Archive of Our Own

The day that Edalyn officially ran away from home, Lilith had assumed she’d said her final goodbye to the concept of “family dinners.” 

It was true, they had grown rather tension-filled towards the end, her sister’s guilt over her new condition dwarfed only by Lilith’s own over being responsible for it -- even on accident -- and their mother growing more frustrated by the day that no one could find a proper cure. But there was still something about sitting around the table, sharing the same food and conversation, that made her feel included in something -- a feeling she was coming to admit she pursued to an unhealthy degree, but she was working on that.

It was strange, then, that in her and Edalyn’s adulthood -- they were both in their late 40s, for Titan’s sake! -- the possibility had come roaring back so dramatically. They weren’t even a fancy affair. All she had to do was visit the Owl House, and some permutation of her, her sister, Raine, King, Luz, and now even Hunter would end up sitting around the table together, without any extra fuss to make it happen. Raine she might have expected, once upon a time, but for Eda to have children? She’d never thought her sister to be the type.

Admittedly, the situation was a bit more complicated than that. Raine was Edalyn’s partner, of course, but King was the only one of the three kids in her care she regularly called her son. Luz was somewhere between a daughter and a particularly treasured niece, especially now that she was splitting time between the Boiling Isles and with her mother in the Human Realm, and they all bounced back and forth with terms accordingly. And Hunter -- well, Hunter didn’t like being called anything, really, although it seemed like he was at least warming up to “ward.”

Stranger still, though, was the idea of her own mother being thrown into the mix. Gwendolyn Clawthorne had clearly never expected to have grandchildren of any sort, but from her tendency to bring extravagant gifts for Luz and King whenever she visited, it was clear she relished the opportunity to dote on some. 

Lilith was just a little nervous about it this time.

In the months since the Day of Unity, Edalyn and Raine had been very careful about limiting the number of new visitors to the Owl House. Luz’s friends and girlfriend were still a common sight, and of course Raine themself was a new addition, if also a permanent one. But Hunter was jumpy around practically everyone, and adding new people to the mix was a recipe for potential disaster -- especially adding someone with as pronounced an ability to come across as overwhelming as her mother.

But as of this month, he had officially been deemed “stable enough” by his guardians, and as Gwendolyn was clearly getting impatient to meet the newest addition to the Clawthorne clan, Lilith was left hoping that tonight would end at least slightly better than the time a much younger Edalyn had tried bringing a fully-grown ratworm to the dinner table.

She had done her best to prepare her mother, of course, warning her that Hunter was going to need a lighter touch than the other kids. The exhortation seemed only to have been marginally successful; her mother now seemed to be under the impression that he was some sort of wilting flower, as opposed to someone Lilith would compare more to a nasty-urtium -- doggedly persistent, not particularly friendly-looking, and prone to explosions.

That was not to say she hated him, of course. In fact, she was thoroughly impressed with his progress, given all the revelations about his upbringing that had made her very angry on his behalf once she started seeing him more as “Hunter” and less as “the Golden Guard.” You could even say, fairly truthfully, that she cared a lot about him now -- even if he did get a little too much satisfaction out of pushing her buttons. Still, he had been a poorly socialized, skittery mess when Edalyn first took him in, and several months later he was only doing marginally better. He was the sort of person you had to be careful around, and her mother was not, in a word, particularly careful.

But the time had come for the meeting she was so anxious about, and she could only hope she and her sister and Raine could, if things went wrong, manage to put out the flames.

“Oh it’s going to be so wonderful to see Edalyn again,” her mother said, oblivious to the anxieties roiling through Lilith’s brain. “It’s been too long, and especially with the new additions to her household. You know, I always liked Raine. And I simply cannot believe I haven’t met the newest of the little ones.”

Lilith restrained herself -- very impressively, she thought -- from rolling her eyes. She remembered, quite vividly, Mother telling Edalyn she was too young to be dating anyone back when her sister and Raine first got together, and Hunter only counted as a “little one” in that he was a good bit shorter than her -- a mercy, since it was probably another thing he would lord over her if he wasn’t.

“I’ve missed her as well, Mother,” she said instead.

Her mother sniffed. “You’ve been over far more often than I have. I haven’t visited in months .”

Yes, Lilith thought. And there’s a reason for that.

