#but we always need huntlow

[your-blorbo-from-whore-bo]

The funny thing about Hunter is, he isn’t stupid, just wildly misinformed 60-ish% of the time. He’s picked up so many complex topics rather easily, all things considered.

BUT

Him doing absolutely batshit dumb things sound completely like they could be cannon, because of said misinformation he had been given.

Hunter Noceda, I love you, keep thriving, but I also love seeing you fuck up in the silliest little ways.

[avatarmerida]

Begin Again

Huntlow fanfic. Bonus points if you can guess the inspo. 💚💛

-

She looked different but so did he. Well, not different, he just looked the way he used to look. His hair, his face, his clothes showed that he suddenly found himself months in the past, whether it was the result of time travel or a dream was unclear. Hunter could not summon a memory of what had been happening before this moment, it was like he had suddenly awoken but he just knew that this logically was not where he should be. But he had found her. Her glasses weren’t gold (and in his opinion didn’t compliment her eyes as well) and her hair was shorter, not quite long enough to pull into the braids she wore when they first met, but t it was undoubtedly Willow sitting at that lunch table talking to her plant as she scribbled notations in her notebook. The sight of her melted any fear or hesitation he would normally harbor in this moment.

“Hey!” He called, excited to see her as he practically sprinted over to her.

“Oh, uh hi?” She said, welcoming but obviously confused. It confirmed that she did not know him. He intended to change that, giddy at the opportunity for a second chance at a first impression even if it might not be real.

“Is uh, anyone sitting here?” He asked, gesturing to the seat beside her.

“Oh, uh no,” she said, understanding. “You can take the chair if you need it, let me just-.”

“Oh, no I uh meant uh,” his nerve almost escaped him as she looked up at him with wide attentive eyes. “Would it be okay if I sat there? Here? With you?”

“Oh! Yeah, of course,” she said, moving the large plant off the chair and onto the table. “I mean, as long as you’re okay with a centerpiece.”

“I’m more than okay with it,” he said with a laugh, sitting beside her. “It’s rather impressive, how long have you been growing it for?”

“Oh, just a few weeks,” she said, flushing out the vivid, bright green leaves that cascaded in every direction. “I just switched to the plant track so I finally have access to the good dirt this species likes. But it’s due to blossom any day now and I wanna be there the moment it does. I know it’s probably a little silly to carry it everywhere but I-.”

“I don’t think it’s silly,” he said quickly. He remembered Willow telling her about this plant and how it had bloomed during a test and she had nearly gotten detention for how loud she gasped in excitement. “I bet it feels… special.”

She beamed. “Thank you,” she said softly, quickly turning her attention back to her lunch as she tried to suppress the small blush that crept into her cheeks. “I was kind of hoping it would. But that’s probably actually silly though, right? I mean I know plants don’t technically have feelings but-.”

“Well, plants can respond to sounds and touch so they can definitely feel your presence,” said Hunter, remembering a conversation they had one late night messaging. “I think they have feelings, just maybe not in the same way that we do.”

“Yeah,” Willow chuckled, brushing her hair behind her ear. “I’m… I’m always saying that actually, heh. Oh, um, I’m Willow by the way.” She extended her hand to shake his, tilting her head and offering him a gentle smile that made Hunter’s heart melt.

But it always did.

“Hunter.” he said, taking her hand with a lopsided smile of his own.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Hunter,” she said. “Are you a new student?”

“Um, well not exactly?” He said, not sure what his technical role was or what version of himself had landed here.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she said quickly, her voice flooding with guilt. “I guess I mean I just haven’t seen you around before! If it makes you feel better, a lot of people don’t notice me either! N-not that you’re not noticeable! I just mean it’s a big school, and we’re on different tracks, but I promise you’re very noticeable! I don’t mean that in a bad way, not that I would, but I mean it like-.”

“Oh, no!” He cut her off, not wanting to start things with a misunderstanding. “No, I just meant I uh… well, I went here awhile ago but then I went back to… being homeschooled and I just transferred back,” he said, summarizing things as best he could without confusing her more with whatever was actually happening. “But I wasn’t here long enough the first time to really make an impression.”

Willow smiled, grateful to see she hadn’t totally blown it. “Well, let’s hope this time is different,” she said brightly. “I mean, about being here longer. If you want. Not that you don’t have to make an impression, but I mean-.”

“Me too,” he said. “I’m excited to be back too.”

She offered him a sweet smile of relief that made any tenseness he harbored vanish. Even if he wasn’t sure where this dream was going, he couldn't help but feel safe near her.

“Hey Willow, who’s this guy and why are you holding hands?” Gus asked from beside them, holding his tray of food. They both looked over at the same time, not realizing they had never ended their introductory handshake, which had at some point turned stationary.

“Oh, Augustus! Hi!” Willow said sweetly as she slowly pulled her hand back. “This is Hunter! He just transferred back!”

“Potions track, huh?” Said Gus as he took a seat across from them. “That’s cool, maybe you can help me figure out how to make my potions homework not taste like old socks.”

“Did you try enchanting the straw?” Hunter offered, remembering the solution Gus had offered him when he stayed at his house and they had tried to make a human realm beverage but it had ended up far too sour.

Gus’ eyes widened, highly impressed. “What?! Dude, that’s genius!” Gus gushed. “Willow, I approve of new friend,I declare he is officially smart enough to sit with us.”

Willow giggled before looking back at Hunter (or maybe she had never stopped?). “I promise he means it as a compliment.”

“I know,” Hunter chuckled. “I won’t say he’s wrong, as long as you won’t say he’s wrong for calling us friends.”

“Dang, new guy is smooth,” Gus whispered to Willow, only half caring if Hunter heard him. Willow bit her lip,and even though Hunter knew she did not know him but somehow felt that she could tell he did not talk this way to everyone.

“Deal,” said Willow with a grin and nod, and Hunter was over the moon with how pleased she looked. She took a sip of her juice box. “So Hunter, how are you liking Hexside so far?”

“It’s been… interesting,” said Hunter, unable to help but feel like he would wake up at any moment. “But it’s getting better.”

“Do you remember your way around okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, if you want we can show you around,” added Gus. “Not to brag, but we know all the shortcuts and the best water fountains.”

“Sounds like a plan, Gus,” said Hunter.

“‘Gus?’” He repeated, intrigued. “A nickname? Already, new guy?”

“Oh uh yeah sorry,” Hunter chuckled, forgetting that Luz had mentioned she was the one who given him the nickname. Whatever dream or time travel had brought him her must not have included that detail yet. “It’s a nickname I heard they use in the human realm for your name so I guess I just-.”

“Woah! A human realm nickname? Are you also a human realm enthusiast?” Gus beamed.

“Oh, yeah! I guess I am!” Hunter declared. “I’ve read a lot of books about it. Actually, there’s a book series over there I really like if you have any interest in human literature.”

“Do I!” Gus exclaimed, summoning a happy face illusion to empathize his delight. “Do you have any plans for free period because the human appreciation society is having a meeting and you literally need to be there dude.”

“Sounds good to me!”

Willow smiled, her heart swirling seeing the boys hit it off and knowing her friend group was expanding. It seemed like such a natural fit.

“Do you have any plans after school?” Willow asked. “Gus and I were gonna do homework at my house and maybe watch a movie. I’d love it if you came! I-I mean, we’d like it. Heh.”

“Y-yeah! Yes,” he said quickly, clearing his throat. “I’d like that too! Yeah, I mean I don’t have any after school activities yet.” A light went off in his mind. “I was actually hoping to join the flyer derby team, do you know if they already had tryouts?”

“Oh, Hexside doesn’t have a flyer derby team,” said Willow with a frown.

“I bet we have a grudgby team though, right?” Hunter scoffed.

“Yeah,” Willow groaned, rolling her eyes in exaggerated agreement. “People are just afraid that another sports team will take away from the grudgby budget. I mean, Titan forbid they don’t get new uniforms every season.”

