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pernesophe · 2 months ago

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"Flufftober" Hybrid Halloween

(Minors, Ageless and Blank Blogs DNI)

Master List (I have no rights to these characters, the works they come from, or the art/screenshots/manga panels used in this post. Screenshots taken from pinterest, so if you know the creator please lmk!)

Synopsis: A lab accident led to a mutation occurring in Japan 150 years ago that created hybrids. Reader moved to Japan to make it as a cosplayer, and is still somewhat unaware of their existence. At her best friend's Halloween party she meets a guy dressed as a cat and immediately thinks he's a cosplayer. Except he is not a cosplayer. (13,185 wc) (This is not my usual "genre", pretty cheesy in some parts and only somewhat edited, so forgive me in advance).

TW: All characters are 21+. I deemed this "flufftober" because it's more accurate, but there is some smut: cunnilingus, fingering, vaginal penetration, biting / marking, slight dacryphilia if you squint? Idk lmk if I missed anything. Also some angst. MDNI

Song: Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter (I just enjoyed listening to this while editing etc) Sakura's Scent is based on Incarnate by Scout Dixon West Black Iris by Amouage* Reader's Scent is based on Coven by Andrea Maack

{I wrote this after 100% being inspired by @candycandy00 Suo x reader x Sakura hybrid au fic, so if you enjoyed this at all please go check it out and show it some love! Also! I read @hayatoseyepatch Hybrid / Breeding fic while writing this, which I loved and highly recommend if you enjoy this one!}

October had cooled off earlier than you expected, so it was a tad brisk as you made your way to the Halloween party at your friend’s house. Your costume consisted of a black, leather band around your waist that came down to the hips with an ankle length, black cotton skirt stitched just above the hem of the leather. A roughened, black leather string laced down the center starting at hip height that hooked around small brass hooks all the way up to the waist were tied in a neat bow. At about mid-calf height on the skirt were brass rings stitched into the fabric.

The top of the costume included a black cotton corset cut straight across your bosom with a ‘V’ shaped dip in the valley of your breasts. The sides of the corset rose up around your ribs but came lower over the leather of your skirt to lay over your stomach and lower back. Wide straps slung over your shoulders, and poofy burnt orange off the shoulders sleeves that cinched at your elbow and wrist spilled from under the straps of the corset. A fluttery piece of orange fabric extended from the cinch at your wrist to lay over your hands and accentuate your sharp, black nails.

Over the corset itself, you wore a black leather harness with thin straps that laid over top the wide cotton ones that had a brass buckle in the shape of a victorian woman’s hand to secure it around your waist. Four small brass clips were stitched onto the base of the corset at the front where you were able to clip the rings of the skirt to vary the length. One piece of dark cotton hung about your knees in front of where your thighs parted, with the pieces to either side clipped up so your plush thighs and thick orange thigh high socks were on full display. The skirt was left to hang low in the back so the hem was only an inch higher than the ground thanks to your shiny, chunky-heeled Mary Janes. Finally, atop your head sat a black, pointy hat with a wide brim that the wind was threatening to blow away.

Though you felt being a witch was a little generic, your friend insisted that you always go all out since you were a really talented cosplayer. So, you clutched your black pointed witch’s hat as the wind whipped you in the face while you half walked, half jogged to the two story row house. Though it wasn’t in view yet, you could hear the heavy bass half a block away.

As you made your way up the stone walk, some party goers were already wasted and clinging to each other in the front yard. Rather than get caught up in their drunk cooing, you ushered yourself inside and closed the old wooden door with a shiver as you kicked yourself for not including a cloak in your costume.

“Y/N!!” Hana, your friend who hosted the party, cried drunkenly from the kitchen as she waved you over. Grinning wide, you walked straight into the inebriated embrace with a giggle.

“Is it worth trying to catch up at this point?” You teased her lovingly as she guffawed and shoved a local cider in your hand.

“And here I got your favorite!” She pointed with all the air of saying ‘j’accuse!’ to which you tittered and opened the cider before trailing behind her as she introduced you to some new faces. Hana recently started attending the sister university of Furin U, so unsurprisingly you saw several black and green jacketed men milling about. The two of you went to find a game of beer pong and socialized with different party goers between the rounds.

Eventually, Hana paired off with a rather attractive young man in a black and green coat with short blonde hair, puppy dog eyes and a pair of dog ears as his costume. Silently you cheered for her win, and then made your way to the back porch for some air. You expected a few smokers out back, but it was eerily empty except for one guy in a Furin coat with two toned hair dressed as a cat. The realistic ears and tail immediately drew your eye, and you half hoped he was as into cosplay as you. With the liquid courage of your cider, you called over to him.

“Hi!” you offered kindly from the door, he turned and stared at you in shock for a moment - face turning beet red. “Is it alright if I hang out here for a bit?” You asked cautiously, and he just nodded silently before facing forward again.

“What’re you doing out here all by your lonesome handsome?” You inquired while clasping your hands behind your back and arching your brow at him. Without him turning around, you could already see the red creeping up the back of his neck. “Not waiting for your girlfriend I hope?” You added teasingly as you took a slight step closer.

“N-no! I don’t have a girlfriend,” he whipped around to face you before biting out the words. A carmine hue dusting his cheeks as you giggled softly at his reaction.

“Okay, good!” Chirping happily as you came to stand next to him, and immediately he turned his face away from you again. “I’m Y/N L/N - Hana’s best friend. What’s your name?” You asked welcomingly, and again his cheeks began to burn but eventually he spoke.

“Sakura Haruka,” he muttered quietly, still refusing to look your way.

“Well, Sakura Haruka, I wish I had known you were coming - we could’ve coordinated,” you said jokingly as you gestured between your witch hat and his cat ears. Sakura turned to face you directly with a shocked expression and a blush creeping up to his forehead, and for a moment you almost saw the tips of his cat ears turn red, but you were too focused on his bicolored eyes.

“Oh wow!” You cried out instantly, causing Sakura to jump, but then you faced him with the brightest grin and biggest moon eyes he’d ever seen. “Are you wearing contacts?” You followed up enthusiastically.

“No.” He stated curtly as his face pulled into a scowl, but you barely noticed his change in demeanor. Sakura could feel his tail puffing out as his confusion deepened as to why you were gushing over all the parts of him that people usually disdained in a cat hybrid.

“Seriously?!” You gasped out as you leaned in to be nose to nose with him - the scent of balsamic vanilla invaded your senses - but before Sakura could snap, you added, “You might have the coolest eyes I’ve ever seen!” Sakura’s hair stood on end, and his tail swished cautiously as he glowed bright red.

“Why are you so weird?!” He snapped suddenly as his breathing turned uneven, wide bicolored eyes searched your face for hidden intentions. Notes of creamy, smoked amber enveloped him and produced a reminiscent image of aging barrels from the rickhouse he worked in a few summers ago. He had to shake off the memory as a foreign, yet warm and fluttery feeling took over his stomach.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” You apologized and quickly took a step back, finally noticing that you stepped right into his personal space. “I didn’t realize I was making you uncomfortable… this is just how I am when I’m excited to meet someone, or get to know them. I’m a little tipsy, but I should’ve noticed I’d gotten so close. I’m really sorry…” You explained awkwardly, terrified that you ruined this interaction. Sakura just stared at you flabbergasted for a moment while his ears twitched and his tail flicked haughtily. A pregnant pause passed before he averted his gaze to the grass below the railing as he shoved his fists in his pockets.

“It’s fine, sorry, I’m just not used to strangers being like you,” he muttered quietly. Still you stood there awkwardly for a moment before he met your gaze. “I don’t dye my hair either,” he offered in a grumble as he waved a hand at his two toned locks. All at once your jovial demeanor returned tenfold as your hand flew over your mouth.

“That’s amazing!” You cried, and Sakura could feel his palms start to sweat as your moon eyes studied his tresses. “I’ve never known anyone who can get hair that white without some serious toner - I love that your ears match too! It really brings together your whole look,” you said quickly before your gaze returned to his wide eyes.

“Th-thank you,” he offered meekly, and then his eyes drifted from the tip of your witch hat down to your Mary Jane clad feet before meeting your gaze again. “I like your costume too. You obviously put a lot of work into it,” he said awkwardly while his ears twitched and his tail flicked.

You beamed at him before telling him about your costume and what pieces you bought and which pieces you made. Throughout your explanation, you babbled about Sakura’s appearance, how cool he looked, and the specific pieces of his look that you liked. Sakura blinked rapidly as you spoke, but didn’t interrupt you since being a cat hybrid usually meant being met with disdain. But it seemed like you couldn’t run out of good things to say about him, and as you went on he could feel himself drawing closer to you and catching hints of smoky peppered pine. Suddenly, you felt something soft brush against your calf, and you half jumped before peering down to see the tip of Sakura’s tail brushing your leg involuntarily.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to,” he rushed to say while stepping back - fully expecting you to freak out on him. But then you reached down and gently grabbed his tail, causing him to tense completely as he fought back the reflex to pounce on you. Then you looked at him, mouth agape and eyes stretched wide in wonder.

“Your tail is so soft!” You mused excitedly as his tail twitched wildly in your palm. Suddenly, you brought it up to your face and brushed it along your cheek experimentally as it flicked causing you to giggle softly. Old fashioned sugar and rich leather tickled your nose and spurred you to inhale the intoxicating fragrance.

Sakura felt your breath puff into his fur as traces of wood fire smoke, fresh mint and ivy invaded his senses while his pulse thrummed in his throat as he stared at your awestruck expression. Never had anyone reacted to, or touched him like this before. He wasn’t sure why, maybe due to his own liquid courage, but he suddenly felt a surge of confidence while he desperately hoped he hadn’t been misreading your signals.

Stepping forward, eyes cutting to his tail still in your gentle grasp before meeting your gaze heatedly causing a fire to ignite in your lower belly. Grabbing your hips, he pinned you against the railing as you let out a quiet squeak, and then closed the distance before crashing his lips into yours. Completely stunned, you stood stiller than a statue with his tail flicking wildly against your cheek and his mouth moving hungrily against yours.

Releasing his tail you wrapped your arms around his neck as he snaked his arms around your waist, his tail dropped only to twitch and curl around your ankle. Nipping at his lips desperately elicited a groan from Sakura before he slid his tongue past your lips dominantly. His wet muscle cascaded against yours, bringing with it the flavor of rich, spiced musk. As air became scarce, he parted from the kiss and regarded your flushed skin, heaving bosom and swollen lips. Along with the smoky scent before was a sweet, headier scent that made his mouth water.

“Wanna go back to my place? I live around the corner.” He offered between pants as his tail flicked uncontrollably against your calf and higher up under your skirt. Sinking your teeth into your lower lip as you estatically bobbed your head, because not only is this very attractive guy potentially gonna nerd out with you about cosplay - you might actually get lucky on top of it!

“Absolutely!” You chirped giddily, and Sakura turned three shades redder before grabbing your hand tightly and leading you down the back steps to the alleyway that let out onto the street. It was only around the corner, so it was a short walk.

Though you didn’t notice, Sakura eyed you as the two of you approached the small abode set farther back from the street in the center of splattering bushes growing close to the walls. The walkway up to the porch was broken and with pieces of cement sticking up, which caught the toe of your shoe and sent you falling face first towards the ground. Slamming your eyes shut as your arms came out in front of you, but instead of cement you felt two strong hands grab your arm and waist before pulling you upright again. Sakura released you after you were righted on your feet, and went to apologize for the shabbiness of his home, but you turned to face him with a wonderstruck expression.

“Oh my god you’re so fast!” Exclaiming in awe before you smiled up at him, “thank you for catching me.” You murmured with a grateful nod. Sakura’s cheeks reddened again before he awkwardly gestured for you to come inside. Once through the door you expected some fandom memorabilia, a cosplay workshop - something - but it was eerily empty. Sakura watched apprehensively as you peered around his home, expecting you to pass some form of judgment, but you just looked back at him inquisitively.

“Do you work somewhere else?” You asked curiously, and he cocked his head in response.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t work from home…” he said slowly which only made your eyes light up more. He must have an extensive collection to need to work on them outside the home, and then you wondered if he works on costumes professionally. But you decided to ask about that at a later date. On to the main event! You thought to yourself with a shrug as you faced him purposefully.

“So,” you began while looking up at him through your thick lashes expectantly, “where’s your bedroom?” You punctuated the question with a sharp arch of your brow. Sakura gulped before taking your hand and dragging you to the room in the back.

The moment the two of you were in his room, you grabbed him by the collar, slotting your lips with his, as you walked him back into his bed and pushed him down on the bedspread. You giggled as he bounced slightly, tail swishing playfully to your left, as you climbed on top to straddle his hips. His hands drifted under your skirt and over your thighs where he squeezed the plush fat appreciatively.

Bending over him, you pressed open mouthed kisses along his neck towards the collar of his shirt as you maneuvered both hands under the hem to ghost your fingertips over the hard planes of his abdomen and chest. He released a hissing breath that sounded more feline than you expected, but you barely noticed as you leaned back and tugged at his shirt expectantly. Wordlessly, Sakura leaned up and pulled his shirt over his head. Even though you were excited to see the rest of him, you were also a little sad to see his costume come off.

But as his shirt hit the wall on the other side of the room and he looked back up at you with blown pupils and twitching ears, you cocked your head to the side in question.

“Okay I have to ask,” you blurted out, causing Sakura to blink up at you in confusion, but he nodded for you to continue anyway. “How did you get your ears and tail to move like that? It’s so natural!” You said in an astonished tone with a slight shake of your head. He just stared at you for a moment, ears twitching and tail swishing sporadically.

“They’re my ears and tail,” he said with an equally confused cock of his head.

“Well, yeah but I’m asking how they work?” You clarified with a small huff, and the crease in his brow only deepened.

“They work how ears and tails work,” he said with an annoyed huff of his own, as his face turned impossibly red. Releasing a thoughtful hum, you tilted your head this way and that to peer over his twitching ears. Then, without much thought, you reached forward and gingerly stroked his white ear. Sakura tensed completely under you, but then a soft… purring rumbled from his chest as his eyes fell shut peacefully.

“Oh my god you can purr too? I’m so jealous!” You said with a small pout as you continued to stroke his ear. “But I still don’t get it, so did you base the mechanics on real cat ears and tails? Are they battery powered, or?” You asked while still absentmindedly stroking the tip of his ear. Suddenly he grabbed your wrist firmly, but not enough to hurt you, causing you to jump slightly as you peered down at his grave expression.

“Neither. I’m a hybrid,” Sakura threw the information at you abruptly. Unfortunately it wasn’t the first Halloween that some ditsy girl followed him to his bed because of his ‘costume’, and both of them were too oblivious to realize. The last girl ran away screaming, so he expected much the same from you.

“A what?” You asked with a small chuckle, completely clueless as to what he meant.

“A. Cat. Hybrid. Do you seriously not know what that is?” He asked, incredulous. When you slowly shook your head, he pulled out his phone to show you an advert that you recognized hanging up in the airport when you first moved here.

The advert was pink and blue with people who had cat ears and tails plastered in the margins. It was a simple PSA about how a mutation occurred from a lab accident about 150 years ago that created animal hybrids, and how Japan led the way to introduce them as citizens in our society. This specific PSA was about cat hybrids, though you remember a similar style being used for dog and bear hybrids as well. Where you came from there were no hybrids, and Japan had a lot of fun kitschy things (like people wearing animal ears and tails), so you weren’t sure they were even real. Until now.

As your eyes poured over the screen, you still not moving from Sakura’s lap, his hands remained awkwardly glued to your thighs while he watched your expression closely. When you looked back down at him and handed him his phone, he pulled both hands off your thighs and didn’t put them back. He just stared up at you apprehensively, waiting. Of course you noticed his change in demeanor and started feeling hot and prickly from his intense gaze.

“Um, well…” you started quietly as you slowly clasped your hands over the black cotton skirt pooled on his abdomen. His eyes flicked to where your arms pushed yours breasts together in the corset as he gulped thickly before his gaze returned to your face.

