#They have many important things to say about the wittebanes

[stringbeans-and-peas]

^ This was about Philip Wittebane

I had surgery 2 weeks ago; so after I got wheeled out of the hospital and fell asleep, these were the very first things I sent to my friends(????)

Bonus:

[lollytea]

(Part 4 of La La Land Machine exposition posts!! I know I've made way more than 4 but this is the part that's going in chronological order. Like I've talked about Hunter and hunlow in this au before but this is his formal introduction, like Willow got in part 1. I also got quite a lot more followers since I last rambled about this AU so linking the other parts if they wanna catch up. And if they want, they can look through the tag for all the additional info.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

Anyway, I lied. We are only BEGINNING to talk about the hunlow slow burn. It's taken me long enough to set up Hunter and everything he's got going on. It sets up hunlow but they're not really close yet. But it won't even take that long to get the next post out because I am so excited to talk about them more)

Hunter Wittebane has lived his whole life wearing masks. He's been an actor before he developed object permanence. He was memorizing scripts by ear before he could fully read by himself.

Job after job, set after set, role after role. His environment is not only cutthroat competitive, but it's always in motion. Things never sit still. The biggest stability in his life was his Uncle Philip, whom Hunter loved intensely. Even if it felt like the only way he could express it was by bleeding.

But Hunter was only allowed to bleed in private. And if he wanted his Uncle to stroke his hair back and keep telling him he was special, he needed to prove it. He needed to be the second chance that he was born to be.

Hunter struggles to really understand who he is. Because he is seldom himself. If he's not playing a character, he's only known as the legacy of the Hollywood gem, Caleb Wittebane, Hunter's late father.

Hunter was quite sheltered as a child. Other than being out and about for business reasons, he didn't really get to experience much of the world. If he wasn't working, he was usually confined to his Uncle's house. Or hotel rooms. The only outings he goes on that are considered "personal" are to church.

He loves to read and he'll devour whatever book he gets his hands on. Unfortunately his options are limited to what his Uncle believes is appropriate. Philip views the world as a depraved and lecherous place, as are the people that inhabit it. If it weren't for this world and its poison, his brother would still be alive.

And then he wouldn't need to waste his time replicating his brother's likeness in some aimless weak willed child who can barely comprehend how important his performance is in all of this.

Philip refuses to allow outside forces to contaminate his nephew. If Caleb's soul is going to live on in the way it should have, they can't make a repeat of last time. Caleb's replacement has to remain on the right path, or his legacy goes up in flames.

The Bible is one of Hunter's top comfort reads. It's the only book that his Uncle seems pleased to know he's interested in. And he's pored over the pages so many times that the familiarity is soothing. It also puts the fear of God in him. As do Philip's frequent lessons. He's shaping up to be a very faithful little Christian.

Hunter also watches a lot of (Uncle approved) television. He's a tiny chatterbox but is pretty starved of socialization. If his Uncle isn't around, he's stuck with the family assistant Kiki, who usually ignores him. TV and books are mostly responsible for Hunter's expansive vocabulary.

As a shy but precocious little boy, his best friends are sweet, comforting preschool cartoon characters.

Even though Philip's life seemed to orbit around Hunter and he worked day and night for the sake of his nephew's success, a lot of the time he just....wasn't around. Sometimes Hunter went weeks without hearing from him and was left in the "care" of Kiki.

Hunter was always left wanting. On those lonely nights when Philip was away, he would beg Kiki to call him so Hunter could at least say goodnight. All for the sake of holding the phone tight against his ear and hearing his Uncle's soft spoken "Sleep well, Hunter," so his world felt a little less cold.

If Philip even answered.

But when Uncle was home, Hunter found himself with some very guilty feelings and ungrateful thoughts.

The details are not important. By that, I mean Hunter is quite uncomfortable recounting the things that used to happen in the Wittebane house when his Uncle was home.

He said them aloud once. At the age of sixteen, when his breathing was in sync with the girl he had fallen in love with and her fingers were tracing gentle paths down his bare back. He felt like he had melted into a world where he could say anything.

It didn't stop his voice from wavering nor his throat from threatening to close up. It was like he was having a full body rejection of the admission. These were secrets meant to remain locked up in his chest until his heart went still.

But he said them. And after that, they couldn't go back to being unsaid.

He didn't say them again for many years. It wasn't until he was a grown man. He wrote them down and he told the whole world.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The point is that when Philip was away, Hunter got lonely and wanted his Uncle back. When Philip was home and focused all of his attention on his nephew, Hunter wanted nothing more than for him to be gone again. He knew that was an awful thing to want and the guilt ate him alive.

Did he not love his Uncle? Of course he did! He loved him more than anything.

That's why it hurt so much.

Sometimes, his Uncle was a comfort to Hunter's anxious heart. He held him in his arms and hushed him when Hunter had nightmares. He was safety.

And other times, he was the reason for those nightmares and Hunter didn't feel like he could be safe until that man was out of the house again.

Maybe, no matter what happened, he'd never be truly happy with any situation he was put in. Maybe the state of "being happy" just wasn't real, but a thing TV made up. There was just something inherently empty and scary about being alive.

At least that's the conclusion the small boy came to. This remained his mindset as he navigated the big loud upsetting world around him, which only got bigger and louder and more upsetting as Hunter got older and his career grew.

The most glaring problem Philip encountered grooming Hunter in Caleb's image was that there's a drastic difference between a man who achieved the most undiluted burst of stardom in his twenties and a toddler. Hunter can not immediately slide into the dignified shadow his father left behind, because he's too young for the kind of dramatic roles that Caleb had dazzled the world with.

There was nothing available to little Hunter that Philip felt lived up to the standards of Caleb in his prime. Which was understandable but disappointing. So, with a heavy exhale, which made Hunter worry the hem of this shirt ("Am I doing something wrong, Uncle?") Philip relented. Hunter would need a lengthy portfolio by the time he was older, so it was now time to start building this budding actor from the ground up.

Commercials, TV appearances, small film roles. Though it pained him to do so, Philip abandoned all the initial integrity he attached to his brother's legacy, and focused primarily on simply getting Hunter's face on a screen, any screen, whatever it took to get him entrenched in the industry.

Hunter was a lot more sensitive than other children. When he was very little, he had a bad tendency to get distressed over things like bright lights and unfamiliar places and weird textures. This led to a lot of on-set tantrums and he was deemed a difficult and entitled brat.

His "brattiness" never quite went away as he aged. But Philip did manage to curb those tendencies to be far less frequent. It involved brief private conversations in the nearest dressing room. When Hunter emerged, he was quieter and a lot more willing to co-operate with what the adults needed from him.

Hunter learned that misbehaving had consequences. He learned to swallow whatever obscure distress he was feeling and just do his job.

This didn't make his tantrums stop. They just shifted from regular occurances to big nasty explosions that build up over a period of weeks to months.

He eventually gave up trying to suppress them. It doesn't work. So, he just allows his emotions to burst out of him in the most humiliating public display a human being can put on, and then takes his punishment.

Uncle keeps telling him that people are going to think there's something wrong with him if he keeps doing this.

Hunter begs him to believe that there's not. There's not something wrong with him.

While it was happening, Philip would consider the 90s as a rocky beginning to his nephew's career. He didn't care much for any of the films or television series' Hunter appeared in, likely because he didn't care much for any production that included small children. So he was uninterested by default in any of the roles Hunter managed to book.

Regardless, this didn't make Philip any less demanding. Even if it was all tripe, and by God, he was very vocal about it all being tripe, he was still strict about Hunter's work ethic. The boy was expected to pour everything into his performance, and through there were very irritating child labor laws, Philip turned a blind eye to directors pushing the limits every now and again.

After long work days, Hunter would listen to his Uncle tear his current acting job to shreds. The stupid demeaning script that Caleb would be appalled at, but Hunter had no choice but to take, because he simply doesn't have the privilege to be picky.

Hunter felt a deep humiliation by his own career before he was even ten years of age. There was nothing that Philip held to Caleb standard, which left Hunter a paranoid wreck most of the time, fearing that he was always doing something wrong but never knowing how to fix it.

When he thinks back on being a little kid, he has a lot of memories of tearfully begging his Uncle to stop thinking of him a certain way or looking at him the way he does. He remembers his throat hurting. Things must have gotten loud.

An older Hunter would wince as he makes that connection. He remembers his throat hurting but not the consequences of raising his voice.

Every so often, a more prestigious opportunity presented itself to him (like the role of the protagonist's son in a film adaption of an American classic), and Hunter got so overwhelmed by the pressure of finally having something that could possibly hold a candle to Caleb Wittebane that he completely flubbed the audition and failed to book the role.

He knows that were dire consequences for not getting it. Although, once again, he doesn't remember the details of the punishment. But he remembers how tightly Uncle gripped his wrist as they walked out of the building. He remembers sitting perfectly still in the car, scared to make a sound by wriggling in his seat. Scared to breathe.

That was the 90s. That was Hunter's experience as a young child actor.

By the year 2000, he was ten and that's when Philip quietly realized something.

Hunter currently resembled Caleb Wittebane in miniature. He had his strong nose, his ashy hair, his dark eyes. Philip had always anticipated that there may be a bit of her in his nephew's appearance, but there wasn't a trace. It was beyond ideal.

This is when things should have gotten easier. This is when dignified job opportunities should have begun rolling in. This is when the world should have taken notice that Caleb Wittebane was not dead.

But this was not the case.

What Philip did not anticipate was that the industry had changed significantly since the 80s. It was the year 2000 and a young Caleb Wittebane was not what the industry wanted the future of film to look like.

He realized this in his study late one night as he obsessed over old video tapes. And once the truth had sunk in, he called Hunter into the room.

Hunter remembers wearing red pajamas patterned with beagle puppies. He has a memory of liking those pajamas a lot but can't recall the disappointment of growing out of them and throwing them away. It makes him suspect that at some point he just stopped wearing them.

On that night, a part of Philip gave up completely. He decided that this attempt of reviving his late brother's career was a failure before it had even started.

However, Philip was a deeply complex man. A remarkably stubborn man. So even when a part of him died, another part flared with life. It was the part of him that wanted to dig his heels in and say he wasn't done yet. Maybe they didn't want Caleb now, but this world was fickle. Who knows what they'd want in five years? In ten?

Hunter would continue making a name for himself, Philip would make sure of that.

