Chapter Text
“We were wondering, how old are you, Luz?” It was time for dinner and the new human girl had watched in awe as Grandma Gwen magically stretched out the table that looked like it only seated 4 people but now was long enough for apparently everyone in the family.
There was still some muttering around as everyone settled into the chairs. Eda, Melanie, and Georgia took their time setting the table and placing all the food around. The oldest teen probably came back while she was still settling in with Rayna.
“I’m 10!” She wasn’t sure what prompted the question but the way the older boy smiled at her made her curious and nervous at the same time. She hoped he wasn’t going to make fun of her for being younger.
“Ha! I told you she was older than Ray!” Casey quickly turned to the pink-haired girl next to him who only rolled her eyes.
“That’s not even fair, who bets on things like that? They’re like the same size and height and everything!” Mira snapped back, starting to slouch in her chair, but the younger boy simply grinned.
“Doesn’t matter, you took the bet sooooo….” His voice trailed off and the girl groaned, but the entire conversation confused Luz. They bet on if she was older than Rayna? Why?
As if she could hear the 10-year-old girl’s inner thoughts, a hand was placed on her head making the girl look up.
“Don’t mind those two, they find any excuse to pick at and argue with each other. It is quite literally only those too…. Except when Georgia joins in just because she likes to be involved. But overall, they’re the weirdos here.” It was Melanie who then took the open seat to the left of her chair.
While Luz could understand that kind of sibling rivalry, (she saw it in cartoons often) one of her words did make her frown. “Is that… bad here?”
“Is what bad?” The teen tilted her head slightly at the question before Eda spoke up from across the room.
“Mira, you know the rules. Deals are a serious family tradition, and now I expect you to help with Casey’s chores for the next 2 days since that’s what you both agreed.”
“But those chores were his punishment for ruining the garden yesterday!”
“You agreed to the terms missy.”
The pink-haired teen groaned before letting out a deep sigh, clearly seeing she wasn’t getting out of it, which of course made the boy next to her laugh out loud.
It was almost synchronized in how Melanie and Eda gave a light snort and chuckled quietly. They then looked at each other before rolling their eyes and focusing on what they were previously doing, for Eda that was putting the last few dishes out, and for Melanie that was focusing on the strangely sad looking girl sitting next to her.
“Luz?” She carefully placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder who slightly tensed up which quickly made her remove it right after.
The girl spoke but Melanie couldn’t hear her at all, she was mumbling in a room with about 15 people in it having at least 6 different conversations at the same time.
“Can you say it again?” This time she did at least lean a bit closer to hear the girl better.
“Is-Is being a weirdo bad here?”
The sentence made the older girl freeze for a moment before quickly looking back at the now clearly uncomfortable child and she opened her mouth to speak before closing it again. She stared for a little longer before shaking her head and looking back at the table.
There was so much she could say in response to that, so many things she felt just at that question alone. Here she was, the very first human that Eda adopted into this strange little family on an island that was only familiar with witches and demons. Wasn’t she the first weirdo here? No, that ticket definitely goes to her mom, the one with a curse that turns her into some kind of creature, or maybe even her grandparents who so easily accepted and loved not only Eda after her curse, but even her many random adopted kids; witches, humans, and demon alike. What was this family if not a bunch of weirdos living together under one roof? And yet-
Her eyes drifted from Luz over to their still adjusting family members, Miles who was eating quietly but let his attention stay on his ‘older brother’ Anthony who was just rambling about anything. The boys had been spending the entire day together but she guessed that it was more of just Miles following along with whatever the older boy said or wanted. Then she looked over to Larissa, who purposely sat on one of the ends of the table near Gwendolyn and Dell. Neither of the adults were speaking to her, not out of malice, but respecting her spoken desires to not be bothered during meals unless they had to. It was clear meal times were personal to her and everyone was just happy she finally took to actually eating at the table with them after so long of avoiding it.
Then she looked back at Luz and she felt her words come back to her, “Absolutely not. Our family is made for weirdos, but,” she leaned closer towards the girl’s ear so she could hear her words clearly, “there’s no pressure or rush to do or be anything here. Whether you come in fully comfortable and openly being yourself, or if you feel a bit unsure about what you can or can’t do or feel, we’re all still gonna be here for you. Is that okay little light?”
Luz’s eyes went wide at both her answer and the familiar nickname, but before she could even ask how she knew it, Dell’s voice cut through the room, loud and clear.
“Alright everyone, dig in!” Luz watched as everyone was seated and easily reached for any and everything they could. A lot of it looked strange and very unfamiliar, but there was still a good amount of stuff she did recognize around the table. Everyone was still talking and such while making their plates, and was King? (that was his name right?) standing on the table? Oh, Grandpa Dell pulled him off.
She finally looked back at the seemingly oldest sibling who was clearly just waiting for her to respond. Having the girl’s attention despite everything else that was still going on was a bit embarrassing and she couldn’t help but blush a little as she picked up her utensils. She gave a slow nod and that was enough for the 18-year-old to finally smile and start making her own plate.
“Oh and if you aren’t sure about some of the food, don’t be afraid to ask me. Even a fair bit of food from here is still safe for humans.”
Luz perked up at that as her eyes did linger on some of the more colorful dishes, “Oh. But I can’t have dairy.” She ducked down as she realized she probably should’ve mentioned that sooner than now, but Melanie’s head just swirled across the table.
“Georgia you got another one!”
The red-haired human girl’s head turned quickly, completely ignoring her previous conversation with her little brother (Jeremy) about a toy and her eyes shifted from her older sister to Luz. She quickly got up and walked over with her plate, at the same time that Melanie also picked up her plate and walked over to take her seat.
Luz was unsure of what was happening as the redhead sat next to her.
“Hey Luz, in case you forgot already, I’m Georgia, and lucky for you, I am also lactose intolerant. But so are Miles, Chiron, and Mira…. Though Mira tends to ignore that fact pretty often. Anyways, that means we have a good amount of things you can still have, and since I’m also a human I can tell you everything you can have!”
At first, Luz was a little unsure of how enthusiastic Georgia appeared to be whenever they spoke, but as she took the time to not only point out the foods that were safe for her to eat, but also rant a little about what was in them and also what they taste like, or their closest human food substitute was extremely helpful and made her appreciate the help so much. It reminded Luz about when she got excited about Azura, but Georgia seemed to be the type of person who was always that excited about everything. Maybe that was the proof she needed.
If Georgia wasn’t upsetting people like this, then maybe Melanie was right and it was fine here. A spark of hope flared up in her chest. She really wanted to fit in here.