“It’s like people don’t realize that flyer derby involves actual skill and strategy,” Hunter went on, easily falling back into the shared rant he and Willow had adopted. “Just because it’s not as well known as grudgby-.”

“-doesn’t mean it’s not as exciting.” They finished together, Willow joyfully stunned to hear her thoughts echoed.

She couldn’t help but beam. “Yes! Exactly, thank you!” She said with vigor. “You know, my dads actually met playing flyer derby. We used to play all the time.”

“I bet you’re really good,” Hunter said plainly.

Willow blushed. “Oh, well I don’t know-.”

“She is!” Gus stated, and Willow mimed that he should shush but he went on. “You are, Willow! Especially when you’re in the zone! And now that you’re finally on the plant track, I bet you can do some sick tricks with your vines!”

“When he says ‘sick’ he means ‘impressive,’ not ‘ill.’” Hunter explained with an assured smile, hoping to show his support. Willow and Gus looked at him skeptically.

“I know,” she chuckled, and she and Gus shared a small, amused look.

“Oh, yeah of course you do,” he chuckled nervously to himself. “I suppose… it might be obvious, but just in case…”

“Well, I actually have been thinking about starting a team,” Willow said shyly, tapping her plate. “More like daydreaming, if I’m being honest. I didn’t think there was any interest.”

“Well I’m very interested,” Hunter insisted with a chuckle.

“Oh I bet you are,” said Gus under his breath as he pretended to take a drink from his cup.

“I mean, it would be pretty cool,” she admitted. “But I don’t think I could do something like that. Not yet. Besides, who would join a team I started?”

“I would.” said Hunter.

“Oh,” Willow smiled, the blush coming back for another appearance. “Well, thanks. But maybe you should try and start one! I mean, it was your idea.”

Oh shoot, he definitely didn’t mean to steal her idea!

“We could do it together,” he suggested. “Be co-captains.”

“I mean, that could be fun…” Willow admitted.

“Wo-ah! Look at you, joining the plant track and starting extracurriculars! You’re really coming out of your shell, Park!” Gus exclaimed happily, sending a small collection of sparkle illusions above her head. “It’s the year of Willow!”

“Okay, okay,” Willow chuckled as she brushed the sparkles away. “Well, it does sound like a good idea. How about we talk about it more after school tomorrow?”

“I can’t wait.”

Willow and Gus quickly noticed he had neglected to bring a lunch and quickly offered him the highlights of theirs. They fell into a rhyme both new and familiar and Hunter was brought out of it for only a moment when he couldn’t remember if he was always able to taste things in his dreams.

-

Okay, meeting Willow and Gus earlier was not an uncommon dream for him to have. But not waking up shortly after realizing he was in a dream was. How odd it was to be aware of being in a dream. He knew this was his mind’s way of indulgence and wishful thinking but he knew at any moment things would be too good to be true or too hard to accept and the setting would collapse in on itself. There’d be a mixture of realities or a menacing shadow or something to interrupt his escape.

But he would enjoy the fantasized alternate reality as long as he was able to.

Time went by as it only does in dreams or times of safety, and he fell into a routine as though he had been his all along. That or he got lucky and every classroom he wandered into just so happened to be his next class. And when he stumbled into the library, of course the first table he saw had Willow there. She waved him over and they studied, another simple yet common occurrence in his dreams.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Willow giggled softly as she looked up from her book to see he had not even been glancing at his. The library felt like it was just them in the cozy corners Willow had secured, the rain outside pouring like a soft soundtrack.

“Like what?” Hunter asked, worried. He removed his head from his hand and adjusted his posture. “Is it bad? I mean, t-this is how I always look at you.”

“How can you ‘always’ look at me?” She giggled again. “We just met.”

“Right! Yes, I-I mean I guess I assume I look at you the way everyone else looks at you.”

“Ehh, I’m not sure if that’s true,” she countered as a faint blush graced her cheeks.

“Really? I’m sorry,” said Hunter, feeling his hand begin the sweat. “I’m sure it has something to do with my eyes, I’m sure they can’t be all that comforting.”

“No no, it’s nothing like that,” she assured him, placing her hand atop his. “I like the way you look at me.”

“Y-you do?”

She nodded.

“Oh, uh, good.” He said utterly relieved. “Because I like looking at you.”

He returned to the assignment, unaware of the starstruck look Willow offered him now.

After school he came home to a simple home that was a castle in its own right and Darius greeted him with a smile that lacked any sarcasm or secrets and asked him about his day. The mantle held pictures of memories had had no other way of holding besides in the carefully picked frames, showing him smiling at various ages holding things he had made or earned or just found interesting. It wasn't overly detailed, but he could tell he had wandered into a version of him that had never questioned that he was wanted. But just as he began to piece things together over the most extravagant home cooked meal he had ever had (Darius could cook???), night came all too quickly and apparently his guardian was very strict about curfew and beauty sleep.

He dreaded turning in for the night as he was never able to fall asleep in a dream and continue it. He knew he’d be waking up soon, which was a shame because this was some impressive and detailed world building. He was cozy and eager to see more but maybe he’d be allowed to revisit another time.

But if this was the last night in the slice of life he had always longed for, he decided he might as well get the full effect as he reached for his scroll and typed the numbers he still knew by heart.

“Oh! Hi Hunter!” Willow said as she answered the video call, subconsciously curling her hair around her finger. Before (was it before this or would it be instead of this?), they had only ever texted or voice called once in awhile because he said a video call could jeopardize something about coven secrets (he couldn’t remember the exact lie) when in fact sometimes seeing her made his brain stop working and it was harder to hide that lull when she could see it in real time. “Sorry I look a little crazy, I wasn’t expecting your call.”

Her hair was frizzy, most likely she had come back from a run or a work out.

He had to stop himself from staring. “Oh sorry if this is a bad time-.”

“Oh no not at all!” Willow said quickly. “I was happy to see it was you! I guess I didn’t think you’d actually call, er what I mean is I-.”

“No, I should’ve asked or messaged before I did! If it makes you feel better, you look lovely as always, Captain ‘

“‘Captain?’” Willow repeated, arching her eyebrow, trudging past the ‘lovely’ part of his sentence but tucking it in her mind to revisit and analyze later. “It’s a little early for that isn’t it?”

“Well, this way you’ll get used to it sooner,” said Hunter, trying out a brand of confidence he was only able to summon in the deepest dream scenarios.

“Well you deserve a title too,” she pointed out, leaning back into her collection of pillows. “What should I call you?”

“Well, what do you wanna call me?” He said in a tone he had only said behind a mask and to a mirror (simultaneously). No one had ever heard this side and it was a risk he would never take in real life or at least not so early, but he couldn’t argue with the results. Dream Willow responded perfectly, an obvious blush covering her face as she set the scroll down for a moment as Hunter knew she did when something was just too much in the best way.

“Well hold on now,” said Willow after a deep breath, coming to match his energy. “We haven’t had tryouts yet. How do I even know you’re good enough to be on my team, huh?” She took obvious delight in her witty response to his teasing.

“Well then I’ll be in the stands cheering as your number one fan,” he countered. “But I’ll still get to call you Captain, right?”

“Yeah I guess so.” She didn’t expect a response so genuine and clever at the same time, it mirrored his very being.

He could see the reflection in her glasses of her opening a new text box. Within a seconds, he had a new message appear right above the view of her on his scroll.

Hey dude I’m not gonna be able to make it to the movies so it’ll just be you and Willow

“Oh Gus just messaged me,” said Hunter. “He can’t make it tomorrow.”

“Oh darn,” said Willow in a way that did not feel clever and genuine. “Well are you okay with it just being us?”

“I’ll think I’ll be fine,” he said. “As long as you’re fine with it.”

“I’m fine with it,” she said, making herself more comfortable in her chair.

“Cool then,” he said, doing the same. “It’s a date.”

—-

They talked until sleep overtook them. Hunter was awoken by the sound of Willow snoring, her scroll propped on one of her pillows to see him even as she drifted to sleep. He checked the time, the new day had come and he had still remained in the world he had fallen asleep in. He decided not to question it, not missing any chance to enjoy what could have been.

