Chapter Text
“Mamá, Amity clogged the shower drain again!” Luz called out from inside the bathroom. She stared down at the tiled floor of the shower, the purple goop clumped together around the drain being a dead giveaway of who had used it last. This was beginning to become annoying with how often an occurrence it was.
From the living room downstairs, one Amity Noceda-Clawthorne-Whispers blushed in embarrassment at her slip up having been discovered, her pale cheeks tinging a dark shade of purple. “I got distracted, okay? I was too busy thinking about my project for the science fair next week. Keeping my form just sort of… slipped my mind,” she said in her defense, forcing a smile.
Camila let out a chuckle at her daughter’s excuse and gave her a side-hug. “You are the only person I know who thinks about their science experiments while they shower. Don’t worry, Mitones, I’ll get the salt.” Slowly getting to her feet, she made her way into the kitchen and opened up the cabinet under the sink. Grabbing the large plastic box of salt, she trudged up the stairs and into the bathroom before placing the box in the waiting arms of her first-born daughter.
As Luz sprinkled the salt on the stray blobs of Abomination goop, Camila returned to the living room to find that Hunter had finally emerged from his bedroom in the basement. As her eldest child slowly awoke, she greeted him. “Hola, mijo. You really slept in today.”
The winged boy let out a massive yawn before responding. “Really? What time is it? Where’s Bird Mom?” Teleporting over to the fridge in a golden flash, he opened it up and scrounged around inside, looking for something to drink. Settling on some 2% milk, he unscrewed the lid and waterfalled the liquid into his mouth, a few dribbles leaking onto his chin.
“It’s 9:30, and Eda is running errands with King,” Raine answered from their spot on the couch as they watched the Saturday morning news. The current story was a reporter standing in front of an old cemetery, talking about how there were reports of “demonic activity” in the vicinity, or some hogwash like that. Raine was only half paying attention to the story, more focused on making sure Amity didn’t lose her form again. The abomination goop that she would occasionally leak out when she got too excited, embarrassed, happy, etc. was incredibly hard to wash out of the carpet.
“Dang, I really did sleep in,” Hunter replied, screwing the cap back on the milk and returning it to the fridge, making sure to shut the door tightly. Like an actual bird, the blond-haired boy was very much an early riser. Waking up after 8:00 AM was a rarity for him. Early bird gets the worm and all that. Thankfully, Hunter didn’t eat worms. He had tried one before, though, on a dare from Luz. The less said about that night, the better.
“I’m just happy that you’re finally getting some decent sleep,” Camila said, taking a seat next to Raine, a mug of coffee in hand. “You spend far too much time playing those Cosmic Frontier video games.” She did have a point there. Bird Boy, as they lovingly referred to him, had spent a significant amount of his free time the last few weeks playing the newest CF release. Camila, while also a fan of the franchise, was more than happy to stick to simply watching the original run of movies that had been released back in the 80s. While she would occasionally join Gus and Hunter in playing the game, she wasn’t nearly as fast as the two were when it came to reacting to the fast-paced combat, leading to them inevitably carrying her through the game before she would eventually call it quits after a few battles.
“Yeah, I know,” Hunter said, nervously rubbing at the back of his neck, a few red feathers sprouting from under his pajama shirt. It wasn’t his fault that the game was so fun! Sure, the game may have only been released a few weeks ago, and he already had over 100 hours logged, but that didn’t mean he had a problem. Right?
“Video games aside, is Gus awake yet?” Camila asked as a follow-up. Contrary to Hunter, Gus slept like a rock, and getting him up was always a struggle. It was like there was some magnetic attraction between the younger boy and his bed.
“No, he’s still asleep,” Hunter replied, able to personally attest to the fact given that Gus also slept in the basement. That’s where the boys had always slept. Well, except for King, but he was a baby, so he got to sleep in his own room right next to Camila, Eda, and Raine on the third floor. The young girls, on the other hand, slept on the second level of the house, the four of them split into pairs. Amity and Willow had the room on the left side of the hall, while Vee and Luz shared the room on the right.
Speaking of the girls, Willow and Vee had also just woken up, based on their appearances. Willow’s hair was a veritable bird’s nest, and Vee’s wasn’t looking much better. The floramage had on a tank top and shorts, while the skin-shifter was wearing an old T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. As the two descended the stairs, they split paths at the bottom, with Vee heading for the kitchen table and Willow taking a seat in the living room in one of the loveseats.
“Hey, Mom,” Vee said glumly, propping her head up on a fist. Camila instantly knew something was up. Vee was usually pretty chipper in the morning, very rarely sounding like such a Debbie Downer.
“What’s wrong, mija? Did your date with Masha not go well?” Vee had been seeing the goth for the past few months, and they’d gone on numerous dates already. The one from last night had lasted until about 1 in the morning, based on the sound of the front door squeaking open Camila had heard late at night. She didn’t want to immediately pester the girl right after getting home, so she had waited for morning to come to see how the date had gone.
“No, it went okay,” Vee replied quietly. “It’s just… I think they might be on to us. I’m pretty sure they saw Hunter and I sparring while he, you know, had his wings out.” Given the family’s unique circumstance, they all practiced in self-defense, ranging from MMA to boxing and everything in between. If the government ever busted down the door and tried to take any of them away for experimentation, every member of the family was ready to fight back.
“Hmm…” Camila knew that the prospect of them never having to spill their secret to a regular person was a pipe dream. If they had to reveal the truth, she supposed the best person it could be to was someone that one of the family members was romantically involved with. She saw the way that Vee and Masha looked at each other. She had looked at Eda and Raine the same way all those years back, and she still looked at them that way now. If they were forced to reveal themselves, Masha was the best candidate by a wide margin.
“Do you want me to call them and have them come over so you can talk about what they saw?” Camila suggested. Vee fidgeted at the idea. She liked, no, loved Masha, and she had no idea how they would take the news that they were dating some freak of nature. Inhaling deeply to calm herself down, she turned to look in the direction of Raine to see what her other parent thought.
“Should I do it, Nobi?” she asked, silently praying that they would say no so that she didn’t have to put her relationship at risk.
“Do what, sorry?” they replied, looking up from their crossword puzzle.
“Vee believes that Masha saw her and Hunter sparring while he was using his wings,” Camila explained.
“Oh no,” Hunter whispered.
“I agree,” Raine said. Folding up the newspaper and placing it down on the coffee table, they rose from the couch and walked into the kitchen, all the while dragging their hand down their face in an incredibly slow face palm.
“Do you think we need to activate Omega Protocol?” Camila asked.
After taking a deep breath, Raine solemnly nodded.
“Wait, what’s ‘Omega Protocol’?” Willow asked from the living room.
As Camila pulled out her phone and started dialing Masha’s number, Raine did the same for Eda. As she punched in the numbers, Camila quickly began giving out orders, raising her voice so that everyone could hear her clearly. “Alright, kids. Listen up and listen well. You all need to go get dressed for the day, so no pajamas, t-shirts, sweatpants, none of that. Hunter, once you’re ready, wake up Gus and have him get ready as well. Amity, go upstairs, apologize to your sister for clogging the shower, and tell her to put on something nice. We will not be looking like slobs when we reveal the truth to Masha.”
The children remained motionless at the sudden orders.
“Go! They'll be here in 30 minutes!”