“Do you still want to…?” You asked timidly, and Sakura just blinked at you as he sat up suddenly - almost sending you falling off the bed if he didn’t catch you around the waist, your hands grasped his shoulders securely.

“Do you?” He asked, surprised more than anything as his ears twitched and tail flicked curiously.

“Well, yeah. I mean don’t get me wrong, I feel like an utter imbecile,” you laughed out loud at yourself and Sakura was stunned silent at how breathtaking you looked. Especially when you met his gaze again with the moonlight reflected in your eyes. “But that’s not really your fault, so if you still want to…” you posed expectantly.

The next thing you knew you were laid out flat on your back, the air knocked out of your lungs, with Sakura positioned above on his hands and knees - your thighs still straddling his waist. Anamalic cocoa and resinous caramel invaded your senses as the moonlight shone on his ears twitching excitedly and his tail swishing behind him haughtily. From here, he looked very much like a tiger who just pinned its prey.

Bending forward, he captured your lips with his as he deftly unhooked your skirt from your corset, and then untied the lacing at the front of your skirt. His tail curled around your calf as he moved his hands under your back to unzip the corset after undoing the harness. Honestly, you were pretty amazed since it was a hidden zipper and your hair covered it all night. How did he even see it?

When he leaned back you noticed that his pupils had become thin slits while he smoothly peeled your top off first, and then your skirt. Bicolored, feline eyes drifted from your flushed face over your bare chest, down to your black lace panties and thigh high socks. Purposefully he wrapped his hands over the tops of each of your thighs and squeezed your legs appreciatively as he rolled the socks to your ankles before pulling them off.

Without meeting your eyes, he slipped his hands under each of your thighs and yanked you down the bed so your core was flush with his bulge. Only when a gasp tumbled past your lips did his eyes flick back to meet yours, and then a predacious smirk turned the corner of his mouth before he bent down to slot his lips between yours.

Peppering kisses over your jaw to your pulse point where he nipped gently, and then pressed open mouth kisses down your neck to your collarbone. Woody amber swirled with marine musk and mixed with the heat radiating from his skin to your gooseflesh below. Keening your head back into the pillows, you mewled delightfully when his soft lips trailed over the tops of your breasts to your pert nipple. Sliding one hand under your shoulder blade, he held you tightly against his mouth as he sucked and lightly nipped at your nipple. Balsamic vanilla spilled across his tongue, quickly followed by damp, spiced pine. His other hand snaked over your ribs to squeeze the pleasantly plush fat of your breast and pinch lightly on your other nipple.

When you started grinding against him desperately, Sakura released an amused breath that fanned over your already sensitive skin before pressing light kisses and bites down to the band of your panties. His hands ghosted down your torso to the top of your waistband, where he gently caressed the sensitive skin causing you to fist your hands into the sheets. Then, he dipped the tops of his fingers into the band before shooting you a pleading look - his ears twitched with excitement and his tail swished with anticipation.

Pulling your bottom lip between your teeth, you nodded silently at him with a begging gleam in your eyes as he oh so slowly peeled the black, lacy garment down your legs. The second his bicolored irises landed on your glistening folds his tail puffed out and stood straight up behind him. Stooping lower, bringing his lips just inches away from yours, he inhaled deeply and was immediately submerged in your buttery, camphoraceous musk. Then he exhaled a deep, low groan that fanned air over your core sending shivers through your torso and down your limbs.

Pinning you with a hungry look as he leaned forward, licking a slow stripe up through your folds to your sensitive bundle of nerves. A stilted whimper caught in your throat from the sheer intensity of his gaze as he swirled the tip of his tongue around your clit. Pulling back slightly, his slit pupils dipped down to your sopping cunt before he dove back down and slid his tongue through your entrance.

Sweetened, musky earth preceded a resinous camphor that transported him to an evergreen forest with a damp earthen floor, mossy roots and lichen-covered bark. His eyes rolled back while he groaned desperately into you as his tongue plunged in and out of your fluttering core as more of your arousal gushed over his taste buds. You could feel his ears twitching delightedly against your inner thighs as they shook in return.

Suddenly, you emitted an obscene gasp as Sakura’s wet muscle was replaced by a lithe digit sliding through that ring of muscle to nestle in your velvety walls. He wasted no time latching his mouth around your clit as he pumped his finger in and out at a moderate pace.

“Sa-Sakura, th-that was sne-sneaky!” You stuttered out between labored breaths as tears collected in the corners of your eyes. It had been so long since you’d been with someone, and it felt like he already knew where to touch that would have you seeing God. A low chuckle escaped him as those breathtaking bicolored eyes cut up to meet yours over your heaving breasts.

“Sorry,” he breathed over you before placing a chaste kiss against your clit. “I’m gonna put a second finger in now, okay?” He asked in a low timbre, but you could see the teasing glint reflected in his irises as well as the haughty flick of his ears and tail. Wordlessly, you nodded as he was already positioning his second digit at your entrance.

A sharp cry was torn from your throat as he pushed both fingers in and immediately resumed his previous pace while stretching you out - his mouth was back on your clit not even a second later. Lewd squelching filled the small room, accompanied by your breathy moans and Sakura’s occasional grunts and groans of pleasure. Just as you felt yourself teetering over the edge, he pulled back completely - leaving you shivering under the lack of warmth.

“Wha-” you sat up and stared at him in shock as you began to ask why he stopped, but then you got too distracted by the sight of him. Greedily, you drank in the hard planes of his shoulders, chest and abdomen that lead down to his pelvis.

“I’m gonna cum soon,” Sakura explained as you watched him undo his trousers and slide them off as well. Leaving him in nothing but a pair of black compression boxers. “And I’d really like to feel you at least.” He explained his reason, but at this point you couldn’t care as your eyes drank in all that was him.

“I-it’s fine, um,” murmuring softly as your eyes focused on his sizable bulge before drifting back up to his half-lidded gaze. “Can I… taste you?” You asked cautiously, to which Sakura turned a furious shade of red.

“Absolutely not,” he snapped and you immediately stifled a laugh at his obvious embarrassment. “I wanna feel you before I cum.” He spoke purposefully as his eyes cut down between your legs and then shot back to yours.

“Then let me be on top at least,” you urged as you sat up to be nose to nose with him. Sakura’s face flushed as he gulped loudly, but still he gave you a curt nod before laying on his back. A fine dusting of pink clung to his cheeks as he watched you straddle his waist and line his leaking tip up to your entrance.

As you sank down his length, his ears flattened to the sides of his head slightly as his eyes fell shut. His twitching tail, puffed out, caressed along your calf, ghosting up your thigh to curl around your hip. As he bottomed out, you splayed your hands flat across his chest while you adjusted to his thick cock twitching deep within your gummy walls. Strained breaths passed your lips as you straightened, bringing your hands up to curl around his forearms, and parted your thighs more to take even more of him. Sakura stared in awe as your head hung back, tresses tumbling down your back, while he gripped your hips with bruising strength.

Finally, once you’d grown accustomed to his size, you snaked your hands up to his and grasped his thumbs lightly before you rose up his length until only his tip was nestled in your folds. Then, you slid back down at an experimentally ardent pace that pulled an animalistic groan from deep within Sakura’s chest. Bicolored irises peered up at you as if you were a threat and prey at the same time while you threw him an innocent smile, and then you tightened your grip on his hands before increasing your pace.

A satisfying plat plat plat bounced off the walls as you rode him with abandon. Sakura’s breathing became uneven, but otherwise he studied you wordlessly as your hair, shining in the moonlight, fluttered around you with each of your movements. Insatiable moans burst from your mouth, interspersed with salacious ah ah ah’s when you managed to hit that spongy spot just right with his tip.

Still, Sakura could feel your inner thighs trembling against his hips, see your uneven breathing and the sheen of sweat on your forehead. Patiently, he waited for the moment that you sheathed him fully again, eyes shut, wanton mewls filling the room, and then he sat up and grabbed you with such speed you barely had time to yelp. The room spun around you as air whipped past your face, and suddenly you were under him - one arm braced along your lower back while the other forearm was braced above your head. Spiced-sugared leather mingled with musky, peppered caramel like incense smoke hanging in the air around both of you. His thick, hard cock was still pressed snug to that spongy spot that had your vision going blurry, and his nose was brushing yours. Feline eyes triumphantly scanned over their prey.

Then, with a slow, deep thrust you were keening your head back into the pillows and scrambling desperately to grab hold of him. Looping your arms around his back, you immediately dug your nails into his shoulders as his tail curled comfortingly around one of your wrists. Once it seemed you had adjusted to the change in position, Sakura pulled back until his tip was kissing your entrance and then oh so slowly pressed back into your warm, velvety walls. Panting against your throat, he did everything he could to maintain control and an ardent pace. He wanted this to last as long as possible.

But that string deep in your belly was growing more and more taut with each deep thrust until your core was spasming as more of your arousal gushed around him. Your nails were finding purchase in his lithe shoulder for a sense of grounding as he continued his frustratingly slow pace. Just before you clamped down on him, Sakura pulled out rapidly leaving you crying and squirming against the bedding as you clenched around nothing.

Before you could even accuse him of being cruel, he had maneuvered you onto your hands and knees in front of his mirror at the end of the bed. He kneeled behind you, the white of his two toned hair reflecting moonlight like it were the moon itself, while his ears twitched with concentration and his tail flicked back and forth excitedly. Then, he lined his bulbous tip up to your still gushing entrance before sliding in with one quick thrust. He wasted no time grabbing your hips in a vice grip before immediately starting a brutal pace that had your ass jiggling against his pelvis each time they smacked together.

In the mirror you could see Sakura’s eyes reflecting in the moonlight and the darkness, so his slate gray eye was clearly visible while his amber eye had a reflective glow that gave him a bestial air. Then, he pressed his palm between your shoulder blades to flatten you to the bed before pulling your legs out straight and straddling your thighs. He laid over top of you, his face next to yours in the mirror as he held you under his animalistic stare. Wrapping his arms around yours, and then his hands around your wrists, he pinned them to the bed in front of you.

When he began thrusting again, you could feel the bed shaking underneath you as the frame clacked against the wall. His strong form rippled and flexed around you as he continued pistoning into you - ripping the lewdest ah ah ah’s from you than you’ve ever produced before. Clawing into the sheets as you begged him to make you cum again, to which he just growled guttural and low in response. Even through your fucked out gaze, you could see he’d become much more tiger than man at this point as his ears laid back against his head, tail swishing wildly behind him, and his expression downright possessive.

Suddenly, as if to drill the point in further, Sakura brought his lips to the crook of your neck where he bit the sensitive skin, hard, as he emitted a bestial growl. His canines stayed pressed firmly to your skin, hints of iron flooded his tongue as his hot, balsamic breath fanned down your neck and over your collarbones. His breath dampened your heated skin with each brutal thrust until he stilled behind you - hips flush to yours - while your creamy cunt milked him for all he was worth. Hot, white ropes painted the insides of your slick, gummy walls as he finally released your throat and collapsed over top of your, heavy panting still moistening your neck with his hot breaths. Hints of buttery, animalic cedarwood drifted from Sakura’s flushed skin and warred for dominance with the ambery, wood smoke emanating from you before permeating the room completely.

Eventually, he pulled you back up to the pillows and folded you into his arms before drifting off to sleep. As a dreamy abyss slowly claimed you, Sakura’s tail caressed your hip until finally curling around you for the night.

Morning light crept through the bedroom window and bathed Sakura’s face until he awoke to the spot where you were laying, cold and empty. Instantly he shot straight up, feline eyes scanning the room and ears pricked for any sign of you. Clinking and soft footsteps from the other side of the house alerted him to someone still being there, slowly he crept out of bed, slid into his boxers, and stealthily walked down the hallway to peer into the kitchen.

What he saw was you standing at the counter with your back to him, wearing nothing but your black lace panties and his white t-shirt. Still you hadn’t noticed him as you absentmindedly hummed while pouring coffee grounds into the brewer. Despite the strong smell of freshly ground coffee, Sakura could still smell you over it which silently drew him closer until he was just behind you. Wrapping his arms around your waist, he buried his nose in the crook of your neck. In the exact spot where he marked you last night.

Releasing a startled yelp as you jumped in his secure embrace, but he just tightened his arms around you. Tail swishing against your calf as he inhaled the traces of his scent still emanating from your soft skin. Wordlessly, he turned you around and walked you back to his room - ignoring your protests for coffee along the way as he promised he’d make you some later.

This was probably your first indication that last night wasn’t just a one night stand. Especially after you and Sakura went your separate ways later that day, and yet you ended up running into him all around town. It would have been odd, except for the fact that he was just as surprised as you whenever the two of you would run into each other. Almost chocking it up to a coincidence, but at some point it seemed like he was being drawn to you somehow. Proven by his pupils that would always be slit-like until they landed on you, where they would dilate with surprised delight. Or the fact that his ears would constantly be twitching - searching - for something until he’d catch sight of you, and then they would subconsciously prick towards you. At first you thought it was cute, but he honestly seemed a little perturbed by it.

After about a month, he started bringing you coffee and a baked bun while he walked you to work - seeming to just relent and lean into whatever was drawing him to you. Eventually you offered him your number and the two of you started having a weekly breakfast or lunch to catch up. The two of you started texting daily, you often sending him photos of the costume you’ve been working on, and him often asking if you’ve taken a break, eaten or drink enough water today. It seemed to make him feel better at least, and lessened the frequency in which the two of you were “running into each other”. Sakura seemed to be able to focus on his life more now that he was pretty consistently up to date on you and your whereabouts.

Though many of Sakura’s friends seemed to already pick up on what was going on, you still had no idea. About three months in Sakura, Nirei and Suo accompanied Hana to one of your cosplay competitions. Your two toned friend surprised you with a bouquet of Orchids, Snapdragons and Asters for all the hard work you’ve put in. Ambling towards your apartment with the bouquet in hand and your newfound friend at your side, you reflected on the past few months. Only then did you start to consider that maybe that Halloween wasn’t a one night stand.

When you brought up Sakura and your friendship to your best friend, she immediately asked if the two of you hooked up. Wide eyed, you admitted that yes you did, and she instantly followed up by asking if he bit you. Stunned that she could possibly know that, you just silently nodded at her. She sighed heavily and confessed that Nirei - the guy she’s been talking to since the party - was good friends with Sakura, and mentioned that he was a little freaked out for imprinting on you in the heat of the moment.

Of course you had no idea what that meant and unfortunately her information was limited, so the two of you huddled in a booth together at the cafe while Hana googled everything there is to know about hybrids and imprinting. The very first disclaimer spoke of the difficulties of dating between hybrids and non hybrids because of imprinting. It wasn’t something humans needed to do, while hybrids struggled to have fulfilling relationships without it. Though your concept of it still wasn’t extensive, you seemed to get the gist that it was a way of committing in a hybrid relationship - but in a much more intense way.

Basically, what the article illustrated was that when a hybrid imprints on a non-hybrid and isn’t imprinted back, then they may end up feeling insecure of themselves and extremely overprotective of the person they’ve imprinted on. Often this presents as the hybrid seeming “clingy” is what the article stated in layman's terms (though you really hated that terminology).

After the two of you were finished pouring over the article, about five cups of coffee drank between the both of you, Hana finally asked what you were going to do. Peering into the last dregs of the thick, brown liquid settled in the bottom of your cup, you pursed your lips in thought. After several agonizing moments of silence passed, you finally told her that you honestly weren’t sure how you felt about imprinting him back, but you definitely hated that he was left feeling this way.

Unfortunately, Hana let your conversation slip to Nirei who mentioned it to his two toned friend, so you suffered radio silence for him for a few weeks. You also didn’t see any sign of his dual toned locks during that time - the walk to your work having grown rather lonely without him. It took about three weeks to pin Sakura down to talk to him about it (and much convincing from his two friends). Finally you just showed up at his house. When he opened the door he looked a little stunned, but you walked right past him without an invitation.

“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!” He all but shouted at you as you shrugged off your coat and hung it up in the closet by the front door.

“You imprinted on me.” You stated point blank before turning to face him with your arms crossed. He sputtered for a moment as his face grew redder and redder until he clammed up completely and looked to the other side of the room.