And it kept going.

There were days where he found himself forgetting that he was dwelling in a dream, a strange sense of altered deja vu. But just as quickly as he made the realization, his mind could not locate exactly what made him realize it. Soon he succumbed to letting it go, looking forward to looking forward and knowing trying too hard to control the dream could cause it to dissolve.

---

“... and then they turn the wall into a mural!” Gus finished, recalling a story that Hunter wasn’t entirely sure if he was supposed to have heard before (he was enthralled nevertheless) that he had overheard in study hall. Hunter remembered similar issues happening, an act of vandalism that was the perfect balance of severe and uninteresting for the guards to let him do alone.

“They weren’t afraid the Golden Guard would show up?” Hunter asked only to be met by inquisitive stares.

“The Golden Who?” Gus asked.

“Ya know the head of the Emperor’s Coven? The Emperor’s nephew?”

“‘Emperor?’” Gus repeated, confused.

“Oh, is this from one of your human realm books, Hunter?” Willow asked with an enthused smile.

“Oh, yeah!” Gus said with excitement. “Don’t spoil it! I wanna read those ones once I’m done with Cosmic Frontier! Unless the emperor is in Cosmic Frontier and I haven’t gotten to that part yet but where would he-.”

“No I mean like the coven system? Didn’t the emperor start that?”

“Pssh, you know no one follows the coven system,” said Willow. “It’s just there in case you need help finding people with similar interests to learn from and stuff. It’s not like we get tattoos about them or something; although I would actually love to get a plant tattoo someday.”

“So we can study any track we want? Not just one?”

“Yeah bro,” said Gus. “Did they not go over that at orientation?”

He looked around and noticed the multi track colors, some students had more than others and some still chose to focus on one. Of course Willow and Gus’ colors didn’t change, they just wanted to rep the track they loved the most but it didn’t prevent them from doing any magic they wanted to try.

Maybe Willow just knew she looked the best in green.

“Oh yeah,” he fake chuckled, going back to his plate in front of him. “Yeah, I must’ve forgotten. Cool.”

There was no threat or dark secret lurking over his shoulder here. And so the immersion became stronger.

-

What also became stronger was his connection with Willow. As he became more comfortable with himself their dynamic only became more solid, their banter quicker, and their time… well she occupied that whether or not she was physically with him,

He would go to her house to do homework, not letting on that he had already done it and he held the completed packet in front of him as he racked his brain for other ways he had thought about to try and impress her. Knowing or at least suspecting that everything here was temporary had allowed his nerves to calm when it came to the things he said to her. But the less he worried about embarrassing himself, the more real everything felt. Her hand would slowly move close to his until they were touching and neither of them acknowledged it with words, then their shoulders would follow suit and lean into each other as they felt compelled to share the same book for no particular reason. Now he knew why he was drawn to her warmth and had the time to enjoy instead of worrying he was putting her in danger.

He loved relearning things about her and seeing what was unique to this time around. He still loved how excited she got when she talked and how her eyes shone on him when she listened. Time with Willow not being plagued by guilt or secrets or trying to return to an apocalypse felt quicker and lighter. Seeing her and Gus waiting for him by his locker, both of them excited to see him and have lists of things they wanted to involve him in made him consider if he hadn’t been trapped in a nightmare before and that this was how everything really was.

He dared not to say this aloud, in case it was the trigger that sent him back. With each day, he remembered the specifics less and less of what supposedly was as it melted into what felt like a memory of a memory, something that passed through him rather than something that existed inside him. Not feeling even a fraction of the sadness that had once been his norm lured him into acceptance. Why had he ever doubted this was what he deserved?

—

“Okay, how does that look?” Willow asked, securing the last tie on the sign.

“Perfect!” Hunter beamed from the ground.

“Thanks, I try,” said Willow with a confident air as she flipped her hair. Hunter chuckled, knowing exactly what she was doing, taking his words and twisting them in a way that made him blush. The subtle way her tone and eyes shifted just for him, like another language hidden in their conversation that they made up as they went. He used it as a way to mask his compliments so they wouldn’t overwhelm her and he was starting to suspect she was genuinely doing the same.

Gus referred to it as flirting.

“Well, you’re succeeding,” said Hunter, often being the first to falter in this instances but knowing he loved the rush he got when her face lit up when he kept going. He especially loved the way she wrinkled her nose when he added with a hushed flair, like icing on the cake: “Captain.”

Her nose wrinkled just as he hoped it would as she admired the sign they had spent all night on. They had definitely taken their time on each letter as an excuse to spend more time together but that had been happening so much lately that it hardly seemed abnormal. “So you think it’ll attract some good recruits?”

“Oh yeah, I think it’s very attractive,” said Hunter smoothly as he leaned against the post and Willow giggled.

“Do you guys forget I’m here sometimes?” Gus teased in a deadpan as he continued to pass out pamphlets.

“No,” said Hunter and Willow simply as they continued to maintain eye contact, unfazed and unembarrassed by their public display.

“I don’t know if that makes it better or worse,” Gus whispered, shaking his head endearingly.

Lost in each others googley eyes, they almost didn’t notice a grudgby ball spiraling towards her to knock her off her staff. As she lost her balance Hunter sprang into action, catching her as though it was effortless, as though she was always destined to land in his arms.

“How are you going to captain a team when you can’t even stay on your staff, half-a-witch?” Boscha mocked in her high pitched voice that fell on deaf ears because once Willow’s eyes locked on his such close proximity there was nothing else as far as they were concerned.

“You okay?” Hunter asked, his voice low and calm. She was in no real danger, deep down they both knew that, but he would dote on her nevertheless. And she was not complaining.

She nodded. “Mhm hmm,” she murmured with a dreamy sigh. “Good thing you were around, huh?”

“Excuse me! I’m insulting you!” Boscha exclaimed in anger. “Are you not listening?”

“Do you wanna go do the uh, the uh… um.”

“The demonstration?”

“Yeah! Yes! That! The demonstration!” Said Hunter. “That we planned. We should… go do it.”

“Okay.” Said Willow, moving to rest her head on his shoulder to look at him with a look of secrecy and mischief as if to say I’m perfectly comfortable right here.

Hunter gulped, trying to remind his feet how to move as he simultaneously tried to assure himself he had read her expression right. He tried to summon his former courage and replied “Okay,” as though to say I’m comfortable with you right there too.

“Okay,” she said with a subtle shrug of her shoulders. She gently kicked her feet and giggled as though to ask Are you seriously gonna carry me there?

“Okay!” Hunter said, tightening his hold on her as if to say I’ll carry you all day if it’ll make you laugh before running toward the front of the school as Willow giggled and cheered in his arms.

He looked down at the laughing girl in his arms, her braids framing her face

“Your hair,” he said, as though truly noticing it for the first time.

“What about my hair?” she said as the laughter was slowly leaving her voice, looking up at him as though expecting another compliment. Normally he’d love to offer her just that but something was off.

“It’s… in braids.”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I braided it this morning,” said Willow. “Why? Does it look okay?”

“No, I mean yes, I uh but I mean how is it long enough to be in braids already?” He asked.

“Well because I had braids the first time we started the team so I-.”

“The first time?” Hunter repeated, slowing to a stop. “What do you mean ‘the first time?’ Has this…. Do you know what’s going on? Has this happened before?”

“Um no no it’s not… uh…” Willow struggled to process her own words, as she returned to her feet. “No no because now it’s different! It’s better this time! You’re happier and safe, I mean we both are! And we don’t have to-.”

“Willow, how long has it been?”

“How long has what been?”

“Since we first met,” he clarified. “It feels like things are moving fast like I know it should have been months ago but it was barely days ago, wasn’t it?”

“What? No! Because I mean… well…”

“Willow?”

“We… we have a flyer derby team to start! Together!” She said, forcing a bright tone. “A-and we’ll play a real game, with official uniforms! And in the picture, me and Clover and you and- oh no.”