Hunter would be something special if it damn near kills him.

And if he fails, Philip would kill the boy himself.

So, Hunter continues working diligently, attempting to find his footing in the rapidly changing environment. The early 2000s seem to be working overtime to distance itself from the 90s and it certainly takes some getting used to.

When Hunter is around eleven, he is told for the first time that he is not very nice to look at. According to various make up artists and hair stylists who he is left in the custody of when Kiki is god knows where, it's very easy to be cute as a small child. Baby fat n' all. But at a certain age, you start outgrowing it and that's when it becomes apparent whether you're going to be a handsome young man or not.

They gently break the news that there are not a lot of promising signs for Hunter. As one of the women, maybe in her late twenties, cups his face in her hands and tilts it towards the light (he really hates when strangers touch him), she sucks through her teeth and winces, as though she's trying to dig something out with her eyes but is coming up short. Nothing about his features reads as a future leading man. He can still have a steady acting career of course. But it's important he not get his hopes up too high. He's doesn't look like the typical Hollywood star.

Hunter argues with her. He riles himself up until his face flushes with rage. He looks just like his father, who was one of the most famous leading men of all time.

"Who's your Dad?" The woman asks.

Hunter frowns. He's never said the word "Dad" in his life. But the full name is familiar on his tongue when he answers the question.

"Oh, yeah," She says vaguely. "I think my parents used to watch his movies. I guess he was what they considered handsome in the 80s but..."

He doesn't like the way she trails off. He doesn't like all the new information being presented to him. He doesn't like her saying Caleb Wittebane wasn't handsome. In the world Hunter lives in, the man is picture perfect in every discernable way. He's never heard a bad word spoken of his father before, not even of the shallow variety. Uncle only lets him speak to people with nice things to say about Caleb. It's so jarring that it makes him feel nauseous. This isn't the way things are supposed to be.

And what's even worse, does looking like Caleb Wittebane not even matter?

Does this legacy he's supposed to carry on not matter?

That's always been one of his biggest fears, but he can not think about it for too long or the meltdown gets bad. But this new realization about his apparently mediocre looks catch him so off guard that he can't help it this time.

Hunter proceeds to hyperventilate in a supply closet for the next twenty minutes. He had never thought about what he looked like before. He had never really cared. He didn't know his appearance could hinder his career. He didn't know everything could fall apart just by having the face he does.

This is when a deep seated insecurity centered around his body image began spiraling out of control. It was also around the time that Hunter's dietary restrictions were being implemented, as were the intensity of his ballet lessons. This certainly did not help his already deteriorating self confidence.

From that point, Hunter is far more conscious of his own ambitions as an actor. He believes he is more than just a little boy who performs because it's what his Uncle tells him to do. He's a young man who wants to become a success like his father before him. He wants recognition. He wants acclaim. He wants...he wants....he wants something that he does not currently have.

As an adult, Hunter can only drag his fingers through his hair and sigh sympathetically at the thought of his young self believing that his determination to be a successful was ever for himself. It was for Uncle. It was for Caleb Wittebane. It was for everybody but himself. He was just a stupid kid who thought he wanted this because he knew nothing else.

The 2000s are a time when Hunter simultaneously starts slipping out of his iron confines, while getting reeled back tighter than ever. As he grows older, his curiosity becomes more and more insatiable and current pop culture is not as easy to shield him from. Especially when it's such a huge part of his life as an actor.

By the age of twelve, he's such a boring obedient self sufficient little robot that Kiki doesn't even bother monitoring him as severely as she once had. What's he gonna do, really?

And though Hunter is adamant that he never breaks his Uncle's rules, he finds himself shattering them to smithereens on a regular basis.

"I like authority. And rules," He says, ignoring the fact that there are piles of teen magazines tucked away under his mattress. Ignoring the hour of TV he sneaked in that Philip would have shattered the television screen over.

And no matter how many times Hunter wrinkles his nose in disapproval at how rowdy and frivolous today's youth are, he's still reading those trashy articles, desperate to find some connection. His small bubble of worldliness is beginning to grow.

It is slowly occuring to Hunter that he is much different than other kids. But that's a good thing....right? He's on a cleaner path than they are. None of them are being led by Philip Wittebane.

This is a good thing, he tells himself. This is a good thing, this is a good thing, this is a good thing--

However, Philip does crack down on an aspect of Hunter's autonomy that has been mostly ignored until now.

Though he tries not to think about it, as it gives him the most splitting headache, Philip must internally acknowledge those rumors from an age ago. The word of mouth telephone that crackled with the events of that one ridiculous party. Caleb Wittebane, age 17(!!!!) with his tongue down some filthy girl's throat.

The news hadn't been as scandalous as Philip viewed it as, and the world forgot about it remarkably fast. But he never forgot. And he never would. It was a pesky stain on the otherwise clean image that Philip was trying to preserve.

It hadn't been Caleb. It wasn't like him at all to behave in such an indecent way. It was her influence. It always was. Sometimes his blood boiled when he remembered how deeply interwoven she had become in his brother's life. How the child wouldn't even exist without her. It was vile. Eternally contaminating a narrative she had no business being a part of.

Obviously, he never told Hunter about all this. About the party. About the tongue. About the girl. He never mentioned the girl. She was a footnote at best.

Anyway, Hunter was almost thirteen. He was tumbling into adolescence. And no matter how singleminded and sensible he tried to act, there would be challenges to this physical and mental development. And Philip knew from personal experience that there was nothing more damaging to a clean Christian boy than fizzling teenage hormones.

There would not be a repeat of last time.

On Hunter's thirteenth birthday, his Uncle gifted him a chastity ring, like many of the other young people that attended their church.

Hunter was so floored by the gift he forgot how to speak. And when his Uncle put his hand on his shoulder and murmured "I know you won't let me down," Hunter had nodded solemnly, suddenly feeling so much older than he had been a moment before.

He now had a responsibility to refrain from things he hardly understood.

Philip felt this would be an effective precaution. It made Hunter feel important and Hunter loved to feel important.

All that concerned Philip was that the boy stick to his morals.

Keeping his stupid tongue in his stupid mouth was only the tip of the iceberg of what the rules of the chastity ring entailed, but Philip stressed the importance of it nonetheless.

And if the boy failed to do this one simple thing, Philip was going to gouge his eyes out.

A few months later, Hunter was hired to appear in an advertisement produced by his family's church. He, and several other actors in his age range, promoted the rings they wore to the children watching at home.

Hunter was very proud to be a part of it. He rarely got to do anything educational.

When Hunter was fourteen, he surprisingly booked a role as Sir William in some medieval fantasy film for swoony teen girls.

He rolled his eyes over it, but this was the point when Philip made it apparent to Hunter that swoony teen girls was a huge chunk of the target demographic of any actor his age so he best begin pandering. He was no Edric Blight (Hunter fucking hated Edric Blight) but he'd probably appeal to some.

The means of obtaining the role was not Hunter's talent alone, but it was because of a perfectionist director who wanted raw, emotionally gripping action scenes, and was disappointed that all the hazardous exploits in the script would require stunt doubles. No parent in their right mind would allow their child to be put in such dangerous conditions.

Enter Philip Wittebane and his nephew Hunter.

The film's shooting schedule had a rough history. And after a few months, production had to stop altogether when an on-set accident resulted in Hunter being sent to the hospital.

He remembers the hospital, specifically the very uncomfortable bed. He remembers rarely sleeping through the night unless he was drugged, as he kept waking up with panic attacks about all the money he was causing the studio to lose by not healing faster.

By the time the film released, Hunter was fifteen and already moving forward with his next project.

The Golden Guard was a TV adaption of a well loved comic book series that was currently in the development stages. Hunter has never read the comic (he's never read most comics, other than newspaper funny pages) but he's been informed that he is the spitting image of the titular character.

Initially he was skeptical. Who wants a famous superhero on their screen who looks like him? Certainly not current networks who have a very limited view of what leading men should look like, regardless of the comic it's being adapted from.

Apparently, a lot of negotiations have been taking place with the Golden Guard's creator, in order to obtain rights to the series. After months of arguing, they wore him down, as they always manage to wear creators down, and he agreed to hand over his baby.

The one condition that he managed to secure was that the boy cast for the screen resembled the boy on the page.

Hunter was fully aware that if it weren't for that old man's stubbornness, there was no way he would have been eligible for the role. He remembered seeing him appear once during a screen test and had wanted to thank him. The speech that fell out of him was flustered and clumsy, but it made the man smile.

"There are going to massacre the Golden Guard," He said with a bitter smile. "But I think you'll do well."

He never saw him again after that. And though Hunter did not have the frame of reference to have an opinion, the girl he would inevitably fall in love with happened to be a huge comic book nerd, being especially infatuated with the Golden Guard. And her opinions were strong.

"He was right, y'know," She would inform Hunter. "Your show is a steaming pile of shit." She would then kiss the tip of his nose. "But you're the best part of it."

Speaking of girls,

Hunter met Emira Blight a year prior when she and her twin brother also showed up for the chastity ring promotional ad. The two of them would have gotten fired for vandalizing the set and pranking the director if they weren't the most well known stars associated with the project.

Someone had tried to contact their mother to come get her children under control but she had failed to pick up the phone.

"Our precious little Mittens has an audition today," Emira explained, hands placed angelically behind her back.

"Until further notice, Mom has forgotten she has two other kids," Added Edric.

Emira smiled. "Like the next time she notices her stretch marks <33"

The two of them burst into giggles. They were left to be "disciplined" by members of the crew, who hadn't the faintest idea how to handle either of them.

Hunter had tried to avoid them while on set. He never had any personal encounters with them but he was well aware of their existence. They had been starring in twin centric comedies for the last decade or so, and were beloved talk show guests for being chatty, mischievous and overall "adorable."

Hunter found them obnoxious.

Edric more so than Emira. Especially lately, as the two were finally branching out into their own separate careers, rather than remaining a double act. Meaning Edric could be found sniffing around in the same auditions rooms as Hunter, going for the same roles.

Edric had a perfectly structured face, devoid of blemishes. He had the most photoshopped nose Hunter had ever seen, except he looked like that in real life apparently. He looked perfect and he was already a star to begin with. The roles were his the moment he stepped into the room.

But this wasn't about Edric. Edric was off somewhere else, performing the leading role in some teen musical movie that was going to become a worldwide phenomenon the moment it hit television screens.