“I want to imprint you back, if you’re agreeable to it,” you continued matter of factly. Instantly, he whipped his head back to face you - eyes wide and pupils already thin slits as he regarded you incredulously.

“Do you even know what that means?” He asked coldly, and you nodded firmly in response. He was stuck staring at you for a long, long moment before he spoke again.

“Why.” He stated more than asked, tail swishing intimidatingly behind him.

“You’ve been feeling insecure and overprotective of me, right?” You inquired with one measured step towards him so you were staring him down. After a beat, he nodded. “And you’ve been feeling that way since Halloween, correct?” You queried, and this time he nodded without hesitation. “And it’s because I haven’t imprinted you back?” You asked simply.

“Y-yes…” he breathed out, completely ashamed.

“Then I’d like to help you stop feeling that way,” you explained gently, and immediately Sakura huffed out a sigh and all but threw his hands up in the air.

“That’s what I mean! You don’t understand,” he shot at you, ears flat against his head and tail swishing dangerously behind him. “It’s not gonna just stop! I’m never going to stop feeling this way about you, because I fucked up!” He growled, angry more at himself than you at this point. When you tilted your head in confusion, he sighed even deeper and walked past you to flop down on his couch. Slowly you followed him and gingerly sat on the cushion next to him.

“I wasn’t supposed to imprint on you, or anyone,” he admitted in a defeated tone. “It was supposed to be a one night stand, but then I got carried away.” He muttered miserably. Silently you settled into the back of the couch and listened. “Imprinting means that I… I chose you, that I want to be with you… that I depend on you.” He admitted as he slowly rested his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

“If I let you imprint on me, then it just means that you agree to all of those things,” he said as he finally lifted his head to look at you out of the corner of his eye. “You had no idea about any of that, so I can’t just let you imprint on me if you aren’t up to that. It would be worse for my mental state,” he stated.

“But what if I am?” You ask quietly, to which Sakura immediately sat back against the couch and stared down at you in disbelief.

“It’s nowhere near the same, but humans choose their partners too,” you started gingerly and Sakura’s brow creased as he listened intently. “It’s just not so physical… It's a commitment. You choose each other every day despite the fact that everything else in life isn’t really guaranteed - you get to decide to show up for the other person through it all.” You murmured quietly. Sakura just continued to stare at you silently.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’ve been showing up for me for months now,” you murmured earnestly, “and I’d like to show up for you if you’d let me.” You offered genuinely. Sakura stared at you in silence for several minutes before breaking the silence.

“Okay,” he uttered simply, distbelief still clearly etched into his features. That night not many words were shared between the two of you, but you stayed and made dinner. After a quiet meal, you asked if you could stay on the couch - knowing that if you went home now Sakura would insist on walking you. Again he was shocked, but agreed before awkwardly turning in for bed.

Over the next few months you took the time to really get to know Sakura, visited him around Furin, and you took it upon yourself to text him when you were going outside of your routine or wouldn’t be able to contact him. Mostly so he wasn’t a nervous wreck throughout the day.

Eventually his lease came to an end, and you offered for him to move in with you - a two bedroom apartment on the ground floor. He was apprehensive at first, but took you up on it and ended up getting to know more of his friends from University since they helped him move in.

Over the next several months you and Sakura became much more comfortable around one another, though you two chose to keep your relationship platonic so as to not complicate things. Still, most days you were reduced to a hot, prickly, blushing mess every time you saw him step out of the bathroom shirtless with water droplets flicking off his twitching ears. Or when you would walk into the kitchen and see his broad back turned to you while making himself a cup of coffee. The morning light from the little kitchen window always illuminated him, and when he’d turn to look at you his one amber eye would be shining like gold.

Despite your difficulties with remaining just roommates, you were able to learn a bit more about Sakura and his struggles in general. It took him a while to open up about just how bad people were to him before he came to Furin, but when he finally did he talked more about how welcoming everyone was to him. He said Furin was home to him, and it’s been difficult to adjust to the ‘real world’ as a cat hybrid since graduating university.

Even after months of listening and learning about him, you didn’t fully understand how terrible life could be as a hybrid until he told you about some of the ones he’s met. It took him a while to touch on the hybrid situation in your home country - something you hadn’t really considered since meeting Sakura.

Cautiously, he had asked you about how hybrids were received back home, and without missing a beat a notch formed in your brow as you shook your head and said, “I don’t think we have any where I’m from… I’ve never seen them at least.”

Sakura had looked perturbed by your answer, and was careful in the way he explained the reality of the situation. Specifically he told you of a wolf hybrid he met who moved to Japan a few years prior, alone. When Sakura had asked him about family or friends, the hybrid explained that he was the only one who got away. You sat in horrified silence as Sakura regaled the other’s life of running, hiding, and being told time and again that he wasn’t even real. That he shouldn’t exist. Finally, he told you that the hybrid made it to Japan, alone, because his family had been taken by the military for testing. But they made sure he got away.

The apartment was awkwardly quiet and tense after that conversation, and into the next few days. Sakura was thoroughly stressed out thinking that he had scared you away, or made you uncomfortable with the reality of life as a hybrid. Truly though, you were ruminating on what you could do. At heart, you were an office assistant by day and cosplayer by night, so you hadn’t gained much experience in advocating for others.

After several days mulling it over, you finally approached Sakura and asked what he does for work. A little stunned after days of awkward tension, he quietly offered his job history. Mostly physical labor jobs that weren’t public facing, and when you asked if that was by choice, due the extent of his experience, or because those are the options hybrids are offered, he told you it was the latter.

From there, you decided to start with your own place of work. Come Monday morning, you marched right into your boss’s office and asked if hybrids were allowed to work there. Awkwardly, he said that they don’t discriminate against anyone, but there aren’t many hybrids that have the education, experience or training. Without missing a beat, you asked if a hybrid who was a right fit for the position applied, then would they be given a fair shot. Again, awkwardly, your boss admitted that they would have to…

This conversation led you to creating a small teaching program for hybrids to learn administration skills like filing, computer programs, answering phones, etc. The program also helped them get certifications in their respective fields, and then assisted them to apply for positions where they knew there would be agencies to follow up with if they were discriminated against.

After that, your cosplay position blew up somewhat, which led you to seeking out hybrid cosplayers to collaborate with. You worked with your new allies and old cosplay friends to gain support in speaking up for hybrids trying to make it in the cosplay world. From there, your little group of cosplay-activists started a PSA program that basically spread the word about how limited resources lead to stagnant career options for hybrids. With a bit more traction and money, you and your fellow cosplayers started an advocacy program that has set annual goals to not just maintain hybrid rights, but to expand them as well.

The point of the program was more so the public could take over pushing for expanded rights, and not just the founders of the program (you and your cosplay friends). From there, you and the other founders worked with the teaching program you originally created to start a college scholarship program for hybrids to try to close the education gap somewhat.

As the months passed since that conversation, Sakura was shocked to see how much change had occurred in real time around him. Truly, he never expected you to be able to go so far, or that you actually cared that much. What he had expected was sympathy or pity, but the more people you talked to and coordinated with, and the harder you all worked led to the job market opening up to hybrids in a lot of ways. Especially proven when Sakura no longer had to work in Rickhouses or assembly lines, but could actually use his education to attain an office position.

Eventually the Hybrid Advocacy Program really took on a life of its own, and allowed you to focus back on cosplay which had become your full time job at this point. Though you had stayed busy, you had of course been able to keep up with Hana over the past year. Which gave her the opportunity to sprinkle into the weekly conversation between the two of you about if or when you would imprint Sakura back.

“Living together is still so new…” you’d hem, “and I want him to feel comfortable, since I’m the first roommate he’s had, so I don’t know…” then you’d hah. “I just don’t wanna complicate things right now.” You would respond with an awkward wave of your hand, or some variation to that effect.

You and Sakura remained platonic friends so as to not exacerbate the imprinting issue, but at the next Halloween party it finally came to a head. This year Sakura chose to go as himself again, and you decided to branch away from being a witch - though Sakura said you could’ve definitely worn it again - and decided to go as Karen from Mean Girls’. Even though you made Sakura watch the movie, he didn’t quite get it, but Hana thought it would be hilarious.

Despite being used to wearing skimpy garments for cosplay, you felt a little out of your depth wearing straight up lingerie, knee high white socks, your Mary Janes, and mouse ears. Still, you felt comfortable knowing the guys at the party would mostly be Sakura’s old university friends. Even Sakura, who was usually shy to so much exposed skin, didn’t bat an eye at the thin fabric that barely covered your thighs or your bosom.

The moment the two of you walked into the party, several Furin jackets swarmed Sakura as old faces started hugging and joking with him. Almost immediately one of their girlfriend’s approached and asked what you were and right on cue, you pointed at the ears and said.

“I’m a mouse, duh.” In the ditsiest way you could, to which she burst out laughing.

“Karen?! From Mean Girls?!” She squealed, and both of you fell out laughing at the reference as you bobbed your head. Though you were absolutely oblivious, it was pretty hard for the other Furin alumni not to notice how their friend was entranced by you. Bicolored eyes drank in your wide grin as his ears subtly twitched in tune with your melodic laugh.

The party was shaping up to be quite a blast - you even got Sakura to play a few rounds of beer pong, and of course he was unsurprisingly apt at the game. Much to the chagrin of others. Though eventually he was pulled into a private conversation with some of his old buddies, so you went off to find Hana. As you passed through the kitchen in search of your friend, out of nowhere you were stopped by a rather tall guy with dark brown hair and a cheshire grin.

“Hey, I like your costume,” he said as his eyes raked down the lingerie you donned for your costume, and for the first time since you arrived you felt like you should’ve brought a shawl or something to wrap up in.

“Uh, thanks… I like yours too,” you offered half heartedly as you looked over his bowtie t-shirt and casual jeans. His grin broadened as he took a step closer to you. “Ac-actually, have you seen Hana? The girl who threw the party?” You blurted out as you took a step backwards to maintain distance.

“No I haven’t, but I can help you look for her,” he offered as he took another step towards you.

“N-no that’s okay!” You said with a bright smile, “I’m sure I’ll find her around here somewhere.” Then you turned to go back the way you came, but he stepped in front of you - blocking your escape route.

“By the way, did you come here with anyone?” He asked, completely ignoring your obvious attempt to leave.

“Yes I did,” you said immediately while peering over his shoulder for your two toned companion.

“Oh yeah, the hybrid,” he sneered slightly. “But like, are you here with anyone? A boyfriend? Anyone you’re interested in?” He asked pointedly, stooping down to be closer to your face while awaiting your response. Unbeknownst to you, the word ‘hybrid’ had filtered out of the room, but Sakura ignored it - not wanting to start a fight here. But Hana walked right into the group of alumni and grabbed him by the sleeve before dragging him to the entryway of the kitchen in time to catch your response.

“Yes I am here with someone, and yes I am interested in someone,” you spat back at him - your blood pressure rising from his sheer audacity. The guy's grin faltered slightly before he plastered it back on. Sakura almost stepped between the two of you upon hearing your tone, but Hana held him back while glaring daggers at the back of the guy’s head. Still you hadn’t noticed them.

“Oh really? Who?” He asked, tauntingly this time.

“The Hybrid - Sakura Haruka.” You stated while crossing your arms over your chest, and this time when the guy’s grin faltered he didn’t try to put the grin back on. Instead he took a menacing step towards you - forcing you to step back into the counter.

Before he could move any closer though, a black and white blur flew from the entryway of the kitchen and collided with the brunette man. The next thing you knew, Sakura had the guy’s torso bent over with his face pressed into the tiled island. Blinking rapidly, you looked from where the guy was pinned to the entryway of the kitchen where Hana was still standing, and looked absolutely pissed at the guy currently restrained on her kitchen island. When she did meet your gaze, she flashed you the brightest of smiles.

“No notes!” She called to you as she clapped her hands together. “Sakura, could you be a dear and show him the door?” Hana asked kindly and without missing a beat, Sakura yanked the guy off the island and dragged him through the house to the front door already being held open by Suo. After tossing him through the doorway, Suo swiftly shut the door, and then Sakura returned to the kitchen where you were still standing against the counter, a little stunned. Before you could speak or even apologize for the nature of the conversation, Sakura gave you a pointed look.

“Wanna go home?” He offered quietly, and you nodded gratefully - feeling embarrassed and very exposed at this point.

Hana threw you a knowing smile as Sakura led you out the backdoor. The two of you walked across the porch where you two first met, past the railing where he first kissed you, and down the wooden steps toward the back alley that led out to the cement sidewalk. The whole way home, his tail curled possessively around your lower back.

Though you didn’t mention it, the two of you had remained staunchly friends since that last Halloween, but the way he was touching you now didn’t feel platonic at all. When the two of you entered the apartment, his tail didn’t leave your waist as he let you hold onto his shoulder while you unstrapped and kicked off your shoes. Like he usually did after your competitions. As soon as you let him go, Sakura turned and raked his eyes over your costume. Heat pooled in your lower belly as his pupils became slit like before meeting yours again.

“I really like your costume this year,” susurrating as he stepped closer to you. Air hitched in your throat as his scent enveloped you, the heat radiated out from him over the short distance to where you stood. “Y’know it’s been years since I’ve played cat and mouse,” he murmured with a serene smile as he gently flicked your mouse ear with his pointer finger. His ears twitched and tail flicked over his shoulder, his expression had become downright predacious.

Truly, even Sakura a year ago hadn’t been this forward or hungry, but for some reason it quelled your nerves and spiked your heart rate in an exciting way. A slight smile tugged at the corners of your mouth as you subtly peered around the apartment - mapping out your route. Sakura’s tail flicked expectantly - his keen eyes already clocking the way you intended to take.

Suddenly, you lurched to the left and Sakura followed your movement, before you spun to the right and dashed by him, shrieking with laughter the whole way. He was right on your heels though, until you made it to the other side of the island in the kitchen where you spun to face him. Sakura was positioned on the opposite side, ears pricked and tail swishing as he watched intently for your next move.

Crying with laughter, you faked to the left only to stop short and shoot to the right towards the hallway. Sakura followed your fake, only to spin around at a speed you honestly didn’t even realize a hybrid was capable of, and then sprinted after you down the hall. Once you burst through the bedroom door, your options were limited as you moved deeper into the room and then spun to face your “attacker”. But apparently Sakura could be absolutely silent when he wanted to be, because he was already standing right in front of you.

Before you could make another move, he grabbed you by the waist and tossed you on the bed - you spilling giggles the whole way onto the bouncing bedspread. Not even a second later, Sakura was on top of you with your wrists pinned above your head. Creamy, resinous leather mingled with hints of damp, balsamic smoke permeating the silence with your mixed redolence. Nose to nose now, the two of you were locked in a staring contest as your uneven breaths fanned each other’s ruddy cheeks.

“Next year you should be a bunny,” he suggested with a smirk. Your brows creased slightly through your giggles, but before you could ask what he meant he reached down and laid a wide, warm palm over your racing heart.

“Bunny heart,” he taunted softly, feline eyes gleaming down at you. At that, you couldn’t help but throw your head back into the pillows with laughter.

“Can we still play cat and mouse even when I’m a bunny?” You asked with a mischievous grin.

“Absolutely,” whispering as he leaned closer and slotted his lips between yours. It’d been a year since you had last tasted Sakura, and he was just as intoxicating as before. As sharp canines nipped at your bottom lip, eliciting a gasp from you, his tongue slipped between your lips to intertwine with yours. Old fashioned, sugared fruit swirled with buttery, spiced musk before bursting across your taste buds. Soft mewls cascaded from you into Sakura’s mouth, where he drank them down greedily as he pressed his hips in between your thighs while his tail caressed and curled around your ankle.

Parting from the kiss, Sakura inhaled deeply along the column of your neck until his lips hovered above the imprint mark that still showed lightly along the sensitive skin. Warm breath fanned over your neck and collarbone, gooseflesh broke out over your body as his teeth skimmed across the mark lightly, and then he pressed a chaste kiss to the center of it.

Moving down, he continued pressing chaste kisses along your collarbone until his lips were just above your hammering heart.

