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klaprisun · 7 months ago

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One Sunny Day

(Stardew Valley) (Haley x Female Farmer)

Chapter 8

When I got home last night, I absolutely crashed when my head hit the pillow. It was quite a night and I needed a good sleep to recover.

Rolling out of bed, I make my way into the bathroom to shower. Before hopping in, I take a good look at my eye in the mirror. It is swollen as all hell and vibrant purple. I can kind of open it today, but it is so swollen that I can’t fully keep it open. The cloth of the makeshift ice pack rests on the ledge of the sink next to me.

“Guess I gotta return that today,” I say to myself.

After my shower, I scurry outside in my towel to grab my signature overalls. They should be dry by now since they have been sitting there all morning.

When I open the door, I am met with pouring rain. My overalls are lying on the porch where I had left them, drenched. Arguably more than they were after I washed them.

I take a deep sigh and just leave them where they are. They can’t get any wetter than they already are.

I throw on a flannel, unbuttoned, over a white tank top and the distressed jeans from last night. I go back into the bathroom and grab the cloth that is on the side of the sink.

“It’s too early to bring this straight to Gus, so I’ll bring it to Emily instead so she can bring it to work when her shift starts,” I decide.

I embark on my trip into town not bothering to grab anything to cover me from the rain. When I walk past my mailbox, I notice I have a letter.

Hi.

Me sell hats. Okay, poke?

Come to old old old haus, poke. Bring coines.

-hat mouse

“What in the world?” I question while reading the letter.

I look at the few coins I have in my pocket. I shrug and decide to go find this ‘hat mouse’. I’ll have to ask Marnie for assistance though so I book it over to her farm.

“Hi Danny. You look like you're soaked...you poor thing!” Marnie greets me as I walk into her house.

“It’s really coming down out there. Is it always this heavy of rain?”

“Yup. It’s usually all or nothing. Don’t be alarmed when you hear thunder soon, too! They were calling for heavy thunderstorms. Be careful out there!”

“I’m going into town today so I shouldn’t be outside long. I need to find Emily to give something back. However, I was also wondering if you know anything about this?” I showed her the letter I received this morning.

“Ahhh the Hat Mouse! He lives over that way from here,” she points behind me, “ Just keep walking farther south and you’ll come across an abandoned house. He should be poking around down there. Such a cute little fella. Emily lives in a beige house beside a blue house. 2 Willow Lane.”

“Awesome, thank you for the directions. Plus I am in need of a new hat,” I chuckle, “I’ll see you around, Marnie.”

I glance around to look for the easiest path to the Hat Mouse. I have to push through lots of ferns, shrubs and greenery. The trees somewhat protect me from the rain, but giant drops manage to drip onto me from the leaves.

An old rickety house appears in my line of sight. I speed up with trampling through the greens and approach a window at the front that has a ‘Hats’ banner next to it and a logo of a top hat on the other side.

“Hello..?” I tremble with uncertainty.

Hat Mouse pops his head up in the window, “Hi. Me sell hats. Here.” He sets out a couple of options of hats onto the ledge of the window before I can even get another word in.

A classic, brown cowboy hat catches my eye.

“I’ll have this one please,” pointing to the cowboy hat.

“Have one donate to museum?” Hat Mouse questions.

“What do you mean?”

“Did one bring things to museum? Everything?”

“Um… no… but I have all this?” I dump my handful of coins onto the ledge beside the hat. Hat Mouse’s eyes widened.

“Fine. Take hat anyway. Bye now,” he swipes all the coins into the house, shuts the window, and closes up shop.

I dust off the hat with a puzzled expression on my face, and place the hat atop my head.

“Now to figure out my way back.” I mumble to myself shaking off the weird encounter.

I started cutting back through the leaves, trees, and bushes and was able to find Marnie’s farm. I follow a pathway to the right of Marnie’s farm and behind a little cottage.

That must be Leah’s cottage. I say in my head.

I keep walking until I pass a big, blue house and come across the cute beige one right beside it. I double check the sign out front for the address.

2 Willow Lane

“This must be it!” I say as I walk up and knock on the door.

“Come in!” A cheery voice calls out.

I gently open the door and peer around inside. My clothes are soaking wet from the rain so I try to ring them out before stepping in. Nobody seems to be in the main living room area where the door front door is.

“Hello?” I call out, stepping farther into the house.

I hear a gasp come from what I assume is the kitchen, so I hurry my way over.

Haley is standing there, in an oversized t-shirt and lacey panties. She is standing there like a deer in headlights. Her eyes are trained on me, giving me a frightened look, but she appears to be holding something behind her back.

“I- I thought you were Alex.” she trembles.

“Ah nope. Not Alex. Sorry,” I say while scratching the back of my neck and averting my gaze to anything else but her.

She pulls out the item she had behind her back and it appears to be a jar. She starts trying hard to open it and failing miserably.

“Are you strong?” She asks after a few attempts.

“I mean…” I gave her a little flex of my bicep, kind of trying to show off. The rain had made my flannel cling tight to my body. Her cheeks go pink as she seems entranced by the gesture.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she hands over the jar to me. Without even a struggle, I pop it open and hand it back to her.

“I’d say you’re stronger than you look… but who am I kidding. Thank you.” she continued with whatever dish she was making before I arrived. “Is there something you need?”

“I was looking for Emily. I wanted to give her the cloth to bring back to Gus since he isn’t open yet.”

“She isn’t here this week. She went to visit her friend, Sandy or something.” She swings the knife she is holding in the air like a magic wand as she speaks.

“I guess I’ll have to bring it tonight then. Thanks.”

As I head to the door to leave, lightning flashes through the window, and thunder rattles the house soon after. Haley looks up from what she is doing to look over at me, then she looks back down at her food.

“Just stay.” she demands in an aggressive tone.

“Yes ma’am,” I tip my new hat down at her. She must’ve been looking from the corner of her eye because I see her smirk.

She puts down her food, walks into a room, and comes back with a fluffy yellow towel. Haley tosses it over to me unexpectedly and I end up catching with one hand. I start wiping myself down with it to dry off the best I can.

“Impressive,” she mumbles, “I see your eye is still pretty bad,” she says a little louder.

“I mean it has only been a day,” I reply back.

“Do you want some more ice for it? I have some if you need. I still feel really bad. I was just riled up and had some pent up emotions. Took it out on that poor pool ball… and your face I guess.” She gives me an apologetic laugh.

“It’s alright, it’ll go away soon enough. No need for any ice.”

“Oddly enough, I think it looks good on you.”

“What did you say?”

“I said it looks good on you.”

“Wow so you like seeing me in pain is that it?” I tease her.

“Oh my Yoba, no! That’s not what I meant! Just never mind,” she waves her hand in my direction as if telling me to stop talking. “Are you hungry?”

“I could go for some food, sure.” I walk closer to her in the kitchen and kind of linger behind her. I hear her breath hitch as I lean over her shoulder to see what she made to eat. “Can I have one of whatever that is?” I mutter near her ear. Her arms are covered in goose bumps.

“Ye-yeah of course you can. It’ll just take a minute. Do you mind opening that jar again?”

I pop the jar open for her once again and take a seat at the table in her kitchen. The two of us go silent for a minute.

“So… was Alex supposed to be coming over? Were you waiting for him?” I finally break the silence.

“No. He is just the only person who usually shows up at the door. I didn’t expect it to be anyone else.” She turns around and carries the two plates of food to the table. After setting them down, she grabs out two glasses and fills them with orange juice.

“Oh, I’m allergic…” I joke. However, she doesn’t catch my joking tone and panics.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” She runs the cups of orange juice far away from me and just starts frantically spinning in circles, trying to think of where to put the cups.

“I’m just messing with you Haley” I finally tell her.

“How dare you do that to me! You had me panicking. I didn’t want to hurt you twice in a row!” She shouts at me.

“Sorry. I couldn’t help it,” I chuckle. She brings the two glasses of orange juice back over to the table but hesitates before setting them down.

“You’re sure?” She quizzes me.

“Positive,” I tap the table to where she is about to put the drink, alerting her it’s okay to set it down.

We sit across from one another and eat in silence, casually looking up at each other here and there.

I end up finishing first so I stand up, take my dishes to the sink, roll up my sleeves, and start washing them.

“You better not be washing those dishes,” Haley calls from the table. I walk over and take her dirty dishes from her to wash as well.

“And if I tell you I am, what are you going to do about it?” I tease as I continue to wash them.

Haley suddenly appears next to me at the sink. I flinched a bit because I didn’t even hear her walk over. I developed a grand idea to flick some of the water off my hands at her.

Haley gasps in disgrace, “You did not just do that?!”

I bend down to get in her face, “And what if I told you I did, what are you going to do about it?” I repeat. Our faces are only inches apart at this point, eyes locked onto one another's

An unreadable emotion spreads across her face. Her expression has softened and her eyes look into mine as if she wants something. I see her gaze flick down to my lips and right back up into my eyes. I only catch that expression for a second because she snaps back into reality and backs up.

“I think you should go now,” she immediately closes up and shuts me out.

“But I-” I start.

“No! Go NOW!” She cries.

Feeling like a scolded puppy, I hurry over to the door and walk out without another word. I shut the door behind me and stood there on her doorstep for a minute to process what had happened.

To make matters worse, Vincent, and who I assume is his mom that I haven’t met yet, are walking past. Vincent starts waving at me excitedly, his mom just gives me an empathetic side eye.

Embarrassed over the whole situation, I give them an awkward smile, and give Vincent a small wave.

I step away from the door and start heading home. I look back at the house one last time and see a silhouette watching from the front window. It quickly disappeared when I turned back to look, leaving the curtains dancing around from the swift disappearance.

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paingoes · 4 months ago

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Rubies

Missed Calls

(Content: living weapon whumpee, dehumanization, kinda dubious caretakers???)

=================

“No,” Iza said, “Yeah, I know. No, yeah. Yeah. Okay. No. No. I know.”