This was about Emira, who had just been cast as Ruby Green, the Golden Guard's love interest.

Emira Blight was one of the most beautiful teenage girls in the entire world. Hunter knew this because he read it in a magazine once. More specifically, she placed 4th on the list, but that was still a pretty impressive accomplishment.

Hunter always had a difficult time deciphering the exact definition of beautiful. It was apparently a far different thing than what you would initially imagine.

From what he had gathered, it had nothing to do with being particularly interesting to look at, but having a nice and tidy face with all its features being a specific size and shape. He couldn't understand how one girl on that list could be in 8th place, while another could be in 3rd, as they all looked so startlingly similar.

That was what beautiful meant, he supposed.

There were definitely people that Hunter saw as beautiful in their own peculiar way. In the way that wasn't correct. Sometimes he saw them in movies from the 80s-90s. Sometimes he saw them in audition rooms, but they rarely booked the role.

Sometimes he even saw them on the street as the car drove past, people who made him sit up and want to look at them a little longer--

Girls. Girls on the street. Just girls. Only girls. It was only girls that he looked at on the street. It was only girls that he looked at ever.

Emira Blight had Edric's perfectly structured face, which made her beautiful in a celebrity kind of way, but also made Hunter want to look at her less. She had Rapunzel hair and a rail thin frame and, much to Hunter's dismay, she was taller than him.

The wardrobe department were given notes to add an extra few inches to the Golden Guard's boots.

"Little Prince indeed," The head stylist had murmured under his breath, just loud enough for Hunter to hear. An furious flush set his face aflame.

There were no screen test to determine Hunter and Emira's chemistry before the latter was cast, which resulted in hours of reshoots where they were chastised for the lack of romantic tension that they were putting into their performance.

To be perfectly honest, Hunter disliked Emira quite a bit and she disliked him too.

She carried her troublemaking tendencies from the promotional ad to the Golden Guard set, frequently wreaking havoc on the cast and crew.

Hunter had blown a gasket and berated her for it several times, but all she had done was smile her insufferable smile, roll her eyes and sing songingly tease him for being so uptight.

She made him mad. So uncomfortably mad. If he pulled the kind of stunts she pulled, without caring about the consequences, he would probably be dead by now.

Emira rarely got angry. Everything she did had this air of impish joy, but based on the way she spoke to Hunter, her opinion of him wasn't exactly glowing.

She called him arrogant, bossy, egotistical, to which he practically exploded in response. And then she made fun of how red in the face he got.

The only time Hunter ever saw Emira as anything less than her usual bombastic self was early in the morning, during hair and makeup.

"Are you washing your face, honey?"

"Yes," Answered Emira, looking smaller than ever in the makeup chair.

"Drinking plenty of water? Eating healthy? Staying away from junk food? Getting plenty of exercise?"

"Yes, yes, yes and yes," Emira's voice was quiet and automatic.

After a pause, she continued "It's not my fault."

The makeup artist hummed, unconvinced, which made Emira grip the seat so hard her fingers shook.

But the woman didn't push the matter any more and got to work on painting Emira's face into the porcelain masterpiece that made its way on to magazines.

Hunter watched in fascination as a few minutes of work with sponges and brushes wiped her skin clear of acne. And then she was what everyone around here would call beautiful once again.

When Emira noticed him looking, she said, in her usual playfully indifferent voice "I think Hunter's eyebags are getting worse."

"We know," The woman replied, exasperated.

The comment wasn't much, but it successfully corralled Hunter into his default mood. Not being enough. Any thoughts about Emira flew out the window, and he was back to fretting about his own inadequacy.

"And he's more sickly looking than usual," Emira decided to add.

"Well, maybe if he laid off the coffee. It's got him looking like a half-dead ghoul. No wonder it takes so long to make him look presentable."

It was a bad time for Hunter to be taking a sip of his takeaway cup. He frowned. "I've been awake since 4:30am."

"You should go to bed earlier then,"

"But I--"

"And kids shouldn't be drinking coffee at all."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Hush up. We've got work to do on this face and the last thing I need is to listen to you bitching again,"

Hunter glowered at her.

"You're gonna have wrinkles before you're 18 if you keep pouting like that."

He was so preoccupied with not throwing a temper tantrum that he didn't notice Emira leave the room.

The worst thing she ever did was while they were filming episode 3 and she had decided that Hunter's uptight behaviour deserved a humbling punishment. He didn't know how but she had somehow managed to break into his trailer and scavenged the place for something embarrassing.

This resulted in his stuffed frog Sprig being paraded around the set in Emira's arms as she declared the toy's owner to everyone who would listen in a high pitched trill. Everybody. She told everybody. Everybody knew about his toy. And now nobody was going to treat him seriously.

And when Hunter finally processed what was happening, all he had wanted to do was cry.

But he couldn't cry. Because fifteen year old boys don't cry. But he wanted to cry so badly that his usual screaming rage was nonexistent. He was just completely deflated.

He silently took the frog from Emira's possession and walked away. She had seemed confused, not understanding why he was not turning his funny red colour and yelling his head off.

She didn't bait him as much after that. She rarely spoke to him at all, outside of filming.

At one point she had randomly burst into his trailer, brandishing a magazine full of women in bikinis.

"For you!" She announced proudly. "A gift."

Hunter was a little slow on the uptake because a bikini magazine being within ten feet of his person was so incriminating that immediately thinking of the consequences nearly made him black out.

When he could speak again, he exploded "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?? GET THIS OUT OF HERE!!"

"No, no, listen," Emira insisted. "I know your Uncle is like. Super Christian--"

"So am I!"

"And I know you're never gonna get your hands on this stuff by yourself. So, I'm helping,"

"Why do you even have this?" Hunter demanded, disgusted.

Emira took more than half a second to answer. "It's Ed's."

As if anything on earth could have made Hunter want to touch the thing less.

"Why..." He began, lost. "Why would you ever think I would want this?"

Emira cocked her head at him, puzzled. "You're a boy."

"Get out."

At the time, Hunter had presumed this to be another means of humiliating him, because he had quickly written Emira off as inexplicably cruel. But in hindsight, she had probably just been trying, in her own emotionally stunted way, to apologize to him. She had known next to nothing about boys and she knew even less about herself, other than she was a thing boys were meant to be obsessed with.

They were both just stupid kids who couldn't communicate properly to save their lives, because they had never learned how.

As a child, Emira ranged from a mild bully to an indifferent co-star, to an acquaintance of Hunter's. As an adult, she was the close friend in his Instagram comments section who kept hitting on his wife.

She still never figured out boys, but she figured out herself.

But again, getting ahead of ourselves.

Despite being the only two teenagers on set, Hunter and Emira did not spend much time together unless they were working. Once she settled down and stopped causing problems, Emira spent a lot of her time across the studio to visit her little sister, who was filming some preteen comedy show.

Hexside it was called. Some some vapid sugary husk of a television production that had magic and witches, yet not an ounce of dignity. Hunter had become quite a ruthless critic when it came to TV and film, mostly because he had spent his whole life in the company of a man with sky high standards.

It also helped him feel better about his own work as an actor. The glass half full method. Maybe the Golden Guard was not going to be the most brilliant show of all time, but at least he wasn't working on Hexside.

He had caught glimpses of Emira's sister a few times around the studio, mostly because her hair had been dyed a bright garish teal, so she was impossible to miss.

There were other cast members scattered about, you could usually tell from the explosion of layers and clashing patterns they were dressed in. Chunky belts, brightly coloured converse, weird pointy hats, jangly jewelry. They were a visual overload.

On one occasion, Hunter was waiting in line at the canteen. He was feeling lightheaded again, like if he didn't eat something in the next hour he would probably pass out while shooting. The last time that happened, it was really embarrassing.

He was a little zoned out, so he didn't pay them much attention at first. But then the poofy tutu-like skirt and zebra print leggings caught his eye, if only for him to wonder how in the Lord's name these young actors ever signed up for this ridiculous show.

It was a girl and a boy and their conversation entailed some familiar words and names that Hunter hadn't heard said in months.

Ah. The movie. The swoony teen girl movie. That had just released in theaters, hadn't it?

That's when the girl brazenly stated "I wanna sink my teeth into Sir William," successfully knocking Hunter straight out of the realm of sensibility.

What. In the name of all that is holy. Is that supposed to mean???

And also.....he's Sir William.

"You want to BITE ME??" Hunter finds himself blurting out, completely flummoxed. Was that a threat of violence? Did she not like his performance? Did she find his voice annoying like those other film critics? He used to get a lot of death threats for that when he was younger but...

It didn't really sound like a death threat. It was was just....absurd. How was he supposed to take this?

The girl whipped around, flashing Hunter with a very bright pair of green eyes. They were blown wide in panic, and she looked at him like he was the one about to bite her.

(He wasn't about to bite her.)

The girl wasn't tall, but she was big. Broad shoulders and a thick chubby build. Her face was rounder than he usually saw in young actresses, and her nose was wide and flat.

All he could really think as he was digesting these all details at once was....she was interesting to look at.

Hunter watched as a fluorescent shade of pink burned across her lightly freckled cheeks and the girl scurried away, flanked by the younger boy, calling after her.

For some reason, Hunter turned around to watch her leave until she was completely out of sight.

He was left more confused than ever.

What did he do that deserved biting? He never found out.

(Well, he found out eventually but....)

He continued to see that girl around the studio sometimes, as well as the young boy that accompanied her, and Emira's little sister.

The bigger girl usually tried to hide whenever she saw him, though Hexside's flamboyant wardrobe department made that nearly impossible. Hunter presumed she was embarrassed by what she said, though he really wasn't all that offended. He had heard way worse. The thing that drew his attention to her was actually the lengths she would go to to make herself invisible. He watched her dive under a table once.

Hunter usually just stared, not remembering until an hour later that embarrassed people don't like being stared at.

Eventually, Hunter and Emira started spending occasional school hours with the Hexside cast's tutor, which resulted in them all being lumped in a room together.

Her name was Willow Park, he learned. And with a little exposure therapy, she stopped blushing every time he was within ten feet of her. Though they still never really talked, she seemed to become a little more comfortable with his existence.

She didn't look at him much though. Or anybody for that matter. She seemed to be very guarded and closed off whenever they were in the school room. Hunter had also noticed that the tutor had to spend more time with her than anyone else.