“Bunny Heart,” he repeated as a pair of bicolored, feline eyes cut up to meet yours before he nipped the top of your breast, and then pressed another chaste kiss above the wildly beating organ. This time you didn’t laugh though as that string deep in your core tightened slightly while a soft whine escaped your trembling lips.

Ever so slowly, he curled his fingers under the straps of your lingerie and pulled it down your arms and torso, as the valley between your breasts was revealed his lips swiftly attached to your sternum. Your lingerie now pooled around your waist as his fingertips ghosted back over your black lace bra and followed the band to the clasp in the back where he deftly unhooked, and then removed the garment. His slit pupils suddenly expanded until his irises were blackened as his gaze roamed over your bare chest, pert nipples and then up to your wide eyes accentuated by the mouse ears still atop your head.

Pulling your lingerie down your body, followed by your black lace panties - leaving you completely nude except for the mouse ears - his eyes shot back up to your face. Sakura had never looked so predator-like before as his pupils had subsided to partial slits, his ears pricked towards any movement or sound you may make, and tail swishing back and forth behind him in anticipation.

“Can you keep the ears on?” He asked in a low tone you’ve never heard him use before. With a small nod of your head, his ears twitched and tail did a triumphant flick before he descended upon your sensitive nipples. Nipping gently, and then taking one nipple completely in his mouth as his eyes rolled back, his palm wrapped around your other breast.

Sweet, earthy amber swirled across his tongue as he groaned delightedly against your chest. Gasping at the sudden sensation, you carded your fingers through his hair and held him close, your fingertips tickled and rubbed at one of his ears causing him to grind pleasingly against your core. Growing impatient, he released your plush mounds to delve lower to your already dripping folds where he grabbed the backs of your thighs and pushed your legs up towards your chest. Protests formed on the tip of your tongue, but then you felt him nuzzle your clit with his nose and inhale deeply eliciting a small squeak from you.

Sakura almost chuckled at the similarities between your costume and the sounds you could make, but he was far too absorbed in your aroma - wet, sweet musk - filled his senses. Latching his mouth over your already thrumming cunt, he wasted no time plunging his tongue through your glistening folds to taste you thoroughly. Creamy, sweet camphor spilled over his tongue, urging him to groan and bury his face deeper between your thighs. His wet muscle glided along your gummy walls, only to slide up and swirl around your clit before plunging back in to lick up more of the arousal flowing from your core.

The position you were in, the sounds echoing around the room, the sensations you were feeling, the way Sakura was groaning directly into you… It was all so much that you had to cover your blushing face as even more lewd and salacious moans poured past your lips. That is until Sakura’s grip on your thighs tightened enough to make you peek through your fingers at his slitted pupils.

“Don’t hide from me,” he growled against you, causing your hands to shoot down to fist in the sheets at your sides. Overstimulated tears collected along your lash line as his merciless tongue worked you closer to the brink. Just as the euphoric abyss was coming to claim you, he pulled away completely and let your thighs drop onto his folded legs.

“Sa-Sakura,” you sobbed in betrayal as the tears began to plop and then run down your cheeks. Soothingly, he rubbed your trembling thigh as he studied your frustrated tears intently through half lidded eyes.

“Sorry - I didn’t want to get carried away,” he murmured softly as his eyes roamed over your flushed, heaving bosom. His wide palm ghosted up your torso quickly thereafter until he lightly wrapped his hand around your throat and bent down to capture your lips. Flavorful notes of your own arousal mixed with Sakura’s rich animalistic musk swiped across your tongue with every one of his movements. Too absorbed in tasting him that you didn’t notice Sakura slyly undo his jeans and shuck them as well as his boxers off before lining his tip up to your fluttering entrance.

With one quick roll of his hips, Sakura bottomed out completely. A strained breath puffed past his lips into your mouth as you clenched around him and adjusted to his girth. Occasionally he would twitch, the bulbous head of his cock nudging that spongy spot that had you arching your back off the bed and your nails scrabbling against his biceps.

Then, canting his hips back so his veiny length dragged so slowly across your gummy walls - allowing you to feel every inch of him - before slamming back into you. Immediately he started out at a brutal pace, the satisfying plat plat plat of his hips meeting yours along with the lewd squelching of your sopping cunt sucking him back in over and over again… it was enough to push you towards insanity.

As the tip of his length began kissing your cervix over and over, the string in your core grew taut until it completely snapped. The heat pooled in your lower belly was electrified as it shot through your veins, over your hips all the way to your fingertips and curling toes. Euphoria washed over you as satisfied tears trickled down your flushed cheeks. Sakura could only watch in stunned silence as he first felt your velvety walls clamp down on him and pulse with fervor, and then your trembling thighs that turned into shivers running up and down your body until you fell limp beneath him.

Smoothing your hair away from your dampened forehead as dual colored irises flitted over your face until you finally cracked your eyes and peered up at him. A smile tugged at your lips when you saw his ears prick at the sight of you coming to, and the feeling of his tail gingerly tracing your upper thigh and over your hip. Gently, you reached up and cupped his face before touching your nose to his, causing his tail to flick haughtily against your hip but otherwise his ears twitched in delight.

“I need a break,” you murmured tiredly and Sakura nodded in agreement as he lifted off of you and wandered towards the kitchen to grab some water. “I wanna be on top when you come back though!” You call out into the hallway, immediately you heard a plastic cup clattering across the kitchen floor and Sakura cursing lightly.

When he returned, his face was bright red and his tail was puffed out slightly as he handed you the cup of water. Stifling a giggle, you sipped the water with a mischievous smirk as Sakura settled next to you - his tail flicking against your calf repeatedly, though you were sure it was a subconscious tick on his part.

Setting the cup down, you made sure your mouse ears were straight before swiftly moving to straddle Sakura. Surprised, he immediately grabbed your hips and stared up at you wide eyed, pupils dilating and turning back to slits before dilating once more. Throwing him a grin as you lined his tip up and ardently sank down the length of his cock - allowing yourself to feel every inch until he was bottomed out completely.

A desperate whine emitted from somewhere deep in Sakura’s chest as his fingers sank into your plush hips bruisingly. Just like last year, you gingerly wrapped your hands around his thumbs before lifting off his lap until only his tip was nestled in your folds, and then sank back down at a marginally faster pace than before. Your two toned partner was left a panting, whining mess below you as he begged you to go faster.

Instead, you kept that same, agonizing pace as he pleaded with you for more. Just as it seemed he was about to teeter off the edge into insanity himself, you delicately cupped his cheeks and brought your lips a breaths away from his. Silence filled the room as everything seemed to still, even his and your breathing. Until you broke the silence with one simple question.

“Sakura,” you started and his ears pricked up, “can I imprint you?” Susurrating the words, your sweet breath fanned his lips, replacing the breath you stole from his lungs with hints of vanilla and aged whiskey barrels. Slowly his tail curled around your ankle and flicked softly against your calf. A pregnant pause passed as bicolored eyes searched yours for any sign of deceit.

“Please,” he murmured and though that’s about the only thing he had been saying for the past several minutes, this time the desperation and need was far more genuine.

Resuming your gradual pace as you turned Sakura’s head to the side and brought your lips to the crook of his neck. Inhaling him deeply, then you exhaled your breath over his damp skin sending a shiver through his lithe body. Then, as you threaded your fingers into his hair on the opposite side of his head, you sank your teeth into his neck as he began bucking his hips up into you. Bouncing back against his pelvis sent shock waves of pleasure through your core as you continued to bite firmly while sucking a purple mark into his neck. Suddenly, Sakura started moving your hips down his length for you as a desperate mewl passed through his gritted teeth.

“Harder,” he pleaded desperately, but when you didn’t get it at first he brought one hand up to grip the back of your head and growled, “bite me harder.”

Determined, you sank your teeth in until you could taste iron on your tongue, and for a moment you were afraid you went too far, but then Sakura released a guttural groan. Then, you felt his hips still as he held you flush against him in a vice grip as his cum filled you and mixed with the creamy ring at the base of his cock.

Releasing his neck, you gently licked the broken skin as Sakura wrapped an arm around your lower back, his panting filled the room. His tail was completely smooth now as it delicately caressed the back of your calf. After several minutes you pulled back to peer down at him, his dual colored irises peered back at you through half lidded eyes.

“I love you Sakura Haruka,” you murmured while gently stroking his jaw with your fingertips. Instantly, his tail puffed out and his ears laid flat to the sides of his head as a bright red blush broke out over his face. A deafening silence filled the room as you patiently waited for him to speak.

“I-I lo-love you to-too,” he averted his eyes to the other side of the room as the phrase stuttered through his teeth. Even though his voice was timid, his arms tightened around you and his tail curled possessively around your ankle as he gripped the back of your head and brought your lips to the crook of his neck again.

The two of you remained like that for quite some time before he rolled on his side and pulled you even tighter into his chest. His tail flicked over your hip until it laid flat over your waist and along your lower back as he drifted off to sleep, you following not far behind.

The next morning arrived with you laying in Sakura’s bed, alone. Shooting straight up, you peered around the room for your two toned roommate as you grabbed his white t-shirt and threw it on. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and the gentle clinking of ceramic drew you towards the kitchen. Peering around the corner of the hallway, you spied your roommate, clad only in his black compression boxers. His wide back facing you, but by the twitch of his ears you could tell that he already knew you were there.

Still, you stealthily tiptoed across the linoleum until you were inches away from him, and then looped your arms around his torso before burying your face into his back. Gingerly, his tail wrapped around the back of your thigh and flicked at the back of your knee as a serene smile spread across his face. Taking a slight step backwards, you began tugging him towards the hallway.

“Hey,” he chided you playfully as he shot you a look over his shoulder, “I thought you’d want coffee.” He said as he gestured towards the waiting ceramic mugs.

“Later,” you said in a commanding tone as you continued dragging him back to bed. Tittering softly, he let you lead him away for a lazy day in bed.

Maybe a week into November, Sakura asked you officially to be his partner and of course you agreed - much to the relief of his friends. Only a couple of short months later he was able to branch out with work, and moved to an extremely hybrid-friendly office. There, he met a ton of people who were passionate about raising the quality of life for hybrids.

With some trusted colleagues, he worked to create a program that assists foreign hybrids with home and job placement. The program also covered investigative duties towards crimes against hybrids - since the law and court systems were still behind in treating their cases fairly. Often he would credit you for inspiring him to create the program, but you just laugh him off every time.

“But you’re the one who originally inspired me,” you’d remind him with a prideful grin. Per usual he’d turn three shades redder, but now he’d smile serenely at you and accept your genuinely kind words.

Come next Halloween, the two of you were not only officially a couple but also living in a house together. Of course that meant that there were no pet restrictions or fees, and even though you should have expected it, turns out your partner adores cats.

Currently, the two of you made your way to Hana and Nirei’s Halloween Party - you as a bunny and Sakura as none other than himself, once again. Sakura’s tail curled with a comforting possessiveness around your lower back as you peered at him out of the corner of your eye.

“So, I was thinking,” you started quietly, and his bicolored eyes flicked to yours to show you he’s listening before you continued, “we should open a cat cafe.” You posed with an arch of your brow and cautious tilt of your head.

“Really?” He asked incredulously with a small puff of laughter past his lips.

“Well yeah! After we took in Jax, Steph, Liz, Big Tonka and Larry…” A pair of gray and amber irises threw a sideways glance at you over all the furry friends that just so happened to follow him home. “Look, I love all of them. Dearly.” You began gravely, “but they gotta start pulling their weight around here!” Crying out jokingly as you threw your hands up in the air.

”The biggest one is like 12 pounds and the smallest is like 8… they're pulling less than 50 pounds between the four of them - max,” he said in a deadpan tone.

”Every ounce counts!” You retorted decisively with an airy laugh.

Sakura couldn’t muster a response as he drank in your carefree expression before raking his eyes over your skimpy bunny costume, including the fluffy tail and long ears atop your head. Two toned ears twitched appreciatively as his tail flicked along your back and then wrapped around your waist, followed by his arm tucking you tightly into his side. Wrapping your arms around his torso, you grinned against his chest while a soft purring vibrated your cheek as that familiar row house came into view.

*Sakura's Scent inspiration was changed due to Scout Dixon being a very not a good person (I found out recently / am new to the perfume world). Though I kept Incarnate in there because so much of his scent is based on it and it feels weird to edit it out without an explanation, but Black Iris basically has the same profile barring one or two notes.

#wind breaker x reader #windbreaker x reader #sakura haruka x reader #sakura x reader #fluff #ns/fw #soft sakura haruka #sp’s headspace #pernesophe #kinktober #flufftober2024 #halloween #haruka sakura x reader

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jamscandraw · 6 months ago

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A Heart At Arm's Length is an Alternate Timeline/Royalty x Knight style AU where Murph replaces Darius as Coven Head after he mysteriously disappears. Steve is assigned as their personal bodyguard when they move to the castle and they start a secret relationship 🤫 More lore under the cut!

In an alternate timeline, MURPH is headhunted as a promising Abomination witch at a very young age and receives special training and mentorship from Darius. They officially become his apprentice at 16; they still attend school but are seen as a minor celebrity and incredibly isolated from their peers.

When Darius vanishes from the Boiling Isles with no trace, rumours swirl about his disappearance and Murph must take his place. Appointed at 25, they are the youngest Coven Head in history. Darius taught them a lot about power and political influence, and they maintain a careful act to gain the respect of the public and fellow coven heads, while also getting what they want. The power of appearances is very important and they permanently have a concealment stone active that makes them look flawless and glamorous no matter what. They appear calculating, sharp and a little detached when at court, but behind closed doors they are very lonely and wish for an easier, more "normal" life.

STEVE got his childhood dream - accepted into the Emperor's Coven at 18. But it hasn't been quite what he wanted up until now - lots of prison duty, late-night patrols and guarding empty corridors. So he jumps at the chance to be an escort for an important public figure - he might get to go somewhere interesting! - but is taken aback when he is assigned to Head Witch Hearthstone, who after several years in power has finally agreed to move into the castle permanently. They were never close friends, but he knew them in school, and now they're one of the most famous people on the island. He decides to remain professional and keep his identity a secret from them, but up close they're nothing like what the news says about them, and he can't help but be drawn towards them. Still, they're acting very suspiciously and Steve is worried they might be up to something other than their coven head duties. He vows to keep a close eye on them and try to learn more - you know, as part of his job...

Over time, the two gain each other's trust and their relationship grows into something more than what would be considered appropriate between a noble and their loyal bodyguard. A public romance between a coven head and a lowly scout would surely cause a scandal, and maybe even punishment for the both of them. Desperate to stay close to each other but not get caught, and afraid to reveal their true feelings too soon in an unbalanced power dynamic, they promise to keep their meetings a secret.

Both of them have to navigate political intrigue, corruption, social decorum and deceit in order to keep their affections undetected. But with the Day of Unity fast approaching and talk of treason running through the castle, can they even trust each other, and will they choose love or loyalty in the final moment?

#the owl house #toh oc #toh steve #au of the month #toh au #head witch au #murph hearthstone #my ocs #a heart at arm's length

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zibiscusloon · 4 months ago

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Gustholomule girlies go—

-Twila Tholomule-

•Twila Aleth Tholomule is a human and is the adopted daughter of Gus & Matt.

•Keeps up a cool persona to mask how insecure she actually is about her place in the Demon Realm.

•Took in Jukebox, a palisman who had been confiscated from an Emperor’s Coven scout. He managed to escape from Belos and hid in the castle walls for years. The damage he took from Belos caused him to lose most of his magic. Him and Twila developed a deep bond as they found someone who didn’t quite fit into their world.

•In the Construction, Potion, Illusion, and Beast Keeping tracks.

•Very close to her Aunt Luz! She gives Twila advice to adjust to being a human in the Demon Realm.

-Jane Tholomule-

•Jane Mari Tholomule is a lizard demon and Gus and Matt’s second oldest adopted daughter.

•Despite being younger than Twila, Jane was actually adopted first

“I’m the oldest!”

“I was in this house first!”