She pressed the phone tightly to her ear, her other hand pressed tightly to her forehead as she leaned over the kitchen table. She got up periodically to walk out on the porch if she really had to say her piece, but for the most part she just had to listen. She went minutes at a time without getting a single word in.

The memo had taken about seven hours to circulate. It’d come in the dead of night, otherwise it probably would’ve received more attention. But by the time Iza had woken up, her phone was already buzzing, and she had a soft ringing in her ears like someone was talking about her. By noon, the phone was ringing nonstop. All of their phones were.

Kitty had stayed up all night. Now, she was crashed out on the couch, all curled up in a ball. Iza shook her gently.

“They want you to send everything. The chatlogs, the archives, everything. What you showed me,” she mouthed, still on the phone. Kitty yawned. She pulled out her laptop from beneath the couch, lazily hitting a few buttons. She’d been expecting this. Apollo told her to prepare their case in advance. It’d all felt very urgent at the time; now she just felt tired. She fell back asleep right after. It wasn’t for long.

“He wants to talk to us,” Apollo said, a weary determination in his voice. Kitty blinked her eyes open, sitting up quickly. Her tail flicked behind her.

“I can’t believe it got to Levon already,” Willow sat on the counter, staring out into space. The horror had not left her face since yesterday. Apollo gave her a thumbs up. He could believe it just fine.

They went into the upstairs bedroom for privacy. Iza passed them the phone in the corridor. They sat cross legged on the bed as the dial-up sounded.

LEVON has entered a voice call with APOLLO.

LEVON: Hello?

APOLLO: Hey its Apollo. Kitty is here too she just woke up.

LEVON: Good morning, Kitty.

KITTY: good morning :3c

LEVON: Explain yourselves.

APOLLO: I want to say first that technically we had permission.

LEVON: Is that right?

APOLLO: We outlined that we were going to do a strike on the Centennial Ball and simultaneously run a rescue extraction and that is what we did.

LEVON: Very cute. The situation changes a bit when that rescue is of a million mega-joule atom bomb, living or otherwise. Do you disagree?

APOLLO: No. I know its a different situation.

LEVON: Kitty, do you disagree?

KITTY: no

LEVON: So we understand each other?

KITTY: ya

LEVON: I really don’t appreciate this kind of slickness when people’s lives are at stake. Lying by omission is still lying.

LEVON: And to level with you I think it's kind of despicable that you are trying to pass this off as a rescue mission! It's a very transparent power grab and I am really not amused by it.

KITTY: levon

KITTY: thats not true

KITTY: we had plans to break him out well before we knew abt the psychic thing

KITTY: and actually we didnt even know we just suspected!! we didnt have confirmation until yesterday literally it was just a hunch

LEVON: That’s not what Iza said. Iza said you presented it to her as a weapons acquisition.

KITTY: thats because we were appealing to iza!!!!

LEVON: And now you’re appealing to me?

KITTY: yes!!!!

APOLLO: Can I interject? I don’t think thats fair. We briefed Iza on everything we knew for sure and everything that we suspected. The weapon thing only stood out to her because thats how her brain works. We told her we didnt have confirmation.

LEVON: She felt confident enough to bring dampers, which I’m sure you’re glad to have now.

APOLLO: It was better safe than sorry.

LEVON: Of course it was. Look, I’m reading over the logs right now. Tell me this. Why did you promise him amnesty?

KITTY: …becuz ur gonna give it to him right?

LEVON: Who said anything about that?

APOLLO: Captain?

LEVON: What?

KITTY: ur not gonna give it to him????

LEVON: I’m not saying that. I’m just saying you shouldn’t have promised it.

LEVON: Frankly I don’t think that technology should even exist. Amnesty was not my first instinct.

APOLLO: Okay. I know we messed up. We should’ve told you. But you don’t need to take it out on him.

LEVON: I’m not taking anything out on anyone. That’s not what this is about. I’m telling you the reality of situation. Just knowing the scale of destruction that he’s capable of, I can’t guarantee his safety.

KITTY: levon we’re sorry :(

LEVON: Stop that. Why are you apologizing to me? You should apologize to him.

KITTY: okiiiiii :(

APOLLO: We will. We know we overstepped. But it’s done now. We’re going to work with you from here and maybe we can figure it out together??

LEVON: For the life of me I can’t understand why you didn’t just come to me with this in the first place.

KITTY: cause it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission :?

LEVON: Is it really? Is this situation any better for either of us? Better for him?

APOLLO: No, she has a point. Would you really have signed off on this if we asked you first?

LEVON: Probably not. Not the way you did it, anyway. I don’t like that you sent your poor brother in there alone.

APOLLO: Lun’s fine. I know the plan wasnt perfect but its the best we could do on short notice.

APOLLO: If you saw the kid now, you’d understand. He’s not in good shape.

LEVON: I believe you. I’ve yet to hear anything positive about the treatment of psychics in Empire.

APOLLO: Are we clear to bring him back then?

LEVON: Put Iza back on. We’ll talk about it.

APOLLO: Okay. Thank you Captain.

KITTY: thank u!!

Call with APOLLO has ended.

==============

(Masterlist)

Tags: @catnykit@indigoviolet311@snakebites-and-ink@vivulapom@scoundrelwithboba@whatwhump@pumpkin-spice-whump @deluxewhump @fuckass1000 @fuckcapitalismasshole @defire @micechomper

#whump #whump community #living weapon whumpee #living weapon #living weapon trope #whumpblr #whump prompt #whump scenario #delta #kitty #apollo #levon #dehumanization #bad caretaker #KINDA. a little.

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coraniaid · 1 year ago

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I'm not suggesting that Buffy and Faith were secretly dating (or at least making out between patrols) before the events of Revelations. Even if Buffy joked about “seeing someone tonight” when her friends asked her if she was dating somebody, before putting her arms around Faith and insisting that they were really “just good friends”. Even if Faith’s reaction to finding out about Angel – “Buffy knew … I can’t believe her” – is very easy to read as romantic or sexual jealousy. Even if Gwendolyn Post’s last attempt to manipulate Faith (the accusation that Buffy was “blinded by love” for Angel) seems specifically designed to play on this jealousy. Even if Faith’s decision at the end of the episode that “you can’t trust people” implies she’s been betrayed by more than one person; even if Buffy’s “you can trust me” is met with a disbelieving smirk.

I don’t really think that’s how the writers intended the show to be viewed. More importantly, I don’t think that Buffy – even if she was emotionally self-aware enough to acknowledge her own feelings – would be ready to have that sort of relationship so soon after Scott Hope, let alone be able to keep it a secret.

But what I am saying is that, in a world where that actually was the explicit plot of Revelations, you really wouldn't have to change any of the dialogue in the opening scene of The Wish at all.

This is a scene in which Buffy’s lament that she “couldn’t reach [Faith] … again” segues straight into her commiserating with Xander over the fact he’s had “no luck reaching Cordelia”. Cordelia of course, is Xander’s ex-girlfriend who refused to speak to him the last time he went to see her, after Xander was seen secretly kissing Willow, and hasn’t been seen with him since. Cordelia's furious because she was just starting to tell herself that she was in love with Xander and he betrayed her. Faith, on the other hand, is Buffy’s [redacted] who refused to speak to her the last time she went to see her, after Buffy was seen secretly kissing Angel, and hasn’t been seen with her since. Faith's furious because she was just [redacted].

Meanwhile Willow tells Buffy she’s looking forward to seeing Oz again so she can “beg for forgiveness”, and Buffy – fresh from visiting Faith’s motel to do “damage control”, to apologize for keeping secrets and to promise her that she’s on her side, and who just finished telling her friends that she’s sad Faith hasn’t been hanging out with her lately – tells her that that works too, and she “knows the feeling” Willow is going through.

The one line I might cut is the one that doesn’t make much sense even in isolation. Xander decides that Buffy can relate to what he and Willow are going through because she “went through it with Angel”. Only … well, yes, it’s true in a very broad sense that Buffy has already experienced some sort of heartbreak with Angel, but the comparison doesn’t really work beyond that, does it? Angel didn’t break up with Buffy because she was unfaithful. (Sort of the opposite, really.) Buffy never had to apologize to Angel for kissing somebody else. She's carrying a lot of Angel-related guilt, but it's not particularly similar to the guilt that Willow or Xander should be feeling (Buffy blamed herself for Angel losing his soul in Innocence and for sending him to hell in Becoming, but she had no way to know the first would happen and was forced to do the latter to save the world). As of the last episode, if anything it’s Buffy who broke things off with Angel. As parallels go it just feels a little forced.

Again, this is the first time Angel’s been brought up in the conversation. And yet, Buffy has been talking about somebody she hurt and deliberately lied to and wishes she could make things right with, hasn’t she?

But, like I said, I’m not suggesting that Buffy and Faith were secretly dating before Revelations. I’m not.

Obviously that didn’t happen until Bad Girls.

#btvs #buffy rewatch 2023

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foolforharrry · 2 years ago

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Nails And Croissants

Word Count: 2.5k words

Summary: Harry and Willow go to get their nails done

This is just a short little thing to get the feel of how I wanna write the characters in a book that I'm planning. I an really excited about this and I hope that when I get to posting the actual chapters, you guys are going to like them and love them too.

This blurb is obviously way down the line from where the story is going to start but I wanted to give you guys a small taste of them.

This is also not that carefully written and is probably messy af, but I hope you still enjoy reading it.

if you wanna read more of my work, I have it all linked on my masterlist.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated and if you have any requests please feel free to give them to me and I will do my absolute best to do it.

Harry Styles Butterflies erupt in my stomach when I catch her eyes across the room.

The sunlight beaming in through the windows of the small nail salon makes the lighter strands of her brown hair look golden.

"What are you getting?", I ask her once she's sat down at the table right next to mine.

Her cheeks tint an adorable shade of pink when Willow's nail tech for today, Aspen, sets the bottles of nail polish Willow's chosen for today. "I swear it wasn't on purpose," she hurries out, her eyes flicking between the colours next to my own hands.

"Damn. And here I was getting excited thinking you wanted to match with me," I say with a playful roll of my eyes.

