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Hunter sighed as he caught sight of Emira's jewelry box. He flopped onto his back, unable to focus on his illusions homework.
"I wanna get my ears pierced," he lamented. Edric and Emira, glad to be distracted from the boring work, looked at each other, mischief written on their faces.
"How come?" Edric asked.
"Well, everyone else does. I dunno, I think it looks kinda cool." Hunter sat up. "Darius said he'd take me to do it, but he's been busy and I'm not old enough to go on my own so..."
"We can help," Emira offered.
"I have to go with an adult," Hunter attempted to clarify. "Darius says it's the law."
"Oh, we don't have to go anywhere," Edric explained.
"We don't?"
"Nah, we know how to do it at home. All we need are sterilized safety pins and ice," Emira said.
Hunter blinked. "Huh, is that safe?"
"Sure. We've done it a bunch of times. For each other, for Mittens."
Hunter brought a hand to his chin.
"Okay. Can I borrow some earrings when you're done?"
"Sure."
Soon the twins ice cubes summoned by glyphs were being pressed against Hunter's earlobes. They each then grabbed a safety pin, used fire glyphs to sterilize them, and pressed them into Hunter's flesh.
He didn't even flinch, and as soon as the pins had pierced the lobes, the twins exchanged looks of surprise.
"You good, man?" Edric asked, a tad concerned.
"Yep, the ice really helped with the pain," Hunter noted in a chipper tone.
"Well okay then," Emira replied as she mirrored her brother in fastening the pins in place.
Emira summoned a small healing spell and focused on Hunter's piercings. "Just give it a couple hours to heal properly so it won't close up. Eddie, go get your jewelry box to Hunter can pick out some earrings.
Edric swiftly ran to his room and then back and Hunter perused the twins' earrings until he picked out a set of gold skull shaped studs.
With that done, the trio went back to their homework until Hunter's ears were ready.
"These look great!" Hunter gushed as he admired himself in the mirror.
"See, we knew what we were doing," Emira boasted as she and Edric high-fived.
It was about time for Hunter to head home, so he said his goodbyes and sped out the house. After seeing Hunter off, Alador scratched his head.
"Did he look different?"
When Hunter got home he was greeted by Darius, who immediately went silent when he saw Hunter's ears.
"Hunter. where did you get those earrings?"
"Em let me borrow them. Do you like them?"
"They're lovely. But how are you wearing them?"
"Oh, the twins pierced my ears for me."
Darius took a deep breath. "I'm assuming safety pins were involved."
Hunter gulped, suddenly worried. "Am I in trouble?"
"A little. Hunter, that's not a safe way to pierce your ears. I told you I was going to get a professional."
Hunter shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you've been saying that for weeks, but you've also been busy. I figured this would save us the trip."
"I know you have better patience than that. I'm sorry I've been putting it off, but you can't just pull stuff like this when you don't get your way; and to reiterate, it's not safe. Your uncle Auberon tried and he flinched."
"Is that why he has that notch on his earlobe? I thought a beast did that."
Darius sighed. "No. The rest of his scars are from his pets, but that one he got when a school friend of his tried to pierce his ears in the school bathroom," Darius shuddered, "the kid wasn't even on the healers track. It was all thanks to grandma that the wound didn't get infected."
"Well, Emira's a good healer, so-"
"Don't even try it. I'll let you off with a warning since you didn't know any better, Auberon certainly did and he got into a lot of trouble with grandma, even granny was upset."
Hunter looked at the ground with guilt.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to call Alador about the twins."