#WAIT IS LUZ NOT CENTERED?????? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

neppys-lil-hub · 4 months ago

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Gotham's Newest...hero?

A fanfiction about the newest member in the Bat Family! Luciana Soto has had a...strange life, but it takes a turn for the worst when villains attack her school, Gotham University, and things just spiral from there.

This fic is for fun, it will avoid the "adopted by Batman" trope (sorry), and it does center on a queer women of color! Characters that will get plenty of attention (because of my personal bias) are Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain, but you will see most other Bat Family members and even guest DC characters in certain moments.

This is not a crack/joke story, or a short fic, it is a full blown story with a big character arc, a unique villain, and more!

Enjoy~!

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Chapter 1: I took a bullet for a clown

(4654 words)

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“So where will you go for the summer?”

“Hm? I’m sorry, what?” Luciana asked, her gaze returning to her best friend, Stephanie Brown. Stephanie was a pretty girl, with white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was wearing her signature purple hoodie. Today was their lazy day. The one time a week neither had classes and both forced themselves to put homework on hold. Simply to hang out.

“Oh, I’m going to stay here and take two summer classes,” Luciana said easily, taking a bite of her food. The restaurant they were in was attached to Gotham University, their school, and eating on the outside patio together made this Luciana’s favorite spot.

“Again?” Stephanie asked, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you want to see your family?”

“Oh, they understand it,” Luciana replied dismissively. “I’m the first in my family to go to college! The faster I graduate, the faster I can make actual money, and the faster I can help them.”

Luciana was an American-Colombian girl, a child of immigrants. Stephanie had heard the story a million times: How they had trekked from Colombia to Mexico with nothing, waited nearly a year to be allowed in, and then worked odd jobs to pay for the travel to New Jersey. Luciana herself had been born only a few months after they had entered the country, by luck not design, and had put her family on the path to citizenship.

“Sure, but are you even enjoying college? You’re here for free, Luz, on a scholarship! Don’t you think you should…relax a little?”

Perhaps it was unfair but Luciana always got annoyed when Stephanie pointed this out. It had always felt like a privileged idea to the Latina. Choosing play over her studies. She couldn’t afford to do that. Not when her family was counting on her success. Not after every day they had endured to get her here. But that wasn’t Stephanie’s fault, and in truth Luciana knew her friend was right and wasn’t just being privileged or ignorant. She really cared and Luciana really was a bit obsessed with her studies.

“I’m relaxing. Right now. With you,” Luciana said with an annoyed voice. “Besides, I have no friends back home, and you live here in Gotham.”

“Fine!” Stephanie said, slamming a hand down on the table. “Then as your friend here, I will ensure this is the BEST! SUMMER! EVER! Even with your classes going on.”

“Oh gods…please don’t,” Luciana groaned, hiding her face in her hands. Stephanie had always been free-spirited, humorous, and adventurous—the opposite of the naive, dutiful, workaholic Luciana.

“Oh come on! We could do so many things. You can drive, right? We could go to the beach, the boardwalk, Cape May, the theater, the movies-” Stephanie kept rattling off a list of wonderfully distracting activities for the summer, still standing in front of the table as she babbled off. Luciana couldn't help but sigh, her eyes softening as she watched her friend get excited.

Then Luciana heard an explosion. She only had a moment to think What? Before the shockwave sent her, Stephanie, and the other people eating around them to the ground. Glass broke. Tables flipped. Food fell on top of innocent students. People began screaming all around them. Luciana’s heart was racing as she looked up, first seeing that Stephanie was on the ground but alright, and then looking around. Next to the restaurant was a grass-covered quad, and across the quad, there was a new, large, smoking hole. A van began to drive off the street and across the grass, sending panicked students running in all directions. It was covered with pink and green graffiti, with faces drawn on the sides, and random words like “hi!” and “Robber Mobile!” painted on too.

“Everybody out! Down the street!” Luciana yelled, just as men and women with guns and white masks began climbing out. She pushed herself up and grabbed the girl beside her, easily lifting her. “Go down the street! Call the cops! Don’t stop!”

Then she grabbed the next. And the next. Others started to recover from the blast themselves, some running away down the street as well, many simply looked around in shock, and more watched the criminals pull out the van and walk into the building across from them.

“Come on! GET UP! DOWN THE STREET!” Luciana yelled over the chaos, her voice clear and firm. More students seemed to come out of their daze. Finally, as the patio appeared empty, Luciana turned to Stephanie. “We need to-”

Her heart leaped out of her chest. Stephanie was gone. So was her stuff. The criminals were across the quad and in another building, not threatening them. But it seemed Stephanie had just run. Without grabbing Luciana or even making sure she was ok. The Latina felt a lump form in her throat, but gunshots rang out and brought her back to the present. She hit the deck and covered her head, looking up for the culprits. More gunshots rang out from the building the criminals had entered. Too far to threaten Luciana but surely there were more students there.

“Fuck…” Luciana muttered. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Luciana stood up and dashed inside the restaurant and towards the school. Her adrenaline was skyrocketing, her jaw clenched, and she was more afraid than she'd ever felt before. She made her way through the halls, looking to evacuate any students or (gods forbid) any wounded. As she sprinted out of the restaurant she first noticed the alarms weren’t on, so she pulled the closest fire alarm she could find. The ringing began to sound out through the building. Not just this one but any attached buildings as well. The food court, the sciences building, and the engineering department. They’d all start heading outside if they hadn’t already.

“Help!”

Without a second thought, the young woman was on the run again. She went down a hallway and towards the voice calling for help. She was quick to spot the victim- A black girl younger than her sitting among the glass of a broken window. She had small bleeding cuts over her and a nasty bruise.

“Hey, I’m here! It’s ok, come on,” Luciana started. “I got you, si? Vamos.”

“I- I can’t- I-”

Luciana had never seen someone go into shock but she assumed this must be it. At least it was similar to what she had seen in movies. Without hesitation or talk she closed the distance, her tactical boots crunching on the glass, and lifted the girl. She grunted but the girl was skinny and, thankfully, Luciana had always been strong. She carried her a few feet away and set her down away from the glass, looking over her.

“Hey, it’s ok. I’m gonna help you, yeah? And then you’ll be safe,” Luciana said in a soft and reassuring voice, gently looking over the girl, pulling her arms out to see if they were injured, and looking over at her back.

“H-H-Harley Quinn,” she sobbed, her face a mess of tears. “They- they shot into the roof. They-”

“Did she say where she was going?” The Latina asked, ripping off a piece of her white linen button-up and tying it around a particularly nasty gash on the girl's arm. She knew she had to keep a level head. The girl would stay calm and anything she learned she could tell the police.

“The Applied Physics Lab,” the poor girl said, watching as Luciana tied a knot with the fabric from her shirt.

“Ok, cool,” Luciana said. Her major didn’t require her to go to that lab. She had no clue what a supervillain could want with it. “Well, if someone like Harley Quinn is here, we need to go.” She offered the injured girl a hand, standing up. “Yeah?”

The girl watched Luciana for a few moments, who smiled reassuringly, and then slowly took her savior's hand. Luciana was quick to pull her up and guide her by the shoulder, walking briskly towards the restaurant and the outside. The girl she was helping still seemed in shock and not all there as Luciana kept a vigilant eye out, checking every corner and constantly behind them. When they turned a corner, nearly at the restaurant, that’s when both girls heard a gruff voice.

“Stop!” A woman ordered. Luciana heard a distinctive Click! of a gun’s safety going off. “Don’t move!”

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Luciana reassured. The girl she was helping froze completely, eyes wide with fear. “Just follow my lead, si? Come on.”

“Turn around slowly,” the voice ordered. Luciana nodded, still guiding her rescue by the shoulder until both of them had turned to face one of the criminals attacking the school. A woman dressed in all black, with a white mask, and an AR-15. She was flanked by two men sporting the same gear.

“Seriously, there’s only these two?” One of the men asked.

“Taking hostages was an afterthought- She didn’t think there’d be a safe to crack,” the other sighed.

“Zip it, both of you,” the woman said, giving her new hostages a nod. “Alright, we don’t want to hurt anyone else. You listen to what we say and everyone will be fine. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Luciana answered for both of them, but the student she was helping began to panic. Her breath was quickening and she swallowed hard. Her eyes looked around as if she was getting ready to bolt. Luciana squeezed her shoulder in warning.

“Alright, they’re going to approach you and cuff you. Don’t fucking move,” the woman warned. She then gave her partners a nod.

The two men began to approach. They let their rifles hang off their shoulders as they both took out handcuffs. One approaching Luciana and one approaching the other girl. Then things started going wrong.

“Wait!” Luciana yelled, feeling the student she was holding move.

The girl ran. The woman aimed her rifle, ready to fire. One man seemed ready to grab the student and the other was still about to grab Luciana. The Latina moved as if time had slowed down, as if she could react at a higher speed, although everything only took a few moments. She grabbed the man about to cuff her by the balls and throat, surprising him greatly, and as he made a choking sound she pushed him into the woman. She cursed and raised her rifle, firing at the roof as both of them fell to the ground. The third criminal grabbed Luciana from behind, forgetting the escaping student when he heard his partners struggling, and Luciana screamed angrily as she felt her arms get pinned to her sides. She made a loud growl, almost like an animal, and slammed her foot into his. He cried out in pain as she pushed back with all her weight and knocked them both to the floor.

“Fucking grab her, there’s no one else!” The woman ordered.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Luciana yelled back, pulling one arm free from his loosened grip. She punched him in the face once, twice, three times and he finally let go.

“Don’t shoot her!” The woman ordered again, stopping the man next to her who had raised his rifle. That was a mistake. Clued into the fact they’d no longer shoot Luciana did the most logical thing: She ran.

Sprinting had never been her forte. She had loved cross country. She loved tests of endurance. But at this moment, filled with adrenaline and panic, she may as well have been the Flash. She thought of nothing but pushing her legs to move faster and faster, arms swinging tightly beside her, tight breaths forcing their way out of her lungs. She quickly began to outpace the slower criminals, her shirt flapping in the wind. Luciana ignored any corners and turns, focused solely on going as far as she could without stopping. She passed a sign that said “Applied Physics Lab.”

Wait, wasn’t that where the criminals had gone? Was Luciana’s last thought before a wooden bat appeared from around the corner and swung full force. She didn’t even have the time to cry out before it hit her, stopping her dead in her tracks and knocking her flat on her back. Pain exploded in her head and her vision went dark, white spots dancing in the void.

“I knew you guys were useless!” An oddly cheery female voice said, with a Brooklyn accent. A hand grabbed Luciana by the hair, forcing her to sit up. The student cried out in pain, blinking her eyes repeatedly. “I heard you shooting and came to check it out. Didn’t I tell you not to kill these poor kids?”

“One of them ran,” the woman’s voice answered as she caught up, panting from the chase and leaning on her knees. Luciana heard the footsteps of the men catching up after her. “I reacted. But no one got shot! It’s all good.”

“Ugh…” Luciana groaned, her vision slowly coming back. She could hardly think with the throbbing in her head. She blinked again to see the blurry version of Harley Quinn. Pale skin, blond hair tied into two pigtails, the tips of one dyed pink and the other blue. She was wearing boots, knee high socks, shorts, a tiny top, and fingerless gloves. All of it was red and black but coordinated so the color jumped from side to side in a spotted color scheme.

“Oh, you’re ok,” Harley Quinn chided. “I might not be the physical kind of doctor but I promise it’s just a concussion. Now, I need ya, but if you’re good I’ll make sure to give you to the police. Deal?”

“Maldito puta de mierda,” Luciana muttered quietly, weakly grabbing Harley’s wrist with both her hands and vainly attempting to tug her off. The hit had completely sent her body out of whack. It was like punching someone in a dream and having no strength at all, or being a flimsy marionette.Frustrating. Weak. And feeling not in control.

“I’m gonna take whatever that was as a yes!” Harley cheered. “You two: Grab her. Don’t let her run off again. The safe will be open soon.”

“If the safe’s not gonna take awhile then why did we need a hostage at all?” One of the men asked as both of them grabbed Luciana. The woman pulled her arms back and cuffed them together.

“It’s called insurance, duh,” Harley replied, walking away.