She hoped it wasn’t too obvious that her nerves were beginning to bubble like an over-boiled cauldron. Hopefully Hunter would at least be civil when they first arrived. She could work with that. But if he was too stubborn about being his frequently-blunt self, things could get messy quickly. Very quickly. First impressions were important with her mother, and the child was unfortunately… an acquired taste.

“Lulu!” came a gleeful shout, and suddenly all nervous thoughts were banished, as the extended worm-like form of Hooty nearly bowled her over where she stood,

“Why hello, Hootsifer,” she said, patting his… head.

“Oh how I’ve missed your dulcet tones!” the demon exclaimed. What looked like tears were already forming in the corners of his eyes. Lilith had to admit -- strange as the creature was, after so many years of feeling utterly neglected, it was nice to be this melodramatically missed.

“Is everyone ready for us?” she asked.

“Just about!” Hooty said. “I was banned from the kitchen after licking too many spoons. And bowls. And people. But it is smelling goo-od. You should come on in!”

“Well, I for one can’t wait,” her mother said, striding towards the door. 

Lilith was about to stop her for one last warning about tonight -- probably the hundredth time in the last few days she had offered some variation of the advice that Hunter could be… difficult -- when the door swung open before her mother even reached it. 

What she saw inside almost made her mouth drop.

Hunter stood in the doorframe, looking absolutely nothing like his usual self. His hair was combed back neatly, the one persistent strand that usually snuck out -- even on the rare occasions he actually brushed it -- tucked behind one of his ears. He stood stiffly, practically at attention, his posture more reminiscent of the perfect, polished Golden Guard than the grumpy, slouching teen that had emerged in his months away from the castle. And gone were the ratty t-shirts and strange pants Luz called “jeans” that he had been favoring from Edalyn’s hoard of human attire, seemingly uncomfortable in everything else he was offered -- no, tonight he was wearing nice dress pants, with no gaping holes, a freshly-ironed button-down shirt, and even some sort of vest… waistcoat… thing over it, with a tie tucked neatly around his neck. The only thing about him that looked normal was the little cardinal perched on his shoulder, who rarely left his side.

“Hello, Mrs. Clawthorne,” he said, offering Mother a winning smile. Even his prominent tooth gap looked charming.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You must be Hunter! And please, at least call me Gwen.”

He bowed slightly, nodding. “If you want. I wasn’t sure what you preferred. Please, come inside.”

“Well aren’t you a gentleman! Lilith, is this really the same child you've been talking about?”

Clenching her fists, Lilith took a deep breath. "One and the same, Mother," she said.

"Oh?" Hunter said innocently. "Has she mentioned me? Only good things, I hope."

"Don't you worry about it," her mother said, patting Hunter on the head. Lilith leapt forward a little and put a hand out, ready to deal with the consequences if need be -- Hunter was still fairly iffy about touch, especially if it was unexpected, or from strangers -- but there was little need. His composure didn't even crack.

"Dinner's almost ready," he said. "Go on and find a seat, the rest of us will join you in a second."

"No, no, first things first," Mother said, reaching into her bag. "I have something for you. I wasn't sure what you'd like, but Lilith told me you're an avid reader, so I hope you don't have these already."

The first real look of surprise flitted across Hunter’s face as he was handed copies of Abbearant Bears to Zoombies: An Almost-Complete Beastiary of the Boiling Isles, and Fungi or Fun Guys? Meeting the Mushroom Men.

"I know Eda has a lot of books around, but unlike her, my specialty is beast-keeping, so hopefully these will be some new ones for you."

"Oh, uh, thank you. A lot," he said, finally caught a little off-guard. Lilith could only take so much satisfaction in it, however, since the genuinely grateful reaction really only enhanced the polite, wide-eyed shtick he'd been putting on since opening the door to greet them. His palisman cheeped delightedly.

"Of course," she said. "I have something for King, too, which reminds me -- King? King, where are you?"

There was a scrabbling from inside, and a characteristic "Nyeh!" before the little demon scrambled into view. "Do you have offerings again??"

"Yes, yes, just let me get them out. There's a lot in this bag, you know."

King started pulling Gwendolyn inside, ahead of the doorway, which gave Lilith the opportunity to lean in close and speak to Hunter without her hearing.

