#Boscha herself is a very interesting character.

[bananahkim]

For the ship ask thing Lumischa

No

Boscha can fuck off and trip over a rock

Ask meme

[fr3sh-tragedies]

Pay Attention

[Resident Evil: Village] Daniela Dimitrescu x Female Reader

Word Count: 7.05k

Proofread: Yes

Content Warnings: Mentions of Daniela feeling like a burden, general angst-to-fluff, crying, soft pining, worries of delusions, and skipping a meal.

[A/N]: I was wanting to post this a week apart from Cassandra’s, but the WiFi went out and took a few days to fix, so I wasn’t able to work on her part. On top of that, I'm not entirely sure how to write for her character since I only recently started to come up with stories for her.

I had much more planned for this one, but I wanted to keep the word count in between what I had written for Bela and Cassandra, so I shortened a few things.

Also, this will be the last story for the Dimitrescu sisters for a while. Please check my bio for an explanation on that. I'll likely be writing for Amity Blight and Boscha from The Owl House next! Check the poll at the end of this story.

Enjoy!

 “Love can exert the same strain on the body as experienced intense fear. In a person in love, the same physiological reactions are observed: dilated pupils, sweaty palms, an increase in heart rate.” Pure intrigue and fascination sparked its way through Daniela’s body, her molten golden eyes skimming over the lines on the page that seemed to pull her in further with each passing word. A few weeks prior, when she had made her usual trip to the Village to visit the Duke and see what stories he had to offer, he had mentioned a book about facts relating to the human body’s anatomy and physiology–a book of “fun facts,” as he called it. Daniela had taken interest in this immediately and ordered it. During the time that she waited, she pondered about what kind of facts it could contain: whether or not it would mention how the body works when a human is in love.

Although she wasn’t entirely aware of it, there was a part of her mind that always brought her attention back to a certain maid that worked for her family. Anytime she thought of how the body might react to being in love with someone, her mind wandered to [Y/N] [L/N]. She would think of how soft her stare always seemed to be, how relaxed she appeared in the youngest Dimitrescu daughter’s presence. It made her feel as though she trusted her the way she was yearning for.

Subconsciously, she would begin to daydream. At first, it only started at night when she was getting ready to fall asleep after a long day. Over a–rather short–amount of time, however, she found herself staring into the distance at random times, completely in a blissful daze. The smitten woman would think constantly of [Y/N]’s steady gaze, and almost immediately fight to suppress a squeal once remembering how flustered she had gotten each time the two of them made eye contact.

After calming down, she’d dream of [Y/N]’s soft locks of hair that always seemed to frame her face so perfectly, cupping the outlining structure of her cheeks and jaw that she wished she could caress with her own hands. How she envied the way any other maid, or even one of her sisters, would so easily rip her attention away from her. She wished she could find a way to keep [Y/N]’s attention on her, find a way to make her pay attention, in other words.

To ease her growing frustrations, she’d turn her attention to [Y/N]’s lips. Although the young woman hadn’t worked for her family for very long–likely only two years–it didn’t take Daniela long to begin falling for her. Often, she would feel her eyes fluttering shut as she tried to vividly picture herself gaining the privilege to kiss her. She wondered how soft her lips would feel against her own. How warm they would be. Would they welcome her with the same spark of enthusiasm? Or would they freeze against her own before roughly removing themselves from one another?

She was often made fun of for being delusional when it came to romance, always falling back to rely on the romance novels she could be found burying her nose into on multiple occasions every single day. As much as she hoped her love would be reciprocated, she could feel the doubts and insecurities creeping in, wishing she didn’t have to consider the fact that her sisters may be right: she may be delusional about this romance.

Maybe she was making this out to be something so much more in her head.

Blending together and jumbling up her mind only made her daydreaming grow more frequent and harder to tear away from. She found herself retreating to her fantasies out of fear of it being the only way she would be able to hear [Y/N] tell her she feels the same way.

Her sisters would snap her out of it and, of course, tease her for it. It would always leave her flustered as she tried to act as though she wasn’t just fantasizing about her favorite maid, which she had personally requested serve the family for each meal.

She’d hastily make her way through her meal, ignoring the taunting of her older siblings, before excusing herself to fly back up to her room for some kind of privacy. She knew Bela and Cassandra would expect to find her in the library first–if they were to search for her–so she would hide away in her bedroom and distract herself with the stack of books she had stashed away in her wardrobe for such an occasion. Time and time again, she’d think about the book she ordered, increasingly growing fearful that it would only worsen her possibly deluded dreams.

After a while of waiting anxiously to learn more about the human body that always captivated her in more ways than one, the book finally arrived at the Duke’s cart. She paid him as promised and quickly fled back to the castle to read in the comfort of her favorite space, the library, leaving her sisters to continue their shopping on their own.

Thankfully, she had managed to keep her inattentiveness to a minimum. Because of this, she felt it was okay to go back to her sanctum to read, rather than secluding herself in her bedroom.

Brushing past the maids that worked deftly throughout the front parlor and all the way out to the opposite sides of the sturdy structure, Daniela finally made it to the library, where she shut the doors behind her and huddled up on the sofa closest to the center, allowing the large skylight above to provide light for her to read under.

She had curled up against the armrest, tucking one of the throw pillows against her chest and propping her legs up to press it further against her torso. Quickly, she flipped the front cover open and thumbed eagerly at the pages as she began to read the introduction–which opened by explaining how different events trigger different emotions and hormones throughout the brain and body. It was hard for her to suppress a yawn. The way the paragraphs were phrased, including the diction used, seemed more like something her eldest sister Bela would be interested in.

Seemingly countless words filled each pale, thin page, all of which added up to share different messages and facts about the physiological side of emotions. When the Duke had been talking of the book a few weeks prior, he made it seem far more interesting than what she was reading at the beginning. She had pictured interesting facts put together with very few words, short sections of small lists decorating the page with each bulleted point. She did enjoy lengthy novels using flowery language, which often used far more detail than this book had so far, but those had a story building up throughout each turn of a page.

The way the facts were laid out before her made her feel like she was being lectured by Bela.

The paragraphs seemed to stretch on and on. Her eyelids drooped upon feeling heavy, her boredom growing more and more evident across her features.

She sighed, swiftly flipping through the pages using the pad of her thumb, desperately searching for where the more interesting part of the book was. Finally, with a small cheer of triumph, she discovered what she was seeking out for. She smiled gleefully and nuzzled up against the sofa and the pillow. Her body sunk down into the cushions as she finally took interest in the words that rested underneath a large, bold title that read “Facts of the Brain.”

It had started off sharing facts about the brain connected to the nervous, digestive, and integumentary systems, though what truly caught her interest was when it started speaking of how love and romance affected the body. Finally, she found the part of the book she had been fantasizing about for weeks. Each fact drew her deeper and deeper into the pages, her senses tuning out the rest of the world. Her smile cracked wider and wider across her face, and just like she had done before she had even gotten her hands on the book, she pictured the effects taking place in her and [Y/N]’s bodies while dreaming of one day learning that her love was mutual.

Laughter is associated with the positive sides of love that partners share.

The initial stress of a relationship can cause physical symptoms similar to a heart attack, known as Broken Heart syndrome.

Different stages of love exist, with different reactions at the start of a relationship that are different from the ones that they feel when it is a long-term romantic attachment.

Being in love alters our personality and perception of things. We can become more open to things that our lover is into, or we may even become more optimistic about things.

Love leads to the deactivation of the amygdala in the brain, which regulates fear. Thus, you are less scared of outcomes and consequences when in love. You experience a fearlessness and bravery that you wouldn’t usually feel.

Gleefully, Daniela squealed in excitement over all of the new information greeting her. She continued reading, wondering if [Y/N] had ever felt any of these things while around her. She had certainly felt the intensity of her feelings anytime she so much as thought of the girl. Had [Y/N] felt the same?

The urge to share these interesting facts with her family grew stronger in her body. Maybe if she brought it up with her sisters and told them of how she wanted to use the information to finally confess to [Y/N], they would encourage her and help her do so.

Quickly, she stood from her spot on the small sofa. She spun on her heel and practically skipped towards the doors, softly closing the book and tucking it under her arm after folding the corner of the last page she had read. She flung the doors open in front of her, then tugged them shut before letting the lower half of her body swarm back into the flies that made up her being, allowing her to float above the ground and travel quickly down the hall. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to find Bela or Cassandra first. She had heard them come back home a while before, though she wasn’t aware of where they were.

Bela was likely in her study going over the paperwork her mother had given to her, and Cassandra was without a doubt in the armory crafting her newest weapon with the metals she had purchased from the Duke back in the Village. It would be far easier to visit Cassandra first, seen as how she was the closest.

Daniela made her way through the doorway that led to the hallway connecting the main hall’s stairway to the Wine Room. She slid past the balcony, brushing past the maids that seemed to cower back a bit at her presence. She then hooked a right at the end of the walkway, then a left, and went through a few more doors before finally reaching the armory. Just as she had assumed, Cassandra was in there, working away at designing a new dagger she would be able to add to her personal collection. She sat atop the crates stacked against the main pillar in the center of the room. A pen in hand, she sketched out her idea onto a sheet of paper that sat propped up in her lap. She used a thin sheet of wood as a surface to draw on.

She seemed not to have noticed her younger sister walk into the room, and Daniela smiled to herself. She lurked forward silently and hid behind the crates, peering out over the top. With a silent chuckle, she moved to float just behind her sister, sucking in a small breath and readying herself to yell in an attempt to startle her sister.

“Don’t even think about it, Dani,” Cassandra warned without glancing in her direction, continuing to focus on her newest blueprint in front of her instead. Daniela let out the breath she had been holding through a loud sigh, pouting as she crossed her arms and flew to stand in front of her sister. “You’re no fun,” she murmured. “I am so. I’m just working on something. Plus, I don’t think you realize that I was able to hear the door open and close when you came in.”

“It could’ve been Bela or a maid that came in! Why would you assume it was me?”

“Well, Bela wouldn’t have tried to creep up on me, she would’ve waited at the doorway and said my name or cleared her throat to catch my attention. And the maids know they aren’t allowed in here, especially if I’m already here, unless I ask them to polish the armor. I knew it was you. And either way, I could smell you coming from down the hall.”

“H-Huh?”

“Your perfume, Daniela. It’s so strong all the time. Makes me wanna pinch my nose shut every time so I don’t have to smell it. God, are you trying to cover up the smell of all the blood and death on you? Because if you are, it’s not working.”

Daniela could feel her face burning, the blush that had already begun to form on her cheeks out of embarrassment now creeping up onto the tips of her ears. She felt her shoulders tensing up, the grip on both her book and her arm tightening to a painful degree. “Th-That’s not true! I’m not trying to hide anything with my perfume!” She scowled and stared at Cassandra for a moment, although her gaze was not met. Her sister continued to stare down at her sketches, though there was a cocky grin plastered on her face. Daniela scoffed and shook her head.

“That doesn’t matter,” she started again, tugging the book out from under her arm as she once again looked up at her sister. “I wanted to show you this book! It’s full of all kinds of facts about the human body and mind, and I finally got to the part about how love affects the body, and I wanted to–” “I’m not interested, Daniela. I’m busy. And besides, you’re the only one who cares about all of this romance stuff this much. The rest of us are perfectly fine with keeping it to ourselves.”

Daniela frowned, her enthusiasm beginning to crumble in a very visible way. She thought for a moment about what she could say to capture her sister’s attention. “W-Well, I know you don’t really care for my interest in romance novels, b-but I think you’d like the rest of the book! It’s–”

“Daniela, I’m not interested. I don’t care what the rest of the book is about, I don’t want to hear it. If you’re only going to pester me with this when you know I’m busy, then just leave.”

Daniela’s frown only deepened, her gaze dropping down to the floor. “I-I’m…not meaning to bother you, Cass. I’m sorry. I just wanted to share it with someone, and you were the closest one to me, so…” She turned her attention to the book still waiting to be opened again in her trembling hands. She absolutely hated the feeling of being a burden to anyone. Before she could get too deep into her head, however, she began heading towards the door again. Perhaps Bela would be more accepting of her excitement.

She retraced the trail she had taken to find the armory, though she flew downstairs into the main parlor instead. Her arms tugged the book closer to her chest as she soared all the way to Bela’s personal study. There, she made sure to knock before entering.