But Willow Park was not currently where Hunter's head was at the moment. He had other things to deal with.

The recent Golden Guard script had been delivered to Hunter and did not really like what it had to say.

Apparently several episodes of the romantic tension that Hunter and Emira were famously bad at was finally coming to fruition in this big grand dramatic kiss scene.

Hunter did not think about kissing much because it made him feel very weird and squirmy, but he was always well aware that if he was ever kissing a girl anytime soon, it would probably be circumstances like this.

His opinion on romance in general is that he wasn't quite sure if it was something that could really happen in real life or if it was just a concept made up for TV.

First kisses were considered a milestone in the shows and magazines Hunter had secretly devoured. Something sacred and significant. It can't be with just anyone.

Admittedly, it had Hunter second guessing himself a little bit. Is his first kiss important? Or is that just a bunch of silly TV fluff with no grounds in reality?

It doesn't matter if it's Emira, does it? He's read books where first kisses are supposed to feel like you've been electrocuted. But in a good way. He can't imagine being electrocuted in a good way.

He gets his answer on the day of shooting when the kiss is ordered of him.

He should be grateful that they've been directed to keep it chaste. They both wear rings after all, and this is a family show.

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut, because eyes are always shut when people kiss in movies. And his mouth pricks Emira's mouth. And that's it. That's his first kiss over and done with.

And when he opens his eyes, a little underwhelmed and vaguely wondering why everything feels the exact same, Emira looks disappointed too.

That's when he realizes that the significance of first kisses is all lights and cameras. It's made up for TV. None of it is real.

But what he can't understand in the moment is why he feels a bit sad. There's no reason to feel sad.

But it's an annoyingly heavy emotion that sticks with him for the rest of the day.

They do a million shoots. Or what feels like a million. Hunter kisses Emira what feels like a million times. He had gone from having never kissed before to having kissed far too many times in one day.

And not a single kiss felt like anything but the usual emptiness that Hunter was used to.

During shooting breaks, he thought a little too much about how everything was just going to be like this. Forever. All of his experiences. Scripted. Made up. Not real.

Nothing was ever going to be real.

He didn't usually think about things like that. But now he was finding it hard to think about anything else.

Hunter couldn't sleep that night. You would think he'd sleep soundly when he had to get up before the crack of dawn, but he continued to struggle. Too much caffeine, too much brain bees that never shut up.

Tonight it was that one single thought of an entirely artificial lifetime.

Hunter was never going to be real.

After hours of restless tossing and turning, he left his bed and went downstairs, his footsteps expertly navigating across the creaky floorboards. He would watch something terrible on TV and he'd get so distracted by hating it that he'd forget his own problems.

After pushing a button, the first thing that appeared on Hunter's screen was a familiar girl's rounder than average face and bright green eyes.

Apparently, the Hexside Pilot had premiered recently. Hunter scoffed, making himself comfortable and deliberately tuning into whatever brain rotting stuff he was about to experience.

Unsurprisingly, he hated it. It was terrible. Cheap jokes. Flimsy plots. An obnoxious laugh track. He had never seen a worse show in his life.

Nothing is real, I'm not real, I'm not real, Nothing is real, I'm not real....

The costumes looked just as ridiculous on screen as they did in the studio.

Nothing is real....

The sets were cheap.

I'm not real....

Hunter abruptly paused mid laugh track, and stared at Willow Park's interesting face for an additional moment.

He knew absolutely nothing about this girl. Absolutely nothing.

The character she played was borderline illiterate, and Hunter genuinely could not say how much of her he was seeing was a script and how much was her.

But she was very lookable.

Are you real?

[jess-the-vampire]

Wanna add more insight as to why people are as bothered by not revealing the wittebane story more from a fan perspective, i’ve already talked about why it bothers people in regards to belos’s character, but here’s partially why i think fans feel the sense of lacking they do:

I think what especially bothers people about not getting the complete answers on the caleb/evelyn/philip story is compared to other stories within the series, this one not being explained is a big outlier, because the show is actually decent at setting up stuff that they’ll answer afterwards.

Hollow Mind works as well as it does because all of the reveals in it are stuff you could of figured out beforehand due to all the clues being thrown around, there are hints to the grimwalkers, to caleb and evelyn, to flapjack being caleb’s, it rewards the viewers for paying attention to the stuff they were showing us.

Like “Here’s an open grimwalker page” and “Here’s the statues, doesn’t the faces on them look familiar?”

But then they still dangle some key elements, leaving some for later after hollow mind. No full answers to the door, what exactly happened between caleb and philip during the fight, ect ect

Which is fine, because you expect answers later.

And this continues with a lot of the other mysteries too, collector’s backstory gets foreshadowing before it’s reveal, lilith cursing eda has foreshadowing before it’s reveal, even manny having passed away is something you might pick up on before we’re told.

The show is actively showing you evidence and then rewarding you for paying attention by giving answers to the setups without many loose threads.

the show loves to show you the audience “Hey look at this thing, this will be important later”, and then have to come back with the answers it promised.

Though the show was cut, so not everything it wanted to resolve was, the story of evelyn, caleb and philip kept going post cut and kept ramping up, most of s2b involves caleb hints in every single episode.

And when you are making him sound important and then then continuing to make him and evelyn both relevant in s3, the audience is waiting for the promised reward for putting all the pieces together, and then...nothing happens.

the show asks you to pay attention to the door eda finds with a scratch on it, to the tale of the brothers, to the ghost of caleb, to flapjack knowing caleb and knowing about the blood, and there’s no answers to most of it.

You can’t even say most of the stuff missing were small either, like we don’t need the holes in collector’s story answered too much, but there’s almost too much in the wittebane story to really breeze over.

When jacob shows you a picture of a burning building and says “Tragedy struck” before explaining the brothers were lost, you think “Oh, i can't wait to understand what this means”....and to this day we don’t have any idea what that tragedy was.

Why was evelyn on earth? no clue. Was caleb even planning to see philip again? no idea. Why didn’t the door work for luz who used philip’s notes correctly and completely? who knows.

Like there are things brought up, that not even small details in the show can answer,

There could be something really neat about having this whole story in the bg that fans figure out mind you, the problem is there’s too many large gaps that can’t really be filled in by what we get.

So while you can pick up on a lot and put a lot together from what we get, there’s still not enough, heck, people who have looked into this lore still have very different ideas on a lot of stuff because the gaps are so wide.

And while the show was cut, it also put most of this out there, after the cut, we know this because the cut happened during ER and collector was added post cut, so KKKOHD was a point where we can confirm everything was being written with the cut in mind.

So a lot of this stuff about the wittebanes being implied, was written to fans to notice and draw their attention to, while not planning to fully answer it seems.

The ghost haunting the narrative is a neat idea, but it feels less like ghosts and more like half finished set ups.

I think manny works better as a ghost in the narrative because there’s no gaps with him, you get everything you need to understand what he means to the characters and story and there’s no lingering mysteries about him, At best you can just pick out stuff about him from the bg which are more like bonus stuff then anything. There’s no expectations that we’ll meet him or see him, or that we need more then we get.

They set him him up, and they pay him off in the story, we get what we need and we don’t need more.

While with evelyn and caleb, while they do haunt the story and everything ties back to them, not only does the show leave so much about them in the dark that the only reason people figure this out is through theories and going online for the information, but even the show won’t acknowledge how important they are to the main story, they’re almost treated as if their story doesn’t matter to the main one even tho the main story wouldn’t have happened without theirs.

When philip’s reasons for his actions are explained, we aren’t even told caleb had anything to do with it, or even evelyn for that matter. You almost don’t even need caleb or evelyn in the story at all for most of the plot to happen given the show ends almost acting like they meant nothing in regards to what happens.

it’s even more unusual because the main characters never mention them either, gus knows the story more because he saw philip’s memories but he never mentions anything about what he saw outside of the grimwalker thing.

You would kinda think seeing the memories would imply gus could tell hunter who caleb was, which given hunter was worried about that would kinda be important, but it never comes up.

The kids are told about caleb, told about evelyn, but they never talk about it or bring it up. Hunter sees his own palisman be recognized by philip, that it was aware of the rebus, which he finds out later was caleb and evelyn’s, but again....has nothing much to say about his own ortet knowing flap at all.

it is as if the show is going out of it’s way to have the main cast ignore them, even tho there’s no reason why they should, especially not hunter or gus.

again, there is a lot to wrap up, and tbh even i doubted they would explain everything about this, but given they gave it the time they did, even despite the cut, it’s more baffling the show ended almost making it out to be irrelevant.

even if they couldn’t explain everything, we still needed something 

because as is, it almost feels like a waste of time to even focus on that story at all.

and even if we do get a spinoff for this, this was written with the idea the show would not get one, so it ended expecting what we were given to be good enough for fans.

And for some, it was.

But in a show where it went out of it’s way to set up a lot of stuff it paid off, to keep setting up stuff for this particular plot and leave with very little actually answered is something people are gonna find frustrating.

They clearly wanted people to care, to want answers, and then didn’t even give them anything and then kinda told them it wasn’t even relevant to the main story or to the cast at all.

it sorta leaves people wondering why they were told to be invested in the first place.

[sergeantsporks]

Uh... Wouldn't Philip's "return" warrant a lot of media attention?

Stranger abductions themselves are really rare --I think the statistic is only one out of every 10,000 kidnappings is perpetrated by a stranger? So, 99% of the time, if a child is missing and believed to have been kidnapped, it's a family member whose taken them.-- but stranger abductions where the child returns home, alive and well?!?

Well, that's even more rare.

Philip would basically be a unicorn in the eyes of the news media, lol. Interviews with him would be beyond coveted. And like, it wouldn't just be the national news either! Bare minimum, we're talking national news here. With world-wide being absolutely not out of the question!

So, even if Caleb did takes pains to shield Philip from the reporters... Plus his status as a ward of the state would almost certainly give him legal protection...

The media is still going to swarming Gravesfield, desperate for even a glimpse of him.

Which stretches the believability of Caleb being able to keep the fact that he's now caring for five more kids under wraps, lmao.

Even just keeping Philip's friends, uh... having an "extended sleepover" at the Wittebane apartment on the down low (So, not outright hiding it. But not talking about it directly? I guess?) with all that scrutiny is a bit silly. Social services would want to know who the hell those kids are and why they aren't with their families. Philip going "I meet them while I was away. Their parents are all totally cool with them staying here." is not going to cut it.