The three thugs, with Luciana cuffed and in tow, followed Harley deeper into the Applied Physics Lab. She groaned loudly, her head hanging and her feet dragging, as they took her. They went all the way to the end of the hallway where another two lackeys were kneeling in front of a wall. Luciana looked up as the group stopped walking, seeing the two were working on a safe. Or, seeing a blurry image of two figures curled over a piece of wall.

“What’s in there anyways boss? It’s gotta be worth a lot of money to raid this place in broad daylight, with all the kids,” one of the men asked.

“Do I pay you to talk or get the job done?” Harley asked, tapping her foot impatiently as the lock of the safe was slowly fiddled with.

She’s hiding something, a small voice in the back of Luciana’s head said. She’s hiding something.

“Harley…Quinn…” Luciana groaned, each word making her head pound.

“Hm? You’re still awake? Gosh, you’ve gotta feel terrible!” Harley said with a grin. Luciana frowned as she watched. Her words were humorous, cruel even, but her face…it held the tiniest bit of concern.

“Why don’t you tell them the truth?” Luciana said through gritted teeth, each word was a battle.

“Excuse me?” Harley asked, immediately narrowing her eyes in annoyance. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on, deflecting from the guy’s question? Tell them what’s in the safe.”

The two men working on the safe did not stop, but one did look over his shoulder. The other three watched Harley carefully. Luciana had realized they had not been briefed on Harley’s prize.

“Well? What are we risking so much for?” The woman, who Luciana had pegged as the ring leader by now, insisted. “You promised this score would get us paid.”

“Oh shut up! What would this brat know about anything? You’re gonna get cold feet with me because she’s running her mouth?” Harley demanded. She leaned back, crossing her arms and giving her hired help a judgemental look. But Luciana could hear the tension in her voice. She saw how Harley was still gripping her bat.

“You know, word on the street is you’ve gone soft,” the armed woman said. “And I thought it was weird when you worried about hurting the kids here. No sneaking around. Letting most of them get away.” She pulled out a pistol and held it against Luciana’s head. “What’s in the fucking safe? Tell me, and we’ll keep going like nothin’ happened.”

“Hey!” Harley barked, her frown replaced with an angry look. “I’m paying you good money. Don’t do that to her.”

Shit, shit, shit, shit! Luciana thought, her wide and panicked eyes meeting Harley’s. She had intended to cause issues for Harley, if she could, in an attempt to at least buy time. But she hadn’t meant to risk herself further.

“Then tell us what’s in the goddamned safe,” the thug insisted. She clicked the safety off and Luciana’s heart skipped a beat. This lady did not care. She’d shoot her. Kill her in cold blood.

“Ugh…well, you’ve done it now kid,” Harley said, giving Luciana a pitiful look. She sighed. “Fine, fine, I’ll tell you.”

Before Harley could reveal the truth a loud Thunk! reverberated through the floor. Everyone turned to the two lockpickers to see they had opened the safe. The large metal door had fallen to the ground, cracking it. One of the lockpickers reached in.

“Hey! I told you I’d grab it!” Harley complained.

“What is it?!” The woman yelled to her partner, still holding the gun to Luciana’s head.

Before anyone could speak another word someone else joined the fray. Luciana caught from the periphery of her vision a flash of purple. The woman’s gun was hit out of her hand, clattering to the floor and away from Luciana’s head. Before Luciana could turn her head a series of grunts and blows could be heard. She managed to catch the woman who had threatened her collapsing onto the ground, unconscious.

“So, you guys want to let the girl go? Or do you all want some of this?” Spoiler asked, her voice full of confidence. Luciana tilted her head, as confused as everyone else by her sudden appearance.

She was wearing a skintight black bodysuit with a purple bat logo plastered to the chest. Purple boots, belts, gloves, and armor on the torso decorated her. Blonde hair spilled out from underneath the purple hood and sharp blue eyes took in the situation. The vigilante’s eyes met Luciana’s for a moment, her concern clear as day, and then she tensed.

“Get the bat!” Harley yelled at her goons, grinning widely as Spoiler sprung into action.

Luciana fell to the floor as Spoiler punched one of the men holding her, the other letting go to raise his rifle at the hero. This time she didn’t try to meddle or help. Luciana held her hands over her head as gunshots rang out, and the quieter sounds of melee combat followed. A second body thudded to the ground next to Luciana. Her head was still pounding from Harley’s blow and she couldn’t even think about getting to her feet. Of running. Instead, she finally looked up.

Spoiler was left facing the two lockpickers, armed with rifles and knives, as well as Harley Quinn herself. The lockpickers had been smart enough to keep their distance, waiting for a shot and bagging whatever was in the safe, while the women fought in a deadly dance. Spoiler was aggressive and unrelenting, with no order to her blows. She punched, kicked, spun, and threw random objects as they appeared in her sight. Harley was just as unpredictable, giggling and smiling as she nimbly dodged the hero’s attacks, or simply deflected them with her bat.

They’re not serious, the voice in the back of Luciana’s head said.

What?

Luciana narrowed her eyes, watching as Harley glanced at the two lockpickers. Spoiler threw another punch but hesitated for a fraction of a second. Almost intentionally. The villain took advantage to grab her wrist, spinning her into the wall between the other two thugs harshly. Luciana flinched.

See?

Luciana watched as Spoiler quickly recovered from the blow, beginning to fight the last two hugs. She was making short work of them. Harley chuckled and leaned down, grabbing the bag with the contents of the safe, which had been dropped. It was almost like that was rehearsed. Like they were…helping each other? It made no sense to Luciana. None at all.

“No you don’t,” the woman, who had been knocked out earlier, said. Luciana looked to the left to see that thug get on her knees, hands scrambling to pick up her pistol. Spoiler was still finishing the other two thugs. Harley was walking away with her back turned. The woman picked up her weapon and in a split second Luciana reacted.

Bang!

What happened next became very unclear for Luciana. She heard Spoiler scream in anguish and found herself held in Harley’s arms. Her hands, on instinct, were clutching the new gunshot wound in her gut, pressing down weakly as if to stem the blood. Her vision blurred and her head was still pounding from earlier. Thinking became a nearly impossible task.

“Luciana!” Spoiler yelled. Luciana found some small part of her mind wondering how the hero knew her name, but she couldn’t focus on that question. Spoiler’s hands clutched Luciana’s, pressing down painfully on the wound. “You’re going to be alright. You hear me? Hey?”

“Bats? We need a pick up now,” Harley said, tapping a communicator in her ear.

They were working together. The realization gave Luciana great satisfaction. The voice in her head had been right. The way Spoiler and Harley’s fight had aroused her suspicion, how perfectly it had been working out for them both, Harley’s reluctance to admit what was in the safe, or to hurt anyone. She had been working with Spoiler. Luciana chuckled softly, groaning in pain.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey” Spoiler said, her voice impossibly soft. She cupped Luciana’s cheek in one hand. Blood stained it. “Don’t laugh. Don’t move. And don’t sleep, ok? Just stay calm. We’re going to get you out of her.”

“I knew Harley wasn’t bad,” Luciana said softly, her mind dizzy. All she could feel was herself slipping away, and that one bit of pride. If she had to get shot for someone at least it hadn’t been a super villain. Not really.

The world seemed to fade to black. When Luciana regained consciousness she was in a car that was driving way too fast. Someone was sitting right behind her, holding Luciana securely in their arms, and red stained bandages were wrapped around the wounded girl’s torso.

“What?” Luciana asked softly, her head rising from its slumped position.

“Hey, are you still with us? Stay awake,” Spoiler’s voice said. She was the one holding Luciana upright in this car. “We’re going to get you help. We’re almost there.” She sounded anxious. Deathly afraid, even.

“Don’t feel bad,” Luciana pleaded. “This isn’t your fault.”

“No, Luci, don’t talk like that,” Spoiler said. “Shut up. You’re going to be fine.”

“It’s not your fault-”

Spoiler took a bottle of water; A large, black, metal one and poured it over Luciana’s head. Suddenly, the world became clearer. She could hear, see, and think better. She could feel her pain more. Luciana gasped and blinked several times, looking around the vehicle. She felt one arm hold her firmly as the other held the bottle to her lips.

“Drink,” Spoiler ordered. Luciana didn’t think twice as she grasped the bottle and desperately downed the rest of it, ignoring the droplets that spilled down her chin. She was just so thirsty. It almost felt like a lifeline- Keeping her aware.

“Where are we going?!” Luciana asked, panicked. “I- Ugh!” The pain from her concussion (thank you, Harley) returned in full force as she moved. Spoiler pulled Luci back against her.

“Someplace safe, ok? You don’t have to worry,” she promised. “We stemmed the bleeding. A doctor is going to fix you up. One we trust.”

“Wait, are you talking about, like, stitches?” Luciana asked, swallowing hard. “Or is the bullet still in me?”

“...”

“Is the bullet still in me or-”

“Yes, yes it is!” She replied quickly, a familiar tone of annoyance present in her reply. “But it’s ok, we’ve got you. Just keep calm and breathe.”

That familiar tone began to bother Luciana. She tried to look over her shoulder but her gut filled with pain, forcing her to look ahead. She looked down to see blood had leaked and stained her jeans and boots before she got bandaged. A lot of blood. She began to feel woozy at the sight. The effect of the water was short term. Her head was throbbing and her vision was going in and out.

“Hey, you ok? Try to stay awake. We’re almost there, yeah?” Spoiler said, her voice alarmed and full of worry. “Hurry up!”

“Trying!” A voice in front of Luciana and Spoiler called. The voice was awkward. Foreign. But not an accent Luciana herself recognized. She would have tried to take a look at the driver but then their destination came into view: Wayne Manor.

“What…?” Luciana murmured. Her vision was darkening. But why Wayne Manor? Wasn’t that out of the way? Surely, there were hospitals closer to Gotham University?

“It’s ok,” Spoiler reassured once more, her voice gentle. “It’s ok.”

“Ay no,” Luciana murmured, feeling herself losing consciousness. Her head fell back and her vision went dark. Before she lost all sense she felt the car going underground, entering a tunnel or something of the sort, and then she was out.

Finally, Luciana woke up one last time. Her eyes shot open and were looking up at a roof. She felt disoriented and lost. There was some sense that time had passed. Not just a few minutes but a long time. And gods did she have to pee. Her first thought was that she had blacked out. She wasn’t proud of it, but it happened. Sometimes she had too much to drink and woke up with no memories and Stephanie making her breakfast.

“Ste-” She tried to call out, but her dry throat cracked and irritated, the name turning into a fit of coughing. She covered her mouth and sat up. Or at least she tried to. The pain in her lower right side shifted like a tight thread through her stomach and she groaned, laying back down.

“Steph!” Luciana called out loudly, one arm shifting to cover her eyes from the light. What had happened, exactly? “STEPH!”

“She is not here,” a strange voice said. The same from the BatMobile. Luciana blinked in surprise and suddenly remembered the drive. The rush. The gunshot wound.

“Que pasó?” Luciana murmured, lifting her head to look down at herself. Her heart skipped a beat.

An IV drip was inserted in her arm. She was wearing a hospital gown. She was clearly not in her college dorm. Her head had a pounding headache that she was just becoming conscious about, and her gut throbbed lightly. Her heart began racing as a figure stood up from a seat in a shadowed corner and walked into the light, revealing herself.

“Orphan?” Luciana asked, eyes widening.

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aspiringtrashpanda · 14 days ago

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This was born from a conversation with @shootingstarrfish. Yes, Sidra has transcended to a new media (or maybe Ex and Bee and Obey Me! take place is the same universe 👀)

Pairing: Sidra (OC) x Björn Dimorgard C/W: Mentions of blood and menstruation, overall a fluffy fic 2k

.˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳..˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳..˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳..˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳.

Clack, clack, clack.

Sidra’s dark nails danced across the keyboard, one letter after the other stitching together a painfully mundane email. It was a message he had written more often than naught, lately.

“Dear [whom it may concern],

It has come to our attention that you are less than satisfied by our service. We regret to inform you that, whether satisfied or dissatisfied with the information gleaned from your case, payment to Del Luz Detective Agency is still required. As experts in the occult, the Del Luz Detective Agency seeks to unveil truth and provide justice, personal bias and the client’s underlying interests aside.

