time getting the house up and running. They had tried to scam Eda out of more, but now had given her back half of what she'd paid up front…and was moving slowly in spite.
"….I think I know who that is." One of the officers said, taking out a radio. "Do we have a current location on Rico Buce? I know he's in Witness Protection, but…"
The detective smirked.
"Well, Miss Clawthorne…"
"Eda's fine."
"Eda. Seems you're helping us again." The detective beamed. "Would you be able to come with us and confirm if this is the guy?"
Eda smirked in exactment, then looked at her son.
"Can I make a call, first?"
OWLPHIBIA
"Why, of course we'll watch Olivier! 10 minutes? Perfect. See you then." Oum smiled over the phone she hung up, smiling at Anne's hopeful look. "Seems Eda needs to run an errand or two, so…Ollie is on his way."
Anne beamed with joy at her mother's words, as did Marcy and Sasha, who had come over to play and 'maybe' help Anne practice her dances at the upcoming kindergarten play and the Thai Temple.
'Maybe' because Oum just knew her daughter would leave such stuff for the last minute. Maybe Ollie could coax some work out of her?
…Meh, maybe not. A mom can dream.
A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Bee let Olivier in, the boy with his backpack and some mini-pizzas and carrot sticks from the nearby gas station.
"I wanted to bring something in thanks for yesterday." The boy explained after he'd hugged the three girls, which made the Boonchuy parents adore him even more.
"I should be back in no more than three hours." Eda said, reaching to offer Oum a $100 as she focused on her son. "Now, Ollie, what will you do?"
"Be courteous, help when I can, ask before I do and or touch…" The little boy recited, then smirked. "And if any bullies and or jerks show up, hit em where the sun don't shine and or make them realize they ain't scat!"
Bee was surprised but liked the little 'bad boy' in Olivier (ironic and hypocrticial, yes) and Oum ahd to remind herself of what she knew of the Clawthorne's background before remarking she also liked that way of thing.
Eda teared up a smile, wiping said tears away and managing a proud:
"That's my baby."
She then kissed him and waved goodbye to the girls as she returned to the cop car, eager to see this scammer get his just desserts…and hopefully start the ACTUAL moving in.
Bee took the mini-pizzas and put them in the fridge for later before he headed to Thai Go.
"Anne, please practice."
His daughter groaned but promised she would. Bee then kissed Oum goodbye and the mother went to Olivier.
"Do you need a hand with your backpack?"
"Not yet, but thank you." Olivier said, inwardly noting for the first time his backpack did feel heavier than usual.
"Well, I'll be watching a Rom-Com." Oum told the kids with a smile. "Don't worry, it'll be done in time for your shows. And I left some snacks on the table."
She then bounced, yes bounced, over to the TV room, ready to enjoyable some adorable romances and comedic hijinks. This left the kids to go up to Anne's room, where Olivier was awestruck.
"..You have your own room?!" He gasped, adoring the colors and brightness.
The girls had to remind themselves their friend did not have the same kind of life they did, with Marcy moving to move Ollie's bag away and Sasha, after getting Ollie back down from his shock, to ask if his mom did anything to the jerk at the motel desk.
"…She yelled at him?" Olivier asked.
Sasha deflated in disappointment.
"Yeah, I know." Olivier said; honestly, he'd wished his mom had hexed the guy! He didn't like the way he looked at her.
Speaking of look, Olivier suddenly saw Anne trying to dance in a way he hadn't seen before. Spying her friend's awestruck look, Marcy, still lugging the backpack (and having not yet tripped!) explained:
"Anne is joining the dances in one the Thai Temples celebrations!"
"Marcy, its really not that big a dea…MARCY!"
The Taiwanese girl suddenly stepped on one the holds of the backpack and tripped forward, looking like she was going to fall right on her nose. Instantly, the three others leapt forward, Anne and Olivier catching Marcy as Sasha grabbed the backpack and held it up high (in case there was more 'medicine' in vials like yesterday), only to stumble and fall.
"OW!"
...
….
…
…..
That hadn't come from Sasha.
And now there was rustling from within the backpack as a zipper was undone
"What's the big idea, tossing and swishing me around?! Can't a king of deeeeeeeee…."
The three girls stared in awe of the small monster who came from Olivier's bag; he looked like a miscolored Cubone, but was fuzzy instead of scaly, who had gone from annoyed to know realizing he may have done goofed.
'…Scat! What did that thing say again?!' King mentally kicked himself, racking his brain. "Um.,…Kingler-Kingler?"
Not even close.
The trio of girls squealed while King screamed and hid back in the bag. The screams continued as Marcy opened the box again, despite King trying to pull it back down.
Something that kept going for a few seconds before….
"KING?!" Olivier cried out.
OWLPHIBIA
The motel manager opened Eda's room, intending to find something, ANYTHING, to get back at her. And or that brat she care so much for.
Yes, he was not above stealing from children or more…adult things. And wouldn't you know it, there was…!
"Hoot! Hoot! Hiiiii there frieeeeeeeeend!" Hooty suddenly smirked, jetting from his backpack and getting right into the man's face.
The following reaction was, of course, warranted.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!"