“Who is it?” Bela asked softly from the other side of the door. “It’s just me,” Daniela replied. Bela sighed. “Come in.” After the confirmation that she could come in, Daniela opened the door and headed inside before closing it behind her. She spun around and walked over to Bela’s desk, where her eldest sister was working away, already buried in paperwork again. “What do you need, Dani? Is something wrong?” Bela briefly glanced up at her before shuffling a few papers, letting out a small sigh when she found the paper she was seemingly looking for.

The youngest daughter stood next to the desk and stared at Bela patiently. “N-No, nothing is wrong. I just…wanted to know if I could share something with you.” The blonde grumbled something under her breath and pinched the bridge of her nose as she leaned back against her chair. “As long as it’s made brief, yes.” Daniela’s frown returned. “Oh, well…” She tapped the front cover of her book, catching Bela’s attention. “Not exactly something brief, but I thought you might like to hear about it. You know…just in case you decide you want something to read later on down the line.”

Bela sighed again, running both of her hands down her face. “Dani, you know I would usually have no issue with you talking to me about your stories, but,” she was cut off as Daniela leaned forward and interrupted her. “But it’s not a story this time! It’s a whole book filled with fun facts about the human body! I think you’ll really like it.”

“Look, that sounds interesting, I suppose. But I’m really busy, and I need to get all of this finished before the end of the week. Which is in three days, mind you, in case you weren’t already aware.” Bela slid forward again and picked up a smaller stack of documents tucked away in files. She thumbed through them, checking the labels for what she was searching for. “If you really must share it with someone, go find Cassandra instead.”

“I already did though. She said I was just irritating her and that I needed to leave while she works on her new weapon. I figured maybe you’d be more interested in it.” Daniela grimaced at a thought that made itself known in the front of her mind. “I’m not…bothering you, am I?” Bela looked up at her finally. “Listen, you know I don’t enjoy being blunt with you, but quite frankly, yes, you’re bothering me. These papers are very important, Dani. I have to focus on them right now.”

Again, Daniela’s confidence began to crumble. Even more so when her sister once again turned back to her work as if it were far more important than her. “Oh, I-I’m…I’m sorry.” She began to back away, unable to tear her eyes away from her feet as they led her backwards. “I didn’t mean to,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

She twirled back to face the door, slipping through it and leaving abruptly. She could feel her insecurities eating away at her self esteem. Tears began to form and prick the corners of her eyes. She let out a small sniffle and began to head out towards the courtyard. “Perhaps mother will listen to me.”

She traveled all the way through the large, open space, grateful that the weather permitted her to do so peacefully. She made it to the structure connected to the space just across the dining room, floating up the stairs, through the doorway, and then turning to go up yet another set of stairs. She then took a few more turns before finally making it to her mother’s chambers. She pressed her ear to the door, smiling weakly when she heard her mother moving around on the other side.

Swiftly, Daniela knocked on the door. “Yes?” Her mother questioned, her tone professional in case it was a maid. “It’s just me, mother. May I come in?” “Of course, dear. Just try to keep your voice down.” Daniela was confused by the last part of her mother’s statement, but she still turned the door’s handle and pushed it forward, allowing her to step inside. She smiled, though it quickly dropped once she saw that Alcina was on the phone, likely with Mother Miranda again.

“O-Oh, I’m sorry, mother. Is this a bad time?” Alcina glanced over at her softly for a moment, though quickly sighed and furrowed her brow. “No, Daniela, it’s not–ah, yes, Mother Miranda. I’m aware. I can assure you that everything will go accordingly.” Daniela made no move to step further, already sensing that she was becoming a burden to yet another one of her loved ones. “I’ll leave you be. I-I’ll see you during dinner,” she mumbled just loud enough for her mother to hear.

She turned and left the room just as Alcina looked back over at her again. “Daniela, wait.” Another sigh. “Mother Miranda, I understand. Yes, I know how important this is to you.”

The entire time she had tried to share her interest in this new book she found, Daniela had been fighting back tears. With each way of saying that she was only being a nuisance, her confidence faltered before shattering into pieces. Now, after bottling it up for so long in hopes of being able to change her attitude, she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. They streamed down her face as she rushed back up to her room, locking her door and crawling up against the pillows on her bed.

Until she managed to think things through and calm down, Daniela intended to hide away in the comfort of her bedroom. She wiped at her face, scolding herself for being so emotional for such a ridiculous reason. Her family was simply busy doing their own things–they didn’t owe her the time of day.

But she wanted so badly to share something she was so passionate about with someone. Her excitement had blinded her to the fact that she truly was burdening the others as they tried to work. They were all doing important things, and she was curled up on her bed, sobbing because she wasn’t able to keep the attention on her?

How pathetic.

How selfish.

She sucked in a shaky breath, trying desperately to bring her crying to a halt. It failed, however, as another sob wracked through her body. She whimpered, feeling as though she truly was weak since she wasn’t even able to keep a straight face. She shifted and turned on the bed, burying her face in her pillow as she tossed the book onto the floor. Maybe the plush surface beneath her would muffle the sounds of her vulnerability.

“Lady Daniela? Will you be joining your family for dinner anytime soon? They’ve asked me to see if you’ll come down.” “No, I’m not going to eat dinner tonight. I-I, um…Just really want to finish my book. Tell them I’ll find something to eat later, will you?” “Of course.”

It had been a few hours since Daniela’s meltdown. She had finally managed to stop crying within the first hour of hiding away, though she still felt too depressed to leave her room. Dinner had been ready for over half an hour at that point, yet she was the only one not to have joined her family downstairs to eat. It surprised her mother, as she was usually the first one seated, always eager to see what the kitchen staff had prepared for their meal that night. She had sent a maid up to her youngest daughter’s room four times, asking them to encourage her to come down and join them, even though Bela and Cassandra were already finished eating.

The two waited patiently at the table per their mother’s request, although they also wanted to use the time spent at dinner to apologize to Daniela for the way they treated her. They both felt guilty for it and spoke to each other about how they could make it up to her. When she didn’t join them at the table, however, they could feel their regret growing stronger. They often poked fun at her for different things, but Daniela knew it was all in good fun. She knew they didn’t really mean anything by it.

They were sisters, after all, and they even mocked each other at different points. Most of the time she would laugh at their jokes aimed in her direction. They must’ve really hurt her for her not to at least come downstairs long enough to eat dinner with them.

After waiting another half hour, they decided that it was best to give her a bit of space before they tried to properly apologize for what they had done. They left the dining room. Alcina, however, continued to wait there for her youngest to show up. She never did, and after yet another hour, Alcina headed upstairs to her own room to retire for the night. She knew her daughter likely needed time to herself, especially after Bela and Cassandra explained what had happened. In the morning, she’d make sure to check in on her daughter personally and apologize to her herself.

All the while, Daniela remained in bed, staring blankly at the wall the side of her bed was pressed up against. Her eyes were dull, straining as she fought to stay awake. She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t letting herself fall asleep. She knew she’d feel better if she got a bit of rest, but for some reason she just wouldn’t let her eyes stay closed.

Her mind was swarming with all kinds of negative thoughts, none of which managed to do anything but dampen her mood even further. She must’ve lied there for hours in absolute silence. Everyone else, including the maids, had already gone to bed, which is why it was such a surprise when a knock sounded from her door. She nearly jumped out of her own skin. A loud yelp slipped past her lips as she jolted upright and felt her head whip towards the direction of the door.

Who could that possibly be? Surely her sisters weren’t up at this hour. It was long past midnight, and although she knew the two of them were more insomniatic than she was, she could tell from the way that silence followed the knock that it wasn’t them. Still, her heart hammered in her chest as she tried to decipher the scent.

“Wh-Who is it?” She asked shakily.

“It’s me, Daniela,” [Y/N] responded from the other side of the door. “Is it alright if I come in?” Daniela’s heart began to race even faster, though it was for a different reason now. Why was [Y/N] the only one who came to check in on her herself? Perhaps she cared more for Daniela than her own family did. She hesitated, her mind telling her she’ll only be a burden to the woman she loved so dearly. Ignoring those cruel thoughts, she wiped her face and straightened out her dress. “Yes, come on in,” she finally said at length.

Slowly, the door creaked open to reveal [Y/N], who peered in through the dim lighting the candles from the hallway managed to provide. “What’s up?” Daniela asked softly, watching as the young woman closed her bedroom door and walked over to her bed. She sat on the edge of it and gazed over at her. Even with how dark her room was, Daniela was able to see the concerned look on [Y/N]’s face. “I heard about what happened today. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Daniela smiled weakly, her heart pounding against her ribs once more. She glanced down at her lap, tugging her gloves off and tossing them to the side to pick at her nails. Her palms flipped downwards to desperately try to wipe the sweat onto the fabric of her dress. “I-I’m fine,” she mumbled in reply, her voice almost inaudible. [Y/N] shifted on the bed, the mattress suddenly sinking down next to Daniela as she sat beside her. “C’mon, you and I both know that’s not true. I can see it on your face. And in your body language. You’re upset. You don’t have to hide it. You don’t have to tell me about anything, but I can promise you I won’t judge you for whatever it is you’re upset about.”

Now, as her lip began to quiver for the first time in hours, Daniela managed to peer over at her from the corner of her eye. She tried to maintain her composure, though it was quick to falter as [Y/N] held out her arms and gazed at her with those damned eyes. “C’mere.”

Without meaning to, Daniela whimpered and practically seemed to lunge forward as she dove into [Y/N]’s embrace, letting her face bury itself into the smaller woman’s shoulder as she let out a small sob. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was about this girl that made her feel so safe, other than her love for her. Something about the way [Y/N]’s eyes always seemed to show a sign of trust and never held any judgment made Daniela feel as though she could confide in her about anything.

[Y/N] was quick to rock her back and forth, her fingers gently stroking the unshaven side of the redhead’s messy hair and scratching soothingly at her scalp. “Everything is going to be okay, Dani. And they didn’t tell me to say anything, but your sisters and mother are very sorry for whatever it was that they did to you. Believe me. I was able to see it on their faces during dinner.” Daniela sniffled softly and tilted her head to peer up at [Y/N].

“You were there during dinner?” [Y/N] nodded down at her with a soft grin. “Yes. I was also…” She seemed to hesitate, worried about something. Daniela straightened up at this to look her in the eye. “What is it?” “Ah, I just–I was also there in the room with Bela earlier when you tried to show her your book. I heard what happened.” A soft shade of crimson dusted Daniela’s cheeks as she turned her head away in embarrassment. “Oh, I didn’t even realize. I-I’m sorry you had to see me act that way.” “What way?” “Like a spoiled brat. I-I sounded like I just wanted attention, didn’t I?”

Gently, [Y/N]’s hand came to rest on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. “No, not at all. I can understand being upset about not being able to share something you’re passionate about, and I could clearly tell you were passionate about the book you were carrying.”

Daniela looked back up at her again, slightly surprised. “You don’t think I was being pathetic?” “No, not at all! I’d probably react the same way, honestly.”

Daniela smiled and hummed after a moment. She crossed her legs and returned to where she had originally been sitting on her bed, staring down at her lap. “Th-Thank you for not judging me,” she murmured quietly at length. “It really does mean a lot.” Her head lifted so she could once again look [Y/N] in the eyes, her smile never faltering, and instead growing. “Anytime, Dani,” came the smaller woman’s reply. They gazed at each other for a while, not realizing it.

Suddenly, a look of pure confusion riddled Daniela’s face. “Wait, if you were in the room with Bela when I came in earlier, then how did you not know what I was upset about? And…why did it seem like you didn’t know about any of it until my family “told you?””

Again, a look of anxiousness crossed [Y/N]’s features. She averted her gaze and began to fidget with her fingers. “A-Ah, well, I just didn’t want you to know I had listened to what happened. I thought you might be mad at me for it.” Daniela stared at her, bewildered, but quickly smiled and chuckled. “I could never be mad at you. Especially not over something like that.” She took [Y/N]’s hand into her own and gently caressed the back of it with her thumb.

Daniela sighed in relief. The noises pounding in her mind began to soften, finally feeling at ease for the first time in hours.

“Oh!”

She jumped at that, her heart stuttering in surprise as she quickly turned her attention back to [Y/N], who looked excited now.

“Speaking of that book, I was actually going to ask if you could show me some of the facts you were trying to talk about!” An unusually wide smile cracked across Daniela’s lips, almost to a painful degree. “You’d really be interested in that? And you’d pay attention?” [Y/N] nodded with a look of pure intrigue. “Yeah, of course! I managed to spot the cover of the book while you were in the room. It’s about the human body, right?”