•The way I can best describe her is a Disney Princess who commits various felonies. She takes heavily after Eda (though admittedly less in an act of rebellion type of way and more so a “I crave violence” way. (Authorities aren’t able to hold anything against her as she’s great at getting rid of evidence. Concerningly good..)

•A theatre kid through and through, she joined the Bard and Illusion tracks. She’s the president of Hexside’s Drama Club.

•Unlike most witches, Jane keeps two palisman! Her palismen were already bonded to each other before she adopted them so she gained two lil accomplices!

-Mara Tholomule-

•Mara Khari Tholomule, Gus & Matt’s baby!

•She’s their only biological kid and was more of an accident as Gus and Matt weren’t intending to have any more kids after Twila & Jane. (They’re still as happy as they can be to have her<3 )

•She’s an absolute sweetheart and always insists on helping around the house, always wanting to prove her worth.

•Mara carries a blood curse that developed in her toddler years. Its damaged her magic to wear roots have begin to grow within her veins, reaching into her bile sack, to wear she is only able to use plant magic. Her arms have moss growing out of them, which rise as the curse becomes stronger. She begins to overgrow when her curse is left unmedicated for long periods of time, losing sentience and becoming a mess of vines and roots.

•Joined the plant track in the hopes of better understanding and learning to live with her curse.

#my art #toh #the owl house #toh fanart #toh oc #toh fankid #toh fanchild #toh nextgen #fankid #fanchild #gus porter #matt tholomule #gustholomule #Twila Tholomule #Jane Tholomule #Mara Tholomule #pushing my Matt & Gus would be girl dads agenda

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the-stolen-century · 1 year ago

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I absolutely adore the "Eda is Howl and Raine is Sophie" AU (and am sharing links to art and fics at the bottom of this post because they're all so good!). But may I suggest - that's what the story looks like from Raine's point of view. From Eda's point of view, it looks like this:

Update: here's the coloured version:

Reference, further thoughts and links to other fanworks under cut!

Just look at Raine Rizzpers. They're this handsome, dashing, incredibly powerful magician who wears a dangly earring and a glorious off-the-shoulder coat.

Imagine:

- Eda has to hide from coven scouts and Raine uses their magic to whisk her away. Of course where Sophie is initially terrified of walking in the sky Eda is immediately delighted and laughs instead of yelping. And Raine literally does the same "soldiers/scouts turn away and march away" magic in the BATTs intro as Howl does in the movie intro, right? Same magic! So Raine and Eda have a lovely time together (longer than Howl and Sophie, maybe even the whole day?) because they form an immediate connection, just like in "Them's the breaks, kid".

- Then Eda gets cursed, which makes her age prematurely and run away from home. She finds an old house in the wilderness. Unlike in TOH canon, the house is inhabited not only by Hootcifer but also occasionally by Raine. (Or maybe the house is not the Owl House but the BATTs headquarters, and the 3 BATTs are the equivalent of Calcifer, Markl abd Heen?)

- either way Raine going on BATT missions, disguised as a bat, is the equivalent of Howl going to war in bird form.

- unfortunately Raine doesn't seem to recognise her. She thinks it's because of her curse, but finds out that Raine's heart and memories seemingly have been locked away (Terra's potion).

- since Eda lost her magic to the curse, now Raine is the only magician in this relationship. But even without her magic Eda refuses to leave. She just kind of aggressively adopts Raine, citing old woman privilege, because of course she's immediately worried about the effects of the curse on the person she met that day and couldn't forget since.

- some kind of confrontation between Eda and Terra (madam Suleiman equivalent). Raine was going to go themself, unlike Howl, but Eda somehow preempted them and went instead of them, using an illusion to look like Raine, just like in canon! And then Terra sees through the illusion and everything falls apart but in the end they still find each other...🥺

*Slaps AU* This baby can fit SO MUCH mutual pining in it!

The reason why I love Raeda so much is that both of them are the Howl and the Sophie in this relationship.

Anyway here are the amazing other fanworks!

AND ALL OF THIS TAG ON INSTAGRAM!!

#raeda #raeda fanart #raine whispers #eda clawthorne #the owl house #the owl house au #the owl house fanart #toh raeda #howl's moving castle #my art #thinking with quadrants art

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myobsessions247 · 2 months ago

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A Hunter Au, it might not be for everyone but there is mama Eda and a younger Hunter, also big thing: Hunter is cursed (but you’ll have to wait to find out how!)

Runaway Owlet

Chapter 1 - A Lying Emperor and His Ward

He thought he should look up to his uncle. But once Lilith and he started to get close, they became more comfortable around each other. He realized the stark contrast between Belos and Lilith, how he could talk to Lilith about wild magic but his uncle… The atmosphere when he’s around Belos is very different to Lilith, shouldn’t it be the opposite? Shouldn’t he be able to talk about his interests to his uncle freely?

Hunter stares at himself through the mirror, with a far look on his face. He watches the blood stream down his neck soaking into his sweater, staining it. The last six minutes were a blur. The strike across his face was a blur. The run back to his room, leaving a trail of tears and blood was a blur. He thought so many different thoughts staring at his bloody hands and face, as all the colors around turned vivid and blur, was a blur.

Would Lilith do this to him? He wouldn’t blame her if she did. He doesn’t know if she would. No, she wouldn’t. Lilith would never have to hit him. Not even if he’d mention how life might be better without the coven system, or being able to cure his uncle’s and his curse with wild magic. She’s too kind to hurt him for thinking there’s a better way to live.

Hunter feels unsafe around Belos.

He should’ve known this for a while now.

His heartbeat races. His breathing shortens. His bloody hands shake. He feels the feathers forming on his arms, face, hair, legs, and chest. His eyes widened. He frantically searches for a golden yellow potion. He finds it in a drawer and chugs it down, face furrowing in disgust. The feathers lift as he sticks his tongue out, I keep forgetting how bad this tastes! He remembers.

He looks back at the mirror, it suddenly reminds him of the wound. Now calm, he grabs his healing kit and gets to work cleaning up his injury.

He doesn’t feel safe around Belos.

It’s patched up, though you can see where the blood dried and the splotches of a darker red in his sweater.

Hunter doesn’t feel safe in the emperor’s coven.

He wants to leave so badly, yet he doesn’t. He doesn’t know where else to go. But wouldn't living homeless be better than living in a place that doesn’t feel like home? How would he eat, he barely eats here anyway. What about Lilith, what about Belos?

Hunter isn’t safe here.

He finds a bag to pack his stuff in. Two pairs of clothes (he’ll have to deal with not being able to wash them), some extra bandages, and… he doesn’t need anything else, does he? Though he does want some things. One of his favorite books, and a stuffed frog.

Oh! Elixirs!

…

He doesn’t have any more. He looked in the dresser drawer, desk, under his bed even! No sign of a golden yellow potion. He won’t get that stressed, would he? If he can survive without food, he’ll be fine, maybe.

Hunter, you are not safe there.

He waits until it’s two in the morning before leaving his room. He lived in the castle, he knew the scouts’ schedules and the layout like the back of his scared, gloved hand. Sure, it’s not like the entire building is empty, there are plenty of guards still guarding. But the only flaw: is shifts. Hunter waits near the entrance until the security walks away to get the next shift of scouts. That is when Hunter takes his chance to leave the castle. And then, he runs.

He runs for a good hour until his legs give in and he collapses on the cold forest floor. He doesn’t know how long he’s been crying, he only notices once he leans against a tree. Keep running. A little voice in his head nags. He ignores it, no, I’m tired.

Belos will find you. Keep. Running.

No one knows I’m gone. I’ll worry about it in the morning.

Hunter’s breathing slows, and his legs ache. It’s cold, his nose is running, and he can feel his cheeks wet from the tears. Why is he crying again?

Snap! Hunter jolts awake, he didn’t even know he drifted off. His ears twitch, in whatever direction the sound came from. It’s Silent. Is he going crazy? He hugs his legs, why did I leave? He hates that he wants to go back. He hates that he would rather get hit again, but still stay and rest in his bed. But I don’t want to! He keeps contradicting himself!

He can’t get what he wants, a place to stay with a bed and food, and not to get hurt for a thing he says or does. He wants Lilith and not his uncle. He has to choose. Go back. Stay here.

He didn’t notice he started crying again. Oh well. Lilith would comfort him if she was here. Belos would just say “Quit crying, that’s not how you handle things.” He would say to grow up, and no one else is crying about not getting dinner.

Like most nights, Hunter cried himself to sleep. Hugging himself and his pink stuffed frog he got out during his crying fit.

NOTES:

This will be a short chapter just like another few after this, I am trying to write a lot of the chapters ahead of time. I have so many ideas for this and for fluff I write what ever feels right in the moment. And most of the mysteries will stay mysteries until it either needs to come up or the truth will come out later(hint hint for Hollow Mind >:3) I do hope you like this idea enough to stick around, and don’t forget to let me know if any of it feels unnatural, like characters or anything else.

And lastly thank you for reading! Have a good night/midday/morning!

#the owl house #toh #hunter toh #toh fanfic #toh au #Runaway Owlet

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thousand-winters · 2 months ago

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It's very interesting how while in Labyrinth Runners the scouts genuinely think that Belos is worried for Hunter and would be relieved to have him back, Graye already knows that Hunter is afraid of him AND that Belos probably doesn't care that much for his well being, considering how he has no qualms in kicking him down and pretty much stepping on him (which you probably wouldn't want to do if you assumed the emperor will have your head for hurting his nephew), and he's the one who makes the Belos illusion to frighten Hunter and take advantage of that distraction.

It's unclear how much the Coven Heads knew about that relationship, but at the very least we know that Darius very much didn't know and Graye apparently does. Seems like Graye was VERY observant.

It's not just that but it almost seems like him and his scouts might have been at Hexside possibly since classes started? Enough time to have observed the students a little, because they know to use Willow to try and deceive Gus, and a bit of a baseline of how they act around each other. What caught my attention there was that the Willow illusion specifically calls him "Augustus" in that scene, which Graye wouldn't have a way to know since everybody calls him Gus now. Perhaps he dug on the student files to find out more about Gus before trying to hunt him down personally? He did have a particular investment in him because of the Looking Glass Graveyard.

All of this to say... from what we got to see of Graye in the show, it doesn't really seem like he's a particularly powerful Illusionist, at least not at the same level of expertise that the other Coven Heads have with their respective tracks.

BUT this makes me think that it was not raw power what got him his rank, it might have been him simply being clever. The kind of person who gets obsessed with the small details and as such knows how to use the information he gets from that and from snooping around to threaten or intimidate people with his illusions.

Once he's a Coven Head, he has scouts at his command, and it seems like he delegates a LOT of his work to them, which probably makes it way easier to just dedicate himself to observe and see what's useful so he can bribe and threaten people.

#i just thought it was interesting. it fits the questionable actions raine kinda implied one had to have to become ch sometimes #i never think about adrian much aside from when i'm bullying him lmao. so this was a first #i'm so head empty no thoughts during the weekly toh rewatches but sometimes something comes out lmao #the owl house #toh #adrian graye

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lazydaisyhuntlow · 2 months ago

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TOH Meta: Hexside analysis (size, schedule, clubs, staff roster)

We spend a lot of time at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics throughout the course of the series, but some things are never really explained. For my own reference, I'm compiling as much canon information here as I can about Hexside and the people who work there (plus a couple headcanons).

1. How many students attend Hexside?

In the show, most track-specific class sizes range from 3-4 students. For example, this Abominations 101 class from season one has 4 students, with seating space for 12 max.

However, I have reason to believe that this is not all the Abominations students! There are probably other classes for advanced students that meet later in the day (more on that in the Scheduling section below).

Let's say there's a (generous) average of 8-12 students per track. Multiply that by 9 tracks and we get 72-108 students, plus 8 in the baby class, for a total of about 80-116 students total.

The all-school assembly in Labyrinth Runners seems about that size.

Yep, around 100 students. Hexside is quite small! I wonder if St. Epiderm and Glandus are similarly sized?

2. What is the schedule like?

Upon Luz' arrival, Bump gives her a schedule for the day with 6 different potions classes. I know this is meant to be a joke but I'm accepting that Hexside has a 6-block schedule where classes gradually increase in difficulty (hopefully with a lunch break somewhere!!) and that electives (club meetings, free periods, or any non-track-specific class like history/math/PE) are less frequent.

Gus mentions 'moving up a few grades', but since it's essentially a tiny K-12 school and the options at Luz' entrance exam are A) the baby class or B) the not-baby class... I think it's more likely the students are separated by level/ability, not strictly by age.

My headcanon is that the morning (periods 1-3) is for the beginner-level track classes. During this time, older students go to their electives like PE, history, math, language, independent study, or maybe apprenticeships. In the afternoon (periods 4-6), they switch: track professors do advanced classes with the older students, while the younger ones go to their electives. But even if this is not the case, with such small classes, it would be easy to differentiate to multiple levels and give each student lots of one-on-one attention.

3. What clubs are there?

From the club fair in Any Sport in a Storm, we know that Hexside has a lot of student clubs, including:

Grudgby, Flyer Derby, The Good Witch Azura book club, Swimming, Hexas Hold'em, Screech and Debate, Fear Book, Drama, Gardening, Arts & Witchcrafts, Skullpting, Casket Weaving, Brews n' Stews, Inner Demons, Scrying Committee, and Psychics.

There is a school newspaper called the Hexside Free Press. Gus is a member.

Gus is also the president of the Human Appreciation Society (not to be confused with the roleplaying Human Fantasy Club down the hall).

4. Who are the teachers?

Principal Hieronymus Bump

Attended Hexside as an abominations student (and played flyer derby!), joined the abominations coven, and came back to work as a teacher. Firm, fair, open-minded, will defend his students from threats. Retires during the timeskip.

Professor Hermonculus - Abominations Track

Critical, strict, petty. Punishes his students with extra homework. Holds a grudge against Willow for changing to the plant track. Sends Amity to the principal's office. Plays flyer derby.

His palisman is an abomination-goo cat-bat thing. Also, he appears to have recruited a literal kindergartener to play this deadly contact sport? Nice.

Unnamed purple triclops demon - Illusions Track

Stylish, caring, protective of her students -- in Labyrinth Runners her priority was to get Gus away from the Coven Scouts, and she was willing to trade Hunter back to Belos to accomplish that goal (though she probably didn't know or care what would happen to him). Seems to do a lot of assessments; encourages creativity and humor in her students. She becomes the new principal after Bump's retirement. My headcanon name: Professor Houdine

Unnamed spider demon - kindergarten/baby class

Super cute and appears to be a genuinely good teacher! Field trips, story time, plushies all over the classroom. I hope she was okay after the day of unity because the kindergarteners descended into madness without her. My headcanon name: Cera Fangston

Unnamed parrot (?) demon - Potions Track

Put a pun ("Let's mix it up!") and little doodles of potions flasks on her board, which I appreciate. Spends a lot of time with Boscha and appears to do nothing about her bullying other students, which I do not appreciate. My headcanon name: Professor Sinder

Unnamed bicorn - Oracle Track

Serious, mysterious, detail-oriented. Cool aesthetic, but... let's be honest. That is WAY too many chalkboards. I can see why she has to keep her crystal balls in the hallway! Also, the oracle track's whole thing is ghosts, but I guess she ignored the decades-old ghost infestation in the girls' changing room and left it for other people to clean up?

Yeah. So she's either not very powerful or not very considerate of her colleagues. Maybe she's the one who keeps eating all the donuts in the staff room. My headcanon name: Professor Claire Lydgate

Unnamed snake (?) demon - History, math (?)

He doesn't like chatting in his classroom, but he LOVES grudgby! He teaches History and something about the Heximal System, so that's possibly a lower-level math class? His classes appear to be larger and include students from many different tracks.

My headcanon name: Professor Ladon

Unnamed gray demon - detention track (temporary)

Sarcastic, uses his scroll a lot, punishes students with cleaning the classroom, can sleep through anything. Was only supposed to be in charge of detention track temporarily while the detention pit was being repaired, but he stuck around in the background til the end of season 2 so I guess they found something for him to do. Maybe he's a substitute? Also a contender for the donut thief. My headcanon name: Mr. Eyevan Urgus

Unnamed blue demon with wig - Bard Track (?)