The laugh she lets slip is like music to my ears, and all I want to do is lay a kiss on her pretty, pink lips. But Mona coating my nails with a clear layer of base polish prevents me from doing so.

Instead, I settle on storing the image of Willow's face scrunched up with joy and laughter to memory. Her freckled, sun-kissed skin and the smile that doesn't just light up the room but my whole entire life.

"You're an idiot," Willow giggles, letting Aspen arrange her hands the way she needs them.

"I'm your idiot, though.", I remind her. To my delight, my words have another heartbreakingly beautiful break out on her face as she mouths 'I love you'.

Out of my peripheral vision, I can see Mona and Aspen exchange a look as I mouth 'I love you' back.

And God do I love her.

I never thought that I would ever be the kind of man who happily takes his girlfriend to get a manicure on my day off feeling like my heart is about to fucking burst from the love that's flooding it. The part of my heart I had tried so hard to keep under lock and key to protect it from being burnt again. But instead, Willow came along and took it in her soft hands. The calm of the sea in her eyes is all I needed to see before I let her.

"You ok, baby?" Willow asks, a crease of concern between her eyebrows.

Clearing my throat, I offer her a genuine smile, "Yeah, Blue. I'm ok." I can tell that she isn't entirely convinced, so I add; "Was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you."

The blush returns to her cheeks as Mona asks me to remove my hands from the UV-light machine. Which means that she's ready to give my nails some colour.

For the rest of the appointment, we make small talk with Aspen and Mona with the comfortable hum of the radio in the background. When a song by Taylor Swift I still haven't learnt the name of, Willow was out of her chair to turn up the volume with the permission of Aspen with a childish glee that she rarely lets show with anyone other than her closest people.

I swear I fell more in love with Willow when I watched her dance her way back to her chair.

Hand in hand, Willow and I walk out of the nail salon, freshly painted nails and bright smiles on our faces as we wave goodbye to Mona and Aspen. Our names are already on their calendar for next time.

I can't help myself from glancing down at our cojoined hands every couple of seconds, my heart fluttering at the way hers match mine.

Baby blue and pastel pink.

"H?" I don't even have to look at her face to know that Willow has her bottom lip tucked under her teeth and round eyes that'll have me giving into whatever comes out of her pouty lips.

"Blue?" I mimic her tone, tugging her closer to me so she doesn't bump into the man walking past us.

Willow lets go of my hand and before I can reach for it again, a pout on my lips, she snakes her arm around my back, my own going around her shoulders. "Are you hungry?"

I'm not. But knowing that she is and doesn't want to just ask directly, I don't say that. "What do you want, baby?"

It's like her shoulder deflates in relief the second the words leave my mouth and it has me turning my head and planting a kiss in her hair as I let her take her time settling on what she wants. Almost like she'd read my mind, she perks up, pointing across the street to what looks to be a small bakery.

"How about some croissants?", Willow suggests as I meet her eye.

"Croissants sound lovely," I agree, pouting my lips for a kiss.

Willow drops her gaze to my mouth at the action. Standing on her tiptoes, her hands gently cup my face as mine drop to her hips and peck. Her lips are soft as she presses them against mine in a way that has my heart doing somersaults in my chest. I can smell the coconut from her favourite lip gloss when she pulls away with a dopey smile, swiping away the product she left just below my bottom lip.

Blush heats my cheeks as I kiss the pad of her thumb, "Thank you, baby."

Thankfully the crosswalk is just down the street, the lights turning green for us after only a few seconds so we can make our way across the road safely and efficiently with my arm back around Willow's shoulders and her hand on my hip.

The bakery Willow picked out for us has a homey vibe to it. Flowers stationed on every single table with warm pinks and soft yellows everywhere you look. The smell of baked goods strong even from outside the shop. For a Thursday afternoon, it's rather busy.

Willow and I stood in silence as we waited for it to be our turn to order, content just watching the different people come in and out of the bakery every time the bell above the door rang.

The display of all the different options of baked goods is god damn mouth-watering and I make a mental note to bring Evelyn and Willow back sometime during the weekend. Knowing Evelyn, she would be over the moon over a cupcake that looks like a rainbow.

When it becomes our turn, I order us two croissants, thanking the lady behind the counter with a smile as she hands us the paper bag. And then we're on our way again.

"I was thinking that we should take Evie there," I speak as I take her hand in mine, resuming our walk back to the car with my eyes switching from the path in front of us to her face.

Meeting my eye, Willow nods with a hum, "When were you thinking?" "Maybe Sunday?"

Before she can ask, I add, "They're open."

"She's gonna have a hard time picking, poor thing," Willow laughs light-heartedly.

"Mhm," I hum in agreement, the smile that rarely ever seems to fade whenever I'm around her. If we're being completely honest, Willow and I both know that I would buy Evelyn every single one she wanted just to keep a smile on her face.

"I miss her," I say with a pout as we round the last building, my eyes landing on my car.

Willow rolls her bottom lip into her mouth before she opens it and says something I never in a million years thought I'd hear from her; "I don't know how you're gonna survive when she's off to college, babe."

Dropping her hand, I clutch the material of my t-shirt over my heart as if I was in pain. "Don't hurt an old man like that, Blue. I'm fragile."

"Oh shut up, H. You're not that old," Willow giggles with a hand on her stomach. Her nails match her pretty sundress and it has another swarm of butterflies flapping around in my tummy.

"It was still mean," I grumble with a pout, the thought of my little girl leaving one day isn't exactly one I enjoy.

Willow shakes her head at my attitude. "I'm sorry, love," she says with a pinch of my hip.

"You're lucky I love you," I say as I take her hand again, loving the warmth of her soft skin against mine. She grins at me, "The luckiest."

The soft curls of her hair dance in the light breeze blowing past us. Her golden skin glows so prettily in the sunshine she doesn't even look real. The light reflects in her baby blue eyes makes them twinkle as if the sun was hung in the sky at this very moment just for her.

I'm convinced that Willow is an angel sent down to this plane from the heavens above. Her calm, beauty and grace is simply too delicate to be meant for the harsh, painful world that we live in. But somehow, with all that she's been through, she still leaves a trail of light in her wake. She has lit up my life the way the sun lights up the sky after a dark night with only specks of light so far away you almost don't believe that they're real.

"No Blue. I'm the lucky one."

I'm sure she can hear the emotion that has started to clog up my throat, but she doesn't comment on it. Instead, she guides my hand to press a gentle kiss to my knuckle just as we reach the car.

I reach into my pocket for my keys, pressing the button to unlock the black range rover as I walk around to the passenger side with Willow in tow to open the door for her, quickly pecking her temple as she slips past me and gets settled in her seat with the bag of croissants in her lap.

By the time I'm sat in my own seat, she's opened the bag and is munching happily on her croissant. Eyes closed, head tilted back against the headrest and humming in the way she something is particularly delicious. She's got her hand underneath the pastry to catch any crumbs that may fall when she takes a bite out of it.

Just as I get out on the road, Willow's phone connects to the Bluetooth system in the car, the song switches to 'Right where you left me' by Taylor Swift.

It's almost comical how fast Willow's jaw drops along with her hand just as she was about to take another bite of her croissant. Her eyes go from the screen where the title is written in clear letters to my face. Accusing frown on her face as Taylor's voice and the gentle guitar fill the silence.

There isn't even a point in trying to contain my smile at the way it takes her around 5 seconds before she is turning up the volume and singing along to the song. Dramatic hand gestures and facial expressions that I catch out of my peripheral vision.

When she twists her upper body so she is fully facing me and sings; "I could feel the mascara run. You told me that you met someone," I can't help but take her hand and join her.

Who would have thought singing a heart-wrenching song about being left and unable to move on with the love of your life while driving down the streets of Los Angeles would have images of her in a white dress flash through my mind and a certainty settle in my stomach like I have only felt once before in my life?

When the song ends, Willow turns the volume back down, her face flushed from her intense performance and a shy smile curling on her lips.

If there wasn't a chance that doing so would potentially end in both of our deaths, I would've kissed her until we were both dizzy.

"You want your croissant?" Willow pulls the untouched one out of the bag, holding it out to me with her eyebrows raised in question.

Instead of saying anything, I open my mouth expectantly, waiting for her to get the hint. And when she does, she rolls her eyes playfully, still obliges and holds the pastry right in front of my face. She waits for me to take a bite out of the soft, crunchy slice of buttery heaven.

"Fuck me, that's good," I practically moan through a mouthful of croissant. This is possibly the best croissant I have ever had in my life.

Chewing it slowly, savouring the heavenly taste, I catch Willow with her phone out, pointed in my direction and a sly smile on her face. "What are doing, Blue?"

"You look really hot, is all," she shrugs, stuffing her phone underneath her thigh.

Willing the blush I feel heating up my face at the compliment go away, I point out the obvious; "That doesn't answer my question." Only Willow can have me blushing like a schoolboy and biting the inside of my cheek at a simple compliment.

"I got myself a new wallpaper for my phone," she tells me matter-of-factly as she squeezes my hand.

I rub the skin of her knuckle as the corners of my mouth tug up into a smirk, "If that's the case, then you can take as many pictures as you want."

When she stays quiet, taking bites of her croissant before letting me do the same, her left leg bouncing under beneath our cojoined hands, I can't help but laugh as the realisation dawns on me. "How many pictures do you actually have of me?"

She says something, but it's so quiet I can't make out the words. "I can't hear you, baby."

"I said that I've lost count," she repeats herself with a sheepish look on her face. "You don't exactly make it hard, baby."

"You ever gonna let me see these photos?" Knowing her, it's probably half pictures where I look decent and half pictures that could be turned into memes.

Willow takes a minute before she answers, seeming to mull over the answer in her head. "No."

"Then I'm not letting you see the wonderful collection I've gathered of you, Blue." It may be childish, but it does exactly what I wanted it to. Willow's grip on my hand tightens ever so lightly and I can feel her practically burning a hole into the side of my face with the intensity of her stare.

