[discontinued] the wrong portal

a staff

Luz had barely made it to her room and flopped onto the bed before Hunter let himself in.

"So, how was your shift?" He stood awkwardly in her room and waited for a response.

"Why is the wardrobe in such a specific spot?"

"That's a good question. I don't know. nor do I care." He plopped himself onto the bed next to the tired girl. "Anyway, you free for a moment? I need to sort you out with a staff because this whole paper thing just sounds inconvenient." Luz jumped up and her eyes lit up, she grabbed Hunter's shoulders and shook them rapidly.

"Really? a staff? I can do more magic! Yes! Thank you Hunter! You won't regret it!"

"Alright then, I guess I'll take you to the throne room, I already got The Emperor to agree with you getting a staff, he can make you one." He stood up, Luz springing from her bed to follow him, bouncing on her heels as she walked. The pair turned into the Throne room and Belos was sitting on his throne, he noticed the two and took a second, making a complicated hand manoeuvre, a staff was then pushed out from the ground, it was a long, pristine white staff, the end decorated with a red gemstone that was held in place by veins of gold.

"It's beautiful..." The teen stared in awe at the long staff, before Hunter walked up, grabbed it and handed it to her. Belos spoke up.

"Now that you have a staff, Hunter can start on basic training in using it, you are both dismissed." The pair of teens walked back out and Luz squealed in delight, twirling her staff in her hands while she walked, almost dropping it. Hunter led her out of the castle and toward the grounds, Hunter pulled out his own staff and went through a basic rundown on how the staff worked, how to draw a spell circle, how to get the spell you want, and how to fly with it, Luz listened intently to the instructions and once Hunter was done, he let her loose with it, telling her to take her shift off to practice.

Luz gripped her staff and swung her legs around it, feeling it lift her from the ground, she hovered there for a few seconds before the staff rocketed forward and away from the castle, she cried out, still new to flying, but soon became used to it, she gripped closer to the top of the staff and started trying to steer it, remembering Hunter's instructions to use her mind, she willed it to slow down and it did, a thought entered her head and she steered the staff jerkily towards the owl lady's house.

After 15 minutes of bad steering towards the house, she lowered down and stopped a few metres away from the door, stepping off the staff, she glanced at the door and noticed a round face that resembled some sort of owl, it had it's eyes locked on her, it seemed to look angry? No, happy? No, it's face was seeming to be confused about what expression it should make, it seemed to settle on an excited expression and suddenly, it stretched out, looking like a long, happy tube, it screamed out in a friendly voice.

"Hi! Hoot hoot! I'm Hooty! Who are you?" The bird tube squealed in an agonisingly high voice, like nails on a chalkboard, he coiled himself loosely around the human and stared her in the eyes. "Are you here to clean me? I'm 20% mucus and my monthly cleaning is due!"

"Ew, no thanks." She slipped out from his coil and slipped through the front door, only to be pelted with a plush bear toy. She turned and saw the small demon from before standing on a chair, holding a rabbit plush, ready to throw, she held up her hands in defence. "I'm here to help you!"

"No you aren't! Eda needs me to guard the house and you are an intruder! Get out!"

"I can make you snacks!" The demon immediately stopped and stepped down from his chair, looking at the teen expectantly.

"I'm listening." He waited impatiently.

"Well, I can go and buy you snacks from town, if you want that?"

"Ok then, bring me snacks by nightfall or risk the wrath of the demon king!" He shouted out as the girl left.

Luz grabbed onto her staff and willed with all her strength to leave as fast as she could so as to escape the tube. She crashed down to the castle and tracked Hunter down.

"Do you have any money? Can you lend me some please please please I really need it for something."

"Um, yeah, I have money, but why should I give it to you?"

"Because I'm the most awesome colleague you could ever ask for?"

"No, you aren't, but fine, you owe me. I want the change." He responded as he handed her a handful of odd coins, engraved with the shape of a snail. Luz quickly thanked him and ran off, leaving the boy still confused. She rushed off and flew high up on her staff before spotting what looked like a market, she quickly lowered down and rushed over to a stall, grabbing a bag of something labelled hex mix, and other odd items.

"That's 21 snails." She grabbed out the handful of odd coins and handed them to the cashier.

"Is this enough?"

"Erm... Yep." He eyed her curiously before grabbing the majority of her coins and letting her leave. Luz didn't question the weird action and stuffed the snacks in her cloak before gripping onto her staff and flying away.

She arrived at the house and slammed open the door, only to find the small demon asleep on the sofa, she set down the snacks on a coffee table in front of it and quietly left, taking care to avoid the bird tube again. She rushed back to the castle and found Hunter, thrusting a fistful of coins at him.

"How much did you spend?" He yelled in despair.

"21 snails? At least that's what the cashier said."

"That's about 5000 snails missing from what I gave you! He scammed you!" Luz looked back at him, shocked.

"That thieving rat! I'm gonna beat the money out of him when I get my hands on him!"

"No, don't, I can live without the money anyway, just get some sleep, it's getting late." He turned and left to his room, and Luz returned to her room.

"Don't you want to get him back? He tricked you!" A little voice piped up.

"Haven't heard from you for a while, anyway, nah, Hunter's fine and I'm tired."

"Ugh, fine, you're no fun!" He whined to her as she got ready for bed.

"I'm sleeping now, hush." He made a zipping motion over his mouth with his hand and stopped talking, letting her sleep.