XD I now fully understand why The Owl Crew avoided all of these uncomfortable topics by just having Vee assume Luz's identity over the course of the summer, meaning that she was never technically "missing".

You don't have that same luxury with Witch Switch, though.

Might I suggest that you avoid all of those difficult elements in a different manner?

Just have Caleb never announce Philip's return it. Not to the police, not to Manny, he doesn't so much as breathe a single word about his beloved baby brother being back (With five friends!) in town to anyone.

You could still have Manny find out by accident (Like, say: He visits the apartment unannounced one day, intending to offer Caleb support, and stumbles onto the kids or something), if him being involved is important to the story.

It would just be far more easier to handwave Manny (Someone whom the Wittebane Brothers have known for years, someone who Caleb trusts) not asking too many questions about where the hell Philip has been these last few months, and not digging particularly deeply into why five more children are living with the boys in their apartment then it would be to handwave the entire Gravesfield police force, the collective news media, and Connecticut CPS doing the exact same thing. Lol.

I actually do have a plan for all that, and it's not huge spoilers or anything, so I'll share. The gist of it is: Phillip claims he was never abducted in the first place. According to him, he was so incredibly angry about Caleb planning to propose, he took the bus to the next town over, hopped on a train, and by the time he decided this was a terrible idea and he should go back home, his phone was dead, he had no money, and he was stranded far from home. So, he's just been making his way back over the last few months via hitch-hiking and walking.

This is OBVIOUSLY a story that NO ONE believes due to all the massive holes in it, but no one can turn up any evidence to suggest where he ACTUALLY was (for obvious reasons), and they literally could not drag any other information out of him with horses. He doesn't seem to be SUPER harmed (aside from the broken nose, which he claims was from. Falling down stairs. Like an idiot), and no one can figure any reason he'd be protecting his supposed kidnappers, ESPECIALLY given that their number one suspect is someone who he has been documented to already hate. So while no one believes him, no one can come up with a better explanation, and they basically have to take his word for it.

"Kid runs away and eventually comes back" is somewhat of a less heartwarming, news-worthy story than "kidnapped child finds his way home after months of a terrible ordeal" because, well. Sometimes kids DO run away and for extended periods of time. Sometimes they turn up again. Sometimes they don't. So the media is on it for a little, and then it just sorta. Eh. Whatever. Drops away. Not a juicy enough story for them.

In terms of CPS, obviously the "he ran away" narrative turns up the heat on Caleb and it gets a little hairy on whether or not they'll let the two of them stay together, but based on Phillip's history of Incredible Aversion to Change, and his history of Doing Dumb Stuff (as well as Phillip's incredibly strong convictions towards the idea that he SUPER overreacted and that he messed up BIG TIME and regretted it IMMEDIATELY), it's determined that there was not much Caleb really had control over besides planning a proposal, and they're put on Extreme Probation (and look, yes, I know this is possibly more unrealistic than the existence of the demon realm, but you gotta give me some leeway and work with me here, I gotta bend the rules to make this work), and are basically getting checked on once or twice a week and the two of them have to go to counseling all the time. Caleb and Phillip are interrogated pretty relentlessly on their home status regularly now by social services.

Like in canon, the BI kids spend a lot of time at the abandoned house, and they definitely try to make themselves scarce whenever people show up to the apartment, so no one really notices them too much. And when they ARE there, well, they're just Phillip's friends. Over to hang out. As teenage friends do. Don't worry about it. They just like hanging out here because they think Caleb is awesome, and they know how important it is for Caleb to keep tabs on Phillip at all times. And isn't it SUCH a glowing character reference that so many parents trust Caleb enough to send their kids over, even after everything? (That last one is all Odalia, she has those CPS officers wrapped around her pinky finger every time they come around and they're there. World-class liar. She's VERY good at deflecting further questions about their parents or where they came from).

Evelyn's continued disappearance results in a general assumption that she's not in the states legally, so when Phillip disappeared, she made herself scarce before she could get caught in all the attention. This is backed up by the fact that no one seems to know anything about her, and she doesn't show up on any records (she magic bamboozled her way into a motorcycle, and she's never been pulled over).

[kittiwittebane]

Holy sheet dis gon hit hardeh

!!THIS IS GOING TO BE RE-WRITTEN!!

WARNING: BLOOD, ABUSE, CHILD ABUSE, ¿GORE?

___________

“Tell me who she is, that’s all you have to do.” Belos’s raspy voice scratched Hunter’s ears.

“NO!” He repeated. “You can hurt me but I will NEVER let you hurt her!” the blood dripping from Hunter’s mouth splattered over Belos as he yelled. His face curled into anger. However his face turned into a sneer, Belos’s frustration making him feel better. Despite the blood dripping from his face, arms, legs, stomach and wherever else Belos could get to, Hunter felt what was more important was to keep Willow safe. Titan knows what Belos would do to her and her family. . .

“Dad, I’m telling you, something is wrong!” Willow slammed her hands onto the table aggressively, attempting to prove a point.

“And what do you want us to do? Break into the president’s house and steal a child!?”

“YES! Or- at least make sure he’s ok!” Willow cried. “He hasn’t answered my texts, calls, he hasn’t been at school. Something is wrong!”

“And what makes you think it’s that and not the fact he might not have-”

“SOMETHING IS WRONG!” Willow snapped. “And if you aren’t going to help me then I will do it myself!”

“You are going to break into a high leader’s house to check if Hunter is ok??”

“YES! How many times do I have to repeat this?!” Willow hissed. She stormed out the door, and despite the fact they could get thrown in jail for this, Gilbert couldn’t let his daughter go alone. She approached the house and in one more attempt to get his daughter to stop he spoke.

“Its lock-” he started.

But Willow had already gotten the door open.

Where the heck did she get the knowledge to do that from??

Willow and Gilbert snuck around the house, but ran into someone.

“Uhm-” Willow stuttered. Then she recognised them. And they recognised her.

“Willow?”

“Raine?”

Willow wasn’t sure if it was safe yet.

“Looking for Hunter?” they asked. She nodded.

“No one has seen him in weeks. But I assume he is in his room because we aren’t allowed in there.” Raine told her. “Come with me.”

Gilbert looked at her, and Willow nodded. They followed Raine through the mansion until they reached a room, which they both assumed was Hunters. Willow lock picked the door.

“Just know, Belos goes in there at exactly 3:30pm, 6:00pm, 6:00am, 12:00pm every day.” Raine told them. “Also I can’t be here so I’m just going to go.” and with that, they left them. Cautiously, Willow pulled the door handle. You could hear a scramble of arms and legs, lots of crashing. Willow opened the door to find Hunter basically upside down, with a bunch of photos of her in an opened box that was all over the floor. He was covered in blood, and there was blood all over his bed and floor. She ran over and hugged him, crying.

“Hunter oh my god I’m not even going to ask if you are ok! There is blood everywhere!” They both broke down into a sea of tears and blood, and all Gilbert could do was watch.

“Willow, I told you not to follow me!” Hunter burst out.

“Well f*ck your stupid brain, I’m your girlfriend and I don’t care what you say. I care about you and you were missing!” WIllow snapped. Hunter shook his head.

“Leave before he finds you.” Hunter pushed her away. “He will kill you.”

Willow balled her fists in anger.

“You think that a person like me, could leave her own boyfriend like THIS!?” she wailed. Just as she was going to say more, he shushed her.

(This next part is my one little thing about this.)

“I’ll tell you something. Willow, I’m not like you. Neither is my uncle. I am what’s called a Grimwalker. I’m not even human, I am a clone of one. The one who was the old leader. Caleb. Caleb Wittebane. I am not his son, I am his clone.” Hunter desperately tried to explain. “And my uncle is a monster. He consumed magical animals to stay alive after having his head impaled. He is living off animal souls. Please, he is not your standard human fighter. You can’t win this one. Leave!” Hunter whisper-cried. But it was too late. They had created a commotion, and Belos had heard.

“Oh no.”

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

The discourse about Emperor Belos from The Owl House and Goro Akechi from Persona 5 makes me think that some people don't want to analyze these pieces of media and characters in a logical and nuanced manner.

I've seen people uncritically accept the Titan's words in "Watching and Dreaming" and ignore the entire Wittebane lore being built up from Season 2 to the first two episodes of Season 3.

Akechi haters seem to ignore the central theme of Persona 5 about the oppression of youth by corrupt adults. They also don't seem to care about the context of his backstory; illegitimate children are subject to more stigma and mistreatment in Japan than in the West from what I've heard.

Why are some people like that?

You're basically asking me why people don't think logically about the media they consume, which has a lot of possible answers. The thing is that most people just passively consume media and only really think about it if something egregious sticks out. Fans, by their nature, are passionate and will become obsessed with their new favorite show and will defend their interpretation to the bitter end. This is how discourse starts.

The main reason why is that if you're truly, madly passionate about something, it becomes an important part of how you see the world and even your identity, and anyone who criticizes your passion is by extension, criticizing you.

I can't speak for Persona 5, but The Owl House has a very young, very impressionable fanbase that is filled with queer, neurodivergent people and the show has themes and topics that are relevant to that audience. Because of this, they will be very attached to it (just look at how many people thanked Dana for making a show that meant so much to them). So naturally, they will not be analyzing the show in a logical, detached manner. They will look for things that validate their worldview and anyone who threatens that will be labelled as "freaks" or even harassed, which is highly ironic when the show itself preaches acceptance and "weirdos sticking together."

Having such an extreme attachment to any form of media is dangerous because you end up mistreating real people over entertainment (just ask any Belos fan how the wider fandom views them). Now, there is nothing wrong with loving a show and having it form an important part of your life, but the logical side of your brain needs to kick in and say, "it's just a show, there's no purpose in getting upset over how other people interpret it."

Fortunately, most people grow out of that toxic mindset but others, regrettably, do not.

For my part, I try to avoid discourse, stick to my corner, and privately vent to friends. :)

[nie7027]

Before I reblog more post about the TOH i just want to make clear I REALLY LIKED THE ENDING OF THE OWL HOUSE! IT WAS SUPER GOOD!

Like I'm usually super picky with endings but this felt very good and satisfying

To all those people saying it felt rushed and there were many plot threads loos Ei say WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING?