But she is stubborn, so she keeps her lips pressed tightly together. She keeps her view directed out the window at the cars, buildings and people we pass by.

"Am I sleeping in any of them?" she eventually breaks the silence. Her fingers drum along with the rhythm of 'Sweater Weather' against the back of my hand, something that I've noticed that she always does when she listens to music.

"A couple," I confess, holding in the urge to laugh at the way her cheeks turn crimson.

Clearing her throat, Willow tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. "If they ever see the light of day, you're losing your dick."

Slightly taken aback by how casually such crude words flew out of her mouth, I swallow hard with wide eyes, "I will remember that."

#harry #harry styles one shot #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles blurb #harry styles fluff #harry styles masterlist #harry styles imagine #harry styles x reader #harry styles smut #harry styles #one direction #fanfiction #masterlist #fluff #original character #dadrry #dad harry styles

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storyspinner91 · 5 months ago

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Twenty Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @littleblackraincloudofcourse

Tagging @lowkeyed1 @evodevo-geekmonkey @dianels @bisexualshakespeare @spybrarian @blackdalek

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

7 (3 are WiP)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

186,452

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Willow! ...Technically other things too but really it's just Willow with playful skins.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Red Embers: dark alternate future AU, resistance fighters against the Wyrm's tyranny, grim & gritty

Like Constellations, a Million Years Away: sprawling mecha sci-fi AU set in the world of the Lancer tabletop roleplaying game. The Questies all pilot giant mechs; four books (2 done), one focused on each of Jade, Kit, Graydon, and Elora (in that order). Posthumanism, anticolonial to the extent a fanfic can be, utopian, dramatic.

Soft Blazing Crowns: Tanthamoretober one-shot. Modern AU. Elora helps Jade with a sexy photoshoot for a gift for Kit.

Full: (E-rated) Tanthamoretober one-shot. Modern AU. Straight-up smut drabble, 100 words on the dot. Extremely funny to me that this is in the top 5. :P

The Loving Hurt: Canon-set one-shot digging into the violence implied by the canon against the Bone Reavers, Scorpia's backstory, how Jade got her name. Dark, grim, not pleasant to write and in some ways probably not to read TBH. I was in A Mood!

5. Do you respond to comments?

Religiously! Sometimes it takes me a while, but I do.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm. I mean I think it's gotta be The Loving Hurt. Like I said. Dark. Blame the show's writers, I do. :P

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Gonna resist the temptation to say Full and instead say I think that it'll probably be Flawless Five vol. 1 when it's finished in a few weeks!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

The only thing I'd consider smut is Full. Otherwise, not anywhere that you can see. ;)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No true crossovers, though Like Constellations is set (loosely) in the Lancer Universe.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so! They're too weird!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I'd be so honored.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I am a Tanthamore diehard, what can I say.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

If you'd asked me recently I'd probably have said "all of them." Fortunately I'm feeling a little better lately! I hope to finish all of the current ones; Constellations is a slow, weighty project, F5 I hope to have done very shortly, Embers...we'll figure that out after F5.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at dialogue, and I'm decent though not incredible at humor (especially character-based humor). I'm also a decent mimic - though this can feel a little clunky sometimes, I think I'm able to adjust my voice pretty easily to suit a situation, genre, or style. My unhinged and unpopular fic Excerpts from a new translation... is a pretty good example of that, lol. And on that note: I have a lot of fun with wacky metatextual stuff.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Taking the wacky meta stuff too far; not being bold enough in straying from the established character arcs/plots in canon; I don't think I'm great at writing really juicy interiority. Starting very large projects that will take forever to finish. ':)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm comfortable enough in Spanish to write simple dialogue in that language. I've done one line in Latin (which I'm comfortable with since it's functionally a dead language) and made up some words in a conlang for Constellations. Wouldn't try anything via Google Translate though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Willow! At least if we count conscious fanfiction. If we're going back to the Days of Yore probably Animorphs when I was a wee one.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Difficult to pick...but Like Constellations is the baby, the one I'll finish come hell or high water (I hope). On the other hand, Flawless Five is probably the most fun (to write, and maybe to read if you like that sort of thing) and Red Embers is the one that in many ways I find most exciting. Like I said - hard to choose!

#tag game #willow 2022 #fanfic #tanthamore #willow #my a03

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this-thing-saved-me · 6 months ago

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This Show Saved Me - BTVS 7x22

7x22 Chosen

I will never not find it funny that to stream Buffy I have to go to Disney+. Or the fact that the most recent episode I’d watched (whenever that was) was this one. Since I’m pretty sure I left my rewatch mid-season 3.

But that’s the thing about this particular episode. It’s practically a perfect finale. And felt like the right place to start, because who says everything should happen in order. That’s not always how life works.

THERE WILL LIKELY BE ABUNDANT SPOILERS FOR A FINALE THAT AIRED OVER TWENTY YEARS AGO. There, that was your warning. And now for some Cole's notes “Story so far.”

Okay, so Buffy’s been through it by this point. The First has annihilated her self-confidence and Caleb has been on the warpath. Spike has told her she’s the one (!!!), whether she fully believes in herself yet or not. (SIDENOTE: yes, I ship Spuffy. Yes, there are very, very valid reasons not to. However I am a big fan of redemption arcs and where they land by the end of the comics feels like as healthy a place as possible with a very real love.)

And Angel shows up trying to be all tall-dark and forehead. Which I get, he’s Angel, he needs to be in the finale. But ultimately he's a delivery boy and he didn’t need to do it in person other than to prompt the first on my list of loves for this episode.

Which is what I lovingly refer to as the "Cookie Speech." Buffy knows she has more growing to do and she’s self-aware enough to share that with the first love of her life. She’s come a long way from the season of post-resurrection depression, but she’s still not quite ready for what Angel might like her to be (granted he’s JUST lost Cordelia so the fact that he is back at Buffy’s door is a rant for another post.) The idea that things aren’t working for her romantically because she’s not done baking. She hasn’t figured out all that she wants to be. While I love love LOVE this analogy, I wonder if there’s ever really a time in our lives where we are done baking? Besides the end of course. We’re supposed to evolve. We’re supposed to grow.

Spike is her Champion, not Angel. They’ve seen the best and the worst of each other, remember? He knows she needs someone strong, someone with a soul, and despite the bad, she knows he’s earned the right to the title through growing and atoning. Motivated people can change, and that’s something I believe that Spike has shown.

“He had to split” - the joke is LHF and I love it. Does its utterance deserve a place on this list? Yes. Because it's very me-coded. I’d have a very hard time not making the same joke if I had just rendered a man from stem to stern. But I digress. This episode is serious and still silly. It’s the epitome of BTVS episodes. I mean Spike waking from a dream yelling “I’m drowning in Cool Whip,” come on. It’s akin to “the cheese wears me” in off kilter nonsense. Plus Anya later finding her strength in her hatred for "floppy, hoppy bunnies" will never not kill me. (Or her, again spoiler.) I adore Emma Caufield.

Willow is afraid to use magic because of her history with the darkness. Not knowing if she’s stable enough. I can identify with her at this moment after clawing back from my own mental health blip a couple years ago. She went dark. (I went, arguably, nuts) She’s regained her balance but how secure? It’s going to turn out to be really secure because “Oh my goddess” she’s got this. AND…

The fact that Kennedy is there for Willow to help keep her grounded. Her very presence supports Willow but isn’t the deciding factor for victory. Willow needs to believe in herself that she won’t go back over that edge. She touched the darkness and it freaked her the f out. (Once she came back down from the overwhelm and shock of her grief.) I lived in that fear for a long time. And I’m grateful for the grounding I’ve found outside of the support of others, but within myself.

Just for fun, let’s chat about the DND session. Even the scoobies needed to disassociate before the big thing. And self-permission to have fun during challenging times is key. It can’t all be doom and gloom. Sometimes you recharge that nervous energy through Trogdor the Burninator references and that’s more than okay.

Ultimately we have the’ shared power’ speech. “Here’s the part where you make a choice” more specifically. Because they could easily choose to let the First and its legions overwhelm the world and finally be the apocalypse they couldn’t handle. It’s easier to stay down. It’s easier to say I can’t. But where does that get you? Making that choice to take your power back and say I am more than what wants to overwhelm me is a beautiful moment. This moment, where all the Potentials get their piece of the power pie is tremendously moving. I get shivers just thinking about it. Male or female, we don’t need the permission of Slayer power to take back our own. To say ‘no more’ and get back up off the ground. (Although Slayer strength would be badass, let’s be real.)

The bottom line, this episode epitomises what I love about Buffy and the Whedon-verse. Real characters in a fantastic world who battle larger than life caricatures of the demons we fight in our daily lives. This show saved me in a lot of ways. My very first boyfriend got me to watch it back in 2005, which he may have regretted as it CONSUMED my brain for most of grade 12. It was the perfect time for me to experience this show. I credit it for helping me find my voice offline. I was always a nose-in-a-book girl or heavily distracted with FanFiction. I was one of the quietest in my friend group, not really feeling like there was a value to what I had to say. The message that we can choose to be strong and fight back? That’s one that I’ll eternally be grateful for and will carry with me, always. What’s your favourite episode? And why is it “Once More With Feeling”? ;)

(Honourable mention goes to this eye contact where my headcanon is convinced he sees she really does love him despite him telling her otherwise seconds before. THOSE SMG EYES! I can't.)

#this thing saved me #this show saved me #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs 7x22 #buffy summers #spike #willow rosenburg #anya #the earth is definitely doomed

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avatarmerida · 2 years ago

Note

Pleeeeeeeeease do a one shot with THAT crew art...

You know the one I'm talking about...

(I'm God's miracle)

I do know it. It controls my every thought.

I haven’t seen anyone do it with evil!Hunter (insp @soldrawss) so here’s my attempt at combining the two. In my take of this version, Hunter is aware he is a grimwalker the whole time and basically has to do the Emperor’s bidding to justify existing (nothing new there) but he is aware that Belos is a liar and evil and he also believes he is these things because why wouldn’t he be? In case it’s not clear, this would be after ASIAS in a AU where Hunter keeps trying to recruit Willow to the coven as an excuse to talk to her. It’s less angst and more Megamind (who fully believes he is angsty so) ok bye

---

“Well well well,” came a familiar voice from behind her. “If it isn’t my favorite plant witch.”