“This,” she hissed at him, “Is psychological warfare!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hunter said, placing a hand to his chest, the very picture of mock offense. “I’m just being a gracious host.”

“You’ve never been gracious in your life and you know it!”

“Ah, but touché to you,” he said. “We haven’t had many guests over.”

“Riposte!” Lilith said, gritting her teeth. “That’s because after you bit Edalyn when she tried to get you to drink a healing elixir, we weren’t sure you could handle it!”

“I’m a changed man, Lilith.”

“You’re a smug teen!”

“Not tonight,” he said, winking at her before turning to follow the others into the kitchen. Lilith growled a little, but trailed after him.

It wasn't until everyone started gathering at the table that Lilith got the chance to properly accost her sister about Hunter's… well... very bad good behavior. She and Raine had been busy in the kitchen together -- probably giving each other sappy looks as much as they were cooking, given how things had been since the two of them had gotten back together -- which meant it wasn't until she marched into the room herself that she actually saw hide or feather of her sister.

"Thanks for getting the door, kiddo," Eda said cheerfully when Lilith and Hunter both stepped into the room.

"Edalyn, are you enabling him being a menace?" Lilith accused.

“Hey, Lily,” Eda said. “That’s no way to talk about your kid diagonally once-removed.”

They had all figured out rather quickly that Hunter had a seriously negative reaction to being called her nephew -- at best staring off to space with a glazed reaction, and at worst… well, he had a lot of different “worsts” -- so they generally just avoided it. After all, there was really no need when “Hunter” sufficed if she wanted to talk about him. But Edalyn had, of course, also decided it gave her an opportunity to invent inane terminology when she felt like it -- a reality that Lilith and Hunter both begrudgingly lived with.

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, sister."

"Well, I found him the tie in our piles of human junk, if that's what you mean, but he asked for it. This is all him." She paused for a beat. "And also, hilarious."

"Yeah," King said. "Hunter’s been being weird all day. Like, really weird."

"You didn't need to dress up just for dinner, dear," their mother said, completely oblivious to the second layer of the conversation.

"Oh, no, I wanted to," Hunter said, flashing Lilith specifically a smile. He went to pull a chair out at the table. "Would you like to sit, Mrs. Clawthorne?"

"Again, please Hunter, call me Gwen. And Raine! It's so good to see you! How are you doing?"

"Quite well, Gwendolyn," they said, chuckling. "Busy, with everything we've had going on around here. But doing well."

"Good, I know things were very touch-and-go with you all for a while. You deserve some peace and quiet."

Touch-and-go is and understatement, Lilith thought, remembering the first month after the Day of Unity when, on top of everything else going on, they were busy trying to nurse both Raine and Hunter back to health -- one much more willingly than the other -- as well as deal with the latter's high-strung, explosive trauma episodes.

"It's a shame Luz couldn't be here," her mother continued, "We still haven't had a full family dinner, what with you all needing some time to yourselves."

"Yeah, I'm bummed the kid couldn't make it too, but she had to help Vee make up a math test at the last minute, and you know how she is about helping people," Eda said, gesturing with a spoon. 

Hunter, who was sitting down at the other end up the table, looked like he had been about to bark a laugh at that and tried to hold it in -- probably to maintain his false composure  -- resulting in something more like a spluttering cough as he choked on it. Which, all things considered, was probably a metaphor for something about him.

"Are you all right, dear?" Gwendolyn asked, sounding decidedly concerned. "I heard you were seriously ill for a while and couldn't even take visitors."

"I'm okay," he wheezed. "Just takes a while to bounce back from these things, you know?"

"You poor thing," she turned to Eda and Raine, "You have been getting him proper care from the former Healing Coven witches, haven't you? Or is this some sort of," she lowered her voice darkly, "... curse ?"

"Nah, Hunter doesn't like healers!" King said "In fact, this one time, when his fever was really high, they tried getting one to come here and he--"

"--Don't worry about it, Mrs. Clawthorne, I'm doing much better. I'm sure I'll be right as boiling rain, soon."

"Well enough of that!" Eda said quickly, clapping her hands together. "Let's eat!"

Lilith eyed her suspiciously. Even if her sister wasn't technically responsible for this whole situation, she was definitely an accessory to it. She was going to have some words with her later about aiding and abetting the teen. And perhaps with Raine as well -- not for failing to stop Hunter, but for failing to stop Eda.