That being said, we successfully [exorcized the malevolent spirit from the subject] and therefore, the Del Luz Detective Agency has upheld the terms of the contract. We expect payment in full, due by [date].

Regards,Del Luz Detective Agency”

Sidra sighed, tapping the backspace key multiple times to correct a spelling error. Sure, he could have used the cursor to pinpoint the mistake, but that would have been faster. If he was being honest, Sidra had too much time to spare. A quick glance to the clock proved it wasn’t even lunch time, and he had already crossed off the one item from their to-do list.

Well, then all there was left to do was input the subject line of the email and…

Clack, clack, clack–DING!

Oh, the potato was ready.

The email submitted into the aether, Sidra pulled themself from their desk and stepped into the tiny kitchen. Or, kitchenette. It was more or less a hotplate, a kettle, a tiny sink and a microwave, the latter which held half of a potato, steaming in the center of a plate.

The clock struck noon just as Sidra stabbed the baked potato with a fork, clumsily shoveling the flaky innards into their mouth while scrolling through social media.

“I thought I smelled a potato,” a familiar voice chirped, a cheery twang characteristic of a smile rounding each consonant.

Sidra glanced up from their phone just as Björn Dimorgard entered the main office, two empty mugs in his hand and a playful glint in his bright eyes. “Ah,” Björn chuckled, “Scraping pennies, are we?”

“As if you didn’t do the same last week,” Sidra scoffed. Perhaps he stabbed the potato with a bit too much force. “Don’t act all high and mighty with me, Bee.”

The resounding snicker was warm. As warm as honey. Sidra kept their scowl firmly in place, despite the tickle in their chest. Bee fiddled with the kettle, shook the jar of instant coffee. He pursed his lips in thought as he began to ladle a spoon, and then another, into the mugs, “Do you want a coffee?”

Sidra immediately grabbed a fresh mug, their many rings clinking against the smooth ceramic. He slid it across the narrow counter, towards Bee’s waiting spoonful of grinds. “Hit me.”

Internally, Sidra wondered what he was on. He didn’t even often drink coffee.

As Bee poured the boiled water into the mugs, stirring swiftly with an intense concentration that was not necessarily required, Sidra thought he noticed Bee’s nostrils flare. Bee stilled, the swish of his spoon faltering for a moment as his eyes darted towards Sidra. “Do you…? Nevermind.”

He ducked his head, continued whisking the instant coffee as if nothing had happened. Sidra frowned. “What is it?”

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Bee’s tinted glasses glinted in the faint sunlight filtering through the cheap blinds cloaking the agency’s windows. It did not escape Sidra how Bee straightened all of a sudden, his spine shocked by some otherworldly instinct as he tried to change the subject, “Uh, did you find that receipt for the gas top-up?”

“Oh, shit…” Sidra nodded, digging in the pockets of their oversized cardigan. The garment was so much larger than their other clothes–the stuffy button-up shirt and slightly too long slacks. At least he could wear their sneakers here, and Ex never complained. Today, Sidra had gone so far as to fasten a cartoon button pin to their shirt collar. It bore a mottled black and white pattern, with bold pink text screaming “Panda-monium”. Bee had laughed in response that very morning.

It wasn’t the first receipt pulled from Sidra’s pockets. Or the third. But, it was the sixth, and that was an improvement from the other day when it had taken eleven whole receipts from the abyss of Sidra’s cardigan pockets before they reached the stationary bill from earlier in the week.

Bee shuffled closer, the scent of coffee clinging to the faux fur of his jacket. Peering over Sidra’s shoulder, Bee hummed, “Gas has gone up in price, eh?”

Sidra managed to shrug, despite the spike in their blood pressure. “Alas, there’s little I can do about that.”

“You could go to the gas station across town.”

“And waste more gas in the process?”

“Fair,” Bee sighed, though his lips curled into an amused smile.

Sidra teased, “I suppose this means I’m not getting a raise anytime soon.”

Bee puffed his cheeks out, his brow furrowing in a manner that made him look like a very disgruntled chipmunk. “I’m trying. I swear.”

“I know,” Sidra held their breath as they knocked their shoulder against Bee’s bicep, the unknown response sending a jolt of adrenaline through their veins. “I’m just teasing.”

Sidra had expected a loud chuckle. One of Bee’s carefree, jingling laughs, at best. At worst, Bee would tense up, sputter an excuse, and stumble back into Ex’s office. Nothing more.

So, it was downright bizarre when Bee managed to do both.

His entire frame stiffening, a nervous giggle spilled from the back of his throat, his right hand flying up to not only cover his nose, but also put space between the two of you. He took two, staggering steps backwards, bright eyes blown wide beneath the tinted lenses of his glasses. “Um,” Sidra froze, “Is something the matter?”

It was then that Bee keeled over, palms to his knees as he took three deep breaths. Shoulders shuddering with each exhale, Bee arched his back like a cat, rolling his neck like there was an itch somewhere that he couldn’t quite scratch.

Sidra’s heart leapt into his throat. He longed to push forward, to make sure Bee was okay.

Though, he hesitated.

Sidra had only known Björn for a handful of months. Three, to be exact, for Sidra has just cleared probation at the Del Luz Detective Agency. Still, in that small time period, he felt as though he had become decently close with Björn. Close enough to share lunch at the café across the street on occasion. Close enough to call him “Bee”. Close enough to know that Bee was an honest-to-god vampire, in every sense of the word.

Close enough that Sidra had developed a big fat crush as well, but that was neither here nor there.

It didn’t matter, for Bee seemed to be in some sort of…pain? Confusion? Intense contemplation? Sidra couldn’t quite tell.

When Bee lifted his head, his hand lifting just to heavily thud onto the kitchenette counter, fingers curling against the cheap vinyl, Sidra flinched.

Bee’s pupils were dilated. More dilated than Sidra had ever seen before. Bee’s light eyes were unusually dark, his breathing labored as he fretted, “Do you, um, do you smell blood at all?”

Sidra blinked, the question so far off his radar that he almost laughed. “Blood? Uh… no?”

“It’s, um…” Bee pulled himself up, his jacket slipping from his shoulders as he took a dramatic inhale, his blown eyes fluttering closed. “It’s sweet.”

It was an unconscious movement, the way Sidra shuffled backwards, putting space between himself and the very real vampire before him. As he watched Bee’s lashes bat slowly, almost hypnotically, flashing over eyes heavy with an animalistic desire, Sidra felt his heart hitch, his pulse thrum through his veins with an increased ferocity.

“Almost like…” Bee leaned forward, his grip on the counter sending the slightest spiderweb of a splinter across the surface. That’s what they got for furnishing their office at IKEA. Bee closed the distance between them, his nose nuzzling at the collar of Sidra’s shirt. It was barely even a whisper, but Sidra heard him murmur, “...honey.”

“Oh,” Sidra’s voice pitched higher as he rocked back on his heels, the realization pushing blood to his face. “Um, it’s me.”

Bee let out a strange sound, something akin to a whine as he pulled away from Sidra’s neck. There was this fog of desire in his eyes that managed to eclipse the restraint that racked his body in untimed shudders. Through grit, sharp teeth, Bee echoed, “You? But…how? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No,” Sidra gulped and if this wasn’t their worst nightmare (dream? Perhaps), he wasn’t sure what was. Vaguely gesturing downwards, Sidra pointedly avoided eye contact, muttering, “It’s, uh…”

“Oh.” Bee followed the direction of Sidra’s gesture, his eyes going impossibly wide as he understood. “Oh.”

Sidra wanted to bury his own grave and lay in it. “Yeah.”

Still, Bee didn’t seem… Well, he didn’t react as Sidra had expected. There was no ounce of judgment in his big, dark, thirsty eyes, only curiosity and thinly, thinly veiled hunger. He was leaning closer, invading Sidra’s space again before Sidra could react. This time, his knee knocked just above Sidra’s, his weight leaning heavily on his prosthetic as he brought his face down to Sidra’s ear.

“You drank tea this morning, didn’t you?” Warm breath, light laughter fluttered the pink hair at Sidra’s nape. Bee spoke in such a friendly manner, “Black tea, with a bit of milk. I can smell it on you.”

If Sidra closed their eyes, they were sure they would think nothing was out of the ordinary, based on Bee’s tone and Bee’s tone alone. But his proximity, his warmth, the way the counter creaked beneath his vice grip reminded Sidra of the way the worst week of the month had sung like a siren, had lapped at Bee’s ankles and pulled him into Sidra’s depths.

There was this playful longing in Bee’s voice as he surmised, “And… a pastry. With chocolate? Mmm…”

Sidra ceased breathing. He didn’t need to breathe anymore. He had died and moved on to the after life, right? Why else would Björn Dimorgard be draped over them, practically nuzzling their neck in intoxicated affection?

If he was dead, well, who said he couldn’t enjoy it? Relaxing into the heat emanating from Bee’s body, leaving over Sidra’s like a protector, like someone who wished to keep Sidra all to himself, Sidra allowed themself to revel in Bee’s closeness, in the crisp scent of fresh citrus shampoo and the undertone of stale, cheap, instant coffee clinging to his jacket.

And then, just before Sidra considered lifting a hand, placing it on Bee’s waist to see what would happen, Bee stepped back. A sheepish blush painted his pretty face, his smile drawing attention to his cute, elongated canines. “Ah, I’m sorry!” It was a breezy laugh, but Sidra could hear the disappointment lingering beneath. Bee shrugged, “I’m getting a little carried away, aren’t I?”

“You can…” It took everything in their power to chase after Bee, to follow his steps as he put space between them. There was something coiling inside Sidra. Something dark, and desperate, and–

“Bee!”

Surprise lanced like lightning across Björn’s face, shocking his system and knocking him out of his trance. Brushing his nose with the back of his hand, knuckles catching on the slightly crooked tip, Bee offered Sidra a brilliant smile. “Looks like that’s my cue!”

He turned on his heel, grabbed the two mugs of cooling coffee and sped towards the office door. With his hand on the door knob, he hesitated, shooting Sidra a guilty frown. “Hey, uh, maybe take the week off?”

Sidra faltered, glancing at their reception desk, the calendar red with many, many appointments in the coming days. “Huh? What about Ex?”

“I’ll figure it out,” Bee worried his bottom lip, his fang hooking on the flesh like the cutest snaggletooth. He caught Sidra staring, and–as if it wouldn’t stop Sidra’s heart–had the audacity to wink. “Can’t be acting all unprofessional, right?”

But goodness, how Sidra wished Bee would.

.˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳..˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳..˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳..˳·˖✶𓆩𓁺𓆪✶˖·˳.

My first foray into into Ex and Bee fanfic! Woo!

#aspiringtrashpanda #ex and bee #ex and bee fanfic #bjorn dimorgard #Bjorn dimorgard x oc #Starr I love sidra and i've adopted him

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branmuffins22 · 1 year ago

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THE TIME IS UPON US ONCE AGAIN FOR A MUFFINTOP FIC REC!!!

This fic has been a big favorite of mine ever since it started coming out a few months ago, it scratches an itch I've felt for a long long time in this fandom (and does it maybe a little too well, I get antsy and end up doing a lot of re-reading between updates).

It's got long, juicy chapters; unsettlingly and appropriately dry tone and delivery (I'm pretty sure there's only like 20 exclamation points in the whole fic (as it currently exists), and they're all in the dialogue, not the plain prose); a wonderful amount of time spent with characters who were thrown completely under the bus by canon (while still remaining (feasibly) canon-compliant, btw); some of the most fun original scenarios and characters a fic of its kind could possibly have (just wait 'till you meet the swizzler); and it's centered around everyone's favorite basilisk, Vee!

Honestly, the Ao3 summary doesn't really do it justice:

This is a sister story (pun intended) to The Owl House that follows Vee's adventures in the human realm.

Like, that's it. Simple, straightforward, and succinct, but gosh golly fuck, it sure doesn't sell it, or at least not to anyone but the most wildly obsessed (like me).

