It had been a day and a half of pampering for Olivier Clawthorne after his first hectic day at Thai Go.
For almost a full 48 hours, he was not allowed to leave the couch as he healed up: All his meals and snacks were brought to him, Eda used magic to bathe, clothe him and brushed his teeth herself while King patrolled the couch, giving ANYONE who came near the stink eye and downing copious of coffee to stay awake so that no harm befell Olivier….
Which had then lead the six hours he had done nothing but sit on Olivier's chest and stare at him with those great big eyes…until Fleetwing finally knocked him off…and they had a slap fight which proved to be the highlight of his forced healing.
The halfling hadn't been able to run any of his experiments on the Titan Blood or go over Maddie and Hop-Pop's research. And most of the Earth TV shows were kind of boring and dragged on for him.
On the plus side, Anne had spent the whole day with Sprig when his birthday came up, so the pink frog was back to his 'ideal' behavior and any feelings of jealousy had died…although Anne shared that Sprig had wished Maddie could've joined them, which brough a blush to the frog's faces, a squealing smile on Anne's…and a mix of anger and pride in Olivier.
The blue frog's baked goods had been a smashing success, so she was busy baking and trying new dishes, although she had also snuck in to ask him for aid in magic every now and then.
But there was only such much pampering a fella can take!
"Mom, for Titan's sake I'm fine!" He groaned in annoyance as he tried to get up. "Yeah, it hurt, but that was two days ago! I felt better after…."
He paused, trying to find the right words; the sight of his girlfriend in a belly dancer outfit, batting her eyes at him? That had certainly ensured he slept well, but he was 90% sure Bee and Oum did not know about that and understandably, did not want them to find out.
Eda smirked at this, but also felt a small part of her sobbing at her baby boy becoming 'a filthy, lustful, horn dog teenager'
"Anyways, I'm all bet…WHOA! MOM!" the halfing found himself pushed back onto the couch as Eda took out a vial.
"I had a dream where the two most beautiful children ever suddenly faded away all because of what happened!" Eda declared. "I am NOT risking my grandbabies!...Something I never thought I'd say…"
"Bee? Oum?" Olivier called out. "You're in agreement?"
"GRANDCHILDREN ARE SACRED!" The Boonchuys added. "Did you give him the potion yet?"
"Gimme a sec!" Eda called out…and then the feathers popped out.
Olivier's eyes widened before Eda realized what would've made him react that way, Then more feathers popped out.
Eda uncorked the vial and stuffed it down Olivier's throat as she reached into her hair and pulled out an exlir. The feathers fell off her and onto the floor, right next to a sleeping Domino. Well, a formerly sleeping Domino, who awoke and quickly walked away.
'Oh, heck no! I'm not getting in trouble for a darn bird again!'
Fleetwing chuckled at that.
As it turned out, her fears would be unfounded, as Bee and Oum, having come in to check on Olivier taking his medication (a potion that ensured….his part's strength and health), saw the feathers.
"…Domino hasn't eaten a bird in…wait, how did?"
"…Remember my curse?" Eda weakly brought up with a sheepish smile. "…That's…the calm before the storm."
"Yeah…I actually don't know the full details." King explained. "And NO ONE WILL TELL ME!"
"For good reason!" Oliiver said, leaping off his feet and holding his hands up. "….I appreciate the comfort…and kind of understand your concern…"
"Wait, did you not show the to him like you did us?" Oum asked Eda. The witch slapped her forehead and then spun a magic circle she willed it to her son's eyes.
Within Olivier's mind, he saw two children: A little girl with blue hair wearing goulashes and a yellow t-shirt, and a little boy in overalls with goggles and a frog teddy. Both had eyes like his, but tanned skin like Anne's.
Olivier instantly found himself adoring these two children and even got some tears in his eyes. Eda then hugged her son and nuzzled his nose, cheering him up.
King was already picking up feathers when he mused:
"You know, I'm surprised it took this long for this to happen. I expected her curse to start breaking through day three."