“Hello to you too,” Willow asked, unfazed by his “dramatic reveal” as she was so sure he had intended it to be. She did not look up from her comfortable spot on the ground where she sat, gathering soil into her little pail. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Golden Guard? Did you follow me up here or were you just waiting menacingly in the shadows for me to show up?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss the business of the Emperor’s Coven with a civilian,” he said, giving her a non answer. “If you’d truly like to know why I’m here I suppose I could entrust that information to a new recruit.”

“Hmm pass,” she said, staying focused on her task with her back to her but feeling his eyes on her. He wouldn’t ask what she was doing, he would either pretend he already knew or ignore it all together.

“Do you need any help?” He asked, uncharacteristically small. Hmm,that was new. He was clearly hoping she’d have a more elaborate response and the prepared retort he had up his sleeve wouldn’t make sense, not that digging in the dirt made any more sense.

“No, I’m almost done,” she said, shoveling the last bit of soil into her pail. It was excellent soil, a shimmering dark turquoise that helped plants be more lively and vibrant. It was well worth the distance Willow had to travel to obtain it and collecting it was relaxing. It was quiet out here, an abandoned building made it seem off-putting to other people but Willow welcomed the calm atmosphere. There was hardly anything out here to capture the attention of the Emperor’s Coven.

But that seemed to be the case wherever she found herself lately.

“Ya know it’s dangerous to be out here by yourself,” he said, kicking at the ground not expecting her attention to linger elsewhere.

“Well I’m not here by myself now am I?” She asked with a smirk he could hear. Months ago she would be terrified to find herself alone with him, especially knowing what she knew now about the Emperor’s Coven. He did not deny it when she confronted him about what the Coven and the Emperor were really like. He was not ashamed, he claimed, rather he was content with his place and what that meant. He was delighted with the rumors depicting him as ruthless and cruel (and this was mostly from the mouths of her friends) but somehow her experiences with him differed.

He loved a crowd, a perfect chance to act boastful and righteous and flaunt his status. But when it was just them his insincerity did not seem very sincere. She suspected he never spent enough time with anyone for them to see beyond his little character, but she had seen enough repeat performances to pick up the inconsistencies. By now she could tell when his words were empty, when he was leaning into this character that he was forced to method act. But she could sense he didn’t know who to be around her, and she felt that was some of his best work.

“Ya know, the Emperor’s Coven has tons of dirt,” he tried to say casually, feeling things had been silent for too long.

“What?”

“Uh, well that’s why you’re here right?” He sputtered.

“Oh so your business can stay a secret but mine can’t?” She said as she stood up and turned to face him. She could’ve sworn he stood straighter when she did.

“The Emperor makes it a point to know everyone’s business,” he said in a low, cool voice as though he himself was the Emperor. He tried so hard to intimidate her but she somehow always remained composed, as though she was merely humoring him. She wiped her hands on her dark green skirt, the access dirt blending in nicely and shook her head at him.

“Well then ask him what I’m up to,” she shrugged walking past him, purposely brushing past his shoulder as she did. She heard him chuckle deep in his throat, as though she had said just the right thing.

“I’m not so sure he’d be pleased with you trespassing, little plant witch.” the Golden Guard said with a cocky smile. He has stopped wearing his mask around Willow, maybe because it was easier to see or maybe because he thought she could be swayed by a pretty face. She’d have to ask him one of these days.

“Pssh ‘trespassing?’” Willow laughed, flipping her braid over her shoulder. “There’s nothing to trespass out here, it’s totally abandoned!”

“Exactly,” he said, following slowly behind her. “There’s a reason for that; it’s condemned. Strictly off limits.Dangerous.”

“Aww so did you stalk me all the way here because it’s dangerous and you wanted to make sure I was safe before you kidnapped me again?”

“Pssh, what?” Hunter could never place her tone, how it was both sweet and sour, how it asked a question that seemed to already hold the answer. It was like an argument that he wasn’t sure how to win. “Of course not. W-why would I care about what happens to a foolish half-a-witch like you? If you’re foolish enough to come here, you deserve to learn the consequences first hand.”

“Hmm, I could say the same thing about you,” Willow sighed, looking over her shoulder at him. “But which half-a-witch is more foolish? The one who came here or the one who followed her here because he wanted an excuse to talk to her?”

“It’s business!” Hunter insisted, picking up his pace as his voice got higher. “My job is to enforce the rules and will of the Emperor and the signs on the perimeter clearly state-.”

“So are you gonna arrest me?” She asked, quickly turning on her heel causing him to nearly bump into her.

“I-I could.” He stuttered, his eyes unable to decide where to look.

“Hmm, well you can’t join the Emperor’s Coven with a criminal record so... okay, go ahead.” She set her pail down and placed her arms out as though she was ready to be escorted to prison.

He was taken back. Very rarely did his banter get a response let alone ones so calm and silly. But she always managed to call his bluff and he couldn’t tell if she was wearing him down or winning him over. Either way, what a fine addition to the coven she’d be..

But she was right, and Hunter could hardly back down from what he said without contradicting his whole deal and risking losing the advantage he thought he had. This girl wasn’t scared of him or intimidated by him, heck she wasn’t even annoyed by him. His usual tricks didn’t work on her and as much as he wanted them to, it was somewhat refreshing. But either he had followed her here and hadn't stopped her or he was waiting for her and didn’t speak up right away. He barely understood why he mentioned the trespassing, the Emperor didn’t care about this area he would find the time wasted unless Hunter had actually caught a wild witch.

He was working on it.

“So um yeah I uh-.” But before he could verbally dig his own grave, the ground began to shake. A large crack formed between him and Willow and they both kept back to avoid falling in. The crack quickly sped up and reached the remains of the building, causing it to fall forward, heading towards the pair. They quickly jumped out of the way as the rest of the buildings followed like dominos.

As the walls came crumbling down around them, Hunter went to teleport away dodging the debris as he located the way out. As he looked out of the corner of his eye to see which way the plant girl was going, his heart or the equal equivalent sank when he saw her laying on the ground. A large collection of bricks had fallen on her foot and Hunter watched her remove them as a look of pain overtook her face.

She was so focused on her current situation that she didn’t see another pile was headed her way. By the time Willow did notice it was almost too late and all she had time to do was close her eyes and brace for impact.

But she was not met with the impact she had been expecting.

The next thing she knew, she was in a blur of light. Settings came in and out of focus, the constant, jagged movement made her dizzy but it was somehow sort of mesmerizing. She looked up and saw her savior, serious and sorrowful looking ahead at his destination and not being distracted by the wide eyed girl who clung poetically to his chest.

He darted from point to point, the ground growing more unstable by the second. His focus and grip never wavered as Willow took the opportunity to memorize his features. They seemed to compliment him in every sense, they made the transition from stern to soft so seamlessly. His edges were sharp, his jawline so defined it seemed to direct her to his eyes like an arrowhead. Willow had never seen this in his eyes before; it was less certain than the way they held anger but it was softer than the fear they had known.

She wanted to see them closer, but she felt the look would vanish if she entered his sight.

When Hunter felt they had traveled a safe distance, he stopped and hid behind a wall, making sure no other threats had followed them. Willow watched in wonder as he panted, his eyes desperately scanning their surroundings to make sure there would be no more surprise demolishment. He brought her closer, as though shielding her from unseen doom as Willow’s head fell instinctively on his shoulder as she listened to the sound of him breathing.

“Are you okay?” She whispered, close enough that she could see a fresh wound above his eye, another for his never ending collection.

“We should be safe here,” he said, more to assure himself than her, not quite answering her question. Something about him saying ‘we’ and not ‘I’ or ‘you’ made her heart spin.

“Hunter?”

“Yeah?”

“You can put me down now.” Willow said, feeling as though Hunter had forgotten she occupied his arms. He held her like she was nothing and everything at the same time. Like he didn’t want to risk dropping her. Like she was precious to him. Like he wanted her close. A boy with no good in his heart as he so adamantly claimed to be could never hold someone like this. She wondered if his kindness was hidden from him or by him. She wondered if it felt familiar or forced, because it felt nice to be close to.

“Oh, right.” He said as though it was really no inconvenience and had simply slipped his mind. He suddenly became conscious of how tight his grip on her was as he gently placed her back on her feet. It felt unnatural to do something so gently, but something about her made unnatural things happen easily. As her feet touched the ground, a sharp pain shot up her body and she winced as she shifted her weight. Hunter instinctively crouched down back to her side for her to lean on him to take pressure off the leg “Sorry about that.”

“‘Sorry?’” She repeated, the shock distracting from her pain, She gave a small laugh. “D-did you just apologize to me?”

“Uh, I mean I-.”

“Were you... worried about me?”

“What? No!” Hunter’s face turned bright crimson, in embarrassment, in anger, infatuated.

“You were!” Willow exclaimed victoriously, as she summoned a large flower to sit on, as Hunter was desperate to pull away. “You were worried you might hurt me!”

“No! I meant sorry for...”

“Oh my Titan, you can’t even think of a fake reason!” Willow accused in delight, adjusting her dress as she made herself more comfortable. “It’s true!”

“Shut up!” He spat, contorting his mouth into a twisted frown. “I-I didn’t even mean to say it!”

“Exactly!” Willow said, pointing her finger at him, small yellow flowers bursting around her to emphasize her point. “You didn’t even mean to! You did it without thinking! Deep down inside of you, there is good!”

“Shut up!” He said again, but this time the embarrassment in his voice outweighed the anger. He tried to walk away from her but his pace was not a quick as it could be, he had no destination in mind.

“You did follow me to make sure I was safe,” Willow said smugly, hoopping off her her seat to skip beside him as tried to avoid her direct gaze. “You care about me.”

“No I don’t!” He insisted, hastening his pace.