As such, I propose my own reader's summary:

Vee has had a hard life. She grew up in a cage. Coerced, studied, tortured, broken, and put back together again for as long as she can remember. As if her life in the cells weren't traumatic enough, her escape was just as much so, and nowhere near as certain. Alone on the run, she seized the first opportunity she found for a permanent solution, but that too proved to have flaws. Vee is not Luz, but she will do anything to secure her freedom, even if she has to be someone else to do it. She'll just have to survive summer camp, conspiracy theorists, and an ongoing barrage of crises, both external and internal. Anything and everything to be safe and free. This is a sister story (pun intended) to The Owl House that follow's Vee's adventures in the human realm.

#Gravesfield by NomDeGary #the owl house #toh #fan fiction #fanfic #fan fic #fic rec #vee noceda #camila noceda #toh masha #luz noceda #veesha #ohyeah its got some TASTY veesha in there #extremely slow burn #excruciating really #like we're over 100k words in and halfway through and it STILL isn't resolved.#came close a few times tho

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princess-of-the-corner · 5 months ago

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crossover minecraft, during the cowboys vs pirates event: Luz: "hey Doc, come out here a sec" Doc: i swear if the towns be blown up again, i will be mad" the old kobold steps outside where almost the entire server is waiting "whats going on?" queen bee: we made you a little surprise"she walks over to where a wall of sand blocks something, with a button push the sand fall to reveal a statue of the barlow gang in town center, everyone: "happy birthday Doc"

HAP BIRTHDAY

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tf2rocks12 · 2 years ago

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do you know other belos fics?? theyre so hard to find 😭

oh for sure, theres actually not a lot out there lol

Reclamation by AQuietStream is great, belos is brought back and under the care of hexsquad, plus an A+ in emotional caleb flashbacks

Little firefly by Sprinkledgalaxies, luz gets stuck in the deadwardian era with philip and has to survive with him plus the collector, most recent chapter is amazing, i love arakate

mm i was reading A Witch (and) Hunter by CyanideCrystal but they havent updated in a month, if you dont mind the wait its a very good fic, not too much of belos at first, but leaves off on a very good cliffhanger (also a solid warning, Jacob Hopkins is pretty prevalent, if thats not your cup of tea)

Reasoning with Crazy by YogurtHoops Belos receives a wrong number on his crow phone and it ends up being luz, amazing play in to how much belos and luz probably would have gotten along pretty well if he wasnt so hellbent on his beliefs

And everyone you love, can drift away (Human Guide AU) by flowerpetal1600, luz actually follows through on her deal to become belos's guide in the human realm, Camilla again being an amazing person and mother and belos having a panic attack in a store before shoplifting a pair of crocs, amazing

Those are pretty much all of the fics that i check frequently for updates, there are some other belos centered fics, but a lot of them either are straight up NSFW or just proshipping

#belos #toh belos

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esuemmanuel · 3 hours ago

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The voice of Misery.

I will turn my gaze elsewhere, I will no longer look at what makes me sick, at what makes me uncomfortable, at what stuns me and takes me out of my center. I would rather look a thousand times into the sunlight and burn my corneas than to fall once again into the error of listening to the voice of misery; for if joy is hidden, it is because we give strength to the voice of misery, and what a fool is he who decides to listen to it before closing the door on it! "Yes, one day I'll write about you again, stop nagging! I'm happy, can't you see? Ah, but if it's because of this happiness that you appear and whisper in my ear what you need, what hurts you, what offends you, what confuses you, for God's sake! I won't stop laughing, I won't. You can go away. I will not listen to you, and if I feel like it, one day I will take you as this deaf voice that I only write on a dirty paper, the same one that I will burn so that I will never hear you again!" How difficult it is to stay in the light when there are a thousand demons inside, waiting for the moment to speak, and everything comes through the eyes. I wonder if one day all traces of darkness will disappear from me. Will I ever be free of my terrible vanity?

La Voz de la Miseria.

Voy a voltear la mirada hacia otra parte, ya no miraré a lo que me hace mal, a lo que me incomoda, a lo que me aturde y me saca de mi centro. Prefiero mil veces mirar hacia la luz del sol y quemarme las córneas que caer, nuevamente, en la aberración que es escuchar la voz de la miseria; pues, si el gozo es furtivo es porque le damos el poder a la voz de la miseria, ¡y qué tonto es aquel que decide escucharla antes de cerrarle la puerta!

"Ya, algún día, escribiré de ti otra vez ¡Deja de dar lata! Estoy feliz, ¿no lo ves? Ah, pero si es por esa felicidad que apareces y me murmuras en la oreja lo que necesitas, lo que te ofende, lo que te ofusca ¡Por dios! No dejaré de reír, no lo haré. Te puedes ir. No te escucharé y, si me da la gana, algún día te tomaré como esa voz sorda a la que sólo escriba en un sucio papel, el mismo que quemaré para no volverte a escuchar ¡otra vez!".

Qué complicado es mantenerse en la luz cuando se tienen mil demonios dentro esperando el momento de hablar y todo entra por los ojos. Me pregunto si algún día desaparecerá de mí todo rastro de oscuridad.

¿Algún día seré libre de mi terrible vanidad?

#writers #authors #2024 #el hombre de la soledad #the man of solitude #writing in solitude #escritores en tumblr #poetas en tumblr #poeticstories #pensamientos #poets on tumblr #writers on tumblr #escribiendo en soledad

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pageofheartdj · 2 years ago

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Aaaand another small thing XD

***

The days after the near end of the world were hectic. There was so much to do, so much to fix. Luz was a constant presence helping in all the ways she could. Everyone was doing their fair share.

But there was no need in lil’ ol’ King. Not that that bothered him. Nope, not at all.

Baby titans need their rest, Eda said, patting their head. Scoff, he was no baby! He was a big boy now!

So what if everything is so different and the owl house still feels wrong and he doesn't want to sleep without Eda.

He was still capable! He was not a baby!

Frustration had built up once again, the unwelcome tears threatening to burst through. Without a second thought King reached to the side, searching for a familiar soft fluff. Instead he grabbed an empty air. Oh, right. He gave away Francois to the Collector.

The thoughts about the star child entered his mind, as they inevitably always did.

He felt conflicted about them. He didn’t hate him, he couldn't, not after everything. He even liked him. True, their friendship wasn’t real at that time, but he still grew to care about them and he hoped their friendship became real in the end. But he still felt bitter over how every little thing he knew and was used to was shaken, a weird parody of his life took its place instead.

Should he be angry at the Collector? Technically Belos was the one who ruined everything to begin with. In fact, if not for Collector everyone would have been… dead. But Collector was the one who gave that freaky spell to Belos.

… Collector didn’t understand mortality at that time. But Belos did.

Yeah, Belos sucked, no question!

King gave a tired sigh.

He missed Francois and the comfort his soft plush body gave him. He didn’t regret giving him away though. King was a big kid now, he could take care of himself…Collector could take care of himself too, couldn’t he? But then King remembered how sad and lost they looked.

No, the Collector needed Francois more.

At least the thought that Francoise was with them gave him some comfort. He will look after the Collector. Wherever they are.

As usual when it came to the star child, King was lost in his head, replaying their conversations, imagining where they could be right now and what they were doing. He could spend hours undisturbed like this.

And then the room bursted with light.

“WEH!”

Falling on his knees King shielded his eyes from sharp brightness, confused and scared from such a sudden outburst. What happened?! Where did this light come from?!

After the light died down, King shakingly opened his eyes, blinking the black spots away. At first glance nothing was different, but the room somehow still looked brighter. Except now it was soft and gave away a warm and fuzzy glow. Closely looking around the room again, King raised his head. And there!

In the center of the room, frozen in the air, there was a sparkling blue star. King immediately knew whose star it was.

Scrambling to his feet he ran towards the star that slowly dropped right into King’s waiting hands. Then it exploded in star-like glitter and colorful ribbons, leaving a scroll in its place. With a star seal on it.

What is this?

King carefully opened it.

It was… a letter? A letter from the Collector!

He could recognise Collector’s handwriting anywhere, even though he never saw Collector actually write, aside from rare initials of their names! The letters were all rounded and big, with little stars or smiley faces in every one of them. They even had a rainbow glow to them.

Collector wrote to him. King felt his tail starting wagging.

Calming his heart from jumping out of his throat King gulped and started reading:

KING

This is Collector! And this is the letter from me! For you!

The witch with pretty pink hair said I could write those when I am not visiting. So we can talk!

If you want to?

She said I can write whatever I want about whatever I do. So I did!

I didn’t get far away from the demon realm, I can still see the purple blip from where I am sitting. I am on SPACE ROCK! I forgot how nice it is in space. There is so much SPACE!

Francois says hi! He seems to like it here! I am taking GOOD care of him don’t you worry!

I want to know everything that happens with you too so please write about anything you want!

I don’t know how letters work so I hope I did okay.

If When you are done you can just put that star seal on it and it will send it to me! Hope you will write back!

BYE!

King reread the letter a few times, again and again.

It was a clumsy one, not that King knew better, he never wrote one himself either. But he saw Hooty’s and Lilith’s letters, so he could claim to have more expertise in this!

He still carefully grasped the shimmering paper, already thinking of a place where he could hide it and keep protected. He doubted he could actually damage it that easily, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Wow. King had never received a letter. He had all his loved ones by his side, who would write to him? But now he had a friend out there who wrote to him. An actual letter.

The answer! He needed to write a reply!

He stood up.

“EDA, WHERE IS A PAPER AND A PEN?”

“Wow, what's the emergency??” Eda's voice was heard from the living room.

“IT IS ‘I WILLl BLOW UP’ EMERGENCY!”

“Okay-okay, everything is in the top drawer in my room”, Eda cackled in response.

“The one that bites?”

“Nah, the other one.”

King ran straight to it, gathered the paper and Luz’s glowing pen and stopped. He didn’t know what to write, his brain couldn’t grasp on anything worth the attention. There was nothing interesting going on while the Collector was in SPACE. King didn’t know how interesting it was there, but the Collector seemed to be really excited about it. But they also said they wanted to know everything.

Screw this, they can do whatever and write whatever! No one can tell two gods what to do!

Feeling nervous excitement building up, King started remembering all the cool things he saw lately, wondering what to start with.

But he knew the one thing to write for sure:

Dear Collector.

#the owl house #toh spoilers #toh #my fic #king clawthorne #the collector

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liloskull343 · 20 days ago

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Trust

Sequel to: Stargazing

Evan walked through the forest, he sighed as he made sure his bag was fully closed. The last thing he needed was anything falling out, he walked further up the path. ‘’Okay maybe I should get a map next time..’’ the deer witch muttered as he kept walking, however he soon stopped as he spotted The Owl House. He quickly pulled his hood down before going to the door, he noticed Hooty was stretched out. The boy wondered if he should be thankful or not that the demon worm wasn't here to give a welcome greeting.

He honestly debated going through the back door, he really didn't want to deal with Hooty. Soon Evan found himself walking to the backdoor kitchen area, although once he found himself passing the window, he could spot Willow and Gus, as well as Hooty…Well, he supposed he was gonna bump into the demon worm sooner or later. He could also spot two pailsmans through the window.

The one near Willow was a golden yellow color, having pale yellow fur around their neck. Along with a wide brown stripe along their abdomen, they even had translucent blue wings, black eyes with yellow sclera, a gray-beak like nose and a pale-yellow stinger. The one next to Gus was a blue color with small golden horns and two ridges on their head, however they had a ridge in the center of their head that looked split. light blue eyes with dark pale yellow irises, a light green stripe under their belly that looked like it extended to their tail.

Honestly they looked adorable, perhaps Evan could ask Willow and Gus about them, like their names and what they were like. Although Evan's thoughts were halted as he heard Gus and Hooty’s voices.

‘’Hooty, we're not gonna make Luz listen to 24 hours of whale noises. What even is a whale? It looks terrifying!’’

‘’Well, I never heard of underground Korean hip-hop before.’’

‘’It’s human music and it's soothing-’’

Evan opened the door, causing both Hooty and Gus to turn their head towards him. Evan's ears went down, ‘’Oh uh, am I interrupting?’’ Evan asked, tilting his head at them. Gus shook his head, ‘’Actually, you came at the perfect time.’’ Evan blinked, now giving an even more confused look. ‘’I did…?’’