Dinner, it turned out, was a simple but homey affair, mostly consisting of different comfort foods the family were fans of, amongst them bloody pudding (King's favorite), demony eggs (a favorite of Raine's), and even, she was touched to note, snake-and-kidney pie, which had been one of her favorites growing up. Hunter was still figuring out his favorite foods, having been exposed to little other than Coven rations for most of his life, but he seemed to have decided he liked anything spicy (a tendency Lilith was still convinced might be, like many things with the teen, at least a little masochistic, but whatever), and the soup Edalyn had made had just a little too much hot papshrieka for her taste.

"This is all delicious," she commented, finally enjoying at least part of the evening. Good food was a weakness of hers, she would admit -- it always felt indulgent in a way she didn't have to be embarrassed by, seeing as eating was still a necessity. Just one you could fancy up a bit.

"I'm glad to hear you like it, I helped cook tonight," Hunter said.

"You did?" King said. "I thought you were busy--"

Raine looked confused too, but Edalyn placed a hand over the little demon's mouth. "No, no," she said. "Don't ruin it, this is funny."

If their mother picked up on the odd behavior, she didn't show it. She probably hadn't, given the expression on her face. "How sweet of you!" she said. "I'm glad you have someone so helpful around now, Edalyn."

"He-- You-- I--" Lilith splattered. "Can't you tell he's lying, Mother?"

"Lilith!" her mother exclaimed. "Why are you making such baseless accusations? And against a teenager, too! You and Eda used to bicker, of course, but you're a grown woman now. I would've thought you were beyond this. What did he ever do to you?"

Mother was looking directly at her and, thus, not at Hunter, who was sitting at the other end of the table. Which meant it was just Lilith, busy glaring at him, who caught the self-satisfied smile of his that Luz always said reminded her of some creature called a "knife cat."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "Step on my robe and trip me during important Coven meetings? Draw eyeballs all over my important paperwork? Teleport in front of me in the hallway with that stupid old staff of his?" 

"Ha!" King laughed. "Wow, Hunter, even when you weren't trying to kill us you used to be even more terrible!"

"Do I really look like someone who would do all that?" Hunter said innocently. 

"Yes!" Lilith growled. 

“Hunter,” Raine said, clearing their throat. “Why don’t you check and see if we have any rosescary coming up in the garden? I forgot to check, and it would go nicely with the smashed potatoes”

For a moment, Lilith half hoped the teen would show some sign of discomposure at being so clearly caught in his act, but it wasn’t really a surprise when he remained unrattled. They both knew this wasn’t a proper reprimand.

"Of course," he said, pushing his chair away from the table and heading for the back door. Once he was outside, Lilith was keenly aware that all eyes at the table were on her.

"What has gotten into you, Lilith?" her mother asked.

"Mother!" she said. "Can't you tell he's just winding me up?"

"And succeeding," Eda snorted.

"Edalyn! You haven't been helping!"

"All I see is you behaving very strangely towards a perfectly polite child! Haven't you been telling me this whole time that he came from a difficult situation? And that he’s sensitive?"

King cackled. "Sensitive? Hunter? What made you say that?"

At this point, Lilith was certain her face was red enough for everyone to see it. She gritted her teeth, wishing for not the first time that she could simply lay out the details of Hunter’s... situation. Finding ways to explain what was going on with him without them was difficult, to say the least. But the teen didn’t like people knowing about his past as the Golden Guard, and everyone who did know was willing to keep the secret for him. Even when he was being a brat.

"I didn't use that exact word, Mother,” Lilith said. “'Volatile', perhaps, or 'mercurial,' but you seem to have extrapolated quite a lot from there."

Raine coughed delicately. "Lilith isn't wrong that he can be a bit of a challenge, but mostly because we have to be careful with him sometimes."

"Our little slitherbeast," Eda said, bizarrely fondly.

"Well, he seems like a perfectly nice kid to me," their mother said.

"That's what he wants you to think, Mother!"

"You're sounding awfully paranoid, Lily dear," 

“Yeah, Lilith,” King added. “You look stupid!”

Growling, Lilith stood up from her seat. Enough was enough. This was getting ridiculous, and she was going to take things into her own hands.