This guy appears in the background in Labyrinth Runners. I'm guessing he's the bard professor because... uhh... his robe is red (the Bard coven color) and the powdered wig reminds me of Mozart. I know that's kind of a stretch, but the only other thing we know about the Bard professor is that they leave during the timeskip so Skara can take over, so it's possible! My headcanon name: Professor Presto

Miss Jenkinmeyer (no image) - possibly a staff member while Eda was attending Hexside. There was an incident involving her teeth which wound up in Eda's permanent file.

Hexside Guards (temporary security guards) - can literally smell trouble. They were supposed to be protecting students, but they ended up throwing a lot of people into the detention pit.

That brings us to the end of all the canon staff members. Who is missing? We have no information on professors for the Healing, Plant, Beastkeeping, and Construction tracks, plus the cafeteria staff.

I don't know if it's fair to make the snake-demon guy handle all the electives for every single student, so let's give him some help. One more electives teacher for "Spelling" (possibly language arts?). Heck, I'll throw in astronomy as well because the movements of celestial bodies appear to be very important for casting powerful spells in the show.

Also... Hexside has a drama program and a championship sports program, both with VERY nice facilities.

They definitely need teachers to oversee those. Maybe the Bard and Illusions professors team up for drama, and the PE teacher is also the Grudgby coach?

I have ideas for OCs for all those positions, but maybe I'll make that a separate post so this one can be mostly canon.

5. What about the building itself?

There's a lot going on! Aside from all the classrooms, they have a cafeteria, a detention pit with tunnels under the school, a gym, an auditorium, an outdoor athletics field, Grom's prison under the gym, and this cool round atrium near the entrance.

There are multiple floors, but I don't remember seeing stairs anywhere except for the seating in the gym.

The abominations students have to wheel their homework everywhere anyway, so maybe there are no stairs and it's all spiraling ramps?

Yay for wheelbarrow accessibility!

Lastly, Eda's Secret Room of Shortcuts. It's one of the coolest concepts in the whole show, I wish we got to see it more.

To anyone who made it this far, thank you for reading! Let me know if I should add anything :)

#the owl house #toh #toh meta #hexside #reference #long post

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polyhexian · 4 days ago

Note

Okay, so, y'know those AUs where Hunter can see the ghosts of the previous Golden Guards? Yeah okay so that except with your OCs, so it's immediately a clusterfuck.

The millisecond the Grimwalker Ghost Zone realizes this is an option, Jasper slaps a moratorium on that shit. Absolutely NOT. The deal was that Hunter lives as long as he stayed loyal. I DIDN'T MAKE A DEAL WITH BELOS TO SAVE MY BABY SO THE REST OF YOU COULD FUCK IT UP FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE PIT.

Everyone else is like okay, okay, yeesh, sorry, fine, we won't haunt Hunter. If nothing else they can respect the fact that Jasper himself is refusing to make contact with the kid he loves so much. And the excitement of this newfound aspect of their existence would've died down pretty quickly…if it wasn't for the fact that Enoch exists.

Enoch isn't gonna let this go. This is the perfect opportunity! They can actually make contact with the current Golden Guard and convince him to kill Belos, giving him all the intel gathered from nearly 200 Grimwalkers and their ortet over 4 centuries. They can't let this chance pass them by. She is GOING to talk to Hunter.

Jasper is NOT going to let her.

Hunter really wishes that these ghosts would stop fistfighting when he's trying to DO HIS JOB TITAN DAMMIT.

Jasper's plan to make sure no one ever talks to Hunter predictably falls apart upon making contact with the enemy (Enoch). Sure, Jasper manages to prevent Enoch from talking to Hunter, but everyone else is just kinda hanging out watching the chaos so like. Chit-chat is inevitable.

Granted, no one else tells Hunter anything Enoch actually wants to tell him, because most of the ghosts don't want the kid dead and the others don't want to face the wrath of Jasper and get dragged into the fight with Enoch.

But Hunter's smart. He knows all these ghosts are past Golden Guards, that's obvious because they're all in uniform. They've been haunting him since he started scout training, and for the most part they're pretty chill…except those two. He's 99% sure these people are his family, tho it's weird how similar everyone in his family looks and how many of them are Golden Guards. He has questions, but Jasper and Enoch's…everything…makes him think it's really not worth trying to get the answers. He kinda wishes they'd all go away, but he doesn't have the heart to sic the Oracle Coven on them.

Basically, just Hunter being haunted by the Golden Guards and being annoyed by every second of it while Jasper and Enoch are slapfighting in the background. He's like Stan Lee in that one Spiderman movie, except instead of being oblivious to the fighting going on behind him, he is well aware that it's happening and is refusing to acknowledge it.

Hunter lying in bed staring at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes at 3am while Jasper and Enoch wrestle and yell at each other on his bedroom floor until he finally snaps "WOULD YOU TWO TAKE IT OUTSIDE, SOME OF US HAVE TO WORK AT 4AM."

And while the other ghosts are not as obnoxious as Jasper and Enoch are, they are, unfortunately, useless. Hunter has tried to get something out of this haunting and there's just nothing to get, aside from the dubious pleasure of the ghosts' company. He asks Tell about coven policy and Tell distractedly answers while watching Enoch pull Jasper's hair and Hunter is just like "that hasn't been a thing for 50 years" and Tell is like "lol yeah it wouldn't be." He tries asking Dust for tips and Dust just glares at Enoch where she has Jasper in a headlock and tells Hunter to never ever EVER take some creepy little girl on as an apprentice and Hunter is like oooookay. He tries asking Virtue for tips and Virtue is like "dude, I only lasted 11 months" and Hunter's like. WTF. He asks for help with his homework exactly one time, sliding his textbook across the table and asking Caleb to quiz him, and Caleb looks at the book and says "I never learned how to read", and Hunter just throws his hands in the air and gives up.

He thinks he understands why his uncle never wants to talk about their family. Sure, it's probably because the pain is too much. But it's also probably because they are all fucking lunatics.

Of all people, Temperance ends up being the one Hunter gets along best with, and also the one who gets the plot/reveals rolling. Temperance knows what it's like to wonder about the family you have no idea about and no way to learn about them. Temperance knows how much that sucks. Temperance never learned the truth and was barely given a lie; he died looking for his family, and in death he found them, at which point he realized 1) Shit, the truth sure is messed up! 2) His family is a collection of maniacs connected only by their shared trauma and one man's DNA, and 3) You know what, he's going to get to know and love all of them anyway, fuck you Belos.

Temperance just starts casually hanging out with Hunter and making remarks that answer a number of questions Hunter didn't know how to ask and cements himself as the least-annoying, semi-useful ghost, whose company Hunter might actually sorta kinda enjoy, just a little.

At some point Temperance casually refers to Jasper as "your dad", which--well, Jasper often yells at Enoch about "leaving his baby alone" so now Hunter has two 2's to put together and he's like. Huh. Okay then. His father is the sort of person who will spend his afterlife slapfighting a teenager. No wonder Uncle never talks about their family.

Hunter: And why is…my dad…constantly bodyslamming a 15-year-old?

Temperance, sagely: Because he's a braver man than any of us.

Hunter has seen Enoch fight, and heard some of the things she shouts, and knows full well that none of the other ghosts want to deal with her, so he has to conclude that yeah, Temperance is right, his dad is braver than the rest of them.

Hunter still doesn't know how his overgrown family tree is supposed to be laid out, but he does glean that Enoch, for some reason, doesn't like Belos, and may have tried to assassinate? him?? at some point??? And seems to potentially want to tell Hunter to do the same, which. No. Hunter is not going to do that. But once he realizes that's what the constant fighting is about, he's a little more grateful for Jasper's intervention, even if he wishes they'd KEEP IT DOWN when he's TRYING TO CONCENTRATE, GOD. And also maybe wishes that his dad would take five minutes from strangling Enoch to properly introduce himself to his orphaned son, like, it'd only be polite. All the other ghosts have introduced themselves. Or at least kinda introduced themselves. But all the other ghosts have also made it clear that they refuse to get tangled up with Enoch (and that they're honestly relieved Enoch has been focused on Jasper instead of them for the last few years) so maybe his dad really can't take five minutes to introduce himself. Hunter doesn't really want to know what Enoch might get up to if Jasper stops holding her off.

Hunter, watching Jasper narrowly roll out of the way of Enoch's diving elbow drop: It's good to know that my father is so loyal and devoted to his duties as the Golden Guard that even in death he's doing everything he can to protect the emperor.

Temperance: *chokes*

I don't have any specific plot ideas for how things would unfold as we lead up to the show timeline, but I think it'd be funny if Jasper and Enoch are so preoccupied fighting and screaming at each other that they're just completely unaware that Hunter is just. Figuring stuff out. Either cuz Temperance tells him or cuz he's smart enough to put it together.

And I think every reveal needs to happen the most anti-climatic way possible. It starts with grimwalkers casually mentioning how they died while Hunter is like wait, what? Belos killed you? Well, you must've done something--Belos killed you too? And you? Well surely he didn't kill all of you, I mean--aha, see, he didn't kill Virtue! Wait, what? Not directly? Uh…okay.

At some point Caleb's like "well when I was your age, 400 years ago" and Hunter's like, wait, you said Belos was your brother. How are you his brother if you were alive 400 years ago? I'm sorry, he's how old??

Every reveal is just another moment of "this might as well happen." Hunter's brain is numb to it. By the time Hollow Mind happens, all he does when he finds the tree tunnel of Golden Guard memories is go "Oh, okay then. Cool" and walk in.

Luz: Hunter, this is awful, omg, are you okay?

Hunter, about to climb into a painting: Sure.

Luz, dragging him out: WHAT ARE YOU DOING??

Hunter: I just wanna see how Dust died, apparently it was really embarrassing and he never wants to talk about it.

Luz: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Belos: Yes, Hunter, what are you talking about?

Belos calls him a grimwalker and tries to kill him and Hunter is terrified but there's also a part of him that's like, ah, okay. A lot of things are suddenly making sense.

Can the ghosts show up in Belos's mindscape? Maybe the ghosts can show up in Belos's mindscape. Jasper and Enoch are going at it same as always and Belos watches Enoch suplex Jasper and is just like, well, there's no way that I would ever imagine this, so…this must actually be happening?

Enoch realizes she's inside Belos's mindscape the exact same moment Belos does and abandons Jasper to launch herself at Belos like a maddened chimpanzee.

Jasper lands hard next to Hunter and just lays there for a second, winded.

Hunter: Hey Dad.

Jasper: HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT??

Hunter, knowing better than to rat out Temperance: You haven't exactly been subtle these last few years.

Luz has completely lost the plot.

Okay okay: Hunter pretends he doesn't see them. At first he thinks he's just insane and is like "well that's inconvenient but I still have to go to work I guess" and then is like "oh actually I think these are previous golden guards actual ghosts. That makes sense. They want to impart their generations of knowledge to me, their successor. Maybe this is a spell that gets cast when you get your mask or something. Anyway they've never been very helpful so I'm just going to keep ignoring them." Enoch keeps trying to haunt him and leave "KILL YOUR UNCLE" messages on chalkboards while Jasper is trying to claw her eyes out. He's also set down the firm "hunter will die if he is disloyal, so he must stay loyal until he is old enough and strong enough to escape." So basically the deal is NOBODY tell Hunter SHIT until he's like 18, and then it's loredump time. Well, telling people the truth has never really worked in the past. So. May as well.

I'm also imagining a kind of. Ghosts can't die but they can like. Reset. If you're a ghost and you get stabbed in the chest you go POOF and you're back in the ghost zone and have to get out again and it's deeply inconvenient. Jasper and Enoch keep poofing each other so they're not always around. Eventually the other ghosts realize Hunter can see them and decide that Jasper and Enoch should probably NOT know that.

So whenever jasper and Enoch are both temporarily benched Tell offers vaguely parental advice and avoids the question when asked what his actual kid was like. Dust is kind of a dick who isn't particularly invested but he WILL critique Hunter's form when he's practicing. Temperance is definitely the most sympathetic whom Hunter likes the most. Virtue tries to avoid conversation because he has no idea to talk to Hunter without him realizing he lived less than a year and he's not supposed to know that.

Miles isn't invested in shit. He doesn't care if Jasper or Enoch "win" but he likes being rude. He's also twelve and makes fart noises when Hunter is trying to stand silently at attention. Miles is the one who keeps fucking up and dropping lore because he's not even paying attention, he's playing games on Hunters phone (he made him get a scroll he does not use)

In Hollow Mind when the other Grimwalkers are there helping Hunter and Luz get out of there Hunter knows them all by name and jasper is like YOU COULD SEE ME THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME??? and that's how Jasper and Enoch finally came together to kick everyone else's asses

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kindestegg · 2 years ago

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Collector, Hunter and Caleb: On cycles of violence

Baby titans. Flapjack. Evelyn. What do they all have in common?

If you guessed "they were key components in making a character question what they've been told and pursue a new life, kickstarting major events", you're correct!

Hi, I'm Romeo the local Collector obsessed TOH fan!! And I REALLY need to talk about how Collector's backstory parallels Hunter's and Caleb's. Like I REALLY REALLY do.

Just as a quick disclaimer, if you're still feeling lost on Collector's backstory, I made a quick write up of my analysis for it here.

Now, if you're up to speed, we can start talking about the parallels. You see, I feel Collector's backstory is so fascinating because it really solidifies one of the recurring themes of The Owl House: cycles of violence.

Specifically, I want to talk about cycles of violence that aren't easily changed or broken. Societal ones, ones that worm themselves into the very norms of conduct that inform a certain people's behavior.

For Caleb, that was being a witch hunter, something that not only do we know was part of the local culture of Gravesfield back when he and Philip came to it, but that also apparently by Philip's memories, was even something he looked forward to.

I'm not going to get into how this ties into historical, real life witch hunting, because I feel it's hardly appropriate I, as someone who's not that well versed on such history, go into it in a theory post about a Disney cartoon.

But even in this fantasy world, the fact of that matter is that this witch hunting was enacting a system of organized violence. Children were brought up since early on to act out witch hunts, to understand witches were enemies and should be hunted. The othering of witches, the insistence of them as monstrous and inhuman. All this must have led to the witch hunting culture of Gravesfield.

And Caleb and Philip were deep in it.

Now, we know how the story goes. Both brothers go to the demon realm, meet a witch. Caleb gives it all an earnest chance, resolves himself to learn about how witches really are, and humanizes them, even possibly falling in love with a witch, who we now know as Evelyn. Philip despises it all from the start, refuses to ever see the place as anything but damned and monstrous.

From this, Caleb and Philip become symbols of opposing forces: That of change, a break in the status quo, a shining light of questioning why things are and calling for peace VS That of tradition, the desperate want to keep the cycle going, inability to envision anything different than has ever been, to question the old teachings.

Each fought for what they believed in. But Caleb lost and the cycle continued, evolved.

In the real world it is much of the same. Change happens gradually, but even when it does, the cycle does not break easily, it evolves into something else.

Philip's hunt turns to the entirety of the Boiling Isles. He creates the Coven System, to get rid of all witches, yes, but also to keep them easier to control, predictable. He becomes Emperor, and now there is a new system of control, a new cycle of violence.

The Emperor's Coven is suspiciously the only one allowed to use all kinds of magic, a way to assert this authority as well as making recruiting Coven Scouts easier. Witches who do not conform to the system are captured and petrified en masse, the Coven Scouts ensure all witches and demons must fall in line, or else. The parallels to our world and state forces used to control the population is not something that goes unnoticed.

Hunter is part of the Emperor's Coven, too. He's placed as the Golden Guard, the most important symbol of the Emperor's Coven, a substitute for Lilith once she reforms. As such, Hunter too starts out by enforcing a system of violence, just as Caleb did before.

The cycle even more glaringly becomes a cycle now, as Belos literally keeps making grimwalkers and restarting the cycle of the golden guard. Belos enforces the cycle of violence, and hopes this "new Caleb" will do it too, and every time he attempts to break it, Belos breaks him first. In a way, there are two cycles of violence at play: that of which is systemically mantained over the Isles, and that of which Belos mantains over Hunter and every other grimwalker he's made.