Suddenly, the light around them dimmed as though unable to exist if Willow was uncertain. The scenery flickered, as though waiting and Hunter felt like he could hear a ringing silence. He felt rooted to the ground, feeling as though he was entering a nightmare. But why now? What had triggered it?

“Willow, I… I’m having trouble remembering,” Hunter said as he realized it, he didn’t know how to describe the feeling but it was like he was suddenly overcome with with a recovering pain. His head had subtle pounding, like how it felt after he had been crying. But when has he been crying? “I-I it’s like I know we’re here but I can’t remember how we got here. Like it’s… skipping things. Does that make sense?”

“Oh um m-maybe you’re dehydrated,” Willow offered, her tone suggesting she was hiding something. “Let me get you some water! I’ll get you some water and we’ll do the demonstration and we’ll get Skara and Viney and we can-.”

“How did you know that?” He cut her off. “How do you know they’ll join?”

“Because well… um…” Hunter wasn't sure if she wasn’t sure how she knew or if she didn’t want to share how she did. “Sorry, sorry I can… hold on.”

A flash of green and suddenly Willow was gone. Everything around him felt… fake. Like nothing had changed but suddenly it felt too detailed, as though it had been staged and not lived in. An edited memory.

Suddenly, he couldn’t recall Boscha actually being there. He knew she had been, but it was like she wasn’t worth describing, worth a detailed vision. Her presence was no more than an idea of her. She existed, but only for this moment. So much suddenly seemed to exist only for this moment. One moment. The current moment. Then once it played its part, it faded like they weren’t meant to go back. Everything went forward. Hunter couldn’t focus on going back to something specific. He couldn’t remember the full layout of his house or his class schedule or how he got to school. Like they were there but too complicated to always be there, like once he left everything went with him and would go back when he did.

Flapjack. Flapjack was… wasn’t he? Where was he? Flapjack was there but somehow out of focus, like a memory of a photo. Like the moments he knew he talked to him were skipped. He knew they happened, he knew because there was no Flapjack to fill his place in whatever trick this was. Hunter knew that he knew, deep down it felt off. But he knew digging deeper would take him from this unfamiliar happiness and whisk him back to a real and familiar sadness. Was it any different than hitting snooze to enjoy a dream a little longer? To pretend it could be forever?

Had this dream been a nightmare in disguise all along?

It was not the first time Hunter had tried to fool himself this way, he would interpret his Uncle’s words over and over again until they made sense. He had to believe he was finding the meaning hiding beneath the surface, that he over complicated things because he was smart enough to understand what most people didn’t.

But now this was less about survival and more about wanting. He wanted a fresh start, he wanted more time with his friends. He wanted to be happy. But somehow, even in a dream, he couldn’t have everything. He did not have his voice of reason to guide and ground him, now he only had an echo he was terrified of misremembering.

“Hunter!” Gus’ voice echoed, even though it shouldn’t echo here. It felt saturated, he didn’t know a sound could feel that way. He appeared like he had to fight the scenery to do so.

“Gus!” Hunter exclaimed, running over to him. He suddenly noticed how quiet it was, no singing birds or even the gentle blowing of the wind. An impossible silence. “What’s going on? Is it the collector?”

“No it's… Willow.”

“Willow? Is something wrong? Is she okay?” he frantically looked around for any sign of her. Gus touched his shoulder, knowing he’d easily spiral if he believed Willow was somewhere needing assistance.

“I… don’t know how to answer that,” Gus confessed, and the color around his seemed to be wavoring. “Because last time this happened-.”

“Last time? What do you mean?”

“Willow she… well, you know Willow,” Gus started, looking around nervously as though his time was limited. “You know how much she cares about people, how deeply she feels everything. How much she wants to help. And when something happens that she can’t fix or help, she feels powerless. She doesn’t doesn’t like seeing the people she loves hurt and not being able to do anything about it.”

“Yeah I-l… I know but what does that have to do with whatever is happening now?”

“When I found out that my mom… left us,” Gus said quietly, the memory still causing him to choke up. “I was a mess. I was hurt and confused and sad and Willow was there for me every minute. But there was nothing anyone could really do, ya know? Nothing could bring her back, nothing could make the part of me that missed her go away. Willow tried everything and seeing me hurt hurt her too and her want for me to feel better took over and she made all these plants…”

“Plants?”

“Poppies,” said Gus. “They make you sleepy, make you have vivid dreams. When they’re made by a witch like Willow with such strong emotions, you forget you’re in a dream. She didn’t do it on purpose, she just wanted things to be better so much that the poppies turned her feelings into… well, this.”

“Willow did… all this?” He wasn’t surprised she had the power to summon such dangerous and potent flowers. “For me?”

He was more surprised that she cared so deeply for him that it altered his universe.

Gus nodded, but Hunter still needed more answers.

“Why?”

“I… I don’t think I can tell you,” said Gus.

“Why? Gus, if Willow is hurting too I want to know why,” said Hunter. “This has to be draining her, we need to find her. Why is she doing this?”

“Hunter I… I don’t think she’ll let me tell you,” said Gus. “She’s trying to protect you and this has gone on longer than before and she could be lost to her own magic. She let it drag her into the narrative she thought would help you. But Amity and Luz weren’t there before, and when they tried to step in they got-.”

“Amity… and Luz,” Hunter said. They hadn’t been there, but he knew who they were. They were part of this world. How did they fit in now? They had been there when-.

“They’re trying to get inside her mind but this feeling… it’s complicated,” said Gus. “It’s putting up walls and shifting things. The longer it goes on the harder it is to stop.”

“How do we stop it? What did you do last time?”

“Her magic wasn’t as strong last time,” Gus said. “Her dads were able to calm her down but I don’t know how to end this. It’s like an illusion, kind of, so I’ve been able to navigate it okay but it’s like it can’t end until she’s convinced you’re happy. It’s linked to you, it’s supposed to be your dream. She’s not gonna be able to stop until she knows you have everything you want.”

Hunter didn’t need to know much more about how this came to be to know it must be draining Willow beyond belief. The ever changing details, adapting to his expectations and maintaining the subtle altered reality. This was dedication and focus that could drive even the strongest witch mad.

“Everything I… Willow,” he whispered. “Willow Willow! I want to see Willow!”

No sooner had the words left his lips did the world around him shift and shuffle and there she was as though out of thin air. Her outfit kept changing like a glitch, switching between her sleek school uniform and a tattered black dress with striped leggings. He knew this outfit, but he didn’t know how. He knew he had made that W patch for her. That he had seen it… in a store? He had been in a store with Luz and Amity and it was… he had to wear a hat… it was all there, just beyond where he could reach but it was like when he tried to focus on it it just made it blurrier.

He saw it and thought of her and when she saw it she was happy… because she could wear it for… where were they going?

It was like there was a shield over it because remembering it meant he’d also remember something painful. Willow took it upon herself to hold that pain for him and it showed.

“Willow-,” he started, stepping towards her but before he could get closer vines wrapped around his ankles and stopped his movement.

“No, don’t,” she said, trying to hide herself. She closed her eyes, and Hunter wasn’t sure if it was the poppies trying to take back control or her trying to tap back into them but either way he knew she was ashamed. She was unraveling. She was tired. She was scared.

“Willow, please we need to get you out of here-,”

“No, no please don’t worry about me!” she chuckled nervously, her voice strained. “This is, uh this is nothing! Really! I just need to uh… to…”

“Willow…”

She sniffled. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and Hunter swore he could hear her heart breaking. The vines eased for a moment but did not fully release him. “This isn’t what I wanted to happen, this wasn’t supposed to happen. I don’t… I shouldn’t… I’m sorry.”

“Willow, you don’t have to-,” but before he could rebut, the vines grew as though to interrupt him and tell him no amount of reason could make its way through.

“I… I lied to you,” she whispered, as though scolding herself. “I manipulated you and trapped you because I thought I knew what was best for you. How am I any different than Belos?”