Daniela nodded, quickly flying over to where she had tossed the book to pick it up before returning to the bed. “Yep! The first half is really really boring, but the rest of it is really cool! I love the part about how love and romance affects the body so far.” [Y/N] giggled at her and reached over to the nightstand to light a candle. “I figured as much. That’s very in-character for you,” she replied softly, making Daniela blush.

“Is that a bad thing?” She questioned sheepishly. “No, of course not. It’s actually one of the things I love most about you.” Daniela’s face burned even brighter, and she secretly scolded herself, trying to force the blush to die down before the candle lit up the small space next to them.

“Oh, Daniela. Did that new book you were talking about finally make it in?” Bela asked from the sofa in the front parlor, Cassandra’s head perking up at this. The youngest of the three beamed brightly over at them and chuckled. “Yeah, it did.” Her two older sisters smiled back at her. “Would you want us to read it with you?”

Daniela eyed them for a moment, though her expression quickly changed before they could notice. “Oh, no, it’s fine. I was actually planning on reading it with [Y/N] first! She’s in the library right now: I told her to wait there for me while I grabbed the book from the Duke’s shop.” She hummed and swarmed up, flying all the way across the property to the library, where she found [Y/N] waiting for her on her favorite sofa.

Similar to the way she had been doing almost all day everyday, Daniela smiled wide, squealing from excitement and catching [Y/N]’s attention, who turned to her and grinned in return, waving at her. “Dani, hey! Did you get the book?”

With an enthusiastic nod, Daniela soared over to the sofa and plopped herself down next to [Y/N], leaning against the armrest. “Sure did! Volume two of fun facts over the human body.” She pulled the book from underneath her arm and swayed it back and forth with a teasing smirk. She then set it up against her lap and flipped open the front cover. Bringing her closed hand up to cover her mouth, she cleared her throat, then began to read the story aloud.

As she spoke, she got lost in the words. She hardly noticed as [Y/N] shifted on the cushion in front of her. She was made aware of her movement, however, once the smaller woman leaned against her shoulder to read the words on the pages as well.

Her voice shook and cracked in surprise, her confidence in the words she spoke beginning to waver as she stared down at [Y/N]. “U-Um, are you alright?” She looked up at Daniela in confusion. “Yeah, of course,” was her soft reply. “Just wanted to get cozy, y’know?” Uncharacteristically, Daniela grew sheepish. She was often the one who made a bold move to fluster others–she wasn’t used to someone else doing it to her, let alone the woman she loved.

“Y-Yeah,” was all she could mutter, forcing herself to tear her gaze away and focus back on the words decorating the pages. She continued to read it aloud, though she wasn’t able to comprehend anything she read. This continued for a long while, and finally she was able to get back into a more confident headspace. Her attention to the facts returned.

A gentle yawn sounded from Daniela’s shoulder, prompting her to look down at the source. [Y/N] rubbed her eyes before letting them flutter shut. She sighed as she nuzzled back up further into Daniela’s shoulder. Her nose gently bumped against her neck. The redhead shuttered, causing her breath to halt for a moment. How long had they been reading together? Surely it couldn’t have been that long.

She turned her head to glance up at the skylight, finding that the sky above was growing darker, almost pitch black. “Oh, I hadn’t even realized we’d been here all day. Sorry about that, [Y/N]. Should I carry you back to your room?” [Y/N] shook her head after a moment, seemingly already halfway asleep. “No, I’m fine. This is really comfortable. You can keep reading if you’d like.” Daniela smiled softly down at her and nodded. She shifted her arm to tuck it underneath [Y/N]’s torso and pull her closer, using her free hand to flip the pages of the book as she read silently to herself.

Another hour must’ve passed before Daniela finally finished the book. “Man, it’s much faster to read something in my head than out loud,” she whispered to herself, closing the cover and gently placing the book on the ground next to the sofa. She yawned and sighed, glancing back over at [Y/N]. Her eyes were shut, her breathing and heartbeat slow and steady. Daniela grinned and absentmindedly pressed a gentle kiss to the top of the woman’s head. She couldn’t see it, but her pupils were blown from the love and admiration traveling throughout her body.

“I’m glad you’re asleep,” she started. “I-I promise I’ll tell you this to your face when you’re actually…y’know, conscious–when I can find the courage–but…I love you, [Y/N]. You’ve cheered me up countless times, especially these past few weeks. You’ve always made me laugh and made sure I knew that you were actually paying attention to me. You make sure I know you’re actually interested in what I have to say, and that really does mean the world to me.

“I hope I can help you feel the same way. There are so many things I never want you to have to experience, but feeling useless, or ignored, or…like you’re a burden is definitely one of the major ones. If you ever feel like you have no one else to go to, I just want you to know that I’m here.”

She giggled to herself, running a hand through her hair and then down her face. “I want to keep telling you about how much I love you and why I do, but I feel like I should save all of it for when you’re actually awake to hear all of it. I want you to know just how much you mean to me. Though, that’ll be hard to explain since you mean the world–no, more than the world to me.”

Finally, she let herself relax, leaning back against the armrest and closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. She couldn’t wipe the smile from her face if she tried. Again, just like she had done multiple times over the past few weeks, Daniela jumped. [Y/N] seemed to be unnaturally good at catching her off guard. She wasn’t sure if she was proud of that or not.

“Aww, Dani, that’s so sweet,” she mumbled. Daniela’s eyes shot down to her still resting against her shoulder, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead. “H-How much of that did you hear?”

“All of it.”

Daniela whined in embarrassment. She used her free hand to hide her reddened face, mumbling things under her breath. [Y/N] giggled at her reaction, one arm moving to wrap around the redhead’s torso and pull her closer. Her face nuzzled against Daniela’s collarbone as she smiled and sighed. “But…I love you too. I want you to know that.”

For what must’ve been the fifth time that evening alone, Daniela’s head whipped back around to let her stare at [Y/N]. “You do…?” She whispered, her voice once again cracking as tears unwillingly began to prick her eyes.

“Of course I do. How could I not?” [Y/N] said it like it was the most obvious thing on earth. She really found it odd that Daniela was surprised about her feelings being mutual?

Daniela’s lip quivered. Slowly, she shifted onto her side to fully face [Y/N], who finally opened her eyes to gaze up at her. The smile that caressed her lips so beautifully only made Daniela’s heart flutter. “Could…you say that again?” [Y/N] smiled.

“Yes. I’ll say it to you as many times as you’d like. I love you, Dani.”

She leaned up and began to pepper the woman’s face and head with kisses, whispering a faint “I love you” with each one.

Daniela finally let out a small laugh mixed with a sob. She leaned forward and pulled [Y/N] closer. [Y/N] smiled down at her, shifting up a bit further to comfortably pull the weeping girl into her chest. Her fingers raked through the red locks that rested against the armrest, lulling Daniela further into a sense of security and bliss. “I’ll always be here for you, okay? Anything you need, I’m here: I’ll be here to listen, pay attention, make you laugh, and love you. Just like you said to me, if you ever feel like no one else is there, just know I’ll be waiting for you with open arms.”

Tears soaked through [Y/N]’s shirt, though she didn’t mind. She could feel Daniela smiling broadly against her clothed skin, and that made everything feel like it was worth it.

[awakefor48hours]

Something I love so much about TOH is that it shows very accurate depictions of bullying. I feel like when it comes to bullying, it gets so washed down in most stories that it doesn’t make an actual impact to the story or the characters but it’s the opposite for TOH.

Camila was bullied for her interests and caused her to have a hard time growing up. Since she didn’t have the same support system that Luz did, she hid that part of herself her basement. Later when Gus and Hunter found it, she panicked.

When it was grudgby season, not only was Boscha allowed to bully and harass Willow, Luz, and Gus, she was encouraged to do it by everyone around her (students, staff, and even strangers).

Luz almost ruined her chance to date Amity because she couldn’t stand the idea of Amity potentially laughing at her. Also when she first met Vee, she got scared and panicked about Vee interacting with them. The bullying Luz endured was so bad that she would rather destroy an amusement park ride and talk to magic rats than get picked on.

Whenever Willow gets depressed, she reverts to calling herself the name that her bullies call her, Half-A-Witch Willow. This was also a big part of her slowly becoming suicidal and calling herself Half-A-Witch Willow was almost one of the last things she ever said.

The bullying in TOH is a very accurate form of bullying that you don’t typically see and it’s a nice change.

[theprinceandthewitch]

The way TTT is a really good set-up episode for an amazing series finale but FTF and WAD read like expensive Lumity fanfics with Huntlow as the side pairing written by a 12 year old:

1.) In FTF they made the characters walk from Evelyns house to TOH for no reason. Mind you this place is the first one we see after Philip name drops Evelyn when talking to Luz in TTT.

2.) Hunter gets a power-up for no fucking reason. He doesn't even use Flapjacks magic to help Luz kill Philip. He doesnt get to help Luz kill his abuser. The show erases Hunter's disability and kills off his service animal. Hunter did not need this source of magic - he was perfectly fine with glyphs.

3.) The show erases the titans magic, which makes glyph magic unusable. This erases the theme of disability TOH has tackled within the show, because glyphs are an alternative form of magic used by magicless beings. Which is pretty damn important in a society where you need magic to participate in it. Not having an internal source of magic is a disability and Hunter implies in Hunting Palisman that without Belos giving him artifical magic, he couldnt have a future on TBI's. Luz could not receive an education unless she could cast magic. The glyphs made it so that she could go to school. Also Wild magic [glyphs] was something Luz and Hunter were interested in, so it feels weird to take that away from them. But yeah, by erasing glyphs, they've erased the theme of disability this show was not afraid to tackle. How does this not scream executive meddling? Why would a show that tackled disability through Luz and Eda not commit to it to the very end? Why is Hunter's disability "cured" but Eda's isn't? [Because Hunter's disability isnt as "cool" as Eda's is?] Why was it absolutely necessary for Hunter to get an internal source of magic and for Luz to lose her connection to glyph magic?

4.) The School shit in FTF is such a time waster. Most of this episode could be cut out by having Gus, Amity or Willow have the memory tweezers on them before they come to the human realm. Or you could write it where Luz finds a pair of tweezers hidden away in TOH. I still cant believe Boscha ate up the screentime like that. But even more so I cant believe you'd establish Hunter having Flapjacks powers and not let him use them to help Luz kill his abuser.

5.) Amity is able to carve a glyph into the floor despite the doll magic being a form of magic that robs someones autonomy. Amity freeing everyone and herself from the doll magic with only a light glyph presents a huge problem as it makes King, Eda, and Lilith look like complete idiots for not trying this out sooner. They all know glyph magic.

6.) Odalia looks like she is going to do something conniving in FTF after seeing Eda is free from her cage, but nothing comes from this.

7.) The dream sequences at the beginning of WAD were completely pointless and jarring to sit through.

[deconstructthesoup]

The Web House

Full disclosure—I did not have this all typed out before today, but this won the poll, and I do nothing if not deliver.

*cracks knuckles*

So, this is kind of an inverse to my already well-established AU, The Wittebane Archives, over on AO3—Luz is the Archivist and going through the horrors, there’s an equal amount of deep character moments as well as incredibly chilling encounters, it’s great, it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, please go check it out. You got tragic Lumity, tragic Huntlow, wholesome Veesha, Skara and Boscha content, and Belos being much more morally grey than you’d expect. Also, there’s some fucked-up monster content.

ANYWAYS!

I finally decided to do an AU where a young Jon ends up on the Boiling Isles, and I took a similar approach with the tone that I did with Wittebane Archives. In that story, while I still highlighted the horror of the world they live in, I decided to make it more manageable for the characters and give them chances to still find ways to feel human, reflecting the fact that TOH is a more gentle and optimistic show (and I much prefer happy endings to sad ones). So, with The Web House, I decided that the Isles in this world are the Isles we would’ve gotten if Dana had been allowed to do her original vision… which is to say, all of the scary and horrific parts are kicked up to their extent. No sugarcoating here, the demon realm is explicitly referred to as Hell.

Now, to the characters!

Jon: He is, of course, in the role of Luz. Rather than being a naive ray of sunshine from Connecticut, he’s a prickly, anxious, and socially awkward kid from Bournemouth who gets in trouble for his constant refrain of correcting the teacher, having no interest in the assignments, and his habit of reading during class. This eventually leads to him nearly getting sent to a camp for “troubled kids…” until his habit for wandering off and getting distracted by things that are out of the ordinary leads him to stumble in through a portal to the Boiling Isles. Once there, Jon is absolutely blown away by the wonder and horror of the world, and he finally finds something that he’s truly passionate about—though, time and time again, he’s told that he can’t do magic because he’s a human, and he gets very defensive about it. It takes him a while for his walls to come down.