“I think I need some fresh air. I’ll be out front, with Hooty.”

It was a minor blessing, she supposed, that no one said anything to stop her. She had been half expecting one last dig from Eda on her way out, but perhaps her sister understood this really wasn’t the time. Or, that she was humiliated enough that her exit only proved it further.

The night air was cool -- fall was edging into winter in the Boiling Isles, although not so much that the acid rains were turning to paradoxical snow yet. Fortunately, tonight there was no sign of either, just a clear sky full of stars overhead.

“Aw, why the long face, Lulu? I betcha I could help turn that frown upside down!”

Hooty’s voice snapped her at least a little out of her sulking -- at least some people in this house still appreciated her -- but she still had other plans on her mind.

“You are as considerate as ever, Hootsifer, but I’m afraid there’s someone else I need to talk to first. Have you seen Hunter?”

"Last I saw he was out in the garden, chasing away some rabbits. I could have eaten those you know. Some of us are willing to get real vengeance for those poor scarrots."

“Helpful as always,” Lilith said, patting the owl demon’s head. “I’ll make sure to save you some bloody pudding before King eats it all.”

“Oh boy! Dessert! The sweetest part of the day! But not as sweet as you, Lulu.”

“Nor you, Hoostifer,” she said, patting him again before starting to make her way to the other side of the Owl House, some furious stalking already creeping back into her step.

Her interaction with Hooty may have been refreshing, but by the time she had reached the back garden, a dark cloud had managed to storm over her thoughts once again. And on spying Hunter himself, well... lightning struck.

“You!” she said, point an accusing finger at him. “You’re making me look like a witchling!”

The teen whirled around to look at her, then smiled, the self-satisfaction dripping from his grin enough to fuel her annoyance a thousand times over. She could have sworn even his little cardinal palisman was looking at her smugly, too. “Yeah, that’s kind of the point. Duh.”

"Well, it's not funny!"

Hunter looked down at his nails, which he began picking at idly, the spitting image of infuriating nonchalance. "Maybe to you. I think it's hilarious ."

"Well your sense of humor is childish!"

"Eda thinks it’s funny, too."

"Edalyn is also childish!"

"Maybe," Hunter said, looking up from his nails to give her a big, gap-toothed grin. "But she and I aren't the ones acting like witchlings tonight, are we?"

“You -- ugh -- you are, just in a different way. Being a little menace doesn’t exactly make you the picture of maturity either. You’re incorrigible!”

Hunter placed a hand to his chest in mock indignance. “I’m not being a menace! I’m just being polite to your mother. Is there something wrong with that?”

“You weren’t even on behavior this good for the Emperor!” she hissed.

Something flickered across Hunter’s otherwise unbreakably smug mask, and for a moment, Lilith deeply regretted her words. The teenager was doing miles better these days, especially in the past month, but it was still worth being extremely careful with references to his life before coming to the Owl House. Even when he was being this difficult. It was annoying, but it didn't exactly earn him reminders of his trauma. Nothing did.

But then it was gone, and he was shooting her a winning smile. 

“The stakes are higher now,” he said.

"Higher? Than? Than--?"

"It's way more fun making you look completely unhinged in front of your own mom."

Lilith was trying to think of something good and scathing to say to that -- after all, she hadn't been particularly articulate tonight, and could certainly do better -- but it was at that moment that Raine opened the back door.

"I thought I'd find you both here. Is everyone behaving themselves?"

"No!" Lilith and Hunter exclaimed at the exact same time -- except she sounded furious, and he sounded positively gleeful.

Raine pinched the bridge of their nose.

"Hunter," they said slowly. "I know you're having fun, but don’t you think you're enjoying yourself a little too much?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Cut it out!" Lilith said. "They're not my mother. We both know what you're really like!"

"Fine," he said, a glimpse of the sulky teenager they all knew was hiding underneath the cheeky smiles and nice clothes sneaking back out. "I'll only mess with Lilith a little bit when we go back inside."

"Could you try none?" Raine said.

"I'll fail," he said.

Lilith snorted. "You couldn't succeed at that if you wanted to."

"And I don't!" he said, springing on his heels to walk back towards the front door. It wasn’t long before he vanished out of sight, with one last infuriating "Byee!"