“Because you care if you hurt me,” Hunter said simply, slipping his arm out of a coiled vine. “You don’t want to hurt me.You didn’t do this to control me, you didn’t do this to help yourself, Willow you don’t even try to do this; you just wanted me to be happy. The idea of me being in pain made you do all this to try and help me. Willow, I could never be upset about that.”

“But it’s not… it wasn’t… it’s not enough,” she whispered. “This, all this won’t fix anything, it will just make everything hurt longer and hurt more when I mess it up.”

“Willow, I knew at the beginning it wasn’t real,” he said. “I knew and I stayed because I… I wanted to be better, make a better impression. Willow, meeting you changed my life. You made me want to… to have fun, try new things, be myself. Figure out what that meant. I liked who I was around you. I like who I am.”

With each word he said he felt the ground become more unstable. Against his first instinct, he took that as a good sign and continued.

“I know I’ve made mistakes and done things I’m not proud of,” he went on. “And sometimes I wish I could undo them or forget them but I know I can’t. I know it’ll hurt sometimes to think about it but I have to, so I can go forward. So I can do better, know there is something better.”

“But you were,” she said, struggling to speak againest the tears overtaking her whole being. “You were healing, and growing and you were happy. You were silly and you got to relax and it was… it wasn’t fair. You weren’t supposed to get hurt again, you weren’t supposed to lose him. You were… you almost…”

“Mijo! Willow! Sweetheart, please, can you hear me? Are you two okay?” Camila’s voice was a muffled echo just beyond the walls of endless shades green and red.

Scenery flashed around them. The lunchroom, a classroom, his room, the basement at the Noceada’s, the flyer derby field, the throne room, the graveyard.

The graveyard,

The graveyard.

The graveyard.

They were still in the graveyard. They had never left.

She couldn’t keep it up anymore, reality was creeping in. The others were trying to reach them. WIllow was holding on and it was destroying her. She was fighting to be his shield, blinded by her bleeding heart.

This magic was taking everything from her but she could care less so long as she could give everything to him.

Everything came back to him all at once and flooded his being with an intense numbness. It was too much to process, and he instantly accepted that he may never fully be over it. But what kept him afloat was knowing without a doubt that he did not have hide this feeling, he did not have to feel ashamed or bear the weight alone. He may feel this pain forever, but he knew it would not be the only thing he felt.

“I wanted to give you everything you wanted,” she whispered, exhausted. “I should have done something sooner. I should have known something was wrong. I should have… I didn’t save you. I couldn’t save you. We almost lost you. We lost… you lost…”

“I know.” His hand grabbed his chest, an aching feeling washed over him. “I know.”

The ground trembled as tears built up in her eyes. “No no no!” with every word their surroundings shook, her tears hit the ground like waterfalls. “I was supposed to make you feel better! This was supposed to be everything you wanted! I thought maybe… I tried… I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what to do Hunter. I’m so sorry.”

“I know… that you don’t like that I feel this way,” said Hunter, taking a small step towards her. “I know you care about me. But then you should also know that I don’t want you to feel that way either. No ones ever cared about me so much before.”

“But it’s not enough,” she whimpered. “I’m not enough.”

“Don’t talk about my friend like that!” Hunter demanded, a gentle golden glow surrounding him as the rage ran through him.

She exhaled, her breath shaky but slowly beginning to steady. She brought her eyes up to meet his, the green glow was faint now and the bags beneath her eyes envied his own. In reality, perhaps no more than an hour had gone by but she had endured weeks worth. She had gotten just as lost as he had. But she knew this was him, this was not something she had persuaded him to believe or say, no this was truly him. His truth was helping her release the hold she had on herself.

“I won’t lie, I wish I could start over,” he said. “I wish I got to meet you sooner and be a normal witch and have Flap… but I’ll take having you at all, no matter when it happens so long as it happens. I didn’t have enough time with Flapjack but thinking about that doesn’t erase the time I did have with him. And I’d rather make new memories with you guys than dream about what could have been. I know that’s real.”

“But I tricked you,” she said with a tired sigh. “I tricked you to feel the way I wanted you to feel about me.”

“Willow I promise you don’t trick me.”

“But we were… and you said… t-that we… it was-.”

“Willow at first I was aware that things weren’t really like that,” said Hunter. “But I… didn’t care. I took it as a second chance and I promise that the way I feel about you didn’t change, just maybe the way I acted about it did.”

She wiped a tear from her eye. “You say I make things better but here you are making me feel better,” she joked as she adjusted her breathing as the tears dissolved. “It’s just.. hard to let go. To go back. I don’t… want you to have to go through that, you’ve already gone through so much.”

He finally reached her and took her hand in his.

“But now I won’t have to go through it alone.” He realized it as he said it. It was the truth and it didn’t erase the overwhelming weight his grief had collected, but it took away some of the pressure. He knew it would always be there’s but it wouldn’t be the only thing that was there. Willow saw it too. She couldn’t undo the past or guarantee the future, but their present didn’t have to suffer in solitude.

It all came crumbling down as she fell into his embrace. Suddenly, the colors weren’t as vibrant but they were real. The air was chilly but the warmth of her embrace canceled it out. The silence was less deafening. He heard everyone else call out to them, uncertain of how it had all looked from the outside. He knew he was sad, he knew his safety was real but temporary. He knew it wasn’t over. He knew this might be a turning point he’d wish he prepared for more but none of that held him down as Willow wiped away his tears, barely harboring enough strength to stand as she took him into the nape of her neck.

He synced his breathing to the sound of her heartbeat.

“So you’ll really be okay? For real?” Willow whispered as the others surrounded them, keeping them safe from the chill and checking them for injuries.

He didn’t know how but it was like he felt his own heart beating for the very first time.

“Maybe not right away, but I will be,” he said softly into her hair. “As long as I have you, for real.”

[tohconfessions]

It really irritates me when some people will say, ‘Um, actually this wasn’t stated in the show, so therefore it isn’t canon.’ Aside from not always having the time or ability to include things in the show (let’s remember how hard it STILL is to get LGBTQ+ representation approved) it’s also just plain disrespectful not only to the creator but to those said identity represents. And for the people who will argue, ‘Well, Dana Terrace said it was only her headcanons, not actually canon’ that’s a stupid argument. How are you going to say the LITERAL CREATOR saying ‘this character is bi/pan/etc’ shouldn’t be treated as canon or respected? Let’s also take into consideration the fact that there ARE crazy people out there who will send creators hate and literal death threats just because something they wanted to be canon isn’t. Clearly Dana Terrace saying anything like ‘oh but we didn’t get to put it in the show, so it’s not a big deal’ or whatever is just to mitigate that very real possibility. While I think there can be room for interpretation or different ideas with regards to some headcanons, erasing or invalidating a marginalized identity isn’t one of them. It’s just phobic, honestly. Like for instance, I headcanoned Willow as lesbian at the start of the show. Unlike other people I’ve seen, I didn’t throw a hissy fit when Dana confirmed her as pan. I accepted it because I respect that and the need for representation. It’s really not hard to understand it and be respectful.

Reminds me of this very specific person who thinks Dana Terrace is homophobic because the show slightly hinted at Huntlow in season 3 and was going on about how it's their right to disregard Willow's pansexuality and stuff or whatever because Dana's words meant nothing to them

[hikaaa-bi]

you know, i think huntlow could have worked if they weren't forced into the whole girlboss x malewife dynamic.

if we just had hunter being sassy and sardonic as always, but with a soft spot for willow and willow being chill and mature, acting as hunter's common sense when he needed it, i think it could have been a cute ship. not necessarily the best or most well-written ship, but it wouldn't have been as unbearably awkward and forced as the huntlow we have now.

it's not like the show has a deficiency in physically strong female characters anyway. almost all the female characters in toh were headstrong women and great fighters.

and you know, willow could still be a skilled witch, since she was introduced as one. she just doesn't need to be rescuing hunter all the time, because it doesn't make sense for her to be stronger than the literal child soldier who was put through torturous training.