Gerry: He’s Eda—a snarky, anti-establishment, laid-back criminal with a lot of trauma and a habit of unintentionally adopting kids. Instead of an Owl Beast curse, he has a Spider Beast curse, and is referred to as the “Web Witch” by the denizens of the Isles. Gerry was actually pretty happy pre-curse, mainly because his mother died before she could do a lot of real harm… but after getting cursed, everything came crashing down, culminating in Gerry accidentally blinding his father and running away to hide in the woods. Since then, he has a hard time really letting people in, and the fact that he’s a wanted criminal doesn’t help. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t regularly take in strays. (Also, the curse turns his hair black, but it’s naturally red. You’ll see why in a sec.)

Annabelle: She is a slightly more mature version of King—a spiderlike demon child that Gerry found and took in at a young age. Knowing full well that she’s adorable, she takes advantage of the fact that people think she’s sweet and naive to get what she wants, which leads to a lot of shenanigans in the first-season arc. As the story goes on, and she finally takes the push to learn more about her past, she starts learning how to be responsible and to be more honest with herself and others, though she never loses her talent for deception. She’s a curious and devious little kid.

Helen: She’s a Hooty equivalent. Just a sassy door being who helps keep the Web House in tip-top shape.

Agnes: She’s Lilith—Gerry’s older sister and the head of the Emperor’s Coven. Of course, Agnes being Agnes, she’s a lot less tightly wound than Lilith at first and is genuinely sweet and caring, just deeply misguided. She truly believes that Gerry joining the EC is the best option for him, and she’s always been tormented with guilt over cursing him. After leaving the coven, Agnes tries her hardest to make up for lost time, both with Gerry, Eric, and their great-aunt Gertrude, even if she really has no idea how to interact with people outside of being the polite and perfect role model. It’s a learning curve.

Basira: She takes the place of Willow, though her character development is less about being insecure and slowly gaining confidence and more about being stoic and apathetic and learning to express her emotions and fight for what she believes in. Basira has natural talent in both Beastkeeping and Plants, and while she initially thinks that switching to the Plant track would be better for her, she eventually decides to take both classes once it’s approved. She’s painfully logic-minded and has a lot of internal doubts about the coven system, though until she meets Jon and hears his casual breakdown of how valuing certain types of magic over others just doesn’t make sense, she doesn’t yet have the courage to voice it. On her end, Basira turns out to be just the friend that Jon needs—someone who believes in him, but isn’t afraid to tell him when he’s being an ass.

Georgie: She’s in Gus’s position, though instead of being a prodigy at Illusion magic, she’s a prodigy at Abominations magic… and is more than a little terrifying as a result. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a wonderful person, but her keen interest in both humans and in subsects of magic that are more than a little macabre can be a little off-putting to some, which is why Basira’s her only real friend at first. After their initial meeting, which consists of Georgie excitedly asking Jon for a blood sample and him being incredibly spooked by her amazement at meeting an actual human, the two end up getting along like a house on fire, and are basically enablers in each other’s chaos. Georgie’s family doesn’t have a lot of money or social standing in the Isles, so she works twice as hard in order to prove herself and get better opportunities. This leads to burnout. Frequently.

Melanie: She’s… okay, so, she’s Matt in that she’s a fellow member of Georgie’s human appreciation club and a new student at Hexside, though she and Georgie don’t really have a rivalry beyond friendly ribbing. However, she’s also Viney, in that she’s a member of the Detention track who helps kickstart multi-track studies. She and Jon don’t get along immediately, mostly due to the fact that he unintentionally ratted her out for studying both Oracle and Construction magic the first time they met, but the two form a begrudging alliance during a basilisk attack and later become actual friends. Melanie’s a sucker for drama and conflict, and she carries that with her—whether she’s in the Human Appreciation Society, the Flyer Derby team, or just hanging out with Georgie and the rest of the gang. She’s fun.

Martin: He’s Amity, in that he’s a depressed rich kid who’s severely isolated due to parental expectations. Due to his incredible talent at Illusions, a lot of kids end up coming to him when they need to cheat, though they never actually become friends with him due to everyone seeing him as a quiet weirdo who never had to work for anything. When Jon comes along, Martin is distrustful of anybody claiming to want to be his friend, and he doesn’t help things by accidentally demeaning Jon’s interest in magic—which, in Jon’s eyes, cements him as a rival. After a string of miscommunication and failed interactions, the two eventually reach a middle ground and become friends… which later leads into Martin developing a gigantic crush on Jon. Which is later reciprocated. Aside from the romantic drama, Martin learns to both become more open and to stand up for himself, becoming the kind yet bitchy individual we all know and love.

Tim & Danny: They’re Edric and Emira—Martin’s class-clown yet charming older brothers who love teasing their little brother and getting into general mischief. Tim’s the oldest, and he’s usually the one who shows a lot of actual worry towards Martin, though he’s still a very flashy individual and tends to do a lot of crazy things just for the hell of it. Danny, on the other hand, has some identity issues that stem from being a middle child who doesn’t quite know who he is outside of his family, and he tends to throw himself into something if he thinks it’ll make him stand out. They’re both illusionists, like Martin, and while Tim and Danny are biological brothers, all of them are adopted. (Also, Tim eventually starts taking Bard and Beastkeeping classes, while Danny starts taking Potions.)

Daisy: If my decision to make Basira Willow hasn’t tipped you off, Daisy is Hunter—the Golden Guard of the Emperor’s Coven, praised as a teen prodigy yet possesses no magical talent of her own. She’s loyal to the emperor and genuinely believes in everything she’s been taught, and she is absolutely horrible at expressing any emotion other than smugness or anger, believing fear and sentiment to be weaknesses and being deathly afraid of being perceived as anything other than strong. Daisy is a very vulnerable person underneath her hard exterior, and she can be incredibly soft with people she cares about… though, of course, she’s not given much opportunity to connect with anyone outside of the castle, or inside, for that matter. In the canon of TMA, Daisy is a truly fascinating character to me, and I knew that the only character she could feasibly be is Hunter—hey, person who did bad things for a cause they believed was just and had that illusion stripped from them, meet other person who did bad things for a cause they believed was just and had that illusion stripped from them. And they both love wolves. So, yeah, she’s a very traumatized child soldier who makes the gradual evolution into a protective big sister friend and a disaster lesbian.

Sasha: I had to make her Vee. I had to. Even if you take away the whole fact that she was NotThemed and how similar that is to the basilisks, the fact that she was almost made the Archivist makes her perfect for that role. Her general story is pretty much the same as in canon—she’s a basilisk who was created in a lab for the purpose of studying magic draining and ran away to the human realm, falling in love with it almost as soon as she arrived. Once in the human realm, Sasha develops a love for computers and manages to make friends with the people she meets at the camp (I’m not sure who they are yet, though I’m leaning towards making them Sam and Colin—Alice already has a role), and when she and Jon actually have a chance to meet, they almost immediately bond as siblings after the distrust and animosity is thrown out the window. Also, Sasha’s existence helps Jon finally fully connect with his grandmother, so… bonus!

Oliver: He’s Raine. As much as I love Doorkeay, I have a different role in mind for Micheal, and Oliver’s dynamic with Gerry as two gorgeous witchy goth men connected with The End is something that I’d love to see more of. Anyways, um… so, Oliver and Gerry’s story is pretty similar to canon—they met when they were in high school, were best friends from that point on, and eventually started dating, though they broke up due to Gerry being tight-lipped about the curse and Oliver eventually making the decision to join the Bard coven. Oliver didn’t start being a rebel leader right away, though, since he initially believed that the best way to fix things was by changing it from the inside, but after years of that not working, he finally caved and started the BATs. He’s very practiced at pretending that he’s just an unassuming workaholic, and he often claims stage fright in order to continue operating under the radar. Oliver’s a smart dude.

Trevor: He’s… well, he takes the position of Eberwolf as the Beastkeeping coven head, but he also acts as Darius for a lot of the story beats—mostly because he takes the role as Daisy’s actually decent paternal figure. Trevor comes off as an old grump who doesn’t like people or fun, and he’s seen many a Golden Guard die in his time as a head of a coven… so, when he sees Daisy be rebellious for the first time in her life, his wolf dad instincts kick in. Not quite sure where Julia fits in yet, but she’ll fit in. Somewhere.

Jane: Terra. She has to be Terra. Gross plant woman who pretends to be sweet but is actually psychotic. She’d definitely suggest turning children into mulch as an apt punishment for failing a small challenge.

Nikola: Same deal, she’s Adrian. She can’t be anyone else.

Peter: He’s in the position of Odalia—an antisocial yet jovial businessman who reeks of old money. He also deals in security and weaponry, though he primarily uses oracle magic instead of Abominations, and he’s very interested in studying the effects illusion magic has on the mind. Of course, he can’t actually practice illusion magic, so he has to turn to other avenues for research… such as adopting three gifted illusionists. Needless to say, Peter is not a good parent by any measure,  and he kind of holds the fact that he adopted his sons over their heads so they don’t step out of line. Unfortunately, the kiddos don’t have an Alador equivalent (as far as I’ve decided), so the only person they can really go to outside of each other is Peter. Not a good environment, really. And it’s definitely complicated by the reason why their dad has all this standing and power, beyond just the family connections…

Elias/Jonah: So, he is in Belos’s place as the emperor who’s secretly a human witch hunter, but his motivations aren’t the same. Rather than planning on killing witches simply because he hates magic, his intention is to drain the magic from them and take it for himself—well, for humans, but mostly himself. Elias is also a lot more… shall we say, lax about interacting with other witches, which is why he has zero qualms with having an on-again, off-again relationship with Peter Lukas. And several other men throughout his time on the Isles. Yeah, Philip may be too deep in a Puritanical mindset to claw his way out of Narnia and admit that he’s not straight, but Jonah is a harlot and that’s a part of his character that stays constant. I’m not gonna go into his backstory, for spoiler reasons, but I will say that Gwendolyn is a Caleb equivalent, and Alice is her Evelyn. I’m riding on the Dyhard train and you can’t stop me.

Micheal (Distortion): And last but not least, I couldn’t make our boy Micheal anybody other than The Collector! I know that technically, he and Helen are kind of the same character, but she just doesn’t have the silly vibes that he does. All I can really say is that his story is… well, it matches up with in canon, except he’s more of a preteen than a kid. We know so little about Collie’s past outside of the events that led them to be trapped, and what we know about Micheal himself—pre-Distortion, of course—is equally as murky and unclear, so… yeah. He’s a funky neon star kid who originally manifests as a funky shadow kid.

And yeah, I think that’s it for now.

[juliettedunn]

Boscha, Willow, and Amity in For the Future

Boscha in this epsiode was less about her as a character and more as a way to signal the growth of Willow and Amity. For both to have developed far from that environment, and then to return to it as the stronger people they have become, is really interesting.

Willow falls back into her old insecurities. Even though she has proven how adept she is at plant magic, and has increased in confidence, when placed back with Boscha it’s hard to shake the old memories.

She had already been close to a breakdown, and Boscha was the final straw.

She never got a true confrontation with her past the grudgby match, which was important but not enough to shake years of bullying (bullying that not just Boscha but Amity too took part in).

Hunter’s affirmation of her and his line about her never calling herself “half a witch” again was so helpful to her, because half a witch is a name that has followed her since she was very small, something that made her feel worthless.

But now Willow has friends on her side who help lift her up and make her believe in herself. She is confident in her own abilities, and now she will feel safer to lean on others.

She is not the little girl who shrunk and apologized for her struggles. Boscha hadn’t realized that, and when Willow says “Don’t think I’m finished with you” that leaves me hope perhaps she will be able to fully confront her again.

And Amity, interestingly, had a moment where she sits on an abomination almost directly paralleled to how she does in her very first scene. Only under entirely different circumstances, as she rejects the persona she previously had.

The similarity is superficial because she has fully discarded that mask persona. Odalia is the main hand in its creation, but Boscha was a major part of that as well, and when she finally gets to tell Boscha “I can’t be who you want me to be” it’s really cathartic.

Boscha doesn’t want Amity, she wants the false persona of Amity that she and others in Amity’s life created.

Tying back to what Amity said to Luz when they discussed Palisman, Amity now feels free to reject those expectations put upon her and to choose who SHE wants to be.

This fight with Boscha was a true affirmation of how she feels free now, unrestricted by social conventions and parental and peer pressure.

She had been growing past those ever since she met Luz, but those months in the human realm far from her abusive home environment, among friends and a mother figure who were supportive and affirming, gave her the strength to fully and confidently break away.