‘’Ya, me and Hooty can't decide what could help Luz feel better with her common mold.’’ Hooty huffed, ‘’All I'm saying is whale sounds are VERY comforting.’’ Gus rolled his eyes, ‘’and as I SAID BEFORE whales look terrifying and probably sound terrifying.’’ Evan rubbed the back of his neck, ‘’Well, can't say I really know since I never heard any of them.’’

Finally a frustrated sigh was heard from Willow as she turned to the three. ‘’guys, can we please not stress Evan out over something so small? Besides I have a much better suggestion.’’

The three stood in silence staring at Willow, now curiosity written on their faces, waiting for Willow to speak. Finally Willow spoke, ‘’What if we play them at the same time?’’ she asked, causing both Gus and Hooty to turn to each other with glee, smiles showing on their faces as a loud ‘’oooo!’’ was heard. Evan meanwhile raised an eyebrow, ‘’Are we sure that's a good idea?’’ Willow shrugged, ‘’I don't see the harm in it, after all it could make some really good music.’’ Gus nodded, ‘’Ya come on Evan, it could be fun.’’

Evan shrugged, ‘’I mean…sure why not?’’ He smiled softly before finding a seat and sitting down, before placing his bag on the table. Gus stared at the bag curious, ‘’What’s in the bag?’’ the younger witch asked, pointing at the light lavender bag that Evan had brought with him. Evan gently pat the bag as he spoke, ‘’Well, stuff that helps with common mold, heard that it can make you dizzy and all, so I picked up a few plants here and there for some medicine.’’

As Willow made her way over to the three, she looked at Evan with a puzzled expression before sitting down. ‘’How did you already know about Luz’s common mold before you got here?’’

‘’Oh, the plants told me.’’

An awkward silence filled the room as Hooty, Gus and Willow stared at Evan, as if he had grown a second head. Finally Gus spoke, ‘’You….can talk to plants?’’ he asked as Evan blinked. ‘’Do….Do witches with plant magic not talk to plants?’’ he asked, his ears down now, Willow shook her head in response. ‘’not necessary.’’ Evan looked down at the table, now already feeling embarrassed. ‘Titan I sound like a crazy person..’ the deer witch thought to himself, before feeling a hand on his arm, causing him to look up and spot Gus, who was putting a comforting hand on Evan's arm. ‘’Hey we didn't mean to sound judgemental, we're just surprised that's all.’’ Gus gave a reassuring smile,

‘’I never heard of any witches being able to talk to plants before!’’ Hooty tilted his head, ‘’Although THIS makes me wonder,’’ Hooty felt himself get closer to Evan. Having his forehead touching Evan’s as he stared into his eyes. ‘’Are you a demon or witch?’’ Evan blinked, ‘’uhhh…I'm pretty sure I'm a witch?.......’’

Hooty squinted his eyes, before pulling back and smiling. ‘’Well, whatever you are, you're an interesting witch or demon to say the least!’’ Evan gave a nervous chuckle. ‘’Hahaha….’’ Willow thought for a moment, ‘’Well I apologize if we upset you.’’ Evan shook his head, ‘’oh no, it's fine, I'm not upset or anything it's probably understandable you be surprised! I guess I should've mentioned it when we met.’’ he chuckled, before turning his eyes to the cassette player. ‘’so about the music mixing…’’ Willow gently picked up the two CDs, before placing them both inside the cassette player. She pulled out some headphones. The group placed the headphones on their head, except Evan who seemed to be having trouble with even placing them on his ears.

‘’you need a bit of help there…?’’ Evan shook his head, ‘’No, I got it Willow, if I can just…’’ Evan gently bent the headphones back, just enough to reach his ears. It looked rather awkward to say the least, he definitely had to at least hold them to make sure they didn't fall off. ‘’Okay! Got it.’’ Evan smiled, rather proud he managed to slide the headphones on. Gus pressed play on the cassette player, the sounds of what Evan could assume were whale noises and the underground Korean hip-hop song began to play. Evan almost felt his ears ring from the sound, it…it was a sound alright, Gus, Hooty and Willow meanwhile were seemingly enjoying the sounds being mixed together.

After 20 minutes Gus hit stopped, grinning ever so slightly. ‘’that was definitely interesting alright.’’ Hooty nodded, ‘’Ya! I wonder what other sounds we could mix together!’’ Evan gently slid off the headphones, ‘’Well I should probably check on Luz.’’ Evan got up, putting the bag around him again. ‘’You guys continue to mix some of those while I'm upstairs.’’ Evan walked to one of the cabinets before grabbing a bowl and spoon. ‘’Alright Evan, please be careful not to get common mold.’’ Willow warned, giving the deer witch a concern look, Evan just gave a small smile. ‘’I’ll be fine, not like I've dealt with sickness before.’’

Evan walked up the stairs, the floorboards quietly creaking as he did, his footsteps were quiet. As Evan kept walking he once again felt his mind wonder again. He hadn't been here for a bit, being busy with other things, but he wondered just how much he missed. Soon Evan found himself in front of the door of the guest room, he opened the door as he did he spotted Luz with an echo mouse on her chest, muttering in a little singing voice. ‘’Little mouse, Owl House, frilly blouse.’’ She was gently playing with the small creature’s ears. Evan walked over, ‘’heyy Luz, how are you feeling buddy?’’ He asked, taking a seat next to Luz, who looked at him. ‘’Hey Evan..when did youuu get here?’’ she asked, with a goofy small smile on her face. ‘’About a few minutes ago actually? I heard you had the common mold so I brought a few plants.’’

Evan sat his bag down, before opening it, taking a couple of plants out as well as a jar filled with pinkish liquid. ‘’You make medicine?’’ She asked, staring at him curious. ‘’Sorta…’’ Evan gently took some of the pinkish liquid, placing it in a bowl before grabbing and crushing up some plants. Stirring the liquid together, ‘’When I was smaller, I studied a few plants here and there, my dad-...’’ Evan suddenly became ever so quiet, before he continued to stir the pinkish liquid and plant in the bowl to a cyan greenish color. Luz stared at Evan, worry on her face clearly evident. ‘’Evan did something happen to your-’’

Evan shook his head, ‘’No, he's fine.’’ Evan took a deep breath. ‘’everything is fine, both of my parents are fine.’’ Evan looked away before handing the bowl to Luz. ‘’Look I…I didn't mean to sound rude…just been stressed is all..’’ Luz gave a soft frown, looking at him. ‘’Evan, if you need someone to talk to me and Eda are here-’’

‘’I said I'm fine.’’ Evan snapped, gently putting his bag back on, ears down. ‘’Look just….take your medicine okay?’’ Evan walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Once the door was closed Evan found himself staring at the ground, before facepalming. He knew Luz was just worried, so why did he snap? Why did he push her away? ‘’I’m so stupid…’’ He muttered, slowly he walked to the wall in front of him before gently hitting his head on the wall. ‘’Stupid, stupid…’’ he softly sighs.

‘You know you can't just push them away..’’ the deer witch thought to himself, ‘you’re gonna have to open up to them about what eventually happened…’

Silence, all there was, was silence. Nothing but Evan's thoughts, he felt pathetic, he hated standing there, head leaning on the wall. He wondered why he couldn't just tell them, why exactly was it so hard for him to just-

Evan covered his ears, taking a few breaths. His heart was thumping out of his chest, it felt like his lungs were closing. Why did it feel so hard to breathe? His entire body felt like it was shaking. He could hear THEM screaming.

The horrible screaming, ‘’shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup.’’

Evan begged, slowly feeling as if he was folding like a stack of cards, his knees met the ground, before his elbows followed soon after. ‘’Please, please, make it stop.’’ he felt himself gripping his ears as he curled up, seemingly in a ball. His breathing felt out of control, it felt like he was drowning, trying to get oxygen that refused to come to his lungs.

He hated it, he wanted it all to stop, he tried to take small breaths, trying to desperately keep his breathing under control. Evan felt his eyes dart around the room, spotting a few items and naming them. Slowly he felt his breathing come to a slow, as he started taking smaller breaths, his heartrate calming down, his lungs relaxing.

Everything was fine, he was fine, everything was okay. Evan looked at the door to where Luz was, he definitely should apologize for how he acted. He walked over to the door, opening only to be greeted by glass cracking, causing Evan to immediately swing the door open, seeing the knocked over broken crystal ball. ‘’Dang it!’’ was heard from Luz as she tried getting up, ‘’Luz?! Titan what happened? Why are you trying to get up?’’ Evan immediately went over to her, before gently placing her back on the mattress. ‘’Need to warn Eda, Amity and King!’’ Luz yelled, Evan's ears went up. ‘’Whoa slow down, just take a few deep breaths and tell me what happened.’’

Luz took a couple of small breaths, trying to find her wording as she did. ‘’Eda, Amity and King went to get some Titan Blood at Eclipse Lake! A-and they might discover Fool’s Blood and get killed!’’ Luz managed to explain as Evan's ears went up. ‘’Titan’s Blood?? Why do you need it for a key?’’ Evan asked, now even more confused with what was happening. ‘’I’ll explain later, I just need to get up and warm them!’’ Luz was about to attempt to get up again before Evan managed to stop her by putting both his hands on her shoulders and laying her back down. ‘’Luz, you can not go in your state!’’ Evan objected, ears down, worry clearly on his face. ‘’Look, how about I go and tell them okay? I don't want you getting anymore sick then you already are okay?’’ Luz looks down, before sighing. ‘’Alright, hold on let me just-’’ Luz grabbed a piece of paper before scribbling down something and handing it to Evan. He looked at it, gently taking it before placing it in his bag, ‘’Thanks,’’ Evan stood up before stopping and looking back. ‘’Hey Luz, I'm…sorry about earlier..’’ and with that Evan left the room.

As soon as Luz was left alone, she managed to spot her little game device, an idea popping in her head before she snatched it. She started typing on it, sending a few messages to Amity’s game device, mainly Incase Evan did get lost. She really hoped Amity and the others were okay.

…….

Okay, maybe Evan couldn't understand the map, he stared at it, trying to figure out which path he was actually taking, he began to wonder if he had accidentally gotten lost by accident. He kept walking, making sure to avoid any coven scouts that were probably portalling the forest. Thankfully, none seemed to actually be patrolling.

‘’Okay on Evan, this is the least you can do to make up with how you snapped at Luz, dang it!’’ He scolded himself. He looked up at the sky, noticing how dark it had gotten. How long had he been walking for? Hours? Ya it definitely was hours, Almost immediately concern filled Evan as he started to let his imagination take over at what kind of danger the others could be in.

As he let his mind just wander off, he didn't pay attention to where he was going before immediately bumping into someone, Evan yelped looking up as he did. ‘’huh?’’ he spotted,..... Eda? She definitely looked different alright, she had long dark gray hair, even having tufts of hair coming out of her elongated ears. She turned to Evan, her wings gently flapping, her black sclera yellow eyes staring at him.

He raised a hand up, opening his mouth as he tried to process what he was exactly seeing. ‘’Are…..are you a harpy?’’ he asked, Eda picked up a vole before swallowing it, and nodding. As she spoke her voice sounded off, as if she had multiple voices speaking at once. ‘’oh right you weren't here for that were you?’’ She said with a chuckle, as she gave a grin. Evan shook his head, ‘’Big Ears, What are you doing out here?’’ King asked waddling up to Evan, Evan gave a soft sigh, ‘’Well I actually came to warn you about…Fool’s Blood? Ya I'm still kinda lost here and I need someone to explain to me what's happening.’’ Evan fixed his glasses, as he softly sighs. Gently rubbing the back of his head, still trying to process everything. He then heard another voice one he didn't recognize, ‘’Wait you know Luz?’’ Evan looked over, spotting a thin witch with pale skin, bright golden eyes. Her hair was shorten above her shoulders, lavender in color with brown on the undercuts at her temples.

Realization suddenly hit Evan ‘’Hey wait a minute, you're the youngest Blight, and ya I know Luz, we been friends for a bit.’’ Amity raised a eyebrow at him, ‘’You heard of my family?’’ Evan nodded, ‘’I mean your families abomination invention ads are everywhere.’’ King then spoke up, ‘’as for what happened, Eda had a whole owl beast thing and made peace with it and now we got well, that.’’ King pointed to Eda who had managed to grab another vole before snacking on it, causing Evan to shudder ever so slightly. ‘’So you're not aware about Luz being stuck here?’’ Amity asked, as Evan shook his head. ‘’No, of course not. I don't think she ever told me.’’