Eda and Olivier glared at King, who weakly chuckled and then rushed to join Polly in watching Robot videos in Anne's room. Once the little monster was gone, Oum asked.
"Eda? Have..have we done something to…?"
"What?! Titan no!" Eda assured the Thai woman. "Not at all; Underworld, this has been the closest to a vacation I've had since before Raine and I broke up: No scams, one I mean, no bounty hunters, new and good food…."
Then an idea came to Olivier.
"Mom? Is it because….you haven't stirred the pot, so to speak?"
And with that, Edalyn Clawthrone finally relented.
"MAMA NEEDS HER CHAOS!" Eda wailed as she shook Olivier. "Being courteous and helpful is STRESSING ME OUT! I don't wanna risk Ollie blowing it like I did with the Whispers, but still!"
"What did you even do?" Bee asked, his eyes widening as the witch whispered into his ear. "Uh huh…Oka…wait, what? Oh. Oh…Oh! Oh my….Oh my goodness…! DEAR HEAVENLY BUDDHA! AND THEN YOU DID WHAT?! IT GETS WORSE?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"
"I was 14, stupid and in love!" Eda remarked with a whine.
(A/N:…Yeah I dug myself into a hole here; this is officially a 'Noodle Incident.' So…go nuts with what you think happened in the reviews!)
"Well…how does Raine feel?"
"Oh, they just laughed the whole time. Says it's the funniest part of all our time together." Eda shrugged it off. "…Other than the time baby Ollie called them 'rapa' and refused to say anything else until he saw them again."
"D'aaawwww!" The Boonchuys cooed while Olivier blushed in embrassment.
OWLPHIBIA
"Really, Science Mag Monthly?!" Exclaimed Anne as she finished another magazine later that day. "Not one article on interdimensional portals? What science do you even do?!"
In the backyard, Sprig and King were playing with a soccer ball, while Hop Pop and Polly rested in the sun on beach chairs. Maddie was inspecting some insects in the grass while Olivier went over papers of his proposed Titan Blood experiments to find a safe 'first' one.
"Relax, Anne. We'll find a way back..." spoke Hop Pop as he drank his lemonade. "...eventually."
Olivier glanced over at his angry girlfriend. Smiling sadly, he put his papers down and gave her a hug she quickly melted into and returned, nuzzling her nose with his own/
"It's okay, Annie: I mean, if there's only mom's door and the music box in the demon relam, I imagine that interdimensional travel would be rather revolutionary by human standards. Doesn't seem like it would be printed in an on-the-rack magazine for anyone to see if it DOES exist."
Anne sighed, then felt a hand on her shoulder as Eda came out with a tray of bowls of instant noodles.
"Eat up, kids and frogs. Can't do anything on an emp[ty stomach anyways….Well, you can, but it'll be az cruddy job."
Everyone took a bowl, and ate, Anne playing with her's until Eda snapped her fingers in front of her.
"I know, I know. You're disappointed and want to help. I've been there…" Eda smiled. "Well, minus the help part until King and Ollie came along, but…Point is; you want to do this right? You can't rush it."
Anne smiled and turned to Olivier.
"Have YOU had better luck finding anything, Ollie?"
"Not yet..." Olivier admitted in shame. "But I'm sure I'm on the right track. I found some webpages on "ParaScience" and encountered a few topics on interdimensional portals. Nothing solid, but it's a start."
There was the Titan blood, but that was going to be for tomorrow, he decided.
Anne shrugged. "better than nothing, I guess."
At that moment, Bee Boonchuy walked into the yard with a pitcher of lemonade. As he poured some fresh, cold liquid into Hop Pop's glass, the old frog smiled.
"Oh, you don't have to do that." said Hop Pop.
"Please, you're our guests." said Bee, politely.
Just then, blaring Beeps are heard and black smoke comes out of the house.
"What's that high-pitched beeping?" asked Olivier.
Anne's father then gasps in horror, and runs back into the kitchen. "My Canapés!"
Eda's eyes lit up.