So Boscha may have been gross and uncomfortable in this episode, but her role was perfect to highlight both Amity and Willow’s development.

[rhineposting]

What do you think of Lilith? Do you think she got redeemed too fast, or do you think her development was fine?

I was really looking forward to seeing someone ask about her again, so I'm more than happy to answer!

Per usual, more below the cut.

From the beginning I rather enjoyed Lilith as a character, both design, personality and writing wise as she proved to be a fun mix of both a very powerful and intelligent sorceress and a nerdy older sister.

As opposed to some people, I consider her arc to be rather well written, when you look at in retrospect. Her story is of that coming to terms with her individuality, self worth and even at some point, her faith.

(NOTE : Since I already discussed most of her trauma related to her being a former cult member in my first post about her, as well as parts of her family related trauma in another post, I will focus on other aspects of her character in this one.)

From when we first see her in Covention, we see that she's ridden with guilt upon seeing her sister in a fragile state - believing it was her fault. Which technically was, it was just that at this very moment Eda was playing dumb. In that guilt, to every opportunity of getting Eda to join her cause and in turn cured, she immediately broke her Covenhead persona - the one she built up for years and practically wears as her face. If that makes sense.

Right then and there, I had a feeling that she would join the main cast later on. So I wouldn't say it was done too quickly? It was hinted for a good while, in my opinion.

As for the other things...

The crew did incredible when portraying her. Their use of combined tropes in her character were executed delightfully! Instead of appearing obnoxious, like with Odalia and Boscha, they blended together into a very cohesive charaterization of a nerdy, older sibling character - without making her look like a complete joke. Even though throughout the show her excitement in history and alike is often a base for jokes, it's never actually made fun of.

She is almost never shamed for her interests nor how she approaches them. However, when it does happen it's either her sister, or another character who is clearly depicted as being in the wrong. It's a small thing, but to people who grew up being ridiculed for their hobbies, it probably means the world.

Most importantly, her being the scholarly type is never her whole character - it's just a puzzle piece that makes the picture of who she is. She's also very perceptive, determined person who learns very quickly and is ready to put herself before her family.

Personally, I also liked how the show portrayed her struggles at the very beginning of season 2.

On top of still feeling guilty over essentially rendering her sister disabled for the rest of her life, she had to also deal with the baggage that came with being a cult survivor that for years was deprived of her true identity, stripped of her self worth as an individual and led to believe her self worth was determined by whether or not she was devoting herself to serving a higher power or goal.

All of that combined eventually lead to her initially seeking full independence and refusing any help, which is actually quite realistic, as finding balance is probably the hardest part in recovering and healing. Been there myself.

Though, even almost at the very end of seaon 2, we still see her struggle. This time, with faith. After being used to having a figure of absolute authority all her life, she immediately latches onto the idea of King being a god, once again indirectly trying to reduce herself to a faithful servant.

It's actually one of my favourite aspects of her arc. Progress and healing is not linear, and so there will be moments of returning to old ways of thinking and acting - which is what happened to Lilith, and there is nothing wrong about it. No one tried to shame her for it, or viewed her as crazy.

In fact, precisely the opposite happens! In that same episode, we see a character portrayed as being at peace with himself admit that he had gone through something similar and offered advice based on his own experience! And King simply told her that he's seeing a "pattern" in her behaviour, reminding her that what she was doing was unhealthy to her, first and foremost - not that she was weird or wrong for it. Just misguided.

In the end, all of that built up for a very satisfying conclusion - she made a best friend, came to terms with her disability and made peace with it, reconnected with her family after being separated from them for years, started working in her actual desired field of interests and actually grew into the person she wanted to be, surrounded by people who respect and love her for who she is.

Just how am I not supposed to love her as well? It's literally impossible. Per my best friend and soulmate's words, who said it best :

10/10

Hilarious. Magnificent. Incredible. She's the dream.

[i-am-a-scholar-of-magic]

Almighty Alchemy, The Power of Potion Magic

Introduced early in the series, the coven system of the Boiling Isles divides magic into nine broad categories or “tracks,” one of which a witch or demon must choose by law to specialize in while giving up the others. Each branch has its own unique facets and places where it overlaps with some of the others, but they are all fascinating. 

One of the very first to be hinted at is Potion magic.

Represented by the color yellow and a sigil of a flask filled with bubbling fluid, Potion magic involves - as the name suggests - brewing potions that have their own magical effects independent of spell circles. While this may seem underwhelming at first glance, a closer look shows its fortitude. 

Potion magic is first hinted at in “Witches Before Wizards” by Eda, when she explains her various small businesses, one of which is selling “elixirs and potions.” (Incidentally, this business is never mentioned again after the episode, with the loss of the portal and Eda’s human junk stand making it seem as if she’s out of work entirely.) The process of brewing potions is given its first glimpse in “The First Day,” when Luz and other students are given the assignment to create a fog brew, a potion that generates thick mist when smashed onto the ground like a smoke bomb. 

The first major potion to have plot relevance is Eda’s elixir, introduced in “The Intruder.” This golden brew acts to suppress her curse and is implied to be both expensive and very hard to come by. Eda - who is later revealed to have been in the Potions track while attending Hexside - seems unable to create the elixir herself, adding credence to its difficulty. 

Aside from the elixir, potions take something of a background role in the series. However, a very interesting facet is their sheer breadth of effect. In many ways, they are tied to almost all other forms of magic. Potions like Eda’s elixir are clearly medicinal, and Lilith brews a scrying potion early in season 2 that has clear ties to Oracle magic. After her magic is crippled, Eda begins using explosive potions like grenades, not only recalling her expertise in the art, but acting as a possible tie to Construction magic. Finally, the subplot of the episode “Reaching Out” is about Eda, King and Edric collecting ingredients for a “blabber serum” - or truth serum - that reveals that having well-rounded magic is crucial to collecting potion reagents, which are all apparently plants and animals of the Isles, hence needing a strong foundation in Plant and Beastkeeping magics. Lilith’s quest to find the reagents for her scrying potion only reinforce this point, as she bemoans her own crippled magic that makes the collection so much more difficult. 

It is also hinted by the coven leader Vitimir that exceptionally talented or learned witches can produce potions from their own bodies. During the brief battle during the Day of Unity, he lowers his ever-present mask and breathes what is implied to be a corrosive mist at Darius to attack. While this may be a power of his demon species, it seems more likely to be tied to his expertise. 

Finally, Potion magic - or at least the coven governing it - seems to have a tie to a certain elemental magic. Three of the major characters that have been in Hexside’s Potions track seem to favor fire as a weapon. Eda and Lilith show this several times, particularly in their first duel in “Covention,” and Boscha demonstrates this affinity with her trademark grudgby move of setting the ball on fire and throwing it at other players. This link actually makes a lot of sense when you consider that control over fire would be very handy for heating potion reagents for the brewing process. 

Though it seems boring on the surface, the series gives strong, continual hints that Potion magic is a force to be reckoned with in its own way. It just takes know-how and creativity. 

Thanks for reading! More to come …!

[boschlowtxt]

this could be a random, sudden and tad bit odd question. But what's your opinion about that one Amity and Boscha scene in episode 3 of season 3??? Alot of people have been calling it a one-sided crush relationship- and I kinda wanna hear what YOU think about it. I personally disagree with the whole- one-sided crush idea.

Thank you for the question! I also completely disagree for a few reasons:

The fandom places too much emphasis on romantic relationships (kinda ironic coming from me), and doesn't understand that friendships can be just as heartbreaking to lose as romantic relationships (if not more)

In one scene of Understanding Willow, we can see Boscha and Amity walking to class together. Boscha is seen talking to Amity very casually, as friends do, because she genuinely believes they are friends.

In the same scene (note that this is the scene right after Willow says no shenanigans no ruses etc.), Amity stops because she notices something in the photo room. Boscha immediately goes off with a bunch of questions which are. "Why does it look like you've seen a ghost? Is there a ghost in photo class? Are they cute?"

Not only does this show that Boscha would visibly show that she would be interested in someone else. She also did not hesitate to say "Ask if they have any friends!" She didn't care whether or not Amity was interested in someone else.

Aside from this, Boscha isn't actually a very jealous person. I don't think she has actually envied anyone in the show. Rather, she believes in structure and rules. This is shown in her saying "...we proved our social dominance. All is right in the hierarchy." in Wing It Like Witches.

Additionally, before For the Future, we often saw Boscha only teasing Willow when Amity was around. She would also frequently look at Amity (or anyone of her friends) for approval. She wants to know if what she was doing was right.

Eden Riegel (Boscha's VA), has said that Boscha believes being friends with others is ruling over them. It can also be assumed that this would also apply the other way around, but only in special cases.

In the scene before that, Boscha mentions how she cannot allow herself to be vulnerable, because everything will fall apart. "Everything" being her structure and being vulnerable being "ruled over."

Boscha does not see Amity as a romantic partner, but rather as an "equal" in the social hierarchy/structure she has in her head. (This is a common thing seen in narcissistic individuals.)

In the scene itself, when Boscha gets on one knee, it is not a love confession just because it looks like a 'proposal'. She is physically lowering herself. This is a visual representation of how she is asking Amity to tell her what to do.

She said it in the scene herself. "I already let you go." She did let her go. Back when everything was normal. But things changed, and she was left questioning every decision she has ever made up to that point. We saw how broken she was after she realized how much she messed up. This was her last effort to go back to "normal" before she realized that maybe she should try something else.

Lastly, aside from all the character analysis, I hope people would view the scene in context. Boscha has lost her friends, has lost all sense of structure in her world, is left with no adults to guide her except for the one deceiving her by constantly mentioning the mistake she made that cost her her friends. She is looking for any sense of structure to make sense of her world.

Boscha loves her friends to the moon and back, genuinely. So to have someone who she thought was her best friend? It was heartbreaking. I'd compare it to when Amity left Willow because she was "half-a-witch". If you can see a friendship breakup between two friends and realize it's one of the worst things you can experience as a kid, then you can also realize that Boscha is still processing being left behind

Also. Just in case people doubt that Boscha genuinely cares about her friends. Here's her graffiti.

AMELIA!!

CAT!

WHERE R U?? -:'(

[mdhwrites]

In case talking about toh writing gets too negative, wanna talk about ships for a break? Silly question here:

If Luz and Amity's dynamic is basically opposites attract (at least for the first season)

What do you think Boscha and Amity's dynamic is like or how would you describe it 🤔? First season I was thinking mean girl x mean girl although I'd say there's more to that.

Also currently, what do you think the dynamic of them is like now?

My legitimate thought process for this was "What makes you think ship talk will make this positive? I've trashed on Lumity, Huntlow, Raeda, Lunt- Oh, Boscha ship? This I can work with."

So first is the fact that mean girl x mean girl isn't really a romance dynamic? To me at least. I know some stuff will have couples who are depicted as arguing all the time but like… Who actually likes that? They always tend to look incredibly unhappy with each other and like they need to split because they're constantly miserable.

If it's more talking about how they are with others, then that's not really about their ship. People will act differently with different people and theoretically treat those they love, especially their partners, different from even their friends. I've discussed how happy characters like Luz actually struggle extra hard with this. After all, if you treat everyone like you love them, how do you make your partner feel special?

But Amity and Boscha are even more complicated than that with their actions towards others. After all, both appear to have a tendency towards public performance. That the version we see with others isn't who they actually are. Amity is obvious but Boscha demonstrates on two different occasions in Winging it Like Witches that this is the case, especially when it comes to friendship. The first moment is her Machiavellian speech at the beginning of the episode, which one can only make properly if they recognize they're choosing to be a bad person of some sort. You can't choose to be feared instead of loved if you don't know what the actions to garner love are.

The other moment is even more important though. When Luz takes Willow and Gus' place as the sole target of Boscha's ire and own up to the consequences of her actions, this hits Boscha hard enough to seemingly make her drop her mask for a moment. She says "Wow, you're a really good friend" in a tone we've just about never heard from Boscha. It doesn't last of course as Boscha is far too invested in the power and status that the public performance side of her gives but it is there and it is important. It implies she knows what good friendship is but maybe doesn't get it very often.

Which, to be fair to Boscha's friends, it's not like Boscha is very nice to her friends. She demands a new invite to Skara's birthday party when hers molts, she pushes her team too hard theoretically and she makes fun of the dude in her group during Once Upon a Swap constantly. It's hard to really think of times where Boscha IS nice to those around her, shows concessions to them, thinks of them beyond her own interests, etc. like that.