“Really? Then why am I over here where’s it safe? Would’ve been easier to have just left me, ya know. Let me ‘learn the consequences first hand’ and all that, right?”

“I was looking out for myself and you were in my way,” Hunter lied quickly. “You just got lucky, but it wasn’t on purpose!”

“You had plenty of chances to put me down,” she pointed out with a bright smile, summoning a vine to carry her to adjust to his speed. Her knee high sock had gotten torn and she could tell her leg was slightly bruised and scratched, but she could worry about that later. “And I’m pretty sure you told me to ‘hold on.’ Now why would you say that to someone whose safety you didn’t care about?”

“I owed you one,” he grumbled, pausing for a moment to try and figure out where they were.

“Would someone truly evil care about his debt to a mere half-a-witch?” Willow stopped behind him, removing her hair from her braids to redo them. She knew he wouldn’t leave with a question like that in the air. He stopped too.

He did not have a response, but he wished he did. He could not blame it on a code of honor because he knew that she believed that he believed he did not have one.

“You care about me.” She stated sweetly. It was not a question.

“So what if I do?” He asked softly, trying to appear as though it was no concern of his, whether or not it was the truth. “The amount someone like me can care about someone doesn’t add up to much. I wouldn’t let it go to your head.”

“So what if I do?” Willow said back, mocking his solemn tone as she twisted her hair back into a braid. “Maybe I care about you too.”

“Another foolish decision on your part,” said Hunter, regaining the steady control in his voice as he summoned his staff, knowing he couldn’t risk staying with her longer. “But I know better than trying to tell you what to think. You’ve made it clear that my opinion is of no value to you.”

“It has value,” she said slowly, disliking the braid she had made and undoing it, giving up on the endeavor. “It values me, so it’s not composed entirely of bad taste.”

“I’ve been very upfront about-,” he said loudly as he turned around to face her, not realizing how close she was standing to him. The vine she summoned for support elevated her slightly so she was at his eye level, her hair free and forming small curls around her face in a way he had never seen before. Their faces were mere inches apart but she did not flinch or pull away but he swore she held her breath. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “-about your value to me.”

“For the Coven, right?” She said gently as though she had to remind him. “It’s just that, I feel like during our meetings lately, you’ve been trying more to change my feelings about you, and less about the Coven.”

“The coven and I are essentially the same.”

“To you, maybe, but I have no interest in the coven,” said Willow, allowing her vine to set her down as she tried to apply gently pressure on her leg. “So how is it that I spend so much time with the coven head?”

He turned his gaze to the ground and did not answer.

“I highly doubt you pursue all candidates this thoroughly, I highly doubt you have the time,” continued Willow. “With all the time you’ve spent chasing me you could’ve found about ten more qualified recruits. Can you honestly say I’m worth ten scouts?”

“You’re easily worth 100.”

“How?” She asked, honestly perplexed. “Because I have potential? So what? Plenty of people do. You said the coven is no place for emotions, well that’s where my power comes from. Recruiting me would remove the thing that made you want me in the first place. You’re smart, surely you’ve realized that.”

“It's because you’re stubborn, “ he said, looking up at her like he believed he was invisible to her. “You aren’t swayed by fancy words and status and it’s not because you don’t see their worth. Your approval is guarded, it’s selective, and rare things tend to be valuable things.” His voice did not ooze its usual smugness, he said it like he was reciting a poem to her. His voice held something back as though he could not bring himself to say too blunt a compliment. He removed his worn glove and reached out to brush a loose strand of hair behind. He could not place the reason for the gesture.

Willow let out a small gasp, half lost in the complement half breathless from the cold touch of his hand lingering against her cheek. He turned around to walk away, hoping it looked convincing that he could get very far this time.

“So if I had liked you when we first met, you wouldn’t value my opinion?” She called after him.

“If you had liked me when we first met you wouldn’t have really known me.” He called back.

“Does that mean you’ve changed?”

He stopped for a moment and thought about what that implied. She liked him now? Is that what that meant? How? He hadn’t changed as far as he was concerned, but he had never been someone else’s concern before. He didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. He vanished into a flash of gold before appearing in front of her again, no other destination in mind.

“What’s to stop me from kidnapping you?” His voice was cold and demanding, the way it was always supposed to be. “You’re weak, you’re hurt, you’re helpless! I could take you to the castle and throw you in a cell! I could bring you before the Emperor and frame you for any number or crimes! I could-! Er... I could...”

“That’s what you could do, but what will you do?” Willow winced, the pain in her leg growing. “I think if that’s what you wanted to do you would’ve done it by now. But you haven’t. Because you’re worried about my comfort and you’re thinking about what’s best for me. You’re stalling because you don’t know what you want to do. I feel like true evil doesn’t hesitate.”

He inhaled sharply, cursing himself for hesitating to respond to her. He should be long gone by now, or at least be pretending he was in control of the situation. But he had saved her with no ulterior motive in mind, and the reason that did come to mind was impossible. He didn’t like her seeing him like this, but why did he care what she thought?

“I see how you fight,” said Willow gently, reading his thoughts. “You antagonize and trap and dodge, but you rarely strike. You love to talk and it’s like you’re trying to distract from the fact that your blows are never fatal. You refuse to attack unless it’s totally necessary. Doesn’t seem very bloodthirsty to me.”

“It’s called strategy,” he said. “It’s smart to preserve energy, it’s efficient. That way you don’t end up hurt and in your enemy’s clutches.” He gestured to her current state as though it proved his point. But Willow only smiled. She did not consider him an enemy but did enjoy her time in his clutches.

“So you know I wouldn’t have left you there either,” she said and he just groaned at how she was able to see more than what was supposed to be there. Everyone else accepted he was no good and scary, why couldn’t she? Wasn’t he supposed to want her to?

“Well. since you value loyalty, let’s see you try and join another coven now after the Emperor’s Coven saved your life,” he scoffed as though that had been his plan all along and he hadn’t just thought of it.

But she could see there was no true flair to his actions or ulterior motive lurking in his words, he was simply not used to going against orders in a way that he could not justify. It would have been fitting for his persona not to save her, it would have been tactical to lure her into an agreement before doing so and taking advantage of her position. So why hadn’t he? Why would he risk his life and have nothing to show for it?

“Thank you Hunter.” She said softly. She was the only one who said his name like that. His name was not freely given, but she had managed to weasel it out of him. She hadn’t had to try very hard.

“When you join the coven you won’t be able to address me so informally.” he said, putting his glove back on.

“I think that’s one reason you’ve become less insistent that I do.”

“You have many?”

“I think you’re scared,” said Willow. “I think you’ve been doing what you’re told and are trying to convince yourself that it’s what you want to be doing but it’s not. But you’re scared because you know what Belos is capable of doing if he ever found out. I think you feel trapped and alone so you don’t listen to the part of you that wants something different because you don’t believe you’re allowed to. Because you know that’s what Belos believes.”

“So you think about me often, do you?” He said, hearing what he wanted to hear or at least trying to make it seem like he did.

“Or maybe you’re just impossible,” sighed Willow, seeing she wouldn’t make any ground in that subject matter today, standing up as much as she could.

“Grimwalkers are supposed to be impossible,” Hunter pointed out. “We’re taboo, an unforgivable sin, we’re damned from the moment we open our eyes. We can be nothing but ruthless...”

She rolled her eyes, as he continued his classic “born to be bad” speech. She should’ve known it was only a matter of time before he needed to prolong his presence with a monologue.

“Yeah, okay.” she chuckled, believing him less and less every time. The speech was more to assure him than her at this point.

“It’s true!” He insisted, the tips of his ears turning red. “I am heartless! And cold! I-I haven’t even asked you if you’re okay besides I don’t care! Because I-.”

“Because you’re checking my vitals like you think I can’t tell,” Willow finished, noting that while he did not say anything he eyed her injury to ensure it was leveled properly to reduce the pain. He was no healing expert, but he had suffered enough on the job injuries to know a few tricks. “You’d leave any other recruit out here to fend for themselves, so why am I any different?”

He looked up at the sky, it was getting late. He was tired and hungry and he knew Willow was meant to home before dark. He would think of something clever to say another day.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” said Hunter quietly as he swiftly went to scoop her up again. Consciously picking her up allowed Hunter to overthink it. He cautiously placed his arms around her back and under her knees and held her close and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, locking her fingers together to keep her close. If not for what he would later label his momentary lapse in judgment, he would never have the opportunity to be so close to her without seeing fury in her eyes. Now, they held a calm flourishing field of green, they held pleasantly surprised gratitude and maybe... admiration.

He didn’t teleport unless it was necessary, certain the sharp movements would aggravate her injury and flying was no better. So he held her in his arms and walked back to the path, traveling in silence as Willow tried to make sense of the moment.

But it was all in his head. Because at the end of the day, he knew what he was.

He knew he was the latest and therefore the greatest and maybe the last in a long line of disappointments. He was born heartless, his emotions were nothing more than a clever manipulation to imply there was variety beyond disgust and anger. He was told what he was and what he was meant for and he was oh so good at doing exactly what he was told.

He would outlive the others. He would see the plan through. He would not be distracted. He had never had an issue sticking to these mantras until he found himself risking everything to keep a silly plant witch around. He dared to think he could keep her around if he could convince her of the benefits. But why did he want to keep her around any way he could? How was he supposed to explain the twinge in his chest when he became overly aware of how close she was to him, resting safe in his arms?

No one had ever looked at him this way. Her eyes weren’t sizing him up or predicting his next move or scanning him for signs of weakness. Her eyes graced him because she was glad he was there. His eyes weren’t reverting to her every so often because he was monitoring her for a surprise attack or suspected her disloyalty or because he thought she was impressed by him. He wanted to see her face because it made him feel safe, it sent a shot through him that envied fear and lighting.

“Is the whole ‘you care about me’ theory completely off the table?” she asked once their surroundings became familiar again.

“Grimwalkers can’t feel love,” he said casually, as though it was a common fact and not something so devastating. It was a rare truly serious moment so Willow did not cheekily mention the fact that she had not said the word “love” as he set her back on the ground, her house not far from here.