"Wait, Canapes or Cannabis?" She then rushed in, hoping for a little…not Ollie and King smackerl…and bond with Bee/ invite him into the Bad Girl coven. She was disappointed it was NOT what she'd been expecting, but still enjoyed a nice treat.
"Woohoo! I haven't been this pampered in ages." exclaimed Hop Pop as he drank up his lemonade.
"Hear! Hear!" said Polly, slapping her feet a couple of times.
"Enjoy it now, kids, but remember; 'Guests are like noxious swamp gas...'" began Hop Pop. "'...After three days, they start to drive you completely crazy' We've already been here two days, pretty soon we'll have to start pulling our own weight."
"…Um, Mister Plantar, sir? I think we've all have been here for five days." said Maddie.
Hop Pop coughs up in sudden surprise and spits his lemonade at Polly, both spit-take at each other.
"No!, That means we're not just guests anymore. We're freeloaders!" exclaimed Hop Pop. "JUST LIKE….! COUSIN STANLEY!"
Polly and Sprig gasped while Maddie nodded in reminisce while Anne, a returning Eda and Olivier stared in confusion.
"Who?" Anne and Olivier asked.
"He was the worst!" spoke Polly.
"He stayed forever." spoke Hop Pop.
"Ate all our snacks!" mused Sprig.
"Even used MY old bucket as a footbath!" Polly added.
"Sounds like my Stanely." Eda mused, shaking. "Worst. 43. Minutes. Of. My. Life."
"…Wait, you told me and Ollie you were married to him for 45 minutes." King noted.
"Well, the first minute was fine, very lovely ceremony considering it was Vegas on the cheap…" Eda explained. "And the second minute was filled with the realization I'd cheated on Raine and married some schmuck who still had enough honesty in him to announce he'd steal cursed wax figures. Anyways, Plantars? Continue."
"Honestly? I don't even think he was really our cousin." said Sprig, as he recalled the time he saw Stanley paint his skin "Plantar Orange" in the bathroom of his home.
"…That raises several concerns…and questions." Olivier noted.
"But we were hosts, so we had to be nice." spoke Hop Pop. "We just resented him a little more...EACH DAY."
The Plantars soon returned to reality, their demeanor softened.
"Thankfully, he eventually left peacefully on his own." spoke Hop Pop, trying to keep a straight face.
"…"
"…."
"…"
"….He didn't, did he?" King asked.
"...Just kidding. We threw him out the window." said Hop Pop bluntly, as he recalled when the kids had enough and finally dropped 'Cousin' Stanley out of the house from the second story, and into a small pond…which turned out to have a snake living in it.
Stanley was neither mourned, nor missed.
"Whoa!, What?!" exclaimed Anne, stunned.
"Sounds like us with Lilith." Eda smirked.
"Mama!" Olivier chatsized. "…Just cause its true doesn't mean we have to share that!"
Eda giggled impishly.
"Exactly! And I can only imagine what the Boonchuys wanna do to us by now." exclaimed Hop Pop, panicking. "We got to find a way to contribute to this household, OR WE'LL BE ON THE STREET ANY DAY NOW!"
Olivier rolled his eyes. "Don't you think you are overreacting juuust a bit, Pops?"
"On a different but unrelated note…!" Eda cut in before the orange frog could respond. "Weeks almost up, when we telling Mr. and Mrs.B everything else?"
The two teens tensed.
"Yeah, I didn't forget our little deal." The Owl lady said. "You two NEED to tell them everything. The sooner, the better."
"Eda, its not like we don't want to, but how do you break that kind of news?" Anne asked, then cleared her throat. "Hey, mom! Dad! Remember how I told you we got ported to earth right after the stone was charged? Well, I lied! Turns out the king of Amphibia is a megalomaniac out to conquer reality who now has said box fully charged to do just that, BOTH Marcy and Sasha betrayed me and then teamed back up with us, Sasha nearly made Olivier her love slave after his own master turned out to be a supervillain and on top of all! Of! That! Olivier and Eda's home is ruled by ANOTHER megalomaniac, only this one's a genocidal racist and personification of everything wrong with the witch trails and colonization who, if what Eda and King says is true, is trying to COMBINE worlds like Echo Creek is!"