Minus Amity. Amity can make Boscha immediately drop a topic. Amity can claim a cute ghost as theirs and not have Boscha immediately break down the door to introduce herself. Amity is the one Boscha goes with the Penstagram post about Luz and co riding Hooty. And rather than Luz or Willow gaining her ire for making her look small and taking her friends, like she did to King in Once Upon a Swap, she seems angry with Amity specifically when Amity's betrayal happens.

It paints someone who truly thought they were best friends. Someone who thought the two were peas in a pod. And, with Boscha's need for control, probably someone Boscha was always afraid of losing.

And if we go off of what the show explicitly states and shows… It was someone Boscha never had as even a friend.

Amity never shows any of this sort of respect or care back to Boscha. Now, does that make sense? Absolutely not, especially when you consider they've been friends for nine years. But it is what the show explicitly states, shows, etc. The closest she comes to caring about quite literally any of her friends is having a sleepover with them where she sits alone at the window to brood instead of even seeming to actually participate in the ritual they're ostensibly there for. It doesn't make sense and is pretty lazy with a really bad joke about technology that makes me go "Okay Boomer."

It's also why I think Boscha got at least some of her cruelty from Amity. Because if we want to talk about a realistic ship that conforms to canon between the two, it is through unrequited love. Boscha loves Amity, probably gained some of who she is by admiration and fondness for her. though not entirely because while we will grow from our partners, you should not just become your partner or explicitly change for them. You know, like Amity did.

No, the claim of Boscha getting part of her personality from Amity comes from the fact that they became friends at five and were friends for nine years. Even as an adult, a friendship that long will change you, let alone when you're at such a developmental part of life. So if the girl you think is the coolest, cutest, most fun, etc. like that is acting like a loner bitch all the time, you're going to think that cruelty is a good thing.

And… all of this isn't actually negative about the show. Much of it was never going to be touched on in a kid's show and I've talked about the fact that narratively, Amity's turn away from her friends works in S1 when it appeared she would care about Willow alongside Luz, not just talk to Willow when it was convenient. This stuff is deeply complex, more nuanced than most kid's shows are going to touch and it's also much closer to something that a show like The Ghost and Molly McGee could handle more easily because that show doesn't necessarily need an adventure or supernatural element for every episode. It can just do a deep dive on the characters, large and small.

And, you know… Boscha is very much so a bit part character who's relevance ended during Winging it Like Witches so the fact that she was the secondary antagonist for one of the S3 specials still blows my mind from a narrative standpoint.

Because… Boscha and Amity don't have a dynamic anymore. To FINALLY actually answer what their dynamic in S1 could have been, I think the strongest thread to pull would be shoulders to lean on. Someone else who knows the pressure of public performance, the exhaustion that can lead to, the isolation, etc. like that. That's only one option though because we know so little about their relationship, and also so little concretely about Boscha, that DOZENS of dynamics could work for them depending on which traits in Amity or Boscha you decided to highlight. I personally usually lean on my Lumischa takes for the twin pairings so unsurprisingly, my Amischa pairing is going to be about Boscha giving Amity stability from her overworked mind, as well as someone who gets her perspective better than Luz, while Amity can help Boscha have a safe port in storms. Someone she can go to without needing to fear being judged if she doesn't actually the have the answer to everything because Amity doesn't expect that from Boscha unlike everyone else. Someone she can give up control to.

And in S3 they just don't have a dynamic anymore. Amity is an entirely different person, one that Boscha can never understand or trust anymore really. I mean, from Boscha's perspective, Amity's whole personality flipped in the span of a couple months at most and part of that included being told to eat shit by her best friend. That the social rules that Amity herself perpetuated, like Willow being social suicide, were somehow no longer valid just because Amity said so.

When Boscha seems desperate in the second special… It's because she is. Sport in a Storm had Boscha trying to approach something close to normalcy with Luz and Amity. Trying to bully them like she would anyone else and just having it reinforced the fact that Amity doesn't even register her now. In the special, the world has gone to shit, she's got control but only so much and everything is different.

So she wants her port in the storm back. Even if Amity tried to be that for Boscha at this point though… How? Amity has so thoroughly rejected any viewpoint that isn't Luz's at this point that there can be no mutual understanding between them. Boscha could thus never drop her guard as she never has been able to with goody two shoes like Luz or Willow or any of her friends.

She felt safe with Amity. And now that Amity would NEVER say there was any good to her past… How is there is supposed to be good between them?

It's frankly a tragedy and a lot of fun to think about. If the elements that played into it were stronger, I'd even praise it more as a part of the show. If this felt like a real call to Amity to pull her back to who she used to be, it could be a powerful capstone to her arc.

As it is though, like most of Boscha's writing, it's something I almost have to assume was accidentally as interesting as it is, rather than intentional. Or if given more time, would have become worse as so much of TOH does with more attention.

Which… Just brings us all the way back around to what this ask was supposed to give a reprieve from. sigh Sorry. ========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

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[wingsyliveblogs]

Baby Boscha is absolutely precious and I love her and I hope she returns later on and also skara's friend is named Bo.

Maybe I'm just very transparently looking for more reasons to like Boscha, but the fact that Boscha clearly knows about Amity's previous friendship with Willow is interesting to me.

When Skara asked if Amity and Willow used to be friends and Amity denies it, Boscha clearly knows that Amity is lying but doesn't say anything. If Boscha was actually just an ambitious mean girl who doesn't care about anyone but herself like she is often framed as, she could have easily called Amity out on her lie, but she doesn't, maybe because her friendship with Amity is genuine and she wants to respect Amity's decision to keep it secret?

Ooh, good to know!

I did think Boscha's reaction to Skara's question was pretty interesting at the time:

here, she actually reacts slightly before Amity does, which definitely suggests she knows more about the situation than she's letting on. And then there's the roller ghoster scene, which outright confirms it.

So yeah, that's an interesting little detail for her character! Between this and her not pushing the matter when Amity refuses to let her see the "cute ghost", it seems she's consistently respectful of Amity's privacy, which is nice - especially given how much Amity values her privacy.

It's hard to tell exactly how genuine Amity's friendship with the other girls is, since she doesn't appear to take much joy in hanging out with them most of the time... but considering all of this, as well as Amity taking the initiative to check out what surprised Boscha at the end of Episode 6, there's probably some genuine care there.

[watery-melon-baller]

Heyyyy bestie

For the character ask game, Luz?

NJMETKWNF THAT WAS QUICK

What I like about them

shes so very optimistic and kind and genuinely wants to help people! she's very enthusiastic about everything it's sweet

What I dislike about them

hmmm. this was more of a S1 thing but I guess when she would just. S1 Luz was more assertive which is something I miss a little bit but also sometimes it did not work out well for her. im gonna elaborate on this in a second

Favourite moment

i loved Camila comforting Luz and then her realizing what she Actually wants with stringbean it's so sweet

Least favourite moment

S1 Ep17 where she pushes willow into having a grudgby match with boscha despite willow being extremely uncomfy with it. like yeah sure it worked out but still. this is also ties into her being more assertive? I don't think assertive is the right word here but kind of just disregarding others feeling sometimes for her. She grows out of this though which was kind of the whole point of the episode so

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more

i wish that there was like. more conflict with the human realm and her mom? like in her eyes her mom sent her away to camp and then when she came back she was "fixed" and her mom didn't even notice anything was wrong until Luz told her she she had been replaced like. I feel like that would fuck a kid up a little bit. add that to her feeling like she shouldn't be upset bc A. She offered her home to Vee and B. vee had it worse then her so she has no right to feel upset!! but like. I have a lot of thoughts on this concept

An interesting AU for this character

umm hmmm. i have lots of toh aus. ive even written a fic about one! uhhh in general i have my reverse au but a good one for her specifically...

not really an au but i think it would have been cool if there was an episode in S1 where Luz had to go back to the human realm for one reason. Maybe she wanted her laptop/phone charger or maybe she was showing Gus around or something. I know she wanted to stay in the BI but I feel like the portal could have been used more

A crossover

im a sucker for toh/gravity falls crossovers I think it's fun. ok this is technically an au but imagine if after kings tide the portal landed them in the mystery shacks basement (it's not like belos tested it beforehand) so on top of THAT they have to figure out how to all get to Connecticut which is so horrible

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favourite ship)

lumity for the win

Other ships?

not really ships but I do like it when people acknowledge her being bi and like. she's like "wow that guy is hot" or "wow that girl is cute" and like. she does love amity but i think she has eyes and thinks willow is cute

BROTP

her and hunter!! (may have written a whole fic about their shennanigans) but also her and king are brothers too. she gets so many siblings what a middle child

NOTP

hm. mainly just anything with weird age gaps or incest but that's kind of standard. i don't do ships much so

An assortment of headcanons! 

um I don't have a Bunch but here's a few:

she definitely has an ongoing 40k azura fic on ao3 that randomly stopped updating bc the portal broke. she wrote so many chapters on her phone in the BI.

ive stolen this one from crushpunchh but she's a HUGE linguistics nerd. girl literally taught herself multiple fantasy languages

wears nail polish because she bites her nails so she paints them with bad tasting polish so she stops doing that

if she has an idea and no paper she will just write stuff on her arms and legs so she doesn't forget (i was going to add something else to this but. i forgot.)

has absolutely atrocious handwriting

loves to sculpt and work with clay. doesn't mind getting messy and loves making stuff with her own two hands

i thibk she knew about the shacks existence before she found the portal. like she for sure explored the woods around her house and it's very close to where she lives??? she for sure knew. probably played pretend in there all the time as a kid. she just never saw eda around

[guest-1-2-3]

my discombobulated screeching about toh for the future

I just watched it and I am so overwhelmed like I always am

So HERE IS (almost) EVERYTHING I THOUGHT ABOUT IT

The Collector's changes to the Boiling Isles instantly reminded me of like what Discord did in that one mlp episode.

But like Collector's really like. A really powerful child. They're not evil, but they don't have a ton of human understanding? Or like empathy ig he just wants to have fun and have friends! Like my heart was crying out when Collector kept emphasizing how King is his best friend. Plus the fact that it's implied that this kid is like...alone? What happened to the rest of the Collectors? Obviously the stuff they're doing isn't good but I like the fact that they aren't making them EVIL HEARTLESS VILLAIN but rather a mega-powerful kid with understandably no understanding of empathy and stuff. We know the things they're doing aren't right but their actions MAKE SENSE.

"Oh come on. It's not as if a swamp ghost will inexplicably appear if you say his name." BELOS IS SECRETLY VOLDEMORT GASP

Hunter is going through it. Luz is going through it. Boscha is going through it. Gus is going through it. WILLOW IS GOING THROUGH IT. My god they're all incredibly traumatized.

Speaking of Willow OH MY GOD. They showed her own struggles so well??? She's always helping everyone else at the sacrifice of her own wellbeing and she represses her own emotions to help others SJDFJHKSK. It really ties in to her whole "Out of sight, out of mind" thing only SHES DOING IT WITH HER STRESS AND EMOTIONS

She really reminds me of Adora from spop. They sort of deal with this pressure to help everyone and save everyone in the similar way of sacrificing their own needs.

I'm really glad Willow got help from Gus and Hunter bc they're right, Willow's always been shown helping everyone out and it's really nice to see her own struggles and her own need for help. That scene with all the vines? Impeccable. She kept trying to handle it by herself and then she fell back into her "I'm just half-a-witch" thing. It's like, she bases her worth upon how she can help everyone else, and when she can't do that...

But then Hunter and Gus jump in with the IT'S OKAY TO LET IT OUT YOUVE HELPED US ALL SO MUCH and my HEART????

Btw Gus appreciation for that scene. There's a lot of focus on Hunter helping out Willow (justified, he was hugely helping I am not devaluing his help I love him so much and he popped off there) but I haven't seen nearly as much mention of Gus popping in there with his own positive affirmations. <3 They're both really great friends to Willow and I love it all so much

Also the Huntlow. Ngl, my original Huntlow opinions ranged from mild dislike to indifference but the new episode really gave me some appreciation for it. Just in general their bond has been getting stronger and things. I get the sense that it's moving a bit fast--which makes sense given all the time cut off the series--but their relationship, platonic or otherwise, is really sweet. I love them supporting each other.

CAMILA APPRECIATION. She's been handling this really well, and her communicating with and supporting Luz?? She's such a GOOD MOM. I also love how she noticed something was up with Willow and made sure to ask her about how she was feeling. Camila is best mom. And her baseball bat is beautiful.