“Well, that doesn’t make you a monster,” said Willow. “Plenty of people don’t fall in love or feel attraction, but that doesn’t mean that-.”

“No, I mean...” Hunter loved correcting people, but his evidence against her claim came with a personal toll that he hoped she wouldn’t ask him to clarify and act as though it was something he didn’t mind about himself. “...I mean, we cannot feel love and we cannot be loved. We can feel fondness, I suppose, and gratitude but no more than is required to know the value of something. But our skin is thick, an armor, meant to deflect any type of affection that threatens to weigh us down. How can a creature without a heart ever feel-.”

Willow interrupted his latest monologue by grabbing the sides of his face and pulling him down to her to place a strong but gentle kiss square on his lips. Despite her warmth, he was frozen. Sweaty, shivering, stunned. Her lips curled into a smile and Hunter’s thoughts were consumed with why. Was she delighted in the action alone or was it all done for his reaction? Had she frozen time or has they been in this moment forever? Was she just trying to shut him up? He’d ramble on forever if this was the punishment. But his chest felt like he had drank of water from the boiling sea, fizzling and burning and bubbling and the warmth spread to the rest of his body and numbed him like her touch contained venom.

He was melting from the inside out and somehow it was painless. His eyes widened in shock at the source, blissfully unaware of the ailment (or maybe she just showed no visible signs?) as she held him in place. It was as though then their lips touched, the world around them became more colorful. Willow had her eyes closed, perhaps because she already knew how colorful the world was. She was the brightest thing in it, after all. Had that always been the case?

His chest was on fire as she pulled back to look at him again, her hands lingered on the sides of his face which was now entirely red. He felt dizzy and dopey and turned around, had this been a trap she had planned for him the whole time?

“What have you done?!” He demanded angrily with a rage Willow had not seen in him before. She couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t speaking only to her. “D-Did you just curse me? My existence is already a curse! Why would you want to add onto it? Why would you-?”

“I didn’t curse you, I kissed you,” said Willow simply as though the two were often confused for each other, her voice carried an airy giggle. “It’s a way to show affection. It’s a gesture of thanks and... love.”

“Is that what this is?” He screamed, referring to the waves of fireworks in his chest that she could not see but somehow understood. “You gave me the ability to love?!”

“Well, I don’t think I gave it to you, but I think that maybe you-.”

“Well, take it back!” Hunter demanded, pulling her close to him by her shoulders and joining their lips as she had done in a swift motion. Unlike the way his hands had flailed behind him when she initiated the contact, she got over her surprise very quickly and leaned into it, reaching up to put her arms around his neck to return the pressure and keep him steady.

It felt just as scary as the first time but somehow easier. She was smiling again and while Hunter had no idea what he was doing, he was pretty sure he wasn’t doing it wrong. As he relaxed and allowed his eyes to fall closed, he could still see the dazzling display of colors as he tried to inhale the faint smell of wildflowers in her hair . Relaxation did not come naturally to him so he was quickly brought out of the moment as he suddenly remembered how he had gotten back into whatever this was and pulled away. Willow followed him as though she wasn't ready to part and when he looked at her, he saw her face decorated in a kindred flush as though she had just done battle. Another trap! Surely staying too long in the “kiss” allowed her to send the curse back to him because he felt so compelled to brush her hair out of her face again and that must be why.

“Curses aren’t really a plant magic thing,” Willow whispered, her hands still clinging to his chest. He wondered if her leg was still bothering her. He wondered why he even cared. “Just so you know.”

“Well, then it’s a reaction to one of your flowers or pollen or something,” he said. “I’m just having an allergy attack.”

“Or maybe you were raised by a liar,” said Willow. “Who convinced you that you were immune rather than neglected because he allowed no examples of any form of love.”

“Maybe...” Hunter began, dwelling over her words. He stepped back as his eyes widened when he found a solution that pleased him. “Maybe... I am the Titan’s miracle.”

“Oh geez,” Willow groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as Hunter’s ego increased and he began to pace, drafting a speech of what this could mean. “Well I’m getting out of here before you make me regret this. But… see you tomorrow?

He stopped. Something about the nonchalant way she said the words tickled his ear like there was something more buried in the words. He had just been thinking about how much her magic had improved in mere weeks, thinking about how powerful she would be if given months. He thought about how her power could benefit the coven. He thought about her often. He thought about her outside of her use to the greater good, he thought about her smile, her laugh, the way she placed her hand beneath her chin when she said something snarky, the soft peridot color of her eyes and how they shined beneath her glasses when she rolled them at him and the way she-.

The way she was the only one who made him feel this way. A way that wasn’t worthless or vindictive. A way he wasn’t supposed to feel.

“Do you intend on needing rescuing again?” Hunter inquired, looking at her over his shoulder his throat suddenly feeling tight like the question he really wanted to ask was stuck and struggling to be known. This tight dizzy feeling that he felt whenever she was around, this growing need to be beside her, did she feel this way about him?

In response, she sent a detailed yellow flower with long dramatic petals littered with pale red stripes. She sent in on a long strong stem so it reached his eye level taking in every detail. It was a remarkably unique flower and did seem particularly special at first but as he brought it closer he saw just how intricate its details were, the small patterns within the petals invisible to the casual onlooker. The scent was sweet but subtle, a pleasure you had to be close to in order to experience. He could tell this was not a flower found in nature, this was of her own design.

The flower’s vine wrapped itself around his wrist like a corsage, twirling around his pinky link it was sealing a promise. She had made her way safely into her house by now and they had an unspoken agreement that this space was off limits. But he knew their paths would cross again. He could use returning her pail of dirt as an excuse to see her. He could say her injury was a liability of the coven and he was obligated by the Emperor to monitor her.

Or maybe he didn’t need to explain himself, he was the Titan’s miracle after all.

#huntlow #huntlow fanfiction #willow park #evil!hunter #toh #the owl house #winter toh #megamind vibes but you have to read it like megamind #hunter toh

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rulerzreachf4n7 · 10 months ago

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I'm trying to say this in THE NICEST WAY possible, toxic shippers have the stupidest reasons for not shipping Huntlow

Heya! Now before I go into this please know I AM NOT a toxic/force shipper, I am not forcing you to ship Huntlow, simply just telling you why your reasons don't make sense and contradict to the canon versions of the characters of the show, and with that let's go

Reason 1: it's not possible for Hunter to trust Willow after Below possed him and in general

Oh. My. Fucking. Titan...Im just going to automatically assume you've never watched Any Sports In The Storm, that one part in Reaching out, Labyrinth Runners, Clouds On The Horizon, Kings Tide or the entirety of s3, I'M LITERALLY TRYING TO BE NICE BUT YOU ARE ACTUALLY FUCKING STUPID, Hunter trusts AND CARES Willow by first, in reaching out, giving her his penstegram account to chat, saving her from getting hurt in clouds on the horizon, yes, it's wasn't actually Luz, it was an illusion, and in the same episode Willow tried to save Hunter (or so she thought it does matter if it's actually Luz it just proves she cares about Hunter) and when Luz got captured by Kiki she was very anxious and hurrying everyone to get to Kiki to save Luz, yet again, don't come at me with just because it was illusion doesn't mean she dosent care about Hunter, she thought it was him, she cares about him a lot cause she was in a hurry to save him (or so she though it was him)! Hunter was comfortable and trusted her to cut his hair in thanks to them, in the same episode he wasn't uncomfortable with Willow holding him after the possession, in for the future HE LITERALLY SAYS HE CARES ABOUT WILLOW, NOT JUST GUS, WILLOW TOO, he comforted her after her breakdown and saved her and Gus, Willow trusts and cares about Hunter in ending of for the future by holding his hand (pinky promis?? Idk what to call it lol) and literally said "Thanks Hunter, you mean a lot to me to" which Hunter replied "yeah...sure, no problem"

Reason 2: they head canon either Hunter, Willow, or both of them as aroace, asexual, or on the spectrum

Oh. My. Titan, did you like know aroace/asexual people can like STILL DATE??? you completely misunderstand the meaning, just because they don't experience ALL ATTRACTION dosent mean THEY WON'T EXPERIENCE ANY, you know what "little to none attraction" means, it fucking means someone who has a bit, A BIT, NOT ZERO, THERE'S STILL A PIECE OF ATTRACTION THEY CAN HAVE FOR SOMEONE, I'm literally trying not to be as toxic as possible but people have the most fucking stupidest reasons

Reason 3: you ship Lunter/huntric/huntmira/boschlow/ect

Well that's fine, but those ships don't make sense in my eyes but I won't write an entire paragraph on why it doesn't make sense (I'm doing it after this post lol 💀💀) and also boschlow is literally toxic pookie it's not the enemies to lovers you want Boscha literally bullied her, if you think that's chemistry you're fucking stupid and never seen the entirety of s1

And hehe silly reason I'd like to add!!

Reason 4: they're bland, don't go well together, rushed, and have no chemistry

Oh my fucking Titan, OMG y'all! Did you know you could uncancel you're own show?! NO YOU CAN'T DUMB FUCK, it was rushed because it WAS FUCKING CANCELLED, SORRY POOKIE DANA CAN'T DO NO SHIT ABOUT IT, it's not like you can get rid of all the episodes and make it hunlow themed, sorry, we can't get all the things we want in life, and by saying that it wouldn't work by the first impression in ASIAS is stupid, sure Willow made a bad first impression but Hunter seemed mildly phased by this other than just being a bit spooked out and startled, and NO, HE DIDN'T JUST DEVELOP A CRUSH ON HER ON SPOT, sure, he could think Willows pretty, but that doesn't mean HE HAS A FUCKING CRUSH ON HER, and people saying that it's not a "half a with Hunter" because Hunters a grimwalker dosent make any sense, may I remind you this was made before hollow mind, he's still convinced he's a powerless witch by Belos lying about it to him, he thinks he's a half a witch while yes looking like a witch on the outside despite having no bile sack, and he doesn't seem to think as himself as weak like Willow does on the other hand, eh, I wouldn't mind if they took out the half a witch, and btw it's not supposed to be a romantical aspect it's supposed to be a similarity, people have also said she's only there to comfort him, even though that's apart of Willows personality, SHE'S THE RELIABLE ONE, LITERALLY SAYING IT IN FTF, she's supposed to comfort people, supposed to be the person everyone rely on, but thats not just her whole personality, based around her reliability, she's so much more than it! People say they think they're both better off as friends in their opinion, it's totally fine! I don't give a shit really, but if you're going to state a reason why you dont think a ship is realistic, then at least watch all the episodes they're in and use some common sense at least! It's the bare minimum!