For a rushed/cancelled show i was really surprised it manges to solve most plot threads in just 44 minutes! Besides more lore ragarding the owl beast i don't think there was anything left unsolved! Each character arc was properly finished!

Like besides the owl beast my only gripe was we didn't get more content about Caleb Wittebane and everything that went down but I already expected that!

Like what I wanted was for Caleb to have his own voice and tell his story instead of it being told by others(and therefore warped) because I wanted people to truly knew him, and his legacy to not be tainted by below anymore (so hunter could see Caleb was more than just another witch hunter or for the clawthores to know his origin) but i always knew for that an episode a la A tale of two Stans would have need and that was possible with the cancellation/time constraints.

We already got a general idea of what happened with both the Hollow mind pictures and Masha's retelling of the story. It's not like we werent given info about we were just missing details.

But that's it! Details!

But that's something that wasn't as necessary for the plot.

As as much as it hurts me Caleb and his story also worked perfectly left as an open history (thus giving them more a sense of a folklore story that haunts the narrative)

It worked perfectly with the story and it's themes

Also something that can easily be inferred as something that was slowly recovered with Hunter and Luz and the Clawthornes researching more about the past) which they are shown to be doing! (Since Thanks to them Hunter was shown to be researching about Caleb and we know that Gus got Belos memories >

I didn't need an official confirmation of Evelyn being Clawthornes to know it, Danna left all the pieces there for us the viewers to pick it.

The same with what went down with Caleb in general.

The same to know Odalia and Alador got divorced and she was cut from her kids lives.

Raeda are together even if there wasn't a onscreen wedding.

The bat queen and it's palismen found a home.

Or how the fight between the archivist and the titans went.

Or the lore behind the archivists.

Even hootys Lore wasn't really needed for the show ending.

For such a short time they had Dana and the crew did an amazing work of closing on screen stuff that need to be closed that way and for less important things they left enough hints for us to viewers to pick up

LIKE THEY DIDNT HAVE TO BUT THE MADMEN MANAGED TO DO IT SQUEEZING EVERY SINGLE SECOND AND PIXEL THEY COULD!

That's an amazing feat!

For a rushed work the end product feels surprisingly complete and satisfying. very carefully crafted with all the love and care in the world

[none-prob]

I write about a character per day

Day 15: Hunter

(Don't worry I'm not abandoning this yet, I'm just very tired)

Hunter Deamonne-Clawthorne-Noceda-Park-Wittebane-insert-whatever-you-want-here is an interesting character to say the least. He has arguably the best redemption arc throughout the show that was unfortunately sacrificed by his best friend and palisman. This boy can contain so much traumatic experiences.

A character that was only introduced in Season 2, yet having so much depth than even some main characters. From an annoying brat to completely traumatized kid that need intensive therapy. My god, so many things cramped into this child in 21 episodes.

Hunter before and after Hollow Mind really was two completely different people, despite trying his best to be the same, so I want to go for it first. Everything built up for Hunter before Hollow Mind was intense. Complete alienation from the life outside the castle, starting to doubt his "uncle", actually truce and cooperate with Luz in Hunting Palisman, and even doubting himself. And then Hollow Mind came like a trainwreck.

Belos was too good of a manipulator, he made Hunter completely trust him, even at doubt times inside his real mind. Only when he witnessed the graveyard of Golden Guard, all hell broke loose. Nothing Belos said is true anymore, all those masks used to be like him. And in a moment of desperation, fleeing away is the solution he considered, which to me is reasonable. That moment when you started doubting everything, the moment of ultimate betrayal, definitely had a toll on him. From a kid with only one purpose, he's now panicking, disoriented, and traumatized beyond recognition, trying to be strong for Gus in Labyrinth Runners but still seems shakingly anxious inside. This poor boy was starting to recover when in the Human realm, only to be traumatized again by Belos, with the loss of Flapjack on top. He is only related to Belos as a grimwalker of his brother, everything else Belos used this kid like a puppet. You don't need me to repeat the bad things Belos did to know that part.

Considering Luz and co missions were being meddled the most by the Golden Guard, it truly is a heartbreaking moment when she considered Hunter a family member. Look, compare all you want about Steven Universe being too "merciful and forgiveful", that is an incredibly kind act of her. Communication is so important. Acceptance and forgiveness is not forgetting what they did (that's revisionism), but to acknowledge their desire to change and get better. The person who just a few episodes ago were yelling at her for keeping them trapped in Belos' mind, was crying next to her, the tears of acceptance and relief. A person who followed every imperial order, now fights back the imperialist to his life. Luz changed Hunter's life in such a drastic way that changed this boy forever.

It's honestly really funny that the community thinks Amity and Hunter just despite each other. They have one episode fighting each other and probably some small fun-awkward-look from Amity. But really, after that dreadful day at Eclipse Lake, they got along really well, I just think it's funny to point it out.

One of the greatest dynamics of the show is Hunter and Willow, between the captain and her best player. Huntlow is an incredibly fun couple to watch, with the rapid rate of clues about them being canon, to Zeno Robinson's trolling on twitter about "advanced friendship" (I mean, yeah it's very advanced indeed I guess). The fact that one was always there when the other was at their lowest is amazing to me. She made him feel accepted for the first time, he got her out of her immense breakdown. Through the entire time in the Human realm, Willow was so supportive to Hunter, and that genuinely made him happy. It's just so beautiful.

Gus is a great friend/teammate/brother for Hunter, and they really only started interacting at the last quarter of Season 2 (yes you can see how the cancellation affected the show, so many interactions were robbed). The times spent in Camila's basement is priceless, bonding them with a mutual interest in Cosmic Frontier. Labyrinth Runners was a great episode, as Gus indirectly helped Hunter getting accepted in Hexside.

No other character in the show had a stronger bond with their palisman than Hunter and Flapjack. Flapjack was the only friend in the castle for Hunter, and so many times Flapjack just decided to do things for Hunter's good. Flapjack just can't stand Hunter being too closed towards everyone, he loved pulling Hunter's hair to make him talk. Just no one understands Flapjack more than Hunter. The scene Flapjack sacrificed himself for Hunter is truly the saddest scene throughout the show. Hunter still can feel Flapjack in his heart, but it just doesn't feel right anymore, which reminds me of the first Stevonnie experience. My poor boy was having the first glimpse of happiness only to be traumatized again.

Honestly I am not the biggest Hunter fan, nor is he my all-time favourite, but Hunter's redemption arc is so good, and I wished we had more scenes of this boy being happy.

[random-autie-fangirl]

 An ADHD coded bisexual gal who is studying wild magic has a chaotic (and funny) rivalry with a more lawful autistic coded person in the emperor’s coven who is two years older than her, and then the lawful one saves the chaotic one from emperor Belos and turns against the emperor after. Am I talking about Luz and Hunter? or Eda and Lilith? Both, of course. Relationship parallels aren’t just for romance, after all.

I could also say the same between Luz and Hunter and Philip and Caleb to be honest, of course Luz shares nothing with Philip apart from being of the same species but, well, isn’t it cool that this “reincarnation” of Caleb (of sorts) gets a younger human sibling who loves him unconditionally. Philip killed Caleb for daring to find a place on the isles, but it’s Luz who makes sure Hunter has a permanent place to stay (by offering Hunter to stay at the owl house, an offer i’m almost sure Hunter will take her up on in Season 3) in this case, the parallel is more about differences than similarities.

 But it seems to be that the significance of Luz and Hunter’s relationship is a version of the Wittebane brothers' relationship that is healthy and can end well (as well as Huntlow hopefully being a version of Caleb and his witch partner that can also have a happy ending)

As well as being the next generation of Clawthornes, hence the similarities to Eda and Lilith. And then you can say that Eda and Lilith parallel Philip and Caleb with there also being a betrayal of blood between them (even if this time it didn’t end in murder, also since the clawthorne sisters are genetically related to the wittebane brothers, it sends a message about becoming better than your ancestors? i guess? like there was still a betrayal but lilith actually fixed things and it didn’t go past the point of no return)

Anyway, the point is that these three familial relationships and the parallels between them is honestly one of the most interesting things about the show! And these relationships are just as, if not more, important than any of the romantic relationships within the owl house.

And that’s one of the many reasons why it matters that Luz and Hunter have a sibling-like relationship, rather than being love interests or good friends or enemies or anything else.

[jenniferdiazisatransgirl]

“Elsewhere and Elsewhen” Thoughts (Spoilers)

Hey everyone,

So this is my last week without a working phone so by next episode I should be fully back to being a full on presence on Tumblr. In the meantime though, let’s dig into “Elsewhere and Elsewhen”.

Firstly, I love with the character, Flora Desplora that Luz is like, “I have questions about that name.” Which I think is an obvious nod towards the fact that it sounds so like Dora the Explorer. Also if you haven’t watched the live action of Dora the Explorer, it is shockingly good and well worth watching. Just a lil side note.

Anyway, it is nice to have a Lilith focused episode. I can’t help noticing that outside of the Emperor’s Coven she actually looks younger which is interesting. Maybe it is a complete accident but she looks more relaxed and honestly younger. Which I don’t think they have changed how she is drawn all that much, beyond attire and her hair being curly. I do appreciate the touch though. Like it is quite clear that under the Emperor’s Coven, Lilith was under a hell of a lot of pressure and now she’s not she can actually relax. And it really is good seeing Lilith truly passionate about something, history. How excited she is about it all is just adorable.

Moving onto Philip Wittebane, I feel it is safe to say it is no longer a theory but that the dude is in fact Emperor Belos or at the very least Belos is one of his descendants but I feel like it is him. It has always been a theory up until now but a few things have indicated Belos’ human origins. For one his staff appears mechanical in nature and the portal door he was building likewise seems mechanical in nature too. But somethings today also struck me. Lilith mentions how something about the way he talks seems familiar, the way he compliments people. Emperor Belos definitely has a natural charisma to keep some semblance of order, he wouldn’t merely be maintaining his rule through power alone. He definitely is manipulative and has a way of making everyone feel important, like they are all part of this grander end goal. Even if they die, they will die heroes. But then it begs the question how many people have died serving Belos, all for his end goal. Philip also absorbs magical energy in a similar way to Belos and look at his right arm. Plus, he mentions living long enough for a particular event to occur. Meaning he definitely does have intent to extend his life explaining perhaps how Belos is so old if he is Philip.