Hunter. Beginning of episode my man is REALLY GOING THROUGH IT. Which makes sense, he's dealing with the grief from losing Flapjack, he was just possessed by Belos, he almost died, etc. I think it's really interesting to see his own stress response. He's kind of paranoid and super on alert. It makes a lot of sense for his character. I do feel like his mood shifts very abrubtly though in the middle? It was a little jarring how it just...changed immediately after the Willow situation, but I do like the fact that he's slightly happier again so yeah. Also COOL NEW TELEPORTY MAGIC. I love that.

Belos. Stinky slime man. The whole Caleb visions with the dagger floating above his head was very Hamlet-esque. Also he was just...possessing the dead bodies of his former grimwalkers? That's not terrifying at all. Istg my mood switched so fast with all of the possessions 'cause at first I was like OH HE'S GONNA POSSESS A FORMER GRIMWALKER?? IS HUNTER GOING TO HAVE TO FIGHT HIMSELF?? And then i remembered their bodies have been decomposing for years so...no. And then I was hyped for Odalia-Belos but then he just SUDDENLY POSSESSED PUPPET RAINE and my heart dropped so fast

Raine being possessed by Belos on TOP OF already being controlled by the Collector. Jesus Christ. They're really being possessed a lot aren't they.

I had many thoughts and I also have thoughts on King and New Hexside and Boscha and Matt and Luz and Amity and like yk basically everyone else but I've run out of steam so that's it for this

FOR THE FUTURE WAS SO GOOD. THAT'S MY LAST STATEMENT HERE.

[rolling-harbinger]

I find Hunter criticism very interesting. I’ve seen people hate on his character before, saying that he’s a bad person, or that what he has done is “irredeemable”. They often compare him to characters like Lilith and Amity, who in their eyes have better redemption arcs. Now as many of you know, I absolutely adore Hunters character, but I am not gonna pretend that he’s perfect. I do agree with some criticisms made of him. He does need to apologize and make up for what he has done in the past. But some criticism I see of him just don’t understand his character at all, and this is why I am here making this post.

A lot of criticism I see is that he’s worse than season 1 Amity and Lilith. That he has done much worse things than them. But you have to understand that what he was doing he genuinely thought was good and okay. We’ve seen in the show many times where he doesn’t understand basic human decency or right from wrong. He never did any of the things he has done with malicious intent, because he grew up to believe these things were okay. Unlike Lilith who knew cursing her sister would be a bad thing to do, yet she did it anyways. Or Amity who knew Boscha was a bad person, and knew that she shouldn’t have bullied Willow, yet she did it anyways. They knew it was bad, but continued to do it. I’m not hating on these characters at all, I absolutely love these characters, but it’s just not fair to say they were morally better because the things they did weren’t as “extreme”.

I know a characters past doesn’t excuse what a character has done. Amity had a controlling Mom who wanted her to cut her friendship with Willow, which led to Amity bullying Willow by her own acts. Or Lilith who has a need to succeed and prove herself, so she thought the only way to do it was to curse her own sister. Their reasoning doesn’t excuse their actions, but what matters is what they do in the present. If they just continued being a horrible person, and not trying to correct what they did wrong than that would be bad. But we see Lilith make an active attempt at making up with her sister, and we see Amity make an active attempt at bettering her friendship with Willow, and apologize for what she has done.

This then leads me to Hunter, where I feel like is one of the few times where you can actually excuse his past for his actions. He was manipulated his whole life into thinking what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong. He didn’t have a normal understanding of good and bad. He was heavily sheltered since he was made, and all he had were these horrible influences surrounding him in his childhood. People who only care for themselves. Liars, backstabbers, manipulators, etc. He grew up with a very messed up view on the world because of this. He says things like “friends backstab each other all the time” or “if you don’t have a use, your dead. That’s just life.” I’m paraphrasing the lines here, but you know what I mean. When he was sending Willow and Gus and the rest of the EE to join the EC he genuinely didn’t believe what he was doing was wrong. He only saved them because of what will happen to their Palismen. Now I know saying that makes it seem the Hunter is selfish and he only cares of the Palismen, but that is so far from the truth. Before Flapjack, he thought Palismen were just dangerous creatures, and they were just a use for Belos to remain out of his cursed form. But meeting flapjack made him realize otherwise. He needs something to change his worldview on things since it’s currently so messed up. Flapjack helped changed his view on Palismen, and he saw that they didn’t deserve to die, and that they were just innocent cute creatures. So that made him want to save the EE from being joined into the coven. He didn’t do it for them because at this moment his still didn’t find what he was doing was wrong. He was never doing it in a evil manner, he never meant to hurt the EE, he just didn’t know better.

But despite his horrible upbringing, he still is a good person. You can see these walls break. In Hollow Mind, he’s always seen his uncle as a genuinely good person, but when he starts to see things that could contradict that, he starts getting anxious and excusing his actions into reasons that were “for the greater good”. But when he sees Belos’ dialogue with The Collector he knows he can’t deny anything now.

This moment right here really shows Hunters true heart. If he were truly a bad person he wouldn’t have cared to ask or question what Belos has done to the other golden guards. He accuses Belos and says “it wasn’t wild magic was it”. This is the moment he realized Belos was a bad person. That he was lying and manipulating him this whole time. Which then leads to Hunter immediately going against Belos. If Hunter was evil and didn’t care for the bad things he was doing, he would still side with Belos and stay loyal to him. Or at the very least still have some faith in him. He even says in Clouds Over the Horizon “that my Uncle is evil”. He now knows that he is evil, and there is no way in hell that Hunter will ever go back to him, or give him the benefit of the doubt, like he previously was in the first half of Hollow Mind.

After Hunters defection, we can see him actively helping the good guys. We see him help Gus and Hexside from getting Sigils, we see him help save Amity, we see him help save Luz. We see him constantly saving Willow and Gus. We see him try to stop the DOU. Although he has not apologized yet, he does make an attempt at being a better person and helping the people he’s wronged. And I have faith that there would be an apology in season 3.

Some criticism I see is that his whole redemption arc is destroyed because he was already inherently good because the other golden guards were inherently good as well. But when I see that critic I just know they don’t even understand his arc. His arc is breaking away from his manipulated mindset from Belos. We have seen throughout the whole show of how manipulated he was. We can also see that he was always a good person. Like in Hunting Palismen when he saved Luz, and put his weapon down. We can see Amity’s words to him in eclipse lake did get to him and we can see him almost open up to her. We can see him genuinely being happy and being kind with the EE. He was always shown to be good throughout the show. His redemption wasn’t him going from a bad guy to a good guy. It was him realizing the manipulation of Belos and the emperors coven, and getting a better understanding of what is good and what is bad. He betrayed Luz because he had a mission to do, he attacked Amity because he had a mission to do, he betrayed the EE because he had a mission to do. He never hurt them because he was evil, he did it because of his horrible mindset of the world. He believed that Belos was the only person in the world that truly loved him, he believed what he was doing was for the good of all witch kind. But Hunter learning that all of that was untrue, and that he was being manipulated is what is important. He’s starting to learn what is normal and what is good, and that is what his arc is.

Another criticism I see is that his arc was rushed. Now I do agree with that, but a lot of that is because of the cut season 3. But even though it was rushed I feel like the creators did a good job at handling his character. He still has a lot to work on, and the creators may not have the time to go over it, but from what we have gotten, I can see that he is on the right path.

[ajaxtheabrasive]

Luz, Amity, and Escapism into The Good Witch Azura

I had a sad thought, which quickly multiplied into several sad thoughts, and then finally coalesced into a sweet ending. Now you have to watch me mash it out on here. We already know that both Luz and Amity adore The Good Witch Azura, to the point of wanting to dedicate a school club to it (where is my Azura Book Club episode? I'm waiting. I need it!). Obviously part of this is a plot point to give them something in common to bond over after their rocky first meetings, but it's so much more than that. They both project heavily onto the character and story, and, because I love these characters and have nothing else to do right now, I'm taking a deep dive into the girls' escapism into the series and titular character, how they differ and mirror each other, and how each has grown into what they desired to emulate from the series (why is this reading like a college paper now?). Azura is a protagonist that people are meant to root for and see themselves in. She's kind, brave, powerful, and confident, and her character serves to inspire these feelings in the readers. Luz and Amity are almost two sides of the same coin in this regard: they share traits with Azura that they can recognize and be inspired by, but they also desperately want other facets to Azura's character, with one girl often having what the other feels incomplete without. --- Sweet, selfless, persevering, optimistic, and forgiving to a fault, Luz is perfect protagonist material. The very first scene to the show directly parallels her with Azura, albeit with her own... unique twist. She's practically a walking, talking bundle of sunshine that can sneak into anyone's heart when given the chance. But in the human realm, she's never given that chance. Luz is someone who needs attention. Not in an arrogant way, but she needs to feel seen and heard by other people. As she alienates her peers through her overwhelming personality and bizarre interests, her bids for attention become more and more destructive, even for someone as impulsive as her. Furthermore, while she excels at keeping up an air of confidence and optimism, we can see that this lack of interaction with other people on her wavelength has caused some severely detrimental damage to her sense of self-worth and self-preservation. If she hadn't been immobilized in a blanket burrito, she would have crawled on her hands and knees to Eclipse Lake, and when she recognized how she had neglected Willow's own feelings while attempting to get Boscha to back off, she was fully willing to forfeit and take all punishment upon herself, even after seeing Boscha incinerate a tree with a single spell. Her self-esteem has been so damaged that, after inadvertently getting Amity fired from her job at the library, Luz spends the rest of the day working nonstop to get her job back, in dangerous enough situations to trash her clothes and leave her battered and bruised, and her first words to Amity are reassuring her that she understands if Amity never wants to see her again. How heartbreaking is that? This is the girl she spent weeks trying to bond with, the girl she danced at Grom with, whom she fell head over heels for, and she's willing to throw everything away because of her mistake. Even after Amity forgives her, and even kisses her on the cheek, Luz has been beaten down so much that she still can't imagine Amity having feelings for her. Hooty's Tunnel of Love is so anxiety-inducing that Luz rips the place apart with her bare hands, not even noticing Amity sitting right next to her, blushing as hard as we've seen in the entire series. Luz has the compassion and bravery she admires in Azura, and she desperately tries to match her favorite character's power and confidence, to the point that her outfit is inspired by Azura's color scheme. This is the reason Luz is so obsessed with the idea of being some sort of "chosen one" at the beginning of the series. It's unknown if there are any prophecies in the series (at least as far as I know), but even Azura's miniature speech, declaring her identity as "the Good Witch" and a

"warrior of peace," oozes confidence and purpose. As someone who has been torn between her heart and what is considered the normal thing to do her entire life, Luz has very little sense of direction in her life, aside from broad career ideas in the far future. In the Boiling Isles, she can finally fulfill her dream of becoming a witch and using magic, but, as seen in "Hunting Palismen," she still doesn't know what ought to come next. Eda taught her that she has to forge her own destiny, rather than wait for it to be thrust upon her, which she has taken to heart, but she's still clinging to the dream of being a witch, even after spending months in a magical realm, resurrecting a dead form of spellcasting, going to magic school, and even dueling a tyrannical ruler. By most measures, she has achieved that dream, and now she doesn't know what she's meant to do going forward. Even though Earth was a miserable place for her, where she felt like "a nobody," she still can't bring herself to abandon it, because her mother, her one connection to the human realm, is still there, and after "Yesterday's Lie," she's left even more torn as to her life's direction, especially as she's tackling the creation of a new portal door, resisting Belos and his forces, going to Hexside, and now keeping her promise to her mother from the people she's grown to love in her time on the Boiling Isles. --- Amity, on the other hand, is almost mirrored from Luz. She's at the top of her class, a former star athlete, excels at one of the most difficult forms of magic, a student of the (former) head of the Emperor's Coven, and has the all the prestige she needs to throw her weight around and get what she wants. Unlike Luz, she has her entire life mapped out for her: promote Blight Industries, remain top student, get into the Emperor's Coven, and possibly become a Coven Head of either the Abominations Coven or the Emperor's Coven. But in the process of this, she has lost touch with traits that were once innate to her very being. She's become cold, callous, arrogant, demeaning, and constantly hungry for validation, because the kindness and gentleness she displayed as a child was seen as weakness, and being unfitting for what her planned life course would entail. Amity is the perfect representation of how Luz's desire for an orchestrated life plan can go horribly wrong. In pursuit of what outside forces, such as her parents and the coven system, desired, she's lost touch with herself and others. Instead, she sees Azura as a powerful authority figure who can carve her own path, regardless of others, and she yearns to mimic that in her bid for freedom against her parents. Amity represents the other aspects of Azura; she's strong, bold, intelligent, tactical, and (outwardly) confident, to the point of arrogance. Some of this is innate to her being, but so much of it has been either forced upon her or honed and reforged by the whims of others that, unlike the fiercely individualistic Luz, Amity doesn't truly live for herself. Neither of them have the outward confidence they seek to portray, and the way they fake it represents their cultivated traits, Luz being a happy-go-lucky source of optimism and joy, while Amity is cold, calculating, and quick to hide any of the empathy that Luz so openly provides. Amity has been so repressed that, while it's clear that she is still at war with herself over her actions, she struggles to even recognize these traits in herself, and tries to flee from any sign that they might remain. "Understanding Willow" is a perfect example of this: Amity, though obviously torn, is willing to erase someone's memories to preserve the image of herself everyone (including herself) knows. The younger Amity we see in the memories is almost unrecognizable to her present self, and, though Luz helped push her to atone for her mistakes by repairing Willow's memories, the only reason she opened up about her remorse and failures is because she was directly confronted with the consequences in front of both the person she hurt and the outside party

