[AHIT AU] Snatcher Dates Hat Kid's Mom - Saga

The Ugly Meet-Cute: Chapter 4 - The Awkward Lunch

"Have a seat, dear." Luci said while pointing at the two vacant seats next to DJ Grooves. Hat Kid pulled Mustache Girl and headed to the seats in a hurry, the brown-haired girl sat down and bowed her head, uncomfortable looking at anyone at the moment.

"Psst! Hat Kid, who is this lady and why did you call her 'mom'?" Mustache Girl whispered to Hana. The lady sighed when she heard the red-hooded vigilante.

"Hello, I am Luci and I am Hana's adoptive mom. Hana is your friend, Hat Kid. I appreciate that she has greeted you upon arrival and you all want to spend more time with her, but unfortunately, I haven't made a good effort to meet you all soon enough." She explained to her guests while keeping an eye on Hana, who avoided looking at Luci. "How about we have lunch and get along?" Luci said with a hopeful tone.

"A-Ah, La- I mean, Ma'am. There's no need, we all had our lunch before we arrived." The Conductor spoke up rather nervously while Luci levitated a dining table from the kitchen to the main hub.

"Oh! Don't worry, you can eat how much you want, it won't be long!" Luci replied as she helped CC with carrying the food. "Anyone wants to help with the dishes?" She looked over to Hana and Mustache Girl, the former took Mustache Girl's hand again and rushed to the kitchen to help. "Thank you, Hana and Hana's friend!" Luci said with a smile on her face, unaware of the rising tension around her. "Anyways, why don't you gentlemen gather around the table?" She requested before joining Hana and Mustache Girl.

A few seconds went by and everyone was gathered around the table filled with warm good food, but there was an awkward atmosphere. Luci observed around and decided to start a conversation.

"...So, Mr. Conductor and Mr. Grooves?" Luci started politely, the bird directors were surprised, to say the least.

"There's no need to be formal, Darlin'. Please, call me 'DJ Grooves'!" He reassured Luci as he can tell that she was trying to be polite.

"Oh, okay! I've heard from Hana that you both were directing a new film together, how's it going so far?" Just one simple question and she saw the birds tense up once again.

"Ah... Well, it is going fine. It's just- uhm..." The Conductor struggled to get the right words to explain that the film was taking a long while due to many factors. One of them decided to speak up.

"We've been havin' some issues of the technical kind, Darlin'! The usual: the perfect lighting, camera angles, and of course, the star of the show being busy!" DJ Grooves explained and directed at Hana, who looked at him unamused.

Luci listened with a blank look, swallowing her food before she spoke. "Ookaay...Then, what is the film's synopsis?" She asked before taking a sip of water. As much as she wanted this awkward lunch to end, it didn't hurt to hear what Hana and her friends had been up to.

"A Western Cowboy film."

"An Action film."

"A Disco-Battle film."

Hana and the film birds spoke out at the same time while Luci choked on her drink. The three looked at each other horrified, Snatcher simply snorted at this interesting turn of events.

Hana spoke up to not make the situation even more embarrassing, "We have been discussing what kind of film we wanted to make, and decided to make a sort of...hybrid genre film...?" The hatted girl answered with a fake grin to the quizzical Luci.

"But...That must take a lot of creative planning to make such a film, especially with your...artistic differences..." Luci looked over at the directors who glared at each other when she wasn't looking.

"There's no limit on trying something new, Darlin'! Everyone wants to see something fresh and out of the box! Well, some do." The stylish penguin side-glanced at the eyeless owl, who immediately hopped out of his seat.