Oliver handed Anne a glass of water, which she downed.
"…Well, maybe not like THAT…" He suggested. "But…yeah, we…probably should..."
He buckled under Eda's gaze. Normally, the Owl Lady was all for keeping secrets, but this was family related. And with two days left in the week? If the kids didn't tell Bee and Oum? She would.
It was than that Oum walked into the yard.
"Anne. It's time for your dentist appointment."
"My what?" spoke Anne, confused.
"You have been missing for five months, and I have a feeling you haven't been brushing." said Oum, sternly.
"Aaaw, but, Mom! I'm supposed to take Domino to the vet today!" said Anne.
As Bee Boonchuy returns with a plate of (mildly burnt) Canapés, Oum looked at him.
"Maybe your father could take her to the vet."
"No can do. I'm working at the restaurant today." said Bee.
"Oh, well. Mmm..." Oum looked to Edam who smirked, only for Hop Pop to leap over her.
"We'll take the cat to the vet!" He exclaimed.
Oum Boonchuy stared at the orange frog. "Really? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. It's the least we can do to help." said Hop Pop, confidently.
Anne then grabs Hop Pop and squeezes him. "You guys are lifesavers!"
Anne then quickly writes a note.
"Here's the address to the vet. And, if anyone suspects anything froggy about you, just say "Boy, I could use some coffee." It's like code for "I'm human."
Olivier stared at Anne with a doubtful look on his face, Eda likewise shaking her head.
"Yeah, for about two instances. After that, just yell 'whattya looking at?!' and snarl!"
Wincing at the witches' words, Oum grabbed Anne by the back of her shirt…Along with Olivier.
"Just a minute, Olivier, YOU'RE going to the dentist, too."
"Wait, WHAT!?" exclaimed Olivier, surprised.
"HA!" Eda cackled.
"And Eda too!"
"Wait, WHAT?!"
"HA!" Oliver and King laughed.
"What wrong with what we use?" Eda asked, spinning a magic circle. Olivier found himself bound to a chair with his mouth forced open by two small demon arms as his mother pulled out a box from her hair. She then put on a medical mask and pulled out a drill-headed snake, mouse made of ice and tiny vampire bats.
"Okay, sweetheart. Clench your buns and think happy thoughts!"
Letting out a terrified eep, Oum and Bee pulled Eda away while Anne tended to Olivier.
"It's okay, baby. It's okay." She cooed, stroking Olivier's hair. "The dentists here are nowhere near that scary."
"Annie, what mom was going for was a basic touch up." Olivier explained to his girlfriend. "She didn't even break out the Cavity curses or gum goblins that play polka."
"Exactly!" Eda smiled. "And my teeth are fine."
She and Olivier then flashed their teeth; fangs of slightly yellowed color, a golden one in Eda's case and some bugs in OIiver's.
"…..We'd….We'd just feel better knowing that we had a professional give them a look over." Oum said. "Besides! We're got lottery money to blow and paying you guys back."
"I gotta head to the resteraunt." Bee smiled, kissing his daughter on the forehead and saluting the two witches as his wife dragged them to the car.
"…Well, now what do we do?" King asked Maddie.
"…You wanna watch Mr. B's favorite movie trilogy?"
"Is there violence?"
"Duh."
As the two rushed to turn on the DVD player, Owlbert, Fleetwing and Fangora looked at each other, shrugged and then raced to join them.
OWLPHIBIA
(A/N: My mind went blank on the dentist aside from the below, sorry! The trip to the Vet goes MOSTLY the same…except one change you'll see in a bit)
A few hours later, Oum returned with the trio in tow.
"Hey, how'd it….go?" Hop-Pop asked before he saw that Anne and Olivier's cheeks were swalloen they had a hot water bottler wrapped around their heads and they seemed…out
"You guys..are EVERYWHERE…okay?" Anne said in a happy daze
"Eight cricket legs and a whole lot of cavities." Oum explained. "Eda managed to mind wipe everyone and save you some."
