Mama Eda AU

Thanks to them

My brain: So if the Clawthorne family being Caleb and Evelyn's descendants turns out to be true, that would make Philip Eda and Lilith's great (plus a few more greats) uncle, right?

Thoughts: i think Caleb was tired. i think Caleb was a kid who ended up having to be a parent, because neither of them had anyone else and Philip was even younger than him and needed to be taken care of, and i think that wore him down.

so, i mean. he's working himself to the bone to support his little brother and living in a very insular, hostile town where every so often random citizens get accused of sins, put on trial, and murdered where he and Philip have to play along to survive, and he doesn't want to be.

Caleb was tired. he wanted a different life. and finally, eventually, after years of scraping by and doing whatever he had to do, abandoning his own morals for the sake of survival, molding Philip into the kind of person who could get along in this town they found themselves in, he saw an escape route into a place that felt kinder, and freer, and easier.

i don't think he hated Philip or stopped loving him. i think he might have hated Gravesfield, but mostly, i just think he was at the absolute end of his rope and probably had been for years and when he saw a chance for a better life, he grabbed it with both hands and didn't look back, and probably rationalized that Philip would be fine without him.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text
[Amity, Gus, Hunter, Vee, and Willow are hanging out together in the abandoned shed, which they have remodeled with Oswald's help. )

Amity, Gus, Hunter, Vee, Willow: [Trilling R's]

Gus Mumbling. Am I doing this right?

Vee: [speaking Spanish]

Tablet: Perfecto! You're our top student!

Amity mumbled. Hmm. I was the top student once.

[Flapjack begins pecking at the floor, the other palismen are snuggled against Oswald's dragon palismen red flare ]

Gus: He's still doing that, huh?

Hunter: He won't tell me what he's looking for.

[Camila enters the shed.]

Camila: Hi. Ooh! I like what you've done with the place. No more exposed nails or possum nests. But this still confuses me.

[Camila motions to a painting of Hooty on the door]

Willow: Yeah. He still confuses us too.

Gus Waving. Hola Camila. We're learning Spanish from this scary owl app.

Tablet: Hoot hoot! Practice every day, or I'll appear in your nightmares.

Camila: Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to pick Luz up from school. Pop quiz. ¿Como se dice eso en español? (How do you say that in Spanish?)

Hunter: Oh, oh! Uh...[inhales] [speaking Spanish]