‘’Well, she needs Titan Blood to make a portal to get back home.’’ Amity explained, Evan gave a surprise look, before holding the front of his head, ‘’Titan, I've missed a lot huh?’’ he sighed, before looking at the ground, ears down. ‘’So where's the key?’’ Amity gave a soft sigh, ‘’Well, we HAD the key, but the Golden Guard-’’

Evan’s ears went immediately up, his full attention on Amity as soon as she said those words. ‘’The Golden Guard? What did he do?’’ Amity’s eyes widen in slight surprise, ‘’You also KNOW the Golden Guard too?’’ Evan rubbed the back of his neck before looking away, ‘’It’s complicated but sorta?’’

Amity gave a frown, ‘’You shouldn't be around him, he's dangerous.’’ she warned, as Evan's brows furrowed a small bit. He shook his head, ‘’But he hasn't done anything harmful from what I know of, surely there must've to have been a misunderstanding right?’’

Finally Eda spoke up, ‘’Evan, the kid's right from what I was told, he started attacking Amtiy and King, trying to get the key. And well, threatening Luz’’ Evan’s eyes immediately widened, ‘’He what?! But he, I-’’ Eda placed a hand on his shoulder, ‘’Kid, there is a likely chance he is manipulating you, you have to be careful around people like The Golden Guard.’’ Evan looked down, ‘’I…I understand Eda..’’

Eda then flew up, gently picking up King and Amity as she did ‘’Come on, we should head back.’’ she held out her hand for Evan, who gently took it without a second thought.

Thoughts ran through Evan's mind as Eda flew to The Owl House, had Hunter truly been manipulating him? Had Hunter been lying to him? Surely Evan would've realized when he was being manipulated, right? However as Evan continued to go deeper into his thoughts, he noticed they landed right in front of The Owl House. Eda gently sat them down, Amity opened the door before entering as the rest followed, well except for Eda who proceeded to get stuck in the doorframe, ‘’Gah, shoot!’’ she muttered, ‘’Kiddos a little help?’’ she asked, trying to push herself through the door. Amity looked over at King and Evan, ‘’okay I'll grab her arm, you grab her hair and other arm.’’ Both King and Evan nodded, before the three started trying to get Eda unstuck.

That's when Luz, Gus, Willow, and Hooty seemed to appear, seemingly hearing Eda trying to get in the house. Honestly Evan lost track of what everyone had been saying, his mind still jumbled with thoughts from earlier. Although Evan snapped out of it when hearing Gus, ‘’Evan where did you head off to? You've been gone for like hours! We were worried dude!’’ Evan's ears went down, as a nervous chuckle escaped him. ‘’Uhh…a emergency came up?’’ However he yelped as him, King, and Amity fell back as Eda managed to pull herself inside. Luz immediately ran over, hugging Amity, ‘’Amity! I'm so glad my awesome girlfriend is okay!’’ Amity felt her face reddening as she hugged Luz back and smiled. ‘’Me too!’’

Evan raised an eyebrow, looking over at Willow and Gus as they nodded, before Evan looked back. ‘’Ya I really need to start catching up with things here…’’ Evan mutters, Gus just gently pat his head, ‘’Don’t be so hard on yourself.’’

King made an annoyed grumble, walking over to Luz and Amity, stomping his foot. ‘’No King hug?!’’ He huffed pointing at Amity with a glare, ‘’You are swindler and a thief!’’ Luz noticing this, felt her mouth become a grin before getting up and scooping up King. ‘’Come here, buddy!’’

King yelped immediately squirming as he did, ‘’I regret this!’’

Evan watched the scene as he chuckled, before his left ear flickered looking over at Amity and Eda, who seemingly were muttering to each other. Evan couldn't make out much what they were saying, but something about how they might be okay.

Evan truly hope so.

#the owl house #toh #the owl house fanart #the owl house oc #the owl house luz #the owl house eda #the owl house king #the owl house amity #the owl house gus #the owl house willow #oc #au

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catgirl-catboy · 2 years ago

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wait can you elaborate more on the lumity thing? i don't know anything about that show or fandom, i'm just nosy lol

Please do ask me this shit, I love to bitch! So Lumity is the canon ship between Luz Noceda and Amity Blight.

Luz (right) is canonically bisexual, and has expressed attraction to both men and women in the show. Amity is a canon lesbian.

I actually really enjoyed the ship, until it became canon. Then, it felt like Amity was reduced to a Luz Simp with no plot relevance, when she was one of my favorite characters beforehand. Since she basically became the deuteragonist of the show once they got together, it was really noticeable that the writers didn't really do anything with her?

I'll give the show the benefit of the doubt here. I imagine it'd be hard to write Amity plotlines if you didn't know you could get the ship made canon ahead of time, and plotlines centered around her could have been scrapped. But I dislike that she was in so many episodes, but very few episodes had her NEED to be there for the plot to work. In other words, she fails the Sexy Lamp test a lot of the time.

That being said, it doesn't excuse how fucking annoying the fandom got around the ship.

After Lumity's first kiss, but before they got together, the episode Hunting Palisman aired. In it, Luz spends prolonged time with an antagonist character, Hunter. The two of them were onscreen together before, but it lasted only a couple of minutes.

(I don't care what antis say, this counts as a canon ship tease in my book.)

The two of them had a fantastic, back-and-forth dynamic, that basically made Hunter a fan-favorite character after this episode.

However, diehard Lumity shippers were quick to declare the two siblings, despite the two of them meeting twice, and actually talking once. They share no parental figures at this point.

Many of them say its "Lesbophobic" to ship anything other than Lumity. Despite, you know. Luz being canon Bi. and expressing attraction to men in show.

Then, the Season 3 episode Thanks to them airs.

And we get Luz's mother making an offhand, comedic remark about having six kids.

Antis used this line to claim Lunter were "canon siblings" at this point, but... SIX KIDS MEANS THAT ONE OF THE KIDS IS AMITY. If that line makes Lunter incest, it also makes Lumity incest. I don't make the rules. Shippers will nitpick evidence to harass the 'rival' ship, expect it isn't a rival ship at all since 99% of the fandom is obsessed with Lumity and Lumity is canon. What are the 5 people that prefer Lunter going to do? Honestly.

Then, a voice actor does this.

Which I felt was really in bad taste, because it caused fandom harassment. Word of God from authors is annoying enough, but now fucking voice actors decide what is "canon" and therefore okay to harass others over? Zeno has no control over the writing of the show, his opinion does not reflect the intent of the creator.

It felt like a massive overstep of fandom-author boundaries.

The show ended with Hunter not moving in with Luz's mother, or Luz's adopted mother, but another character.

Canon siblings my ASS.

(that being said, HC what you like!)

#ask tag #the owl house #fandom history #fandom discourse #fandom wank

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phoenix-pheces · 1 year ago

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Another fic based on the Huntlow Mythology AU created by @turquoisespace35 . This takes place after the group arrives back in the kingdom, as Willow and Amity go to confront the king. If you enjoy my work here, I also repost all of my fics on AO3 as Phoenix_Pheces. I intend to eventually post different content on each page, so please consider checking out that page as well. Any support means so much to me, and inspires me to keep writing.

—————————————

Bleeding Hearts - Part 1/3

Willow’s braid had been pulled and twisted nearly out of its holding as she continued to try and soothe her nerves. She and Amity had been waiting quite a while for their audience with the king. It was hard to guess how long it had been exactly, but their surroundings were noticeably less lit than when they had taken their seats. Amity, thankfully, had stayed close for their journey. They both knew the guards weren’t escorting them out of concern for their safety. She had left a few moments ago, however, to ensure they would be seen before sunset. The silence in the hall once she had left was deafening.

It took every ounce of willpower Willow had to not spiral into a panic worrying about Hunter. She was confident that Luz and Gus could keep him safe, but she would never feel relieved until he was back in her sight again. More than anything else, she needed him to be safe. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to keep him in hiding much longer.

Soft footsteps echoed through the hall; Amity’s footsteps. She approached and put a comforting hand on Willow’s shoulder.

“Are you ready to see him?” Her question felt heavy in the air between them, weighed down by an unspoken dread they both needed to leave unspoken. Willow took a deep breath that still felt uncertain.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

Amity offered her arm, and Willow gratefully took it. She wasn’t sure who needed it more. The two were promptly ushered into the king’s throne room before they had the chance to offer any last minute encouragement.

The throne room was much brighter than the long stone hall had been. Not because of any direct sunlight, but because of a looming golden fire pit in the center of the room. Gus had described it to Willow the first time they entered the throne room. The massive bowl which held the flame was relatively plain, but it was held by a golden statue of a man. A man who, morbidly enough, looked as though the weight of it would soon overcome him. It has unnerved Willow before, but now it left her truly shaken. Would that be her fate? Overcome by a massive load even she couldn’t carry?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of marching. Amity pressed her shoulder into Willow’s, and the door on the opposite end of the throne room was thrust open. The King entered accompanied by, according to Amity, twelve guards.

This was not for protection. This was a display of power, and perhaps even a threat. Amity and Willow were escorted to the foot of the king’s throne, and separated to bow deeply at his feet. The gesture made Willow bristle with anger. She could only hope it wouldn’t appear too plainly on her face.

“Rise, my chosen ones.” Willow and Amity did as they were instructed. The king rose to his feet, but did not approach them. He snapped his head to the nearest guard.

“Leave us, all of you. I wish to converse with these two in private. For their own benefit.” Willow nearly scoffed at the idea. The king would love to have witnesses: if he had nothing to hide. The guards promptly left the throne room, but Willow knew they wouldn’t stray far. They would be right back at their stations with as little as a shout from their king. After the last guard closed the doors behind him, the king descended the throne’s stairs until he was just a few feet away from Amity and Willow.

“So, who would care to regale me with the tale of how both of you miraculously survived the most bloodthirsty monster our kingdom has ever known?”

“He is no monster.” Willow had planned to hold her tongue as best she could. Amity was far more diplomatic than she was. However, though Willow knew better, her heart could not be so easily silenced. The king scoffed.

“I assure you, it is nothing but a vile creature. I have half a mind to send you out to sea for speaking out of turn every time we meet. Your fathers have raised a miserable, insolent child.”

Willow clenched her fists and forced a smile.

“They raised me to oppose injustice, Your Majesty. It would be irresponsible of me to stand by while innocent people are being targeted by those in power. I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on that the last time I was here.”

“How dare you!” You will speak-“

“I will speak when I please. You have hurt this kingdom from the moment you assumed the throne. I’ve seen your cruelty firsthand, and it truly knows no mercy. You sent me, and countless others, to die just to protect your reputation. At the hands of an unwilling, traumatized boy. Hunter didn’t deserve this. We didn’t deserve this. If there is any monster plaguing this kingdom, it is you.”

The king was silent. He descended the rest of the stairs and came close enough that Willow could see his face. His expression was difficult to read, but it didn’t look like the anger Willow had expected. The king looked almost fascinated.

“Tell me, child, who is Hunter?”

Willow’s heart dropped. She hadn’t realized her mistake until he asked the question. What had she done?

“I-“

“You named the thing, didn’t you? You care for it.” The king let out a small gasp. “And you wouldn’t have left it behind.”

“No!” Willow lunged forward, but the king easily evaded her, and she crashed into the floor. Pain shot through her arm and ribs.

“Guards! Quickly!”

The guards rushed into the room as Amity dove to help Willow to her feet. The pain in Willow’s side caused her to stumble, and they were quickly surrounded. Amity clung to her.

“If any of you so much as touch her, I will end you,” Amity threatened, brandishing her spear as best she could with one hand. None of the guards moved. They were more concerned with keeping the two of them contained than separating them.

“Assemble everyone else in the main hall!” The king’s voice rang through the throne room, dripping its malice. Willow heard countless footsteps running in all directions. She had no idea what was happening outside the circle of guards, who had now all turned their spears inward. She began to shake as she heard the king shout again.

“Let’s move, we have a beast to kill!”