[edalynn]

hii hope you don't mind me asking but why do you hate huntlow?? (genuinely curious) I personaly love the owlhouse and kin hunter and it's one if my favorite ships :0

I was just going to not answer this ask as I feel like I've repeated the many reasons I hate hunt/low in the past, but I realize I've never put it all in one place. I'm going to start by linking some asks or posts of mine that are a smorgasbord of things I or others have pointed out regarding what's wrong with the ship itself for some reference points.

X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X

And I'll add my "Hunt/low Trope Bingo Card" that gives us a fun diagram of multiple problematic tropes that Hunt/low falls under

Let me start of with the ship itself. Hunt/low quite literally makes both characters' arcs irrelevant. Willow's entire arc about learning to be confident in herself, overcome her bullying, and be strong for herself and her friends is basically entirely erased when you put her with Hunter. Her whole arc is that for a lack of better words, she saved herself and is her own person. Yes, she had the help of Luz and Gus, and later Amity after they began mending their friendship, but her whole thing was being strong and confident on her own. In concept, giving Willow a pretty boy boyfriend immediately makes her arc less impactful than if she's never paired with anyone in the story, because her story is about her own self growth. Not being saved by having a conventionally attractive boyfriend. And in practice, we actually see it happen. Willow is dumbed down and made insanely out of character in almost the entirety of the third season, particularly in FtF. She's shown multiple times throughout the end of the season (Actually, in S2 as well) needing to be physically saved by Hunter specifically when she's always been shown she can stand up for herself before. And, yes, you could argue that "Willow doesn't always need to be the strong one!", and you'd be right! But the fact that the second she becomes friends with Hunter, the way her character is written changes dramatically. We see her need to be saved over and over, and it is literally only by Hunter. If this wasn't the case, I would agree with that, but unfortunately it's not. Her growth and "revolutionary" strong-on-her-own arc is entirely negated if she is put in a relationship with Hunter.

On the flipside, Hunter's arc is just as equally, if not more, irrelevant. Hunter's arc is also about finding himself and finding a group of people that are his pseudo-family. His growth is his journey to becoming his own person, away from his abusive parental figure. In concept, Hunt/low makes all of Hunter's trauma, abuse, and loss meaningless by falling into the trope of "romantic love heals all", which is both dangerous for young fans who will believe that and a slap in the face for every abuse victim that relate to Hunter. It's like saying that nothing bad he experienced mattered or had any lasting impact, because you give him a strong girlfriend and poof! All the problems go away and are solved! And I shouldn't have to explain why that message is insanely harmful. As with Willow, we see this happen in action as well. Any time there's a nod to Hunt/low in the show, Hunter's trauma immediately doesn't seem to matter. This is shown the clearest when he is literally not allowed to grieve Flapjack's death because it "upsets" Willow and he has to run after her to comfort- and later save- her. The writers actually made it so that Hunter is made to feel guilty for showing sadness about Flap because it made Willow feel like she "can't do anything right", making the entire scene about how he had to save her and put his grieving of Flapjack to the side. I think as an abuse victim, this is the one thing about Hunt/low that makes me the angriest. And to dip my toes into a later point- fan creators that ship Hunt/low also do this in their fanworks. Moringmark is a BIG perpetrator of the Hunter abuse denial rhetoric.

The way they are intended to be written, these two arcs contrast each other, not complement them. It makes no sense for them to be shipped. And further, the context & content we get in the actual show has a staggering lack of depth or intention. Every interaction they have feels out of character and as if their personalities have to be entirely re-worked for them to even interact- and those are just the miniscule amount of times they actually interact. There's almost no actual content for Hunt/low in the show, it's never acknowledged by other characters how they do with Lumity and Raeda, and they literally almost never interact in the show until FtF. There is no logical reason that anyone should assume they were even interested in each other (aside from Hunter's blink-and-you-miss-it blushes) and you could probably count on both hands how many times they actually interacted with each other on screen both before the Day of Unity, and until FtF. And I'd go as far as to say that when they do interact, they barely even act like friends. Willow spends almost the entirety of TtT ignoring Hunter (assumably unintentionally, but they almost never interact and the episode was literally based around Hunter as one of the main characters in it) aside from the hair cutting scene- which contextually made no sense to be done by Willow- and the after-possession scene- also made no sense contextually for him to have his head on Willow's lap. She literally makes fun of him at one point, with Amity being the one to basically say "guys that's mean, Hunter I don't want you to get made fun of by others please change". How does any of that read as a healthy or loving ship? Much less even a friendship. By the time they get to the Human Realm, Willow and Hunter have interacted, what, maybe three times? Once during ASIAS (Where Willow forgives him way faster than she should have for her character, when she literally took months to fully forgive Amity- and Ami didn't kidnap her), Once during LR (Where Willow literally is shown as not caring, liking, or trusting Hunter until he says something that proves he was with Gus), and then on the mission with Luz & co. to rescue Amity leading to the Day of Unity. The ship both in context & in practice completely obliterate not only both characters' arcs as stated above, but also wreck their personalities, making them every other generic girl and boy in a generic m/f ship.

Moving onto the fandom in relation to Hunt/low. Let me set the scene. This show, The Owl House, in and of itself is for a Queer audience. That doesn't mean cishet people cannot enjoy it, but it is a silent "stay in your lane". TOH was REVOLUTIONARY for Queer mainstream media with the main character being the first main character on an animated show by Disney to be openly Queer. Luz is openly bisexual and has a girlfriend! She comes out to her mom! Her adoptive mother, one of the other 3 main characters, ends up in a canon relationship with her Highschool Sweetheart, a nonbinary person, and is ALSO openly bisexual! So why is Hunt/low treated as if it is the "third main ship" on TOH, when it ISN'T EVEN CANON. Why is it treated as if it's on the same level as Lumity and Raeda!? Why are there fanartists and other creators that ONLY draw or write Hunt/low!? It's insulting honestly! And I, as a queer person, am being so dead serious. it's fucking insulting. And the way Hunt/low shippers treat people that don't ship it is disgusting. Their go-to defense tends to be "Crying Wolf", or claiming any kind of "-phobia" they can to make their ship seem "more valid". You have no idea the amount of times I and my mutuals have been called "biphobic" or "fatphobic" or any number of other insults. When more often than not, It's Hunt/low shippers that I see ignoring Hunter's bisexuality, or worse, disparaging people for shipping Hunter in a mlm relationship. Or worse- saying certain ships (Huntric/Goldric) are inc/estuous because of Aladarius, which also is not even canon (And neither is "Dadrius" while I'm at it, but that's a totally different argument for a different day.). I see them use his bisexuality as fodder constantly. And I won't even mention the mischaracterization by every single Hunt/low fan I've ever seen, making Willow anywhere from Girlboss to Tradwife or Mom Girlfriend, and Hunter from Malewife to Wet Cat to Protector Boyfriend.

The crew also did not help the situation at all. Multiple Storyboard artists or other crew members have openly admitted to attempting to (or succeeding to) force Hunt/low into the storyline, always at the scolding of Dana who would make them remove it or tone it down as it didn't fit her vision of the show. I've seen multiple crewmembers say this- it's not just a one off thing. Or the crew member who once said she didn't care that the ship name "Winter" (the crew's ship name for Hunt/low) made it hard to block/tag because she liked how it sounded. It's just. I've seen so many instances of Dana's crew being that disrespectful to her and attempting to push their own personal feelings and ideas into the show against her wishes.

I could probably go on forever, so I'll stop here. But yeah. That's the basics of why Hunt/low is a shitty, harmful ship.

[daystarvoyage]

I loved your video on the masculization of Luz Noceda. Gender non-conformity is valid and woc who identify as such deserve representation. What is not okay is that a tomboyish Afro-Latina girl was paired with a feminine white girl which reinforces stereotypes about black women. This wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so common in fiction. Interracial sapphic couples often have the butch be woc and the femme is white. There are exceptions, but they are far rarer. I would have preferred if Lumity was fem4fem, butch4butch, or Luz was fem and Amity was masc.