Hunter, of course, eventually defects as well. He meets Luz, Flapjack, and then Willow and Gus and when he knows it, he's got a whole lot of people he cares about and that care about him. And he becomes a little less willing to carry out the system of violence he was placed in every day. Until he defects for good.

So the cycle breaks once more, but this time, Belos doesn't catch up to him, at least not yet. In the present, Hunter is still surrounded by friends and a loving mother figure. He was part of breaking the cycle, of at least helping stop the Day of Unity. Change is starting.

So where does Collector fit into all of this? Well I'd first like to address the elephant in the room. For a character whose backstory also involves breaking cycles of violence he sure was aiding in one, by giving Belos the draining spell and encouraging the creation of the coven system. But that's just another aspect of cycles of violence.

Because cycles of violence don't just imply systemic violence or even violence perpetrated through constant abuse. But also, the cyclical nature of violence. The ability that someone who has grown up with violence normalized and has had violence done unto them can then channel that into violence towards others.

Now, before I am misinterpreted, I'd like to make some things clear: One, I am not of the simple opinion that "abused people turn into abusers", that is an ugly myth. Two, I have been a victim of abuse myself, and am a psychology graduate. I feel confident speaking with authority about this subject. Third, there is a difference between the psychological concept of generational trauma and internalized violence and the idea that being abused will turn someone violent.

What I am implying here is that Collector's behavior of dismissing both the violence done unto the grimwalkers, as well as towards the victims of the draining spell is something that he has learned and internalized as normal due to his life experiences.

Recall if you will that Collector is a member of an alien species that has a high disregard for life. In the same breath that they will say they preserve creatures to study them, they will also attempt to destroy all that opposes them. Collector grew up with this violence being seen as normal. He was brought to meet the titan trappers and taught to wear the titan skulls, following in his family's footsteps.

But... just like Caleb and Hunter before them, they saw a different path they could take when it came to the titans. A way to approach them without violence. They gained an interest for titans, just like Hunter with wild magic, just like Caleb with the demon realm.

Once left alone to do so, they approached the titans, specifically young ones, close to their age. They played and maybe even learned some of their favorite games for the first time there.

They also became horribly traumatized.

Both Caleb and Hunter have suffered greatly as a consequence for their defiance. No system of violence lets itself be broken peacefully. Caleb had his life taken, so did all the grimwalkers. Hunter, while having escaped with a good support system, lost Flapjack.

For Collector, that came in the form of having to watch all the remaining titans he had so happily introduced himself to play with get killed off by his own family. We do not know the full logic of how or why his family did this, but we know it was brutal and we know the end result: King's egg alone and Collector in the disc, imprisoned for centuries.

Collector is a child, and if there was still any doubt in any fan's mind of this, For the Future stomped it out for good. Collector was a child when he had to watch his family kill off his new friends. He was a child when King's Father, likely in the middle of these attacks and motivated by it, sealed him away. He remained in stasis for centuries during this imprisonment.

I can only imagine that would really mess up any kid up. And through that, I think we can begin to understand what the mindset was for Collector when he took Philip up on his offer.

I've seen people be surprised by how friendly and childlike Collector acted in this latest episode when compared to his previous appearances in season 2, and I think we need to remember that Collector was in a much different condition back then. He had lost everything he cared about, got stuck in a prison for centuries with no one to talk to and no hope of anyone ever finding him, and when someone did find him, it was Philip fucking Wittebane.

And something I think most of us have already clocked about Philip is that he prefers the people he collaborates with to be vulnerable. Someone he can easily control, usually through their emotions and attachments.

We see this in Elsewhere and Elsewhen with his tendency to praise and lead Lilith and Luz on to get what he wants, knowing they need something out of this and are desperate.

We see this with Lilith, whom he uses the guilt of her sister being cursed to make her follow his every command and not question his rules.

We see this with every grimwalker including Hunter as they're told he was the one who "saved them and took them in".

We see this with Luz and how he leads her thoughts around in Hollow Mind to twist it in how she helped him unwittingly before.

And though his relationship with Kikimora and her schemes is more of an odd one, with him mostly paying her no mind, Follies at the Coven Day Parade at the very least touched on the fact her mental health at the Emperor's Coven is not doing well. She's also desperate for something and being led around by Belos' promises, even if that thing she's desperate for is... power. But er, we love an evil girlboss.

Look, what I'm trying to say is that Philip saw a child that had been horribly traumatized from seeing his friends die and then getting stuck in fantasy perpetual prison for centuries with no enrichment, no one to talk to, just eternal loneliness and sadness and he absolutely took advantage of it.

He used every single part of Collector's broken psyche to his advantage, including possibly withholding his freedom to interact with the outside world through the disc, shutting him up and cutting his vision whenever he might have wanted to.

And Collector, having grown up in an environment that encouraged killing everything in your way if necessary, having nothing else to lose because everything he could have cared about not killing was to his knowledge gone...

Absolutely took him up on the offer. And so, the cycle of violence is mantained, the one who had to witness such violence, unable to stop it, now carries out the same type of violence against others. Out of anger, maybe, but mostly out of desperation. For Collector, there's nothing left to do but do what Belos says, otherwise it's back to loneliness and darkness. And if Belos says "kill every last witch and demon in the Boiling Isles", he'll get that.

Collector's glee in this is not something that can be excused, however. It must be examined through the lens of understanding this is a bad thing, that this is a case study in how children internalize violence and learn to be not only compliant to it, but also even revel in it. He's gone from victim to perpetrator. Not because of any of the abuse or trauma he faced, but because of his environment creating the perfect conditions for it.

But that's when our heroes come in. The cycle of violence did not complete itself. The draining spell was stopped. And the way it was stopped is also incredibly powerful in its symbolism.

Because it was King who went out of his way to contact Collector and who freed him. King, a titan, the last of a species that was at war with the collectors, now extended a hand for our Collector to be free. Despite everything indicating that they should not find each other, should not be together, they came together to stop the Day of Unity.

In the Day of Unity being stopped by the Collector, so another cycle of violence is broken: that of titans and collectors being at odds with each other. In them is represented the hope for the future: two children who are free of the anger their species would hold for one another, now united in their wish for a better future.

When King decides Collector shouldn't be imprisoned again and insists to Lilith and Eda that they let him talk to them peacefully, that's him taking a step to break the cycle of violence. When King says "it didn't work" he's not just talking about the fact Collector could go free. He's talking about the fact imprisoning Collector was a violence done unto him that only brought about more danger and more violence, did not teach him anything, and doing so again could risk worse things to come.

When he says "it's worth a shot if no more people get hurt" he includes everyone in that equation. He includes Collector. And that's breaking the cycle of violence.

In a way, you could say if Belos and Collector's arcs as villains are both about stopping cycles of violence in different ways.

With Belos, he has spiraled down so deeply he has become the cycle itself, eating everything in the way and infecting everything, unable to live on without creating more violence onto others, and so he must be stopped by force if necessary. In this, The Owl House doesn't shy away from the fact that in the real world, sometimes you need to fight back, you cannot resolve everything peacefully, and breaking the cycle will involve hurting someone before they hurt more people.

But with Collector, another side is shown, one that reminds us that we must have nuance, and sometimes, we will be faced with the difficult reality that those doing violence unto others are also people who are hurting, who are lonely, who are sad. Specially children who have grown in environments where violence and prejudice was normalized. Sometimes children will be violent, will be bigoted, will repeat every little horrible thing the adults in their lives taught them. But they're still children. And they still deserve a chance to learn and a chance to grow.

It's about recognizing the difference between a young person who genuinely wants to learn and hasn't had the opportunity to, and someone who is not interested in this. Collector's backstory tells us he does have an interest in being good, he just needs the opportunity.

Collector isn't an easy character to approach like Hunter or Caleb. They do not have the benefit of starting off the narrative dead and buried, leaving the audience to assume mostly good things out of his deviation. Neither do they have Hunter's rebellious teenage bravado that allows him to show his defiance to Belos or his tragic fate of being a grimwalker binding him. They just are an alien child with immense power who tried once to deviate from the norm and then got the worst luck of the entire universe after them, and procceeded to become bitter and angry and absolutely sadistic afterwards.

But there's still good in them. And just like Caleb and Hunter, their efforts to break the cycle of violence they were raised in, as well as the efforts to denounce their fellow collectors will not go unnoticed.

#the owl house #toh analysis #toh theory #toh spoilers #toh collector #hunter toh #caleb wittebane #the collector #did you know i hit image limit with this post. i was gonna add more.#Commander's orders

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pincushionx · 8 months ago

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AU where the coven heads actually get along…sort of.

They’re all still awful people but they realize they get more out of working together rather than against. They don’t quite like each other but theirs no bad blood. They all hang out and be lil bitches together.

They even let Hunter hang out with them due to the fact that he’s so good at acting like an adult (as sad as that is), a ‘bratty’ one but he does know a lot.

Rather then just brushing Hunter off as some brat like in canon, they see the potential in him and think ‘yeah we can make this kid into an absolute beast’

It’s mainly to have him do their dirty or difficult work for them but they also grow fond of him.

Idk I just want to give Hunter a dysfunctional family out of the Coven heads

Extra:

Hettie teaches Hunter anatomy so he knows where to hit his enemies and healing spells to heal himself and scouts he works with.

Darius teaches Hunter how to sew like in canon but sooner and teaches him all sorts of abomination magic like the translocation.

Vitimir teaches him all sorts of potions and how to incorporate them in fighting. He also teaches Hunter potion tolerance and how to resist certain ones and mithridatism

Adrian teaches him some illusions and even acting skills so Hunter becomes a better liar.

Eberwolf brings him out to catch and train with beasts. They bring him all sorts of bugs and little critters. Hunter often goes on retrieval missions to bring Eber stuff for the beasts he keeps.

Terra let’s him hang out at the garden and green house and teaches him all sorts of Botany and plant magic. She likes info dumping on him.

The previous Bard and Riane teach him Bard magic. Hunter summons his own violin.

Orsan teaches oracle magic to him but mainly likes to teach Hunter mind games

Mason teaches Hunter construction magic and how to use to use it to fight and fix damage done after a fight.

Lilith though jealous and annoyed, still recommends him all sorts of book and in good moments they info dump on each other

A lot of theses skills I think Hunter would have in canon like the anatomy and potion thing but he had to learn those on his own. In this Au the Coven heads are actually bothered to teach him.

Due to these changes Hunter is more comfortable with doing all sorts of combo magic like how we see Lilith does in the shows. He also carries a belt of potions with him. Certain stuff in the show goes different as well since he does form a bond sooner with Darius and Adrian.

The coven heads aren’t aware he doesn’t have a bile sac they just think he has a weak one. They help him learn how to translate their spells into his staff spells.

They all still can be cruel to Hunter like Adrain’s and Darius cruel jabs at him or Terra giving him plants that can harm him (like tea that makes him hallucinate ). They still do some back stabbing but overall they are less worse then in canon.

Though any signs abuse from Belos they chalk up to being from missions or reckless.

I think this gives them some fun depth. Like yeah they are all messed up but they are messed up together.

(Sorry if any grammar issues )

#this is for fun #hunter the owl house #hunter toh #the owl house #my rambles #my au #toh au #hunter au #emperors coven #coven heads #hunter the golden guard #golden guard toh #golden guard #hunter wittebane

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crimeronan · 4 months ago

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Leaving Amity — aka one of the empress’ two protege aka the current favorite to become the coven head of the empress’s coven aka the “ruthless” scout who has always risen above and needed to “hide” in the empress’ quarters because her fellow scouts may try to assassinate her in her sleep aka who even knows what may happen — Blight powerless while still in the coven is so freaking reckless I stg Lilith 😭.

Bro she was obviously struggling SO MUCH and as the final nail to the coffin her powers, the comfort she found in the strength she built, is taken away living her stripped bear. It’s *going* to work, because Amity seems to have a mental block where she kinds of panics and runs back to abominations as soon as things don’t go her way (either through fear or a wild fight-flight) BUT Omgmgmg

Idk man, Hunter is going to enjoy this for like 5 minutes but as soon as he realizes Amity is *really* not going well he may freak out. Don’t even get me started on Luz.

All the while Lilith is like i hope i wasn’t too harsh i hope i wasn’t too harsh i want to help i’m scared she wants to leave me help blblblbl

TRULY. WHAT HAPPENS IF SHE GETS ATTACKED, LILITH.....

luz voice "can you guys simply Stop killing each other. i'm trying to be so nice all the time and you cannot even manage One Fucking Day-"

hunter is indeed going to be Worried Sick once the schadenfreude wears off. albeit in his sort of abrasive hunter way. he does not actually enjoy amity being this vulnerable. it's no fun when she's upset, it feels like kicking a kitten :(

and luz. well. luz has a lot of feelings about a lot of things!! that are complicated!!

#currently i'm writing luz experiencing Murderous Rage (not at lilith) (or amity or hunter. obviously) and also trying to #control her Murderous Rage. because she doesn't want to be the Murderous Rage guy. But Also. The Murder. And The Rage.#replies #toh #princess luz au #shitty idiot repression gang

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disco-girl · 2 years ago

Text

An unnecessary and in-depth analysis of magic colors used in TOH (Part 2):

Part 1 here

Purple:

Darius

Purple is associated with luxury, ambition, independence, mystery, arrogance, and inferiority

Darius is pretty much the embodiment of the color purple based on symbolism. He’s independent, he’s mysterious, he’s arrogant, he likes to live in luxury. He doesn’t act super ambitious but he is a Coven Head so we can assume he is somewhat. And the fact that he’s so competitive with Alador suggests that he may experience feelings of inferiority.

Magenta:

Amity, Alador, Tibbles, Gavin (possibly Kikimora and Malphas)

Magenta is associated with kindness, character, change, harmony, cooperation, and self respect but also impatience, arrogance and volatility.

Note: Kikimora and Malphas are listed as having purple magic on the wiki page, but it looks more magenta to me and I think that magenta makes more sense for them as well.

Impatience, arrogance and volatility are traits that are shared among these characters for the most part, though with Amity they’re mostly presented early in the show. The positive traits, consequently, have a lot of significance for Amity, who has gone through tremendous development and change over the course of the show. She’s become kinder and has learned to respect herself in a way that her parents couldn’t. She’s invited harmony into her life. If the show wasn’t cut short, I think we would have had a similar (smaller-scale) development for Alador and maybe even the other antagonists; at the very least Alador has taken initiative to change and better himself.

White:

Emperors Coven Scouts, Adegast, Detention Monitor, Oracle Teacher

White is associated with purity, innocence, perfection, safety, simplicity, illumination, emptiness, and unfriendliness

This one is interesting. For the Emperor’s Coven, since they are working for Belos, I can see their magic being sort of “sanitized”, void of their own creativity or free will. Similarly, for the teachers, maybe their magic is somewhat restricted when they’re on school grounds. They have to stick to the rules and regulations. For Adegast, maybe the white represents how his true nature/form was “illuminated” in WBW. Note: Jerbo is also listed using white on the wiki page but it actually looks like more of a white green to me, which makes more sense for him.

Yellow:

Eda, Mattholomule, Luz, Raine, Hunter (flapjack)

Yellow is associated with sunlight, positivity, intellect, creativity, and confidence. Some shades of yellow are also linked to magic and diversity. On the other hand, yellow can be a symbol of deceit, depression, or cowardice.

This one is fascinating to me. Yellow being associated with Luz makes perfect sense, her name literally means light and there’s so much symbolism in the show associating her with light. It also fits well for Eda, who is sort of the personification of magic and diversity, as well as sharing other traits with Luz. Eda and Raine are the only couple to share the same magic color and I think that was very much intentional, they are each other’s light. Hunter switching from red magic to yellow with flapjack must have significance as well. He goes from having every aspect of his life controlled by Belos, to finding a sense of autonomy and confidence in himself. Deceit, depression and cowardice are also all themes that recur for these characters throughout the show.