#huntlow #huntlow au #toh #toh au #the owl house #toh fic #hunter toh #willow toh #mythology au #fic

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sergeantsporks · 2 years ago

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Spork I am begging on my hands and knees I know your the Hunter content blog but you also make the best Vee content I need my crops watered please

Because you asked nicely :)

Five bounced on the balls of her feet, watching all of the other campers stream onto the bus. She glanced back at her cabin, marked VII.

I should go.

I should run.

Camp had taught her enough about passing as a regular human that she could probably change her form to a more adult appearing one and get a job. Or she could just live on her own in the wilderness, they’d gone through a few survival skills, too.

But there had been nothing in any of the lessons about how to be Luz Noceda. And Luz Noceda was the girl expected back home. Besides, there was a portal. Luz could come back any time, would come back any time. She could already be back already, and Five didn’t have a way to tell.

A gentle hand touched her shoulder. Claire, the cooking class teacher. “Luz? Sweetheart, you’re the only one left, everyone’s ready to go.”

Too late.

“Can I stay here?” Five blurted, “Could I just stay and not go back home?”

Claire heaved a sigh. “Afraid not, snapdragon.”

“I could help with maintenance!”

Claire turned Five to face her. “I know it’s going to be hard to go back, Luz. Bullies are always going to find something to make fun of, and teachers sometimes won’t let go of the past. But do you remember what we talked about?”

“Don’t use explosives in your book report, ‘cuz that’ll get you expelled?”

“And someone could get hurt. But no, the other thing.”

“Don’t take live snakes to school, because it’s not fair to the snakes to get suddenly put in a new, scary place?”

Claire laughed. “Not that one either. About the bullies.”

Five sighed. “Find my safe people.”

“That’s right. The people who care about you matter much more than the people who want to hurt you, and they will always stand by you. And what was the other thing?”

“Pop them in the nose if they try to physically hurt me?”

“Technically, you didn’t hear that from me. For legal reasons. Bullies are just small people trying to look big, and in the end, they don’t get to say who you will be. Only you get to say that.” Claire turned Five towards the bus. “Your creativity is your strongest asset, but no one will see it if you stay here forever. Don’t get too carried away, but go out there and show them what you’re really made of.”

If Luz has come back, I could always just run then. Doesn’t look like I can get away now anyway.

Five took a deep breath. “Okay. Alright.”

“Atta girl. I’m rooting for you, Luz.”

Five climbed the steps to the bus, and the door hissed shut behind her, sealing her in. Masha gave her a short wave from their seat, patting the window seat next to them. “I gotcha, Luz!”

Find my safe people.

Five sat down next to Masha, watching out the window. Claire waved, getting smaller and smaller as the bus rolled out, leaving the camp behind.

“Finally, out of prison for good behavior,” Masha joked, “Man, I can’t wait to get back to my room. And the internet. I’ve missed the internet.”

Five leaned against the window. “Do you think things will be different? Back in Gravesfield?”

Masha snorted. “No way, they didn’t brainwash me at that camp.”

Five nudged them. “I know you had fun at that local history class.”

“Yeah, because there’s a lot of it in Old Gravesfield. I still can’t believe you’ve never been in the museum, or done rubbings in the graveyard. That was like, the only good part of school.”

“Wasn’t one of those trips the reason you got sent here?”

“You hide in and pop out of one excavated grave to scare your partner…”

The bus rolled from country to suburban, all the way to the center of Gravesfield. Masha stood up. “I see my dad. Are you getting off?”

Five pushed her hands into her hoodie pocket. “One more stop,” she whispered.

“Hey.” Masha grinned. “Not too late to run away.”

Even though they were joking (probably), Five’s stomach clenched.

I could get off and run. Get far, far away, start over.

“No, I’m staying. See you, Masha.”

“Cabin Seven forever. Don’t be a stranger, drop by sometime.”

Masha waved and headed down the steps. There were only a few kids left on the bus, and everyone sat alone. The bus rumbled down the road, finally, finally stopping near Luz’s house.

Full circle, Five.

She got out, grabbing her bag from under the bus.

“Luz!” Camila waved at her from the curb, then swept her up in a hug. “Hey, mija! I’ve missed you so much!”

Luz isn’t back.

For a moment, a worm of worry wiggled through her mind. Was the human okay? Was she stuck in the demon realm?

But then Camila squeezed her even tighter, and Five didn’t care anymore.

“Hi.” Five leaned into Camila, warmth spreading through her chest.

Found my safe people.

Maybe she didn’t know Camila that well—she’d only had the car ride to camp to get to know her. But here, wrapped up in her arms, Five almost felt like nothing could hurt her again. There weren’t any portals, any jailers, any chains. Just she and Camila and the warm sun on her face.

Camila let go. “Ooooo, I’m so glad you’re home, it’s been so quiet.” She picked up the bag, slinging it over her shoulder. “Did you make some new friends? Learn anything new? I want to hear all about camp. I mean, I’ve had your letters and your texts, of course, but I want to hear it from you.”

What if Luz never came back? She’d seemed happy enough in the demon realm, and from what Five had gathered over the last few months, she hadn’t exactly fit in here. Maybe she didn’t want to come back. Although how anyone could just ditch Camila was beyond her.

Maybe Five could just stay like this. Could stay Luz. No one had to know. And she could stay in warm hugs, in sunlight, in freedom.

“Luz?” Camila called from ahead of her, “Are you coming, mija?”

Five smiled, chasing after her. “Yeah. I’m coming.” She slipped her free hand into Camila’s. “Let’s go home.”

#toh #the owl house #vee noceda #camila noceda #toh masha #asks #writing requests #toh fanfiction #my writing

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flower-boi16 · 1 year ago

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Lily Orchard’s Takes on Hunter are garbage and here’s why [The Owl House]

I decided to remake this post because there were some things I wanted to add in or change about the original post (and because no one saw the original post lol). So...let’s just get this over with.

I'm just gonna cut to the chase; The Owl House is a fantastic show and I think LO's takes on one of the characters in the series are poorly thought out or just not true and here's why. For those who (somehow) don't know; Lily Orchard is a youtuber who makes video essays on cartoons, she's also probably the most controversial youtube critic I've seen. I'm not gonna cover much of the drama that Lily's been involved in, but I felt like that was worth mentioning. The Owl House is a show that Lily covers quite a bit on her channel, but she has a very certain dislike of one particular character in it; Hunter. I decided to make this post for two reasons; 1) I don't see many people debunking Lily's arguments about Hunter outside of some asks on LO gossip blogs on Tumblr and 2) I really like Hunter. He's probably my second favorite of the main characters right below Luz for me, and I wanted to make this post after finishing the show because...

Lily's arguments about Hunter aren't very good. They are filled with Lily constantly making poorly thought out and false arguments about Hunter that could be easily disproven if you actually watch the show. So I'm gonna cover some of Lily's points about Hunter and why they are false. This post is going to cover some of Lily's major arguments criticizing Hunter and why I disagree with them. Let's begin.

"Hunter Is a Passive Character"

I'll just take this piece of text from a really good article I've found about passive characters right here:

"These characters have goals — from as small as a glass of water to as big as saving the world — and their determination to achieve those goals creates the stakes of the story. Passive characters are, naturally, the opposite. They wait for things to happen instead of making them happen. They’re reactive, not proactive. Whereas active characters impact the story, passive characters sit back and experience the story." -WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID WRITING PASSIVE CHARACTERS (& HOW TO MAKE THEM ACTIVE)

As the text says, a passive character is a character that doesn't contribute to the story in any meaningful way and simply sits back, and watches the story as it goes, often waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen. It's important to define what a passive character is to illustrate my point; that being, Hunter is not a passive character, which is what Lily accuses him of being. To take some quotes from Lily's video on Hunter:

"Hunter's character has been passive from his first appearance, even when he had the trash boy Vanitas vibe going for him. He shows up, does nothing, refuses to elaborate and leaves."

"Typically passive characters aren't a good thing to give this kind of screen time to because the majority of that time will be spent watching them hem and haw and drag their feet. This was the problem with Hollow Mind. It doesn't go through much information that's new to the viewer, and indeed that new information is kept to the background paintings. And that's because 90% of the episode is spent watching Hunter cope and seeth which grinds the story to a halt"

"Most of the time when he's actually in an episode, the story grinds to a halt while Hunter sits there and does fucking nothing and you may as well skip to act 3 because its going to go the same way the last few of them went" -Glass of Water Character Potential Doesn't Excuse Lazy Writing

Lily says that in most of the episodes centering around Hunter, he just sits there and does nothing until the episode's third act. However, this simply isn't true. Let's look at four out of the five episodes focusing on Hunter and why the things he does in those episodes don't make him passive.

S2 EP 6: Hunting Palisman: I don't have much to say about Hunter in this one. This episode basically introduces us to Hunter proper where we get to see him grow a slight friendship with Luz and him deciding to let her take the palisman instead of betraying her. Don't have much to say here.

S2 EP9: Eclipse Lake - This is an example of Hunter pushing the plot forward and him not being a passive character. Here, he disguises himself as a coven scout to go to the expedition led by Kikimora searching for Titan blood in eclipse lake so he could prove himself to be useful to Belos after he says that Hunter is "replaceable". Later in the episode, he gets the Titan blood key and gives it to Belos. This is an example of Hunter being an active character; he pushes the plot forward and contributes to it, which is important because passive characters don't do that; rather, they wait for the plot to happen and react to it rather than actually making the plot happen.

S2 EP 13: Any Sport in a Storm - Now this is where Lily's points about Hunter being "passive" really begin to show their cracks. In this episode, Hunter goes to find recruits for the emperor's coven after being "ordered" by Darius to do, so he could, like in the last episode, prove his worth to the emperor's coven. Here, he joins Willow's flyer derby team and after playing a game he basically kidnaps them and makes them join the emperor's coven against their will. After realizing what he did was fucked he goes to protect them by saying their too weak for the emperor's coven, giving them a chance to escape. Hunter, like in the last episode, is not only an active character by pushing the plot forward, but he also goes through development here as he learns to make connections with people outside of the emperor's coven and is even willing to take a lethal blow from Darius to and sacrifice his status to protect his friends. Hunter, like in his last episode, is not a passive character.

S2 EP16 Hollow Mind - Hey, did you know that Lily thinks Hollow Mind is the worst episode of the show and thinks it's a 1/10? I could cover how bad Lily's takes on this episode are but someone already did make a video on that so I won't touch on her other takes about the episode here, but it's clear from the last quote that Lily misses the point of the episode. In this episode, Hunter gets trapped with Luz inside of Belos's mind and they end up seeing Belos's memories, which challenge Hunter's entire worldview. The episode shows how much Hunter was manipulated by Belos, as he believes that Belos has done nothing wrong and that he is making Hunter do the right thing. As the episode goes on however, and he and Luz begin seeing Belos's memories, Hunter ends up being in denial that Belos is actually evil, making excuses for what he did in those memories, with this line after Hunter and Luz see what the sigils actually do standing out to me;

Luz: You can't deny it now. Belos is trying to hurt people!

Hunter: He was just... perfecting sigil magic! Besides, maybe, he's remembering things wrong. Who knows how mindscapes work?

Luz: I thought you did!

Hunter: Well, maybe I'm an idiot!

Hunter was raised to think that emperor Belos was doing a good thing, and that he loves him. All of that comes crashing down when It's revealed that Belos has killed previous Golden Guards, and the episode ends with breaking from Belos's control and realizing that he was being used and manipulated all along with his whole world turning upside down. This episode has Hunter learn the truth about Belos and shows how much Belos warped his worldview into believing he was doing the right thing. That's the point of Hollow Mind; It's about Hunter realizing that Belos has lied to him this whole time and breaking free from his abusive "uncle". The fact that Lily just labels this episode as another one where he "waffles around about whether to do the right thing again" is just missing the point. Again, he's been lied to his whole life, it's gonna take a lot for him to see the truth.