I feel this is the problem throughout todays disney media,how stale it reflects there previous works, they have put out that effected this, yes looking at toh, it was fine to have a main poc character contribute to diversity, and ok explore her sexuality which i commend the show does however,

It falls flat of not exploring luz's family,Ecthnicity, & show great cultural represenation like other works in disney like seeing the PS sponsors about different cultral backgrounds, cuisines and heritages.

The three shows did it better (molly mcgee, Moon girl & amphibia were better examples of how to do it right) and felt the crew of toh didnt have a clue or proper reseearch on how to execute a story of differences, ecthnicty & culturals. I mean you live in a fantasy world with over 100 species and your telling me, the show only fcous on the humanoid shape priveldege characters (which fans only pay attention to In beauty standard way. SMH

DO BETTER STAFF

However the big egg on the face after rewatcing the show ad reading the wiki, felt some parts being subpar, the way they potrayed luz and shelved aside, in favor for amity! it gotten to the point where along its writing and potrayal of the two was trite & selfisih writing.

I for one were along with critiques & well minded fans or who get it, that luz's Feminine traits were watered down, to favor amity's fem persona knowing fans would gravitate to her, and times the show pused luz aside (like other characters) in fans favor for the little white girl whos picture perfect and drained of what makes her unique even if the show doesnt catch on yall still find a way to defend her, Like the writing and storytelling of the show was Trite & Fradualent.

at times even if luz didnt had a proper sexuality to show her feminine side cause fans like to based people off sexuality instead of writting oraganic stories nowadays. (it wont matter a bit) cause at the end the potrayal of darker people are always degraded & disrespected,

along with the fandoms distatse and judgement of camilla knowing full well shes doing her duty as a mother! (whos also dark skin along gus so Picture how there portrayed.)

the way the fans and series portray luz without showing her girly side is that of a trope thats been done throughout to show agenda whcih is the girl boss movement to blame, so ima try not to be too long,

but it was foul how they made practically all the toh poc characters more obscured or watered down in writting cause everyone favored more of lighter skin characters as the show went on,

(the eclipse lake episode, HUNTER AMITY AND EDA TAKING OVER THE SHOW WHILE WILLOW AND GUS BE SIDELINED, LIKE THEM IN SEASON 1 FINALE, HUNTER BEING A PLOT DEVICE FOR HUNTLOW TO HAPPEN WHICH DOES NOTHING FOR THE STORY ITSELF INSTEAD SHIPPING DISCOURSE.)

so people need to understand the words favoritsim and bias at this point. cause they way they want to be with the in crowd badly and drawing or potraying luz in a butch way can stifle how we see POCs as nothing but masculine or tomboyish has be tiresome just to show a girlboss agenda yet you dont know WHO LUZ IS.

i thank you for sharing this with me cause i worked hard and loved that video cause its to bring to light of how the gaming industry trend is now leaking into animation now.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & ENJOY THIS READ ABOUT MORE OF AFRICAN AMERICA MEDIA PORTRAYAL

[astrolavas]

what's your favourite toh ship?

i'm genuinely not sure, i love all of the "main" ones 😭😭

lumity is obviously iconic and (since it features the protagonist) we see every little way in which their relationship develops throughout the show; it has most on-screen content/development out of all the ships. we see how they start out as sort of "rivals", how they grow closer, we see them pine for each other, we see them confess, become girlfriends, we see them during their established relationship, etc. we see how luz helps amity become her own person away from her parents' hurtful influence, we see how amity supports luz when she needs it. you know, they're silly, they're so cute, they try to communicate best to their abilities, they dress up and travel together. they're so good, love them sm.

huntlow is the ship i probably think abt most since 90% of my thoughts ever as well as conversations are related to hunter, my #1 blorbo, thus: also to hunter's relationships with people + to hunter's closest friends. since neither hunter nor willow are the main protagonist, obviously there's not as much content/attention on them (+ shorter time too but y'know) but they're still so good and well-written. they value and respect each other so much, they fit together so well and their relationship is built on being equals, they're so silly, they're losers (affectionate), they started off as friends, they're always there for each other, and ugh! love them sm.

raeda has that small sprinkle of Tragicness in itself, like they're just so cool. starting off as childhood friends, then being together only to have to break up and drift apart for decades, until time finds them again and this time they make it work. ughhghhh again, love them sm.

they're all just... very different dynamics with such complex, three-dimensional characters, it's just! they're all unique. i love them all.

[fangirling-heart]

Hi Heart! Good morning ^w^

For the fandom Ask Game, how about The Owl House?

Hello! And good day/evening (it's evening for me)! Thank you for the chance to ramble about my favorite show! :)

my favorite female character

Luz Noceda my beloved! I have mentioned the numerous reasons why I like her so many times, I've probably become annoying, so I'll keep it brief: She's sweet, she's enthusiastic, she's unapologetically herself, she's smart, she's headstrong, she's extremely relatable to me, she's a weirdo, she's a legend and she is the moment!

my favorite male character

Hunter! Hunter is a really great character, who I absolutely love for his story and arc, his awesome design, his relationships with other characters, his personality...

He basically has everything it takes for me to love a character, including the antagonistic starting point (I do have a soft spot for redemption arcs), but he didn't really have a redemption arc, because he didn't really need it. Hunter was always a good person, trapped in the bad situation, but that doesn't make his arc any less impactful and wonderful.

my favorite book/season/etc

Definitely season 2. Literally every element in it bounces off each other perfectly. The character arcs get moving, we see many relationships grow and develop, we meet a lot new characters whose entrance to the show feels completely natural and very impactful and everything develops more and more! The story, the relationships, the characters! And then everything is comes together for a marvelous final act (Hollow Mind-King's Tide)!

my favorite episode (if its a tv show)

Thanks To Them. Yes, it's not a season 2 episode, but it's my absolute favorite one!

I will forever be pissed at disney for cutting this show short, but I will also forever be in awe for the way the crew handled the last season and especially this episode. It does an excellent job balancing out all the characters, a bunch of dynamics and I never thought that one scene was taking time from another one. Also, it focuses on a lot of the stuff I love the most about the show, like the dynamics of Luz and Hunter and Hunter and Flapjack, the lore of the Wittebanes, the shenanigans of the Hexsquad, Camila and her relationship with Luz, Belos being a creepy bitch (the fact that we didn't see him get hit by a car is a crime, but I gotta admit the idea of having him quietly getting stronger by possessing critters in the background to set the atmosphere and build up the ending part was great) and an awesome confrontation with a bunch of emotions for the end! 10/10 episode! (I still cry with Flapjack's sacrifice...)

my favorite cast member

The man, the myth, the legend, Alex Hirsch!

my favorite ship

I honestly have so many ships I love in this show, it's hard to choose just one. So I'm gonna say my top 3 (in no specific order):

Lumity

Huntlow

Raeda

a character I’d die defending

Camila Noceda! None of that "Camila is a bad mom!" crap is allowed here! In this house, we love and appreciate mama Noceda!

a character I just can’t sympathize with

Odalia Blight. That's an actual bad mom and horrible person! Screw her!

a character I grew to love

Probably King. I did like him from the beginning, just not so much when compared to other characters. But during season 2, when we got to explore his character more, outside of cute comic relief, I grew to love him.

my anti otp

Well, aside from obvious choices (incest, pedophilic ships), I personally don't like ships with the Hexsquad and Boscha, especially Boschlow. Aside from just, not really liking Boscha as a character, I just can’t see in general the appeal of the bully x victim of their bullying ship type.

[roodles03]

Did some facial expression practice with Graham.

For most of my time posting art I've always been told my expressions are my strong point. For a while, I semi beileved this. For example, what I would have in my head was way more expessive then what I could get on paper, so, to me, I wasn't as good as people said I was. Back then I would also say my anatomy was much worse since I hadn't taken Drawing II in college yet. That's probably why I and others gravitated to my expression more.