And that's all!!! I hope you understand and if I made any incorrections please let me know!! I really hate toxic Lunter and huntric shippers, or shippers in general, they just make up excuses instead of saying that huntlow isn't their type of ship or they ship something else, but if you're a multishipper you're totally cool! (Even considered being a multishipper hehe)

#huntlow #the owl house #toh #my posts:3 #toxic shippers

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ppeasants · 6 days ago

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this is kind of a weird post? idk. it has to do with the future of my time hollow au so if that matters then here's this? (I'M NOT DISCONTINUING IT I LOVE THIS SERIES TOO MUCH i am just having some thoughts about some things I wanted to change, and I just needed to get these thoughts out into the void so people were aware, and so I could actually maybe go through with them)

(also if u do care about it please read all the way to the end so i can properly convey what i'm trying to say as well as what's changing, cause if u stop halfway thru then you'll probably come away with the wrong conclusion)

so I started this AU when I had just finished Owl House. I had not yet really gotten into the fandom, and I was still in the throes of the finale. because of this, I hadn't quite yet developed MY actual sense of what I specifically loved about the show (instead of just loving all of it [which I do love a lot of it]), as well as not specifically developed my own HCs and chartacter dynamics.

now that time has passed and I have been a part of the fandom for a while, I HAVE developed a sense of what I specifically love about this fandom, as well as the stories, themes, HCs and dynamics I want to explore deeper.

all that is just kinds backstory to how I have rotated these characters in my mind, and to give some context to where this change is coming from.

the actual change: I will likely be transitioning the sibling hunter and luz dynamic into a modified lavender winter dynamic with amity and willow, and non-romantic hunter and luz (that bit is important).

when I first started getting into the fandom, some of my first fics i read were sibling hunter and luz. I still love those fics, and tbh I still absolutely ADORE sibling hunter and luz. but, I think for the story I want to share with time hollow, i don't think the sibling dynamic works as well as the lavwin dynamic.

btw when I say modified lavmin, I mean it's pretty heavily modified, at least for the purposes of this series. Hunter and Willow are romanitc. Amity and Luz are romantic. Amity and Hunter are not romantic. Willow and Lus are not romanitc. Luz and Hunter are not romantic. They are not platonic. They are not in a QPR. They are not in a secret fourth thing, but a secret fifth thing.

there are two main reasons for this change. one, is that I actually love lavwin in general. i love poly ships and i love messy ships and i love being able to go in deep with character dynamics and and explore those relationships deeply and changingly.

the second reason: its so titan-damned MESSY. it's fantastic! there are so so many dynamics to explore with Hunter and Luz being a secret fifth thing instead of stricly familial. And the way their closeness can interplay with Amity and Willow, either as jealously or care or anything else, and those two maybe finding comfort in each other too, it's all so deliciously messy and I loooove it.

so what's gonna actually change: basically nothing! This was never a romance focused story, and while Lumity and Huntlow were always gonna exist, now they just exist within the context of a messy lavwin. and honestly, hunter and luz were already a secret third thing in this series, it's just now not codified as siblings anymore. it's also not gonna change their relationships with anyone else, like King, or Eda.

maybe there'll be some tumblr posts, or some oneshots that are more lavwin focused, but realistically not much is gonna change. It's just in the way that I've been developing the story, and rotating the characters will have this trauma attachment flavour to it.

i mostly just wanted to get this out there so people could understand where I'm coming from, cause I've been going back and forth on this 'change' for a while, but I realized that if I;m making a series that I don't enjoy, I'm not gonna make a good fic at all. and i think this will make this series all the better for it.

thanks for reading all the way thru if u did <3

#time hollow au #hunter toh #luz noceda #the owl house #toh #lavwin #long live messy poly relationships which further character dynamics

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the-owl-house-takes · 1 year ago

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Okay I’m gonna go on a big long rant about why Huntlow pisses me off so much. Honestly, Mod Willow, you don’t even have to post this if you don’t want to cuz I don’t wanna start more discourse, I just need to vent. Please note this is gonna be pretty messy just cuz I have a lot to say.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I DO NOT SEE THE APPEAL OF THIS SHIP!! They have no chemistry on screen. It feels like watching two people be nice to each other out of politeness rather than out of actually enjoying the others company. It’s especially noticeably because Willow is naturally super affectionate/friendly, but all her interactions with Hunter feel super forced.

And don’t even get me started on the shippers. Too many of the shippers act like just cuz it’s canon, it means you HAVE to like it. When are people gonna learn that just because something is canon, doesn’t mean it’s good or well written?? The fan content might honestly be the worst part of it. 70% of Huntlow shippers, from what I’ve seen, don’t care about Willow at all. They just turn her into Hunter��s therapist or boil her down to “buff girlfriend” and it’s infuriating. It’s like they black out whenever Hunter isn’t on screen. And they even get him wrong too. So much Huntlow stuff turns Hunter is a “poor twaumatized wittle baby 🥺” and infantalize him, even though he is one of the strongest main characters there!! Yes, he is traumatized. But trauma doesn’t turn you into a helpless infant. There’s so much you could do to explore that in an interesting way, but I guess that’s too much work so let’s just infantilize him!!!!!

And the writing for it is a mess. “Of course it’s gonna be rushed/messy, the shortened season-“ THAT MAKES IT WORSE!!! They knew they had extremely limited time to finish the season, and they still wasted time on this stupid ship. The whole plot comes to a screeching halt just so they can focus on Hunter and Willow standing next to each other. For the Future is the worst example of this. That scene where Willow has her breakdown is awful and the writers should be embarrassed of it. Hunter is the worst person in the main cast to comfort her there. Literally anyone else would’ve been better. It could’ve been Amity, to finally give closure to their relationship and show that they’ve fully moved on from Amity’s past behavior (especially since Amity was one of the main people to make Willow feel like she was half-a-witch), or Gus, who also has magic-related breakdowns and was taught a coping mechanism for the BY WILLOW!! Or Luz, to show that, yes, they are indeed still friends, because I honestly forgot they were supposed to be best friends by then. They’ve had so few direct interactions for the past season and a half, it felt like they were strangers. But nooooo, it HAD to be Hunter. They literally had to keep Gus back with giant vines to keep it a huntlow moment (which is just another example of how Gus has been screwed by this series). Also, Hunter experienced one of the most horrific things to ever happen to him and lost his first friend mere hours ago, why are we already trying to push him into a relationship?? I’m not saying that traumatized people can’t be in relationships, that’s stupid. But I am saying that he needs some time to actually process what’s happened before immediately getting out into romantic scenes again. It just feels really gross.

The ship also just completely uprooted any and all of Willow’s development. Anytime she has a major moment in the series now HAS to be related to Hunter. It turned her from a character with a lot of cool potential development that seemed to actually be getting explored in season 2, into just Hunter’s Girlfriend. And I know this is a problem with Willow specifically because Hunter gets plenty of outstanding moments outside of this ship after it begins to be established. It feels like they didn’t know what else to do with her, so they just attached her to the closest male character.

And it’s just so amanormative/heteronormative. Note, this is not me calling it a straight ship, because it’s not. I know Willow is pan and Hunter is bi. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be heteronormative. Seriously, any and all moments of them even standing next to each other were taken by the fandom as “proof” it was gonna be canon. As I said before, Willow is super affectionate naturally. She loves her friends and isn’t afraid to show it. But when she does basic friend things with Hunter? They’re in love!! It’s obvious!! /sarc

Willow saves hunter from a deadly 200ft drop? True love. Willow doesn’t want to pummel hunter (or who she thinks is Hunter) to death with a giant vine? I hear wedding bells! Willow is distraught at the fact that her friend just tried to drown himself in a lake and is sad that he’s slowly dying? Could they be anymore obvious with how it’s canon?! Ignore the fact that literally everyone else there is also sad, it’s a huntlow moment!! And that hand holding scene in FTF…… literally so cringe inducing. Willow was holding hands with and celebrating with Amity five seconds ago, but now that she’s slightly touching Hunter’s hand? Canon! Undeniably canon! I can’t believe that made the cut into the final episode. It felt like watching a shitty fanfic written by a ten year old. They wasted precious time that could’ve been used to further the plot of the actual show.

I hate that you can’t go three feet into the owl house tag without seeing it, even if you block ten million tags relating to it. I’ve got ten different huntlow tags blocked and I still see it whenever I go into the tags. It’s infuriating. Just because it’s canon, doesn’t mean you don’t have to tag it anymore.

And back to the shippers, why do some of them just start throwing a tantrum every time they find out you don’t ship it? I’ve criticized the ship a little bit on my blog. Every time I do, I make sure to tag it so huntlow shippers specifically can avoid my posts, and encourage them to block me so they never have to see me ever again. And even with all that, anytime I criticize the ship even a little bit, I get an onslaught of huntlow shippers crying in my inbox/notes about how I’m missing the point, or just don’t get it, or how I should just block the tag. I do block the tag!! That is the first thing I did when I saw the ship was getting more popular!! Why don’t they take their own advice and block me? And they’re so condescending about it too. You don’t see me going onto anti-lumity or anti-raeda blogs and telling them how it’s their fault I disagree with them. Honestly, grow up.

Okay that’s all. Again, you don’t have to post this if you don’t wanna mod Willow. I just needed to rant.

#this is honestly impressive #it feels like it would be a waste to not post it #the owl house #toh #ship hate #long post #fandom takes

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