Raine sighed, giving Lilith an apologetic glance as they walked over to her. "I'm still not sure I'm cut out for parenting."

"Oh, I don't think anyone is cut out for parenting him."

"He is trying, Lilith, even if he's still, well…"

She gave a sigh of her own. "I wasn't necessarily being derogatory."

"But you were a little bit."

"I was a little bit," she admitted. "It's not that I... can't understand it, though. Not entirely, at least. We all know he didn't exactly have a lot of good influences growing up. Being in the Emperor's Coven did a number on me, too, and I didn't even join until I was older than he is now, for Titan’s sake. I know he's still figuring a lot of things out. Usually it's easier to feel sorry for him -- especially when he's hurt, or panicking, which happens often enough. When we weren't sure he'd even make it, after he first arrived here, I was genuinely terrified! But I don't understand why when he isn't literally on death's door he has to go and make it so -- ugh -- difficult!"

"I'm pretty sure you're his favorite, you know,” Raine said.

"What? " She exclaimed. Out of all the responses her frustration could have earned, she wasn’t expecting that.

"Well, obviously he gets a kick out of annoying everyone, but he puts a special effort into pushing your buttons. Hence tonight."

"That's an extremely dubious honor, Raine."

They shrugged. "People express affection in different ways. Like you said, he's still figuring it out. I do think he likes you, though. As much as he likes anybody. So it probably means something that he always tries so hard to get under your skin."

"Well," Lilith said, huffing. “I can’t imagine why.”

Looking very serious all of a sudden, Raine put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t underestimate how significant it is that you get exactly what he went through much better than the rest of us. He’s opened up enough that Eda and I and all the rest of the kids have some idea, but we never spent as much time around the Emperor as you did. Even I wasn’t a coven leader that long. Sure, I met the man enough to be horrified he ever had a child in his custody, but that’s not the same as have been in his coven.”

For the second time in the conversation, Lilith suddenly didn’t know what to say.

“Do you really think that’s so important to him?”

“Seems like it could be. Hunter is… hard to understand most of the time, but from what I can tell, it’s not because he wants to be. He just doesn’t know how or doesn’t feel like he’s allowed to tell us what he needs or wants. With you though, there’s things he doesn’t even have to say.”

“And so in return he annoys me.”

They chuckled. “I guess so.”

"I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I can say one thing,” said Lilith.

"What's that?" Raine said.

"Assuming you're right, you're far too insightful to claim you're not cut out for parenthood."

Reaching up to rub the back of their neck, Raine gave a nervous laugh. "Glad to hear you think so. I never thought suddenly having kids would be a caveat to getting back together with Eda, of all witches."

"It's taken all of us by surprise, having… children we're responsible for now."

Raine smirked. "Ones 'we're' responsible for, Lily?"

She sighed. "Listen, I may not be in my best form tonight, but you know I do care about him. A lot, even. You’re right that I have more of an inkling of what Belos put him through. Now that I've so thoroughly taken the man off the pedestal that blinded me to his actions when I was in the Coven myself, not a day goes by that I don’t have… regrets… about not realizing what was happening with Hunter sooner. I… I wonder often if could have helped him, back then."

"Well, you're helping him now."

"Please," she said. "I'm not sure I'm any good at it. Clearly I can't even keep my temper when he gets a mind to rile me up."

"Maybe that's good for him," they said. "The rest of us… we have a tendency to treat him like he's a little too breakable. I know he hates it, but I don’t know any other way to act around a hurting kid. He bounces all kinds of stuff of of you, though.”

“Are you saying I’m too obstinate with him?”

“Maybe. Might be one of the things he likes about you, though,” they said with a wink. “Do you want to go inside and see if my wisdom makes the rest of the night a little easier?”

Lilith looked up at the blanket of stars overhead, contemplative for a moment. “He’s still going to be infuriating, I’m sure, and I’m afraid I may still be a little too short about it. But it’s good to be reminded how much I care about him as well.” She gave Raine a wry smile. “I suppose I could give it a try.”

The rest of dinner was, fortunately, a quieter affair. Hunter was still insufferably smug, of course, and didn’t drop his performance for a moment, but he seemed to take Lilith’s more controlled silence as enough of a win that he didn’t press things much further. After all, he’d so thoroughly duped her mother that all he had to do now was coast on her perception of his innocence to feel victorious.