Anne had closed the distance between herself and Hop-Pop and ewas now squishing his face.
"Listen you guys: Domino is not just a cat…She's an interdimensional being!"
"Uh…wassat now?" Hop-Pop managed as Maddie made her way over to Olivier, who seemed to be humming before spying his girlfriend.
"That's what makes you beautiful!" Olivier sang as he hugged Anne, who hugged him back.
"Olivier's actually went pretty smoothly once they got over his fangs; all he really needed was a cleaning." Oum smiled, then grimaced. "And the less said about Eda, the better."
"The future…is in the past! ONWARDS, OWLBERT!" Eda suddenly called out, running upstairs and then falling on her face, her Palisman shaking his head in embarrassment as she got back to her feet. "TJustr kidding, I'm fine; I've been hit with some manty potions, charms and hexes that I've bulit up an immunity. But this is some NIIIIIIIIICE stuff! Heck, I think the curse itself is chilling…!"
Indeed, within her mindspace, the normal gigantic and frightening owl beast was now floating in the air, a dopey smile on its face as it floated along between voles, mice, bats and other prey, all begging to be eaten as it sat on a chair made of its captor.
"Hey, can you watch them for a bit? Thanks, BYEEEEEE!" Bee and Oum said as they dashed away.
Maddie pulled Olivier away, the boy pouting and whining as she took him to his room.
"Well, dearest apprentice, whatever did you get up to?" Olivier, speaking with as eloquent a voice as he could, asked.
"Watched movies with King. Sprig came in for the last two and says he's going to try and be a hero." She said, chuckling.
"A hero, eh?" Olivier mused. "Maddie? How'd you be up for a little chaos? After all, what is a hero…without a villain?"
The two snickered evilly…at least until Olivier fell asleep.
"…Crud. Wanted to over ideas…. Then ahain, with whatever he has in him he'd probably start swooning over Anne…"
Then she got an idea.
A deliciously evil idea!
Maddie Flour, got a wonderful, delicious…and 'romance' based idea.
"Villain role? Chosen. King, you want to help?"
"Causing mayham and mischief without Eda and Olivier to intervene? Sign me up!" the little monster smirked, rubbing his paws together as he and Maddie laughed manically.
OWLPHIBIA
As the kids and witch slept off the anethesia, the Boonchuy parents read a letter Hop-Pop had gotten from the Vet.
"…How are we going to explain this to Anne?"' Oum asked, tears in her eyes.
"…Let's wait until tomorrow." Bee suggested.
Unknown to them, the Palisman had heard this and went to find the cat….who was standing guard over Anne, now asleep on the coach as the Plantars got her some water and headphones for her to sleep while they watched TV.
Domino was struggling to cover his owner with a blanket, only to find Owlbert and Fleetwing lifting it up and covering Anne. Owlbert then flew to find Eda, who he found in the workout, drawing pictures of two children he had never seen before.
"Thanks." Domino said as he nuzzled into Anne's arms.
"….You doing okay?" Fangora asked.
Domino smiled sadly.
"You know something about us cats? We can sense when our time's up." She nexplained. "I still got some time, but…."
"I…I…I'm sor…I'm sorry for the sorry, I don't know how to react to that." The two Palisman managed.
"Apricated." Domino sighed before smiling sadly. "You know? I'm not….happy about this, but at the same time? I'm content. That make any sense? Anne gave me, the runt of her litter, a good home, showed me that humans can care and I've seen her find a mate I know adores her as much as I do…Would've been nice to see to see their own kittens."
She then looked over to the falcon.
"I…I know we're not friends. I wasn't exactly nice to you, but your Ollie loves Anne and you seem to vbe a great pet…Palisman…Look, I know I have no right and will understand if you say no, but…If anything happens…?"
"With my life." The Palisman promised.
"Mine too." Fangora added.
The cat and Palisman just fell asleep supporting each other.