Now for the odd one out: Mattholomule. This is one of the things that got me interested in the colors in the first place. Matt having the same magic color as Luz, Eda and Hunter? Maybe he will have plot relevance in the next episode? Okay, most likely not. But a girl can dream. He’s definitely shown cowardice and deceit before. And he has a loud (overly-confident) personality. Maybe we will get some other hints of how the color fits him in WAD. Also curiously, Matt is one of the characters shown to use a different magic color at some point (more on that below)

Cyan:

Gus, Lilith, Edric, Emira, Adrian Graye, Titan Trappers, Keeper, Reviewnicorn

Cyan is associated with compassion, clarity, calmness, concentration, and communication. It can also signify narcissism, stress, secrecy, boastfulness. It’s also the opposite of red.

Many of the characters using this color are illusionists. At face value, concentration, clarity and communication are all important traits for illusionists to have. But I think for the twins, the color might also represent their connection and ability to see and understand each other. Likewise, Lilith’s color may be a symbol of her bond with Eda; her character development and how she grew to accept and understand her sister.

Adrian is a talented illusionist but his narcissism blinds him when it comes to really seeing and understanding others. The Reviewnicorn I could also see being somewhat boastful or narcissistic. And the Keeper, in addition to being compassionate and a skilled illusionist is definitely keeping some secrets. What about the Titan Trappers though? Is the blue a symbol of their secrecy? What do you guys think?

Finally, Gus. He really is the embodiment of this color as much as Darius is purple. He’s compassionate and understanding. He’s intuitive and able to see a lot of things that others might miss, even without magic. He’s able to get through to people and to see the good in them when others can’t. At the same time he can also be somewhat boastful and narcissistic himself at times. And we see how much he struggles with pressure and secrecy in particular.

Back to Matt for a minute, he’s seen in this image from the FTF credits using what looks to be cyan magic. Maybe it’s an accident or supposed to represent the use of illusion magic, but I like to think that perhaps it represents a connection to Gus. If you guys know of any other examples of characters switching colors, let me know!

#the owl house #toh #analysis #magic #symbolism #mattholomule #darius deamonne #amity blight #luz noceda #toh hunter #raine whispers #Gus porter #lilith clawthorne #edric blight #emira blight

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avatarmerida · 2 years ago

Text

So on twitter the other day, @rebeccaartsy mentioned she was thinking about how different things would be if Hunter was there from the beginning and it really got my mind moving.

So like my totally self indulgent headcanon or whatever,is that Hunter in season one is spending his time hunting wild witches and no one really takes him seriously so the whole time he’s trying to prove himself by trying to capture the most famous wild witch, Eda. But I like to think he doesn’t have a very strong artificial staff at this point and isn’t seen as much of a threat. He’s also either not the Golden Guard yet or just wears normal scout stuff to draw less attention. So he is always setting traps and stuff and Luz meets him and his vibe is like an annoying neighbor kid. He just gets roped into the occasional adventure because he’s there and just when he's starting to question life in the coven he gets promoted to coven head and he works even harder to be taken seriously.

Because I love how Hunter and Willow meet so much where they see the true version of each other right away in a way no one else has, I imagine their first meeting is still outside Luz and everything. Like, Hunter is messing with something plant related (maybe making a trap or liking for a rare plant to help Belos, idk) and gets tangled in some aggressive vines and Willow finds him and helps him. But the vines are from like a really complicated plant that requires extreme patience and talent and he’s like even Terra would have trouble with it and while his spitting facts Willow just untangles him effortlessly. She’s just like “boop! You’re good :)” and at first he’s worried she’s gonna tell someone or blackmail him but she’s just “no prob yo.” But she’s also very impressed that he found the plant that he did, cause they're super elusive and he’s like uhhh thanks.

So he offers to walk her to where she’s going and they start talking and he’s info dumping things on plant magic and they’re vibing and he realizes no one has ever let him talk so much before. And she likes talking to him. Then he realizes exactly where they are and before he can make an excuse to leave, Luz comes out to greet Willow and when she sees Hunter she groans. And they dive into their sibling banter slinging shots back and forth and Willow just stands there thinking like “huh, this is the guy who’s always annoying her? He’s not that bad.”

And so it’s just like a little bit where he’s always like “ugh you guys are the worst! But not you Willow, you’re great obvi.” Like he has no idea anyone would ever think she’s weak because he still met her in her element and she just thinks he’s a dork. But the crushing doesn't really start until Understanding Willow because I love that episode and I say so:

“Gus, listen,” said Hunter, as he walked through the open door of the Owl House. “Obviously, there is much I can’t divulge but upon consideration I am willing to grant you an interview for your class. The Emperor’s Coven values education, and so I could definitely offer you information on our selection process which I’m sure your teachers will find impressive and- why is Willow upside down?”

“Oh, Amity set Willow’s mind on fire and now she’s losing all her memories,” said Luz with a nervous chuckle. “But uh, what’s up with you?”

“What?” He said running over to her side and helping her sit correctly on the couch. “Is she okay?”

“Don’t worry blondie, we’re gonna get these knuckleheads in there to set things right,” said Eda. “Or at least less wrong.”

“You’re gonna entrust Willow’s mind in the hands of… them?” Said Hunter in disdain as he glared at Luz and Amity who honestly couldn’t argue with him. “They were the ones who put her in this situation in the first place! Not to mention, this location isn’t zoned for a spell of that caliber and as a member of the Emperor’s Coven I could-.”

“Listen, do you want it done soon or do you want it done legally?” Asked Eda. “Cause by the time we get the permits to do it your way Goldie, there won’t be any of Willow’s memories left to save.”

“Very well then,” said Hunter, pretending as though it was a hard decision. “I’ll allow it. Just… be careful with her.”

“Alright then,” said Eda. “Lemme whip up something to put her to sleep. She’s not gonna wanna be awake for this.”

“Oh look, the prince is here,” giggled Willow, leaning on Hunter’s shoulder for support as she noticed his presence for the first time. “Helloooo, your highness.”

“Uh, hi,” he said, not expecting her to be this close to him. “A-re you oka-.”

“Shhh,” she said, putting her finger to his lips, whispering as though it was the most serious thing on earth. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What?” he said despite his lips being smushed, hanging on to her words with concern.

She took a deep breath. “You have beautiful eyes.” She whispered with intensity.

His face turned bright crimson as he tried to laugh, assuming it must be a joke of some sort. But Willow’s voice didn’t carry the disdain most jokes at Hunter’s expense carried. She wasn’t in her right mind, but maybe that didn’t mean she wasn’t serious.

“Oh uh… thank you?” He said, clearing his throat. “So uh so do you?”

“Hmmm,” she giggled then hiccuped, squinting at him and then leaning in closer as though she couldn’t quite see something. “Do they make you wear that mask because you're so handsome all the time?”

“What?”

“Woo, you could cut something with that jaw ouch,” she said, her voice low and playful before erupting into another sea of giggles.

“I uh, I don’t think that’s-.”

“Nap time!” Said Eda, and Willow instantly fell asleep, leaning forward onto Hunter’s shoulder. He was unprepared to say the least, but tentatively put an arm around her to keep her steady, his eyes wide as his movements were careful.

“Alright coven boy, you keep Princess Planter comfy while I tell these two how to keep things from getting worse,” instructed Eda, pointing to Luz and Amity.

“Yeah sure okay,” replied Hunter, barely listening. Eda was telling Luz and Amity something but all Hunter could hear was the gentle sound of Willow snoring, her breathing slow and deep and peaceful. He has never been so close to her, he could see every delicate freckle that decorated her face. Her glasses were askew so he carefully removed them, because it just seemed like the thing to do. Her mind was on fire, the least he could do was make her more comfortable.

—

He watched as her eyes shifted behind her eyelids as she… dreamed? Would she think this was all a dream? She would mumble things occasionally, hopefully that meant something good? She just looked so-

“Hey Hunter, you want in on this?” Asked Gus.

“Huh?” He looked up quickly as though he was being accused of something. He hadn’t been listening. Hadn’t he been tasked with monitoring her? Is that what Eda said or had he just done it naturally? “Sorry, what?”

“King and Eda are competing to be the subject of my interview,” repeated Gus. “You want in?”

Hunter had forgotten all about being the subject of Gus’ report as he became engrossed in watching Willow sleep. Was that creepy? He didn’t mean it to be. He just felt… protective. He felt responsible. He could never fall asleep like this with anyone unless he trusted them completely. He had never fallen asleep around anyone. And he knew Willow did not have a choice in the matter but he wanted to be worthy of her trust anyway.

“Uh, no thanks maybe next time,” he said, uncharacteristically soft. “Someone should keep an eye on Willow.”

“Eh, she’s not going anywhere goldie,” said Eda as a twinkle entered her eye. “Buuuut when she does wake up, she’s probably gonna be hungry. Having the essence of your inner being threatened really takes alot out of you.”

“Oh yeah, sure,” said Hunter, looking at her in wonder. She seemed to be doing fine, but no doubt there would be brutal side effects. “Should I-.”

“Snacks! Snacks! Snacks!” chanted King.

“Oh yeah, uh I guess I could… do that,” he said softly. He wasn’t sure why he was being quiet, no one else was. But his usual tone didn’t seem fitting now. Normally, he would not take orders (or even suggestions) from civilians but if it was for Willow then it didn’t feel like succumbing to rank. It felt like helping. It felt purposeful. He carefully removed himself from Willow’s presence, mourning the loss of warmth for only a moment, and placed her comfortably on the couch. As he made his way to the kitchen, his eyes were glued to her until it was impossible to continue. Eda,King, and Gus were too occupied in their debate to notice.

---

Willow was going to be fine, she had to be. Everyone would be acting more worried if she wasn’t, right? She had always been strong and capable, he knew her mind couldn’t be much different. He turned his focus from concern into purpose. He wouldn’t admit it to the others, but he was thankful for the distraction. He felt foolish just sitting there not being able to do anything for her. He had never actually made something before, but how hard could it be? He had studied under the head of the Potions coven, how different was baking from that?

As he looked through Eda’s cupboards, Willow’s words echoed in his ears. Well, not all of them. There was one in particular, occupied by the way the ends of her mouth turned up as she said it that made his stomach flip.

Handsome.

No one had ever called him that before, not even ironically. Did she really think that? Why did he care so much if she did? Why, suddenly, did he want so much for her to?

Was it really suddenly though?

Ugh! Why hadn’t he said something cooler? He wasn’t sure she’d even remember saying it, but if she did he didn’t want his surprised reaction to prevent her from possibly repeating herself! He had never had issue thinking of clever retorts (though, to be fair he did do a fair deal of practicing in his bedroom mirror each night) and they often fell into a comfortable conversation. But sometimes she would say something a certain way or look at him too long and it would throw him off. Not in a bad way, no nothing at all like that, just… unexpected. She laughed at the jokes people would roll their eyes at or ask him to continue where normally he was cut off and all the little things just kept adding and piling up until Hunter didn’t know how he was supposed to carry them. She was so many little things, like the way she tilted her head when she asked him a silly question or how her glasses would slide off her edge of her knows when she got excited or the way she would stand close to him and sometimes their hands would brush like she didn’t care if they-

Focus! He thought, taking ingredients from the cabinets. There wasn’t much and what there was seemed to have no organizational system but he could resolve that after he figured out what to whip up. Something simple, something to show Willow he wanted to help. He didn’t know her well enough to enter her mind with Luz and Amity, but secretly he hoped he was getting there.

---

He managed to make something that resembled cookies, the smell filled the kitchen and it surprisingly wasn't an awful smell?. He remembered Willow mentioned once she was eager to get home as her father had made some and they were waiting for her. Truthfully, Hunter had never tasted a cookie but he had seen them when he walked by the bakery in town and knew the basics of their structure. Surely if he had taken a wrong turn the smell would reflect that, right? He imagined the look on Willow’s face when she saw his creation, and maybe even liked it. The flipped feeling returned to his stomach and spread through his whole chest like a wild fire when the potential look of delight on her face graced his mind.

In his efforts, he had made quite the mess. But he couldn’t help but feel pride as he quickly plated his creation, eager to return to Willow’s side. He didn’t think too much into this, he was always excited to see Willow. He tried not to think too much into that, chalking it up to the fact that she was interesting and a good listener and funny and smart and pretty and-

The point was she didn’t find him totally annoying, so why shouldn’t he enjoy her company?

And if she happened to think he was a little handsome then, well, that wasn’t the worst thing.

As he set the cookies to cool, he heard a sudden commotion from the next room. He quickly ran to see the cause, hoping it was a good sign. There was a bright flash and then he heard Luz and Amity. He stood back a moment, trying to deduce their tone before he heard Willow speak. Her voice was horse and soft, but he could tell she was back to normal. Good, he thought, feeling as though he could finally breathe again. She’s okay, she’s okay.

He went to greet her but before he could leave the kitchen, he was stopped by Luz. Before he could offer a snarky question as to what exactly she thought she was doing, she looked at him with wide, concerned eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, furrowing his brow. He tried to looked past her to see what was going on. “Is she okay? Did something happen to-?”

“Willow’s fine.” she assured him, putting her arm up to stop him. “There was just some… complications.”

“What complications? Was she hurt? Does she need-?”

“No no, nothing like that but um there were some memories… we couldn’t save,” said Luz carefully.

“Like what? Did she forget something for a test she has? Because I can always-.”

“No, no uh there were more… recent memories,” Luz tried to figure out the nicest way to say this. ”Hunter, I’m sorry but we were still figuring out how things worked and it all happened so fast but… Willow doesn’t remember you.”

“What?” He felt something shatter.

“I’m so sorry, but hey, it’s an easy fix! Right? We can just introduce you now!”

“Yeah, uh I guess…” he said, looking at his current state. He had thrown on an old apron and was covered in flour, his hair a mess. This night was already so chaotic, it hardly seemed like a time Willow would want to meet someone new.

And then it dawned on Hunter: he had a second chance at a first impression.

Their first meeting had been… interesting. If you count hanging upside down by your ankle until a girl who took a wrong turn stumbles upon you helps untangle you interesting. Hunter did. But he had been so grumpy and flustered, and he wouldn’t have been had he only known who exactly had come to his rescue. She didn’t seem to care or be bothered by it, but he had come to value her opinion and he’d like to start again on the best foot possible. He had a chance for her to see him exactly as he wanted to be seen from the beginning and it felt like a chance he needed to seize.

His mind made up, he looked around for a way out before the human could return with Willow. Quickly, he climbed out the window and landed in a bush, He ducked beneath the window and pressed his back againythe wall as he heard Willow and Luz enter the kitchen,

“Huh, where did he go?” he heard Luz wonder.

“Who was this again?” Willow asked, her voice still raspy as though she was utterly exhausted.

“Uh, it’s kinda hard to explain,” Luz admitted. “But, he’ll be around again. I know he really wants to meet you!”

“Okay,” said Willow, uncertain. “If you say so.”

He couldn't help but think about the chill that went up his spine when she looked into his eyes. He didn’t understand exactly what it was but he knew it wasn’t nothing. He wanted Willow to know a better version of him. He cared what she thought. When she met him this time, he wanted it to be a meeting worth remembering.

—-

And so for the rest of the series up until ASIAS he’s trying to work up the nerve to meet Willow again as Hunter. Just when he’s ready, he gets promoted to coven bead and that’s when I’m also promoting him to Golden Guard or maybe like Golden Guard full time. So now he has more on his plate and he gets a more advanced staff and now he’s a real threat. But of course because he’s a loser and can’t stay away from her so they do interact when he’s the Golden Guard and he has that masked confidence. He’s still getting to know her so he’ll like run into her in the market or something and flirt but didn’t realize it’s flirting and he’s planning the perfect way to “re-meet.” The whole time Willow is like bugging because there’s something so familiar about him but she doesn’t know what and the others don’t tell her because they’re like still figuring out his deal. So when he does come to Hexside during ASIAS it’s much more thought through and intentional and feelings have already been caught.

Anyway sorry for a long pointless post but that’s just been on my mind k thanks bye.

#huntlow #winter toh #toh #the owl house #willow park #Hunter toh

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