she had hoped to hide her shortcomings from. Even after swearing to change herself and prevent any further bullying towards Willow, her knee-jerk reaction is still to lash out, as seen in the very beginning of "Enchanting Grom Fright." It's only understandable; she's been conditioned to think and act that way for years. We've seen her grow out of this toxic mentality more and more as the series has progressed, but hints of it still remain. Her need for validation has shifted from her parents and the Emperor's Coven to Luz, to such a degree that, in "Eclipse Lake," she's so desperate to get results and prove herself as a good girlfriend that she convinces herself that Luz would break up with her if she failed, even when knowing that, out of anyone in the world, Luz is the one who loves her unconditionally the most of all; the human was constantly trying to get closer to her even after being banned from Hexside, the witches' duel, the library disaster, the slitherbeast attack on the Knee, and seeing her past mistakes firsthand in Willow's memories. It doesn't help that Hunter was projecting his own toxic concepts of relationships onto Luz's messages, thus reigniting Amity's fears, but those worries were already there under the surface, just waiting to bubble to the top. --- As The Owl House has gone on, we've seen both Luz and Amity blossom into their own, and the two mesh extremely well. From the breathtaking scenes defeating Grometheus in a coordinated magic dance for the history books and fighting a souped-up abomination back-to-back to the calmer (but nonetheless significant) moments of borrowing Azura books and, of course, the legendary cheek kiss and confession scenes, the two girls mesh and bounce off of each other extremely well. Each has what the other admires, and they both push the other to attain what it is they need to improve themselves. However, it's important to remember that their character development isn't solely for the sake of their relationship; while Luz was the catalyst for Amity taking accountability for her actions, Amity swore to become better because she wanted to become better. While Amity helped Luz recognize that she can be loved not regardless of her eccentricities, but because of them, this had been set in place since Luz first set foot on the Isles. Though she's still unsure of her future and wavers at times, Luz went from a goofy, geeky social outcast to a goofy, geeky witch's apprentice with prodigious skill in glyph magic, a greater sense of purpose, and newfound friends and family to back her up along the way.

[imagine-being-straight]

A Message to the TOH Fandom

I’m tired.

I feel like everyone in the fandom can agree that the TOH fandom overall has white favoritism. If you actively deny that we have a problem with white favoritism or are offended that I said this, look at yourself and other people who have been talking about this issue. Really look at yourself and ask why you are offended by what I said. Now back to the TOH fandom’s problem with white favoritism. It’s a huge problem and I don’t think people have realized how bad it’s gotten.

Luz and Amity

Do both of them have amazing content created about them? Yes, but if you look a bit closer to the contents of their contents you’ll see a clear disparity between the two. Luz is more likely to be in Lumity art (which itself isn't a problem), but the problem lies in that she is only there for Amity. Is there still content with her alone and highlighting her character? Of course there is, but for every content that exists for Luz solely, there are at least two others for Amity. Don’t get me wrong I love Amity as much as the next person, but she still is a side character. The Owl House focuses on Eda, King, and Luz mainly. They are the main characters.

When I first joined the TOH fandom, I noticed a lot of Amity focused content. A lot more so than I expected since she is a side character. I understand that a factor in her popularity is her crush on Luz and we’re all really excited for confirmed gay characters, but it doesn’t explain how popular she is. She appears in roughly half of season one’s episodes (I know she technically appears in 11 episodes, but some of her appearances are so minor you can easily forget they happened) compared to Luz being in all 18 episodes. Yes Luz isn’t always the focus of these episodes, but she still changes and develops as a character through most of them.

The reason I’m bringing all of this up is that Amity is white and Luz is a POC. Characters of color in the past have been overlooked and underappreciated in the past, not just in this fandom, but it still happens a lot here. Whether it’s conscious or not, we all have been affected by white favoritism and it is our responsibility to recognize it and change. The Owl House brings more than just gay representation: it brings an Afro-Latina Bisexual protaganist with two major side characters, Willow and Gus, being a mixed Asian-Black character and a Black character. You still think I’m full of shit saying there’s white favoritism in the TOH fandom? Well I’m just getting started here.

Willow, Gus, and Boscha

Boscha herself is an interesting character and I think people see a lot of potential for her character, but the problem is that she overshadows a lot of other characters who are much more important and relevant. Willow is a good example of someone who has been constantly overshadowed by Boscha. Most content I see of Willow is usually Boschlow content (I’m not approving or condemning Boschlow here, this is me just stating some facts) and it’s so unfair to Willow as a character. Willow is more than just Luz’s friend or a quiet girl and more people need to realize that. If you can analyze Boscha’s character in the three episodes she is in, you can do the same thing to Willow, who has been in 14 episodes (three more than Amity). There is no excuse for the lack of Willow content and the abundance of Boscha content.

The same thing can be applied to Gus. Sure he doesn’t get very much screen time, but it is still loads more than Boscha. I have seen barely any content about Gus and the few times I do, he is usually with a group and not alone. No one talks about him and I cannot express how underrated he truly is. If you want some funny content with him, play around with his interest in humans and how he has totally misinterpreted things we know as facts. If you want Gus angst, then write about how young he is and how he could be feeling inadequate despite being smart enough to skip two grades. Amity is seen by the fandom as a whole as being extremely smart, but the fact that Gus skipped two grades, a feat Amity has not done herself, truly showcases how smart Gus really is. It’s not that hard to make Gus content and everyone is just sleeping on him.

The fandom loves to attach itself to Boscha, who may I remind you is white. Willow and Gus, who have way more plot relevance and screen time, are constantly pushed aside for more and more Boscha content. Willow and Gus are beautifully written in the show, but most people overlook it for Boscha, who in the show has been fairly one note so far. If your only argument is that you want to show the background characters some love, then where is the Skara content? Skara has just as much screen time as Boscha, but I’ve seen very little content about her. I guarantee if Boscha was a POC she would have the same level of content as Skara, but since she is white she overshadows literally every other POC supporting character, including those who have had more screen time than her. Don’t even get me started on the Detention Track kids and Emira/Viney. This post is already long enough and I don’t need to make it any longer.

Camilia and Alador/Odelia Blight

Right here is the clearest example of the white favoritism of the TOH fandom. Alador and Odalia Blight have gotten so much content about them and we still haven’t seen their faces. You can easily find so much analysis on them and how their parenting must affect the Blight siblings. You can find so much content about them and we know literally nothing about them other than the fact that they’re abusive. I know Alador is set up to be less abusive than Odalia, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is still abusive to his kids. Whether he approved what was going on or not doesn’t matter because he was still complacent with what was happening.

Now let’s look at Camilia and all her content- oh wait there is basically none for her. All the Camilia content is basically nothing other than CamilEda content (again I’m not trying to bash or approve CamilEda, I’m just trying to state some facts). Camilia did make a mistake in setting Luz to the camp, but that does not make her a bad mother. People need to remember one bad action does not make a bad person. I think Dana herself said that Luz and Camilia do love each other, but they do have their differences, which makes things hard sometimes. Camilia truly does care about Luz and tries her best to do what‘s best for Luz and more people need to recognize it. There is so much untapped potential with Camilia’s character, like how she will react to Luz not coming home or what she will do to try to get Luz back. What if she sees all of the recordings Luz has made for her? How will she react? These are all things we can make content on, yet I see so many people sleeping on it.

Now when you compare how the fandom treats both Camilia and the Blight parents, there’s a clear bias in favor for the Blight parents. The Blight parents are given more attention and content despite having less actual screen time and being actual pieces of garbage. Camilia is shoved to the side despite there being plenty to analyze about her and her relationship with Luz. Camilia is also a good person, which is clearly different to the Blight parents. It’s never been a matter of which parent/child relationship is better because they’re both written very well, but rather the fact that Camilia gets shoved aside every time we talk about parent/child relationships. I mean when you look at it, Camilia and Luz’s relationship with each other is literally the Blight family’s dynamic, except the opposite. The only difference between the two families is that one has POCs and the other is white. And to no one’s surprise, the white family gets more attention and analysis than the POC’s family.

Statistics

If you’re still not convinced here's some cold hard evidence that white characters are more favored than POC characters. I’m going to be using AO3’s (archiveofourown) data on how many works a character is tagged in.

On AO3 at around 6:35 PM EST Oct 3, 2020, The Owl House had 1921 works. As we can see Luz is number one (as she should), Willow is number three, and Gus is number four. They’re ranked fairly high (which was a surprise to me), but when you look at how many works they’re actually in, the white favoritism becomes clear. Amity is tagged in around 1480 works and Willow and Gus each are in 730 and 610 respectively. Willow and Gus are in half the works Amity is. Somehow Willow appears in half the works Amity does even though Willow appears more than Amity in the show. Boscha also has 360 works with her in it, half of what Gus and Willow’s works despite being a very minor character who has appeared only a few times. What's worse is that Edric and Emira are literally 200 to 60 works away from Willow and Gus respectively. Edric and Emira, two white characters who have appeared in literally three episodes, but are tagged in nearly the same number of works as two main POC-supporting characters. Now maybe you’re like “Oh the Blight siblings are only so popular because of Lumity, this data is skewed” so the next picture is of all the characters with all of the romantic relationship tags excluded.

The data shows that the fandom favors the white characters so drastically that there is no excuse or other explanation for it. Lumity being popular doesn’t explain why Amity is still the third most written-about character, even with the Lumity tag being blocked. Quantity of episode appearances doesn't explain why Willow has less content about her because Willow appears in three more episodes than Amity does. The only explanation is white favoritism because the most popular characters are all white (with the exception of Luz, but that’s because she is the main character). Before you tell me “Oh it's because they’re more interesting or they have more potential” actually look and analyze the POC characters because they’re amazingly well written if you actually sit down and analyze them.

Why Calling Out White Favoritism Matters

Now you may be asking: why should I care? Well you should care because the fandom as a whole is literally favoring white characters over POC characters, which is low key racist. It makes people care less about POC characters and actual people which can lead to some internalized racism if not caught early enough. The Owl House tries very hard to highlight their POC characters and actively ignoring or dismissing them is disrespecting the show itself.

I feel like I should make it clear that I’m not shaming anyone who’s favorite character just happens to be white. What I’m doing here is being critical of whether or not a person likes a character because they are white (whether that decision is conscious or not). There is a clear difference between “Oh X is my favorite character, but I recognize the other characters are good in their own ways.” and “Oh I love X and only X. I will only use the other characters to further X’s character and completely ignore everyone else’s complexity”. Please take some time and think about why you like a character and see if you unconsciously love them because they are white. No one is immune to it and even I had to realize I was unconsciously favoring white characters while writing something The Owl House related.

The sad part about all of this is that it needs to be said that racism is bad. It needs to be said that white favoritism is extremely toxic and we should make sure we don’t actively take part or be complacent in it. I know for a fact that other POC have seen this white favoritism, but are too numb to say anything about this because they feel like their voices won’t change anything. The few people who have spoken out haven't been listened too. The fact that I had to step up and make this just to try to get people to listen and I might not even make a difference is so sad to me. The fact that I’m young makes me not numb to the white favoritism. The fact that I dealt with, for the first time, racism at the age of 14, which is extremely late for a POC. The fact that the only reason I can be mad about this is because I dealt with racism so late that I have energy to speak out against this and not be numb to this all. I hate that all of this exists and we all let this happen. We all let this problem fester and now it is now our responsibility to get our priorities straight and change. If we let this problem grow and grow, then in a few years this fandom will be a shell of what it once was.

“We can do this together.” -Luz Noceda