Gwendolyn remained charmed by him, of course, and after dinner, as she was preparing to leave, she promised him she would bring him more books for his own, growing library.

“Curiosity is always something to be encouraged!” she said, ruffling his hair -- fairly aggressively, actually. “It sounds like you read almost as much as Lilith did at your age!”

Lilith herself actually felt a pang at the comparison -- it was true, some of the better moments she’d had with Hunter were quite geeky ones. He was often at his most unguarded when rambling about some idea he’d read in a book or another, which was a habit of hers, too.

“Thank you, Mrs. Clawthorne,” he replied. "I look forward to it.”

“There you go again!” she said. “Too polite for your own good. Eda, Raine, you have a little gentleman here.”

The sound of King’s cackling and Edalyn’s snort really should have given something away, but Hunter’s act that evening had apparently been blinding enough that it didn’t even phase her.

“Don’t you be a stranger,” Gwendolyn said. “I hope I’ll be able to visit more often, now that you’re recovered from your ordeal. That goes for all of you -- it’s been too long since I’ve been able to see the whole family.”

Family. What a strange thing to have again. What a strange family to have, too.

“I’ll see you again soon, Mother,” she said. The plan was for Lilith to stay a few days longer at the Owl House, since at this point she was really splitting her time between homes. Another strange thing, to have two of them now, when for so long it had felt like she didn’t have one at all.

“Of course, sweet flea,” Gwendolyn replied. “And you be nice to Hunter while you’re here.”

Hunter was shooting her another smug smile from behind her mother's back, but she swallowed any retort to it and smiled instead. “I usually am. Like you said, he’s quite sensitive.”

For a brief moment, the teenager’s smile turned to a scowl.

“Well, that’s me off, then. Until next time!” her mother said, preparing to hop on her staff. Before she could go, King rushed up to her.

“Wait!” he said. “You haven’t given me a goodbye hug! How dare you slight me this way!”

“Yeah, what are the rest of us, chopped bat liver?” Eda said. “You too dazzled by the new kid here?”

“Oh, hush,” Gwendolyn said, scooping up King and squeezing him tightly. “I have attention enough for all of you. I’ve learned my lesson with that.”

“It was lovely seeing you, Gwen,” Raine said. 

“And you too, of course,” she replied.

The round of goodbyes went on a bit longer, but soon enough, her mother was a speck in the sky, flying off into the night -- and leaving the rest of the family alone together.

"So are you going to be, like, normal now?" King asked, turning to Hunter.

"Oh Titan, yes,” he said, slouching against the wall. His palisman cheeped, beginning to nest in his hair. The most persistent of its wild strands escaped in the process almost immediately. “That almost broke me."

"Are you going to keep this up every time you're around her?" Lilith sighed. She wasn’t sure she could take that -- it might break her.

"Probably not," Hunter said. "It'd get boring after a while. Plus, I learned tonight that I hate ties."

Sure enough, he was already struggling with ripping his off, although with only marginal success. For a moment, Lilith was worried he was just going to strangle himself instead.

“Here,” Raine said, leaning in to help him. “It unties like this.”

“I can’t believe you all just let this happen,” Lilith said.

“Are you kidding?” Edalyn said. “I haven’t seen you this flustered in ages. I would’ve paid for that show, and he was giving it to us for free. Great job, by the way, kiddo. I haven’t seen a transformation that eerie since the last time Lilith turned into the owl beast.”

“I hate you all,” Lilith said, although in such a way that she knew none of them would actually take it to heart.

“Ah, come on Lily. All this just means you’re a part of the family.”

As she spoke, Eda sprung over to her and embraced her in a smothering hug, all the strength in her sister’s extremely wiry arms suddenly devoted to squeezing the life out of her.

“Edalyn!” she wheezed. “Why are you like this?”

“Because I looove you,” Eda said. “We all do. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course,” said Raine.

“Ahaha, yes!” said King.

“That’s a strong word,” said Hunter.

“You--” Lilith started.

“Uh-uh-uh,” Eda teased. “Remember what mom said. Be nice.”

Edalyn released Lilith from the hug, though not before ruffling both her hands through her hair so it stuck up in a dozen weird places, almost reminiscent of how it used to look when she was a child. Lilith huffed, smoothing it down.