I’m also curious as to who Philip is actually writing his diary for and if a portal door was EVER actually the end goal or if it was a convenient story. He writes his diary in a way that paints him as the hero and it feels like there is a clear intent for others to read this at some point. Something makes me wonder if the end is actually along the lines of, “Alas my quest to create a door to the Human Realm ended in failure but in my explorations of this strange realm I have learnt of the Titan’s will.”

Also Philip appears to have a definite disdain for witches. He appears to hate them. A date is mentioned this episode, that it is 1660 in the Human Realm. Assuming Philip is likewise from the same place as Luz in the Human Realm, which seems kinda likely as that is where Eda has apparently kept appearing. With this in mind the Hartford Witch Trials preceded the Salem Witch Trials, taking place from 1647 - 1663. Based on the era he is from, I think it is pretty safe to assume Puritanical beliefs, especially if I have got the state or even region right. New England in the 1600s is a perfect place to create an ingrained prejudice against witches. I bet he doesn’t even feel any guilt for the witches and demons he kills, because by his belief they’d be bound for Hell anyway.

And here’s the thing, let’s roll with Philip’s disdain for witches and that he is likely Belos. Belos is pushing for the Day of Unity, which from the vision he shows in “Hunting Palismen” makes it quite clear he is going to merging the Human and Demon Realm. And while the days of the Witch Trials are long since over the vision makes it quite clear that Belos is well aware of the state of the Human Realm and I think if nothing else, in his disdain of witches, Belos will rely on Humanity’s seeming constant throughout history; our irrational hatred of those who are different from us. And while to the people of the Boiling Isles he may say he is creating a utopia free of wild magic, maybe that is in fact coded language for a world free of witches in general. A genocide. His use of witches in his quest is just a means to an end. He hates witches and magic but if it must exist, why not use it and control it for his benefit and claim it is the Titan’s will.

Yeah, that got dark but I feel pretty good in that theory in all honesty. While some of my theories are a reach, I feel this one rings VERY true of what might happen. Being Disney, a word as strong as genocide may not be used but I think the underlying sentiment will be there. Belos/Philip hoping upon the Day of Unity, that the human armies will unite in a common cause of exterminating witches.

Oh and on a final note, it is nice to see Eda mending bridges with her Dad.

[taxes-and-laundry]

Okay. Okay okay okay. Wow that was an episode.

Still don't know how the Emperor knew about the plan.

The symbol in King's nursery was a symbol to hide him from the Collector. Even after the Collector was imprisoned, King's dad still feared him somewhat.

And like christ, the Collector is crazy powerful! Did anyone else say "oh shit!" when they straight-up moved the moon?

Also Luz is home and took the gang with her! Damn, she's gonna have a lot to explain to Camilla. Also calling it now, they're gonna have to go back to that conspiracy theory guy to try and track down some way to make a portal. Maybe they'll track down whoever led the Wittebanes to the Boiling Isles in the first place.

Speaking of the Wittebanes, Belos saw Flapjack, shouted "Caleb" and hulked out, which seems to confirm that Caleb was his brother's name and Flapjack was his Palisman.

Also loved that little Amphibia cameo.

And like. The coven heads saw their mistake in the end, but it doesn't make a difference. Even all together they're no match for the Collector. The only person who can stop them is King, let's just hope he can keep them occupied long enough to figure out how to reimprison them.

And can we take a moment to talk about just how many Golden Guard masks there were? Shit.

And no one died! Except maybe Raine but I'm sure they're fine (speaking of no one dying, I wonder how that little bit of Belos that made it to the human realm is gonna fare. Personally i think Belos is done as a villain, but we'll just have to wait and see)

Anwyas all this is actually making me a little more worried about the specials. If the writers aren't very careful it's gonna feel incredibly rushed finding a way for Luz to get back to the Boiling Isles, rescue everyone else, and find a way to reimprison the Collector in just three hours. I mean at the very least the gang doesn't even get to spend any time on earth, which is a damn shame, there's a lot of great story possibilities there (here's hoping we at least get a reasonable timeskip so that Gus can live out some of his dreams in the interim). Like shit, Amphibia waited half a season to solve their reverse isekai, and for good reason. These things need to last if we want them to feel important. If I had to guess, unless they've come up with something real creative, the writers are probably gonna spend more or less one special on each of the points I mentioned above, which could work provided the action is properly paced.

Sorry for rambling, I guess I just needed to get my thoughts down

[hurglesmurgle]

Ok so after Yesterday's lie, I have way more questions about Philip Wittebane.

First off- whats up with his brother?

My first reaction was that Philip's brother was one of his "companions" that died in the Titan's veins

But it seems odd to me that Philip would refer to his brother simply as a "companion". Additionaly, its really weird that if we assume that Philip and his brother arrived on the isles at the same time, why Philip never mentioned his brother in his diary. Even if we were to guess something like they both ended up at different spots on the isles, why wouldn't Philip have written about not knowing where his brother is or wanting to find him before making his portal. It isnt just a thing with Philip either, Gwendolyn only ever mentioned one human being on the isles prior to Luz

I genuinely can't think of an explanation that wouldn't have an unreasonable amount of plotholes, but there is definitely something going on with his brother

Secondly, Philip and his brother were like.. famous, apparently? Well, famous by small town Connecticut standards. They were famous enough to get a statue made of them, and to have pseudohistory books written about their mysterious dissaperence at the hands of a witch

This in of itself isn't too surprising, as based on their dress and fancier British accents, they were probably relatively influential in the Gravesfield colony, possibly founding it, so their disappearance would likely become a relatively popular story in the same vane as the Roanoke colony.

But for some reason Luz doesn't know who Philip is prior to finding his diary, otherwise she would probably have some line about how theres a statue of Philip Wittebane in her hometown. Its not too hard to belive that luz just doesn't really care about the history of her town, but I find it very hard to believe she wouldn't at least be interested about the local mystery of the Wittebane Brothers disappearance at the hands of a witch- that kind of story seems like it would be right up Luz's alley.

Maybee the Wittebanes weren't actually influential in Gravesfield, and were never named in any of the stories, and the statues are simply red herrings, though admittedly, that doesn't seem like something this show would do.

Moving on to the witch from the book-

Now its been implied that Philip wasn't enticed into the demon realm, but rather, he just..found himself there, through a random rift in realities caused by titans blood. So the witch is a very mysterious character.

But first, I would like to propose the idea that in reality, there never was a witch, and she's just the fabricated explanation to explain the Wittebane's disappearance, because the humans didn't know what titans blood was or what it did. However, given the fact that this explanation for the witch would be lame, I am going to ignore it.

So the main question is who the witch is, and why would they want to lure two humans into the demon realm? I think a possibility is that the witch was the collector

Now, we don't know much about the collector, but I dont think its too much of a stretch to say that she likes to collect things, including living things like the owl beast, so maybe she wanted to add some humans to her collection. This could explain why Philip's brother was never mentioned in his diary- because he was in the collector's possession, while Philip got away. This theory can't answer how the collector was able to go to the human realm however.

I've never had this many questions after an episode before, but I know that they'll all be answered in time.

Bonus

I had been under the assumption that Luz's dad wasn't actually important, but now I'm not so sure. The fact that we are very deliberately shown a closeup of the picture, while his face is also deliberately obscured implies some important connection to Luz's father.

[erzaguin]

Huntmira Week 2021 Day 4: Human AU

“Hey you’re the new transfer student right? My name is Amity and as your class rep I’ll be giving you a tour of the school. Follow me and don’t fall behind. We have a schedule to keep and we are already running late.” said the cotton candy haired girl as she started walking briskly away. “Come on I wasn’t kidding I will leave you behind if you don’t hurry.” 

“Alright so you already know where the office is. If you get in any trouble this is where they’ll bring you. Down that hallway over there is the school library which you have access to at any time during school hours. Come on, we're already running behind schedule so we don’t have time to see it.” she stated as she continued walking forward at a fast pace.

“Now the school is essentially divided into four parts each of which is assigned to a different grade level. Essentially it is meant to give students more time in between classes so they can get whatever materials they need from their lockers. Speaking of which, this one is yours.” she noted as she came to a sudden stop. “The number and the combination are on the welcome packet you received at the front desk. As you may have assumed already this is the freshman hallway apart from electives all of your other classes will  be here. Any questions? No? Good. Let’s keep moving.” without so much as a pause she turned on her heels and started moving at the same brisk pace.

“The hallway to your left leads to the juniors hall and the sophomore hall was the first hallway to your left when you entered the school. As for the senior hall that would be the separate building at the back of the school. The cafeteria is right at the center of the school and it also doubles as a social area. And this is the gym.” she stated as they reached a large oval shaped building separated from the rest of the school. “Hopefully nobody notices we are late” grumbled Amity under her breath as she opened the door. 

As soon as the door opened a roar of cheers washed over the pair as they entered the building. The gymnasium was filled with the entirety of the student body who appeared to be completely enthralled by whatever the captain of the girl’s basketball team was saying. She along with the rest of the basketball team were standing at the center of the gym with the school principal standing a few feet to the side beaming with pride. 

Amity ignored them completely as she tried to make out where her friends were in the stands. Without saying a word she tugged on the transfer student’s sleeve to get them to follow her. 

“Hey Amity, you made it. Oh is this the new transfer student” whispered Willow as Amity took the empty seat behind her. “Yeah sorry we’re late I had to give them a quick tour before coming here.” grumbled Amity as she thought about how late they were. 

“Oh don’t mind Amity she can be a bit grumpy in the mornings . . . and afternoons. I’m Willow by the way” she said in a cheery voice. “I’m Gus! Your family just moved to Gravesfield right? said the young man sitting next to Willow. “You’re going to need someone to give you a run down of what you need to know abouts Gravesfield. But never fear Gus is here.” Boasted the youth before proceeding to give the transfer student a rundown. 

“The first thing to know is that Gravesfield athletes are mini celebrities in town. If there is one thing Gravesfield High is known for it would be our sports teams. And because there is only one high school everyone in town gets pretty into it.” explained Gus with excitement but before he could continue the school principal called for everyone's attention the gymnasium became quiet.

“Now that we have heard from our athletes who will be representing our school out in the field it is time to hear from our student council.”exclaimed principal Bump as a small group of students made their way to the center of the gymnasium. 

