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“So what are the little pictures for?”
“Little pictures?” Luz cocks an eyebrow, side eyeing the blond next to her. “Emojis?”
Hunter rolls his eyes. “Yeah, sure, whatever. The little images that depict different faces and symbols. What’s their purpose?”
Luz snorts back a laugh, leaning over Hunter’s shoulder and bringing up the emoji keyboard for him. “Well, they can mean different things! Like the little smiley and frowny faces are pretty self-explanatory, right?”
“Uh-huh…”
“So you can use them to emphasize things! Like… okay, here, let’s send a text to Willow.” Luz brings up the text messages between herself and the plant witch. “What’s something you wanna say to her?”
Hunter’s ears flatten and Luz is pretty sure the tips pinken as well. She bites her lip to hide her smile; she knows the two of them chatted after the whole flyer derby thing, but she’s incredibly curious about what was said to make them so close so quickly. After Willow “accidentally” saved that picture of Hunter she’d sent into the group chat and how eager Hunter had been to use Luz’s scroll to message her, she’s starting to see a pattern.
Perhaps Hunter just has that effect on people, though. He and Luz had been at each other's throats, literally, only a few weeks ago and now they could barely stand to be in separate rooms. Eda and King had warmed up to him quickly too; he just has something about him under that sarcastic visage that made them all gravitate to him. She frowns, watching him tap out different emojis before quickly deleting them with frustrated sputters.
How could Belos hurt him with a clear conscience? How could the Coven Heads in the castle stand by and let it happen? Did they know? None of them seemed to like him very much, especially Lillith. Luz grimaces, wondering if Cool Aunt Lillith had knowingly stood by and let a child be beaten under her watch. The thought makes her sick.
“How’s this?” Hunter asks, putting the scroll up to her face. Luz snaps out of her thoughts and leans back a bit, letting her eyes adjust to the screen.
EXCiteD t o see you, captia.n! 😨
Luz tries, she really does, but she’s unable to suppress the laugh that bursts out of her. Hunter jumps away from her, covering the ear that she’d been close to. “Titan, why don’t you just stab me in the ear next time?” he complains, rubbing a gloved hand over it.
Luz snorts. “Oh gosh, sorry, Hunter. That just– ehehe– that really caught me off guard.”
Hunter’s cheeks flush. “What? Is there something wrong with the text? Did I choose the wrong image?” He scoots back to her and hands over the scroll.
Luz’s giggles die down but the smile is still stuck on her face as she leans against Hunter so he can see the screen. “No, no, the text itself is fine; Willow will think it’s sweet. But why that emoji?”
“I thought that man looked excited!”
Luz elbows him. “Is that the face you make when you think about hanging out with Willow?” Hunter’s face drops and oh man, he really does look like that emoji. “Is that your excited face?”
“Wha– no! I don’t know! I’ve never felt much ‘excitement’ in my life, human. At least not that kind.”
Luz pauses, looking over at him. “What kind of ‘excitement’ are you used to?”
Hunter scoffs, sitting up and waving a dismissive hand. “Uh, the kind that comes right before a mission or a fight, knowing there’s a chance you won’t make it out alive?” He shakes his head with a small, breathy chuckle. “ That kind.”
Luz gives a very, very slow nod. “Ooookay. First off, that’s adrenaline. That comes with, you know, risking your life and near-death experiences. That’s not the kind of excitement we want anymore. Second, we are unpacking all of that later.”
Hunter cocks his head, looking genuinely confused. “Why would I not want that excitement? It feels great!”
Luz wipes a hand down her face in frustration, but she doesn’t miss the way Hunter seems to tense, warily watching her expression. She gives him a small smile. “It’s okay, I’m not frustrated with you, hermano . I’m trying to think of how to explain this to you.”
Hunter visibly relaxes at that. He’s expressed to Luz before that he knows the way he thinks is different from others, that his brain filters things in… unique ways. He’s eager to learn, at least, sitting patiently while Luz collects her thoughts.
“So, yeah, some people like the adrenaline rush that comes with stuff like that!” she begins. “That’s why there’s activities that involve dangerous stuff like sky-diving and bungee jumping.”
“What’s that?”
“Er, dangerous hobbies that we have in the human realm.” Luz shakes her head. “Anyway! I wasn’t trying to say that it’s bad that you like that feeling, but it’s bad that the only experiences you have with it are…” Luz trails off with a sigh, running a hand through her hair. “Sorry, I’m probably not doing a good job explaining this to you.”
Hunter echoes her sigh and puts his hands in his lap. He fidgets with his gloves, picking at a stray thread in the seam. “I… I think I get what you’re trying to say. I feel like every day I learn that something I grew up with isn’t actually as normal as I was taught.” He moves his eyes back up to Luz’s face, keeping his head ducked low, as if he’s ashamed of admitting this. “This is… it’s another one, isn’t it? That I got my, uh, ‘adrenaline rush’ from life threatening missions instead of those other things you mentioned? The… sky-jumping?”
Luz smiles again, giving him a feather-light punch to the shoulder. “You got it. If I ever get you to the human realm, I’ll show you some safe ways to get that rush. Well, safer, anyway.”
Hunter returns her smile, looking back down at the scroll. “So… that isn’t the right face for that message?”
“Well, I guess you could use that. Willow would probably find it funny. But that emoji looks more scared than excited.”
Hunter whips his head around to look at her, his eyes frantic. “I-I’m not afraid of the captain! I can’t send that, she might be offended!”
Luz rolls her eyes. “Well, find a different emoji then!”
“What’s a good, excited-looking one?”
“Let’s see.”
Luz starts swiping through the emojis again, pausing on each screen to give Hunter a chance to choose one he likes. He stays silent until she gets to the symbols.
“Oh! The captain sent me that one all the time. I don’t know what is it is, though. I asked Darius once and he just laughed at me.”
💚
Luz beams at him and his confused expression returns. “What?”
“Hunter! That’s a heart!”
“What?! Are you blind? That’s not anatomically correct at all!”
“Trust me, my dude, it’s a heart. Not an accurate one, but it’s… stylized!”
“Oh… why did she send me that so often? Do people send cartoonish depictions of body parts to each other in order express something?”
Luz is practically vibrating with how excited she is. She wants to run to Willow’s house and drag her here now . She needs to see these two interact with her own eyes, like watching a nature documentary. She has to see it . But not now; she’ll get Willow and the rest of the squad here soon to see him, but not yet. For now, she can just stir the cauldron.
“Well, yeah! You send hearts to people you care about. It’s like… it’s like you’re saying ‘I’m glad you’re alive’.” she murmurs the last part, looking pointedly at Hunter as she does. The boy freezes at that and she sees his eyes slowly dart to the bandage on his arm. The wound under it is mostly healed, Eda said he could take and keep the bandage off when he wanted to, but he hadn’t yet. Luz wonders if he just can’t bring himself to look at it yet; he’d always kept his eyes somewhere else when she or Eda changed it each morning.
Hunter raises his head to look at her, his eyes glistening. “I… I’m glad she feels that way,” he says quietly.
She nudges him with her shoulder. “A lot of people do,” she tells him, feeling tears prick her own eyes. “One day you will too.”
Hunter’s eyes dart down to the scroll again. He reaches over and erases the previous emoji on his message, replacing it with a new one.
EXCiteD t o see you, captia.n! 💛