“I’m going to clean up the kitchen,” Raine announced. “Does anyone want to help?”

“Of course, Rainstorm,” Eda said, a tone to her voice that implied “cleaning up” might involve more than a little bit of hand-holding, or whatever it was the two of them did that made even doing chores together sappy.

“If I help, can I lick the bowls?” King said, scrambling after them. “And eat the mixing spoons?”

“You can eat one spoon,” Edalyn said, holding up a finger.

“I accept this stipulation!” King replied.

“I’m done being helpful for tonight,” Hunter said. “It was exhausting.”

The statement itself might have sounded entitled, but Lilith wasn’t surprised when no one objected -- it was a far cry from even just a month ago, when everyone else in the Owl House would have to force Hunter to sit on the couch while they did chores, doing their best to stop the teen from frantically trying to prove his usefulness.

“That’s my boy,” Edalyn said. “Go lie down or something. Practice sleeping.”

And with that, Lilith found herself alone with Hunter in the entryway, an awkward silence suddenly blanketing the pair.

“Thanks, by the way,” he eventually said, tossing the tie in his hands to the wayside.

“For what?”

“For, you know. Letting me drive you up the wall."

"What?"

“It’s just nice," he said. "Having family I can mess with so much."

“That is the worst compliment.”

“I mean it!” said Hunter. “Do you think I ever would have done something like this to… to him ?”

Lilith's face softened. "No," she said. "And I suppose I am glad you've started feeling safe enough around me to try."

Hunter gave her a wry little smile, far more genuine than the large, beaming ones he'd been favoring all evening.

"But I hate," she continued, "That this is how you show affection."

His smile widened. "It's just like you said, Lilith. I'm incorrigible. And you're just too much fun when you're annoyed."

Quiet took over the room again, as Lilith’s conversation with Raine churned over in her mind. What Hunter was saying wasn’t exactly concrete proof of it, but it did fit with their explanation. Besides, Hunter’s brief reference to Belos would have distressed her either way -- it made a lot of sense that he was suddenly relishing the freedom to drive his newer, safer guardians stark raving mad  -- and was weirdly heartwarming that he trusted them all enough to do it.

“Are you alright with hugs today?” she asked.

Surprise flitted across Hunter’s face. It wasn’t that people didn’t ask him that -- between Eda, Raine, King, and all the other children in and out of the Owl House, he was really barraged with the offer far more often than he wanted. Perhaps he just hadn’t expected this conversation to spur it.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s an okay day for touching.”

Lilith walked over and gently wrapped an arm around him, starting to lead him over to the couch. His palisman hopped after them, typically keen not to let the boy out of its sight. As they sat down, she noticed his eyelids seemed to be getting droopy. Just as well. Hunter got a lot more sleep these days than when he’d been being overworked in the Emperor’s Coven, but it was often still uneasy, and he was definitely always going to be the sort of person who lost track of time and kept his nose in a book long past bedtime, even on his best days.

“I’ll admit your commitment to irritating me is impressive,” she said. “It’s a wonder you never pursued acting.”

“Not a bard,” he said, the sleepiness she’d noted finally creeping into his voice.

“You could always talk to Raine about it.”

“Nah. 'S just a hobby.”

“Well, I suppose I should be glad you’re finally picking some up.”

Hunter leaned his head into her shoulder, the vulnerability of the gesture flooring her slightly. He must either be very tired, or having a very good brain day. Possibly both -- though she suddenly felt genuinely amused that she may have (extremely unwillingly) facilitated the latter.

“I'm sure you’ll get me back someday,” Hunter said, yawning. Lilith drew her arm around him further and was touched when he leaned into it even more. Again, whether it was because they were having a moment, or only because his need for sleep was catching up with him, she didn’t know. But it was… nice.

“Your confidence in me is moving, Hunter.”

When no reply came, she followed her statement up with a query.

“Hunter?”

His little cardinal cheeped at her from where it had nestled into his shoulder, in a manner that almost sounded like she was being hushed. Sure enough, she looked down to see the boy’s eyes closed, the innocence on his face as sleep took over entirely real this time. It always made her heart pang when it wasn’t an act.

Alright, she thought. You win this one.

And then, a beat later. 

Oh, I am going to be so embarrassing at your 17th birthday party.