Rather than applauding the student body stayed quiet as the youths continued to make their way to the center. There were only three of them but their presence  alone commanded the attention of every individual in the gymnasium. 

“Oh boy” mumbled Amity too herself as she saw her two siblings take center stage along with their best friend hunter. 

The three stood in a line facing the other students with Hunter in the middle with Edrick to his left and Emira to his right. The tension in the gymnasium had started to increase when without raising his voice Edric said “Hey” giving the students a sly smile. Without any warning the entire gym burst into a cacophony of cheers. Which only intensified when Emira gave them a wink.

“They really are popular aren’t days,” noted Willow as she looked at Amity who was trying to shrink into herself from embarrassment. 

“This must be really weird for you to see huh?” shouted Gus  over the crowd to the transfer student. “ Yeah, if the athletes are celebrities then the members of the student council are royalty.” said Gus before pausing for dramatic effect.

“The twins are Edric and Emira Blight. Edric is the treasurer and Emira is the vice president. They are on the top of their class, always the leads in any school play, and probably the most charismatic people you’ll ever meet. Also if that name sounds familiar it’s because more than likely your parents bought your new home from their mom Odalia Blight. She is the most well known real estate agent in the area. Not only that but their family also owns a security company.You might have seen some homes with a sign that says “protected by Blight security." 

"Some? Don't you mean all? Every building in Gravesfield uses Blight security. And aren't you forgetting one very important Blight?" Added Willow as she nudged her head towards Amity.

"Oh right Amity is also a Blight and she has the top spot in the freshman class she's als…"  

"That's ok no need for my resume " Interrupted Amity with a face that shows equal amounts of annoyance and embarrassment. 

"Suit yourself " shrugged Gus. "Anyway the blond guy between the twins is the school president Hunter Wittebane. If he looks familiar it's because he's on all the promotional posters with his uncle Mayor Belos. He is the most influential man in Gravesfield and Hunter will definitely follow in his uncle's footsteps. He is the captain of all the boys sports teams as well as the debate club, book club, and history club. Honestly he’s a very intimidating guy if you think about it.” mused Gus. 

“You know there’s a lot of rumors of how he became school president during his freshman year. They don’t normally allow freshmen to run.” puzzled Willow not asking anyone in particular but was loud enough for other students to hear and joined in the conversation. 

“I heard his uncle threaten the school” said a girl sitting in the row under theirs. 

“I heard the twins charmed the school principal to let him run,” said the girl next to her. 

“I heard a rumor that people added his name to the ballot when they heard he was dating one of the twins.” said a boy from somewhere above them. 

“I heard he was dating both” shouted someone else from a distance. 

“Silence,” a commanding voice rang through the gymnasium as all the students fell quiet. Hunter had stepped up to the mic and was now scowling the students in front of him. 

“Thank you,” he said in an almost gloating tone with a smug smile on his face. 

“It's good to see that everyone is so excited about school.” whispered Emira giving Hunter a sly smile causing him to roll his eyes. 

“As you all know we are the current members of the student council. We are here to let you know elections will be coming up soon and we encourage anyone interested to go run for a position in the student council. Just know that we will also be running to keep our positions. Now if you excuse us we have work to do.” boasted Hunter before turning on his heels and making his way out of the gym.

The twins waved goodbye to the crowd causing the gymnasium to erupt into a fit of cheers which could be heard even after they had left the gymnasium. 

"Do you two always have to be so extra?" Mumbled Hunter as he walked down the hallway. 

"Oh don’t be like that Hunny" said Edric as he put an arm around Hunter and gave him a flirtatious smile.

"Yeah it's not our fault that the crowd loves us." chimed in Emira as she clinged to Hunter’s arm.

“Yeah right and don’t call me Hunny” scoffed Hunter who by now should be used to the twins' shenanigans but they always found new ways to annoy him. 

Both twins let go of Hunter at the same time and let out a gasp as they feigned being shocked. “But you used to love us calling you Hunny” Groaned Edric while pretending to cover some tears. 

“Our little Hunny is growing up. He's embarrassed of us now.” said Emira as she mimiqued her brother’s reaction.  

Hunter let out a long sigh as he looked at his best friends pretending to cry. Even knowing there were no tears there he just could not bear the thought of upsetting them. These two had been his best friends, his only real friends since pre school. Because his uncle was such a powerful and influential man many people tried approaching Hunter as a means of getting close to his uncle. He understood that the twins felt the same because of how often people approached them for their families business connections and wealth. Then there were those who were too scared to approach any of them because they found them intimidating or just out of reach. 

They had never cared about who his uncle was just as he did not care about their families business.  He just couldn’t imagine what his life would be like if they hadn't approached him on their first day of pre-school.

The twins had stopped pretending to cry once they saw the expression on Hunter’s face. “Hey you ok?” asked Emira, genuinely concerned as she approached Hunter.

“If it bothers you that much we’ll stop” sniffled Edric as real tears were threatening to break through. 

Hunter looked at the pair and could not help himself from smiling appone seeing their grief stricken faces. These were his favorite people in the world just as they were the most annoying.

 “I hate you guys.” said Hunter with a smirk. 

To this both twins lit up and latched on to either one of his arms as they continued walking down the hallway before saying in  unison “Aww we love you too Hunny.”  

“Stop calling me that” demanded Hunter as he let himself be pulled away by the two.

[jerbric]

to save myself (and everyone else)

Summary: Hunter's only ever purpose in life was to stay alive until the Day of Unity, when he would fulfill his preset destiny per the Titan's plans. Not once did he ever think he would be travelling back in time to prevent that destiny from being fulfilled.

Note: This was the very first draft of my time travel AU where the Day of Unity happens, things go wrong, Hunter time travels to the past in order to prevent all of it from happening. In this draft, the original idea was that Hunter was going to die during the Day of Unity, but later on he gets "resurrected" by the Owl Crew, and they essentially make a time travelling machine. Hunter kind of volunteers to be the "chosen one" to go back, but also it's because the way things turn out depends on his past self's actions. Anyway, unlike the final draft of the AU, future Hunter and past Hunter are both still the same age, just that future Hunter is a few months older. LOL so anyway the prologue for the final draft is going to get posted on ao3 sometime this week but I wanted to post this draft anyway.

Making it through the castle was quite easy. When you have the map of the castle memorized and you look like a certain golden high-ranked member of the coven, no one really questions you. As long as you look like you know what you’re doing.

Almost.

The closer they got to their destination, the emptier the halls got. There weren’t many guards down this wing of the castle, which made the job just a little easier. There wasn’t anyone nearby to watch or hear the upcoming conversation. No one to spy or snitch when things got explained.

Close.

They rounded the corner and paused. With a glance behind them, reassured that no one had been following them, they let out the breath they were holding. They had prepared themself for days for this exact moment, and it was about to happen. As soon as they got to the door at the end of the hall, things were going to change.

For the better.

Slowly, quietly, they made their way to the end of the hall. They did their best to keep their eyes forward. Looking around is only going to bring back memories, and they couldn’t afford any distractions. Couldn’t afford to get their heartstrings pulled back down the rabbit hole that they had just escaped.

Here.

Standing right before the door, they hesitated. Maybe things happen for a reason, right? The Titan had big plans, and their role for the Day of Unity had been fulfilled, the plan was able to continue. Everything happens for a reason.

If that was true, then why were they here? Why were they doing everything they could to prevent the future, to prevent the Titan’s plans? The Titan was the greater being and every plan it had got executed, all it’s plans were important and set in stone. So why did it feel so wrong to fulfill their destiny?

Deep breath. Fist raised. Two knocks.

There was shuffling heard on the other end, someone shushing someone else. Then, the doorknob turned and slowly, the door opened to reveal a boy. A blond witch with a scar on his right cheek and a nick in his ear. The witch gaped at first at the stranger, but then he frowned, brows tightly knit together.

“What--”

They quickly brought a hand up to cover the witch’s mouth, using their other hand to grab hold of the boy’s collar. Carefully, they pushed the witch back into the room, using their foot to push the door closed behind them. They pushed the witch all the way to the bed, forcing him to sit. The witch brought his hands up, grabbing at the stranger’s arms, attempting to push them away. From behind the witch, a flash of red came flying out, going toward the stranger and pecking away at their mask.

Ignoring the bird, the stranger leaned in close to the witch, the only thing separating their faces was the golden mask. “Stop fighting, I’m not the enemy here. If you give me a second, I can explain everything.”

The witch paused for a moment, eyes wide. The stranger’s voice sounded too familiar. Even the bird had stopped their small attack on the stranger, instead opting to fly back to the unmasked witch. Both of them glanced at each other before giving their attention back to the stranger.

“Good. Now, I’m going to let you go, but I need you to remain calm. Can you do that?” The stranger asked. When the witch nodded, the stranger removed their hand from his mouth, grimacing at the spit left behind on their palm. They should’ve known that the witch was going to attempt that. They released the witch’s collar, and immediately went to remove their wet glove. “I never realized how disgusting this is when I’m the one coming out with a gross and wet hand.”

“Who are you?” The witch growled. His ears twitched and the bird on his shoulder chirped. He fixed his shirt and sat up straighter, eyes narrowed at the stranger before him, dressed in his uniform. The same uniform that was draped on the back of the chair at his desk.

The stranger brought their hands up and slowly removed their mask to reveal the same face of the boy on the bed. The boy gasped, and the stranger sighed. “My name is Hunter.”

Both boys had the same face, hair, scars and nicks. The only real difference was that the stranger’s eyes were a dull magenta rather than the vibrant color that the witch’s eyes were. The bird flew down to the witch’s knee, hopping back and forth as it compared both boys.

“My name is Hunter, and why, how do you look just like me?” The witch exclaimed. He stood up and stepped closer to the stranger, the doppelganger. He stared at them carefully, studying their features and the curious case of their eyes. This had to be some trick, but how?

“You can call me Wittebane, instead. As for your question, it’s because we’re the same person,” the stranger -- Wittebane -- answered. “Let me explain. You might want to sit back down for this.”

Hunter nodded, and sat back down on the bed. He scooted over for Wittebane, who sat beside him with their body turned toward Hunter. The bird chirped and flapped its wings before settling down in Hunter’s cupped hands on his lap. Hunter and the bird turned their attention to Wittebane, curious as to what exactly was going on.

“I’m you, from the future, that’s the first thing I should say.