S2 EP18 Labyrinth Runners - I don't have much to say about this one, but Hunter does still grow as a character here. In the episode, Adrian (The head of the illusionist coven) tries to get the students of Hexside to get sigils for the day of unity, and Gus ends up creating a giant illusion that covers the entire school making many students (and teachers) get lost in the illusion. Before that, It's revealed that after the events of Hollow Mind, Hunter has gone under hiding from Belos and went to Hexside to crash in. Like the previous episodes, this episode has Hunter grow as a character, with him overcoming his trust issues with Gus, but he also saves Gus from Adrian. This is another episode where Hunter grows as a character and actively pushes the plot forward.

So, as we've seen through all of these episodes, Hunter is not a passive character, unlike what Ms Orchard over here would like to tell you. He doesn't spend most of his episodes focusing on him sitting around doing nothing; In all of the episodes he's in he is either actively pushing the plot forward or growing and developing as a character. Lemme take another piece of text from that article I previously mentioned;

These characters have goals — from as small as a glass of water to as big as saving the world — and their determination to achieve those goals creates the stakes of the story. - WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID WRITING PASSIVE CHARACTERS (& HOW TO MAKE THEM ACTIVE)

Hunter starts out as a character that has a goal; that being proving himself worthy to the emperor's coven, and we see him try to work for that goal in S2 EP9 and S2 EP13. So, Hunter is not a passive character, he's a character who either pushes the story forward or is actively growing and developing, unlike what Lily would like to tell you.

And here’s another thing; notice how Lily never sites any examples to her point where she says this:

“The same as the last few of them went”, Lily, please explain how each of Hunter’s episodes go if you’re going to make this claim. Hunter’s episodes don’t have the same structure copied and pasted throughout, if you actually watch them you would know this. I know Lily watched these episodes, so where is she getting this from?

"Hunter is Stapled onto Other Characters"

This is another common complaint Lily has with Hunter, that being he is "stapled" onto other characters in his episodes and that he often overshadows them. I'm just gonna cut to the chase; wtf does this even mean? Lily doesn't specify what she means by Hunter being "stapled" onto other characters nor why it's a bad thing, if anything all she is describing here is Hunter interacting with other characters in his episodes. However, there is another side to this argument that Lily has, that being that she thinks that Hunter overshadows other characters, mainly Willow and Gus, and that they get pushed to the side for the sake of his arc, and that Hunter takes up too much screen time.

The issue with this point is that Hunter really doesn't overshadow other characters as much as Lily says he does. For Gus in particular in Labyrinth Runners he isn’t pushed to the side in favor of Hunter like how Lily says he is; the episode shows both of them working through their trust issues. Hunter isn’t being “stapled” onto Gus here just so he could overshadow him, both characters support each other’s arcs and help them grow. It really feels like Lily hates Hunter for just...being in an episode, regardless of the reason. As for Willow, I don’t think Hunter overshadowed her much either. That being said, I always found Willow to be an underdeveloped character to begin with so maybe that’s why, but like Gus she also does support Hunter’s arc and helps him grow.

She even sometimes says that Hunter is just shoved into an episode for no reason other than Dana apparently liking him a lot which...also no, Hunter is not shoved into an episode for no reason, in his episodes he is interacting with other characters and growing because of them.

So yes, Hunter is stapled onto other characters....why is that a bad thing tho? He’s just interacting with other characters in the show, what’s wrong with that? Why is a character interacting with other characters bad? Like, in her TOH season 2 round up video, one of the cons for the episode Hollow Mind is “Golden Guard is stapled onto Luz to inflate his importance”...so she’ll just list Hunter being there or interacting with the characters as something wrong with an episode...ya. If that’s not another really bad point I don’t know what is.

"Hunter is a superfluous character"

This section is going to be shorter than the other two mainly because this was partially responded to in the first section, but it was a big enough criticism for Hunter that Lily has so it's worth giving its own section to. So anyways, Lily often says that Hunter is an unnecessary character and that you could remove him from the story and nothing would change. This, like Lily's other points about Hunter, isn't true. Aside from how, like I mentioned earlier, Hunter has a connection to Belos, the main antagonist of the series, he makes major contributions to the plot outside of that. He's the one to give the titan blood key to Belos, he saves Gus from the illusionist, he discusses what is going to happen on the day of unity with the other students at Hexside, and he's the one to get possessed by Belos. So no, Hunter is not an unnecessary character, he's a character that makes contributions to the plot , and major ones at that.

Conclusion

So, that was my mini-essay on why I disagree with Lily's points on Hunter. I had never made a post as big as this one before, but hey, at least I get satisfaction out of defending one of my favorite characters in a show that I like from someone who clearly misunderstands it. So ya...bye

#lily orchard #lily orchard critical #hunter the owl house #the owl house #toh hunter #toh #lily orchard the owl house #lily orchard is a bad critic #Owl House

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strawberryfaced · 4 months ago

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whats your favorite scene from the owl house?

ohohoho an owl house ask….. u asked for this anon…�� rambling hat ON

(i can’t pick one so i’m just going to give you like. 15)

s1:

from s1e2, witches before wizards - “look, kid. everyone wants to believe they're chosen, but if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we'd die waiting. and that's why you need to choose yourself." that quote speaks for itself I think

from s1e7, lost in language - amity is reading to kids. luz is admiring her. I am also admiring her. amity puts her hair up and both me and luz admire her +10. and then the way luz says “looks like this sour lemon drop has a hidden sweet centre!” I have an inside joke about this with my sister. the joke is that this quote. we both love this quote. I literally. I love everything about this quote. THE WAY SHE SAYS THE t IN “center” IS EVERYTHING. ALSO GRUMPY AMITY + HAPPY GO LUCKY LUZ WILL ALWAYS BE MY #1 . FOREVER also blight twins <3 and then when the guy book comes to life I cannot TELL YOU. how much I GIGGLED AT THIS SCENE. I remember this so clearly and I’m telling you this was like when I was like. wait damn. LUMITY’s REEEEEAAALLY gonna happen. I LOVE THIS. SO MUCH. AND ALSO WHEN LUZ GOES ROAR AND DOES HER JOKE AND AMITY LAUGHS ITS LIFE CHANGING BECAUSE LIKE. amity is a COOL popular girl. luz is not. they would totally have different senses of humour and from my experience I’d literally never get along with someone as different as me in that sense because I just wouldn’t be able to make them laugh so this is like. taking Amity’s cover off. she’s not a cool mean girl. SHE IS SILLY TOO

from s1e11, sense and insensitivity - I’m sorry this one is small but I just have to mention it: when eda and lilith catch the scammer guy and they are like. the hottest. fucking. villains ever. “ah, sure. spare us.” “woe to us, whose fates are sealed.” (knuckle crack). I’m dead. dying. you won’t see me alive and breathing for the next 10 days

from s1e12, adventures in the elements - OK THIS ONE HAS TO BE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE EPISODES EVER EVER EVER. there is not one scene I could pick to be my favourite so I’ll just talk about the whole episode. FIRST OF ALL. I REALLY LOVE HOW WE REALLY GET TO SEE EDA’s WEIRD STYLE OF TEACHING. AND LIKE WE ALL KNOW EDA’s AWESOME AND THAT ITLL WORK OUT IN THE END. BUT WITH THE WHOLE SNOW EATING THING ETC ETC I KINDA WAS LIKE UNSURE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN BECAUSE?? WHAT R U SUPPOSED TO DO WITH EATING SNOW?? SO WHEN LUZ LEARNT HER FIRST GLYPH WITH EDA’s TECHNIQUE I MEAN IT WAS EXPECTED BECAUSE. YEA BUT IT WAS ALSO THE MOST SATISFYING CLICK CAUSE IT WAS LIKE OHHHHHHHHHHHH. OK! and then also just lumity <3 in this episode <3 AND THE ENDING ALSO WHEN EDA GOES want me to teach u kids something cool LIKE SHES SO COOL MAN. SHES SO COOL DUDE IM EXPLODING. wait and then also one of my fave parts when at the end lumity are being adorable and eda sneezes and she says your adorableness is making me sick or whatever. that ALRIGHT that is right up my alley. something about being a funny parental mentor figure and then seeing your kid like. be cute and not have a problem with it. maaaan I don’t know man. I just like mentor apprentice mother daughter relationships ok

from s1e16, enchanting grom fright - I don’t wanna make s1 too long so I’m just gonna say this one speaks for itself. right (bonus while we’re on the topic of lumity - in wing it like witches: when amity stands up to boscha for luz and willow. and the andscoop. yea.)

from s1e18, agony of a witch - I don’t know why I’m including this one actually this is my least favourite episodes I can’t tell you how much I cried watching this. ‘alright, kid. Listen to me. I’m going away, and I don’t know if I can bounce back this time. watch over king. remember to feed hooty. and luz, thank you for being in my life.’ ugly cries

s2:

from s2e1, separate tides - golden guard’s first appearance <3<3 eda and luz relationship <3<3 i’d talk more about hunter but i’ll leave that for later!!!! also the scene where king and hunter are like. doing the thing. that was perfect

from s2e2, escaping expulsion - STAY. AWAY. FROM. MY. LUZ. I’m sorry I’M A CLICHE GIRL OKAY. I LOVE SAVING EACH OTHER. I LOVE WHEN HEROES. I LOVE. LOVE LOVE. AND ESPECIALLY THAT ONEEEE PART IN THE SCENE WHEN THE ABOMINATION IS ABOUT TO HIT LUZ AND AMITY STOPS ITI ITS LIE SHDHSLLASNSNS S

wait I just realised that I like. accidentally talked about EVERY SINGLE S2 EPISODE. to save you from scrolling for your life I’ll just. write a sentence for my fave scene in each one. sorry anon

from s2e3, echoes of the past - hahahaha eda being hot and saving everyone. also sweet moments :) baby king

from s2e5, through the looking glass ruins - amity kisses luz on the cheek.

from s2e6, hunting palismen - luz and hunter actually meet for the first time,,,, Hunter and luz fight ehehdhjdjsks + eda and king give luz palistrom/palisman wood :)

from s2e7, eda’s requiem - “oh you’ve changed owl lady” eda’s domestic to do list :) RAEDA!!!!!! also seeing eda do bard magic oh my gosh majestical + eda signing contract to be kings mom

from s2e8, knock, knock, knockin’ on hooty’s door - one of my favourite episodes - hooty ries to help everyone and successfully fails + eda emotional :’) + king emotional :’) + LUMITY FINALLY CANON!!!!!!!! also the lil moment between luz and eda talking about how to go about confessing…. hits the spot

from s2e9, eclipse lake - eda, king and amity meet hunter and amity tells hunter to shut it when he tries to threaten Luz. amity and hunter hehehehehehehe my lil heart

from s2e10, yesterday’s lie - camilla and luz meet :’)

from s2e11, follies at the coven day parade - willow’s tippy taps + amity BEINF an awesome girlfriend and not invading privacy and “and scoop” adorable luz picking up kikimora and eda tYING UP RAINEYM + funny belos king hooty

from s2e13, any sport in a storm - emerald entrails flyer derby willow and hunter. hunters traps them In a CELL + lumity searching for the good witch azura author! aka tinella nosa. tibbles acts like a jerk and amity punches him :3 also Darius is FUCKING AWESOME

from s2e14, reaching out - luz talks to Amity about her dad + they send a flower out. :’) alador:’) I won’t stop if I start talking about it so I wont at all

from s2e15, them’s the breaks, kid - EDA AND RAINE BACKSTORY!!! RAEDA!!!!!!!! RAEDA RAEDA RAEDA

from s2e16, hollow mind - luz and hunter become siblings and get stuck in the emperor’s mind <3 TOH’s wonderful representation of a panic attack at the end. healed me

from s2e17, edge of the world - eda has a mental breakdown about her kids :( king. I’m sorry I hate this ep actually

from s2e18, labyrinth runners - FLASHBAXK TO GUS AHD WILLOW FIRST FRIENDSHIP. hunter and gus cute friendship !!!!!! +++ cool hexside fight

from s2e19, o titan, where art thou - luz and eda fight, eda gets captured, luz meets raine for the first time. ALSO one of my favourites

from s2e20, clouds on the horizon - I Love everything about this ep but LUMITY KISS HDWJSJAKQONEQINSISNSHSHSODJENDBSIS

we are not talking about king’s tide. also I would absolutely talk about s3 but I do not wanna make this too long so I’ll end it here <3 thank u for the awesome ask anon

and send POST!

#asks #the owl house

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