I've had a lot of time to relearn stuff by now, and I think I've gotten much better at expression to where I can confidently say they're my strongest suit. However, with the ideas I have and with the stuff I draw, there aren't a lot of appropriate times where I can push an expression to its absolute limit, so I really didn't know what I was capable of. So one night I I decided "I wanna do something different" and decided to push an expression as far as I possibly could, and I definitely had a lot of fun of this. I chose anger because that one is by far one of the expressions you can push the furthest. I also chose to draw my huntlow kid, Graham, because I wanted to draw something new. I considered doing Hunter, but his hair noodle gets in the way of his face, and it can take away from the expression sometimes.

Funnily enough, right around when we got to human anatomy in Drawing II was right around when I transitioned from SU to TOH. My expression capabilities took a huge hit while my anatomy got a lot better. I had to relearn how to make dynamic expressions and push them to their absolute limit all over again, since the way SU and TOH draw faces is vasely different.

Another thing is, I haven't really been taking time to screw around with my art recently. For almost all of my time as a digital artist, I've done small silly sketches that I never planned to finish in my traditional sketchbook, but now I never do that anymore. Every drawing I make has to be finished, and therefore, it must be good. So it was a nice change of pace to draw this where I didn't feel like I had to finish it. A very clean sketch with grayscale was all it needed.

I might do more expression practices with other members of the kidsquad with other emotions. Its definitely on my mind.

[childlikegoblinqueen]

Huntlow Week Day 3: Prompt Nerds/Nature.

Willow liked Cosmic Frontier enough. At least that's what she'd told Hunter. She'd sat through all the movies and the TV series with Gus and Hunter.

She'd been happy enough to get him a bootleg version of the Cosmic Frontier Holiday Special that the creator had wanted buried forever as a gift for Bleeding Hearts Day.

But when it was announced that there would be a convention in the middle of Bonesborough that celebrated Human Realm pop-culture, Hunter was surprised when Willow suggested the two wear a "couple's costume."

"It shouldn't be a surprise, man!" Gus chuckled. "You two have been joined at the pinkies since that time at the Archives! You can go as O'Bailey and Willow can go as Hanako."

Hunter had considered it. But when it came right to it he wasn't sure it was right. After all, Willow liked Cosmic Frontier enough, but not as much as he did.

"Here's the thing." Hunter told Willow. "I wanna go with you! I wanna do the ... you know... couple's costume and stuff? B-but I know I like Cosmic Frontier more than you do?"

"Hmmmmmm. Astute as always, O'Bailey" Willow tapped Hunter's temple playfully. "So here we have a bit of a dilemma. We are both nerds. But what we need to find is that sweet spot where our nerdoms meet in that perfect intersection that the costume would work for both of us."

"Understood." Hunter nodded tersely. He pulled out a notebook and a pen. "Okay. I was thinking we could be Leia Organa and Han Solo..."

On the notebook, Hunter scratched out the words "Leia and Han."

"Oh! That's a good one." Willow cooed. "But one problem. Which one of us is Leia and which one is Han."

"That's a tough one." Hunter mused. "I mean, we're both badasses. And they're both badasses. And we could both rock those costumes."

"True." Willow nodded. "Our dual badassets transcend gender norms."

"But if we're gonna do a Star Wars costume, I kinda wana have a lightsaber, and Leia and Han don't use one in the Original Trilogy... and I don't wanna get into an argument with Jerbo about EU and Legends canon again, so maybe we should hold off on that." Hunter let out a grunt.

"Fair." Willow nodded. "We don't need you and Jerbo to go down that road again."

"We could do Chat Noir and ... you know..." Hunter offered.

"Even though she's not an actual Ladybug, I don't think I've got it in me." Willow bit her lip. "Sorry."

Hunter wrote down "Lady Bug and Chat Noir" and then promptly crossed it out.

"How about Rory Williams and Amy Pond?" Willow smiled. She extended a gentle finger to his nose and gave him a soft boop.

Hunter laughed, just a bit -- then his eyes grew real serious. Too serious. Silly serious. Running his fingers through his hair Hunter gave wink and something that Willow called "Duck Lips".

"You dork!" Willow snorted. "What are you doing!"

"I'm imagining the costume." Hunter raised his chin with confidence and gave double finger guns. "Yeah. I could totally rock a Roman Centurion look"

"Yeah you could." Willow giggled. She returned his wink and his finger guns, and flexed her bicep which made Hunter's smirk falter slightly. "But you know," Willow said hotly, "I'd be the one waiting for centuries to protect you."

With a moment Hunter's mask of confidence slipped. He felt his eyes grow soft. His ears heated up and he couldn't help but reach out to cup Willow's round face as if she was made of the very porcelain of a teacup. "I would protect you too." He murmured. "We could protect each other."

"Oooooohhhhhh." Willow gasped.

"Speechless, captain?" Hunter's smirk was back. "Because you know I would."

Willow released a breath. Fanning herself dramatically she took Hunter's arm and dropped a kiss right in the middle of his wrist. Right on that awful sigil -- and for a moment it almost felt as if his former life had dissolved under the soft brush of her lips.

"Who's speechless now?" Willow lilted.

In spite of the heat in his stomach, Hunter felt a bit of ice track down his spine. "Maaaaaaaybe we're not ready for those costumes just yet!" He laughed. "B-but we can put it on a list for a future con?"

Willow nodded slowly. "Sound's perfect." She agreed.

"So, we know what we're not gonna do." Hunter mused, "But we still need a costume. We all know Luz and Amity are -"

"Gonna be Azura and Hecate." Willow agreed.

"Classic." Hunter nodded. "But what's classic us?"

They looked at their hands. Fingers intertwined like lace. Like a tiny flame between them. And then? A small smile played upon Hunter's lips.

"Do you trust me?" He asked gently.

"Pfft. Yeah." Willow nodded. "With my everything, guy!"

_____________________

Willow slipped into the long sea green dress. The sleeves were perfectly puffed at the top. Her neck fastened with smart buttons. Her boots tapped on the ground as she slipped out from behind the changing screen. Placing the round woven hat with a red ribbon on her head she strode out to meet her match.

And Hunter? He looked nothing less than pure magic. Leaning against Willow's dresser in long black slacks, a white gauze shirt and a pink and blue checkered cloak with a red lining. He wore a concealment stone on a rope on his neck that made his hair appear just a bit longer.

And when he rose to meet his witch? Hunter greeted her appropriately. He said, "There you are, sweetheart, sorry I'm late. I was looking everywhere for you."

[cassiepoppy45]

Fresh new Huntlow smut!

Announcing the pre-release of new Huntlow smut on my Patreon! Chapters 1-3 will also be available on AO3 later in the month, but chapter 4 will be a Patreon exclusive.

Chapter 1 available on Patreon now: patreon.com/CassiePoppy45

SFW excerpt below:

“Hunteeerr?”

Hunter, drawn out of the pages of his book by his girlfriend’s wheedling tones, smirking down at where she lay in his lap. He knew that lilt well: she was about to ask for a favour.

And he, just as certainly, was about to grant it.

“Yes, my love?” He marked his page and set the book aside.

Grinning, she reached up and twirled his noodle around her finger in a very distracting way. “I’ve been thinking…”

“I would advise against such an undertaking.”

She giggled. “I find it quite fun, as long as one only ventures the attempt once in a while.”

“Ah, is that where I’m going wrong?”

Tugging him down with the same forelock she still had in her grip, she encouraged his lips to find hers in a quick, affectionate peck.

“Well, what have you been thinking?”

“I’ve been thinking about something… new I might want to try.”

Hunter cocked an eyebrow. “I presume,” he murmured, suppressing his smirk with difficulty, “it’s a new recipe you want to try?”

She snorted.

“Perhaps a sort of outfit. Ooh, or a new job?”

She wriggled in his lap, catching and appreciating the humour in his voice. “You’re a dork.”

“I’m starting to realise that counts as a compliment from you.”

“It really does.” She reached up to slightly awkwardly cup his cheek.

“So.” He snuck a kiss into her palm. “What do you want to try?”

“… You won’t laugh?”

“I promise.”

“And if you don’t like the idea, you’ll say so? You won’t do anything just because I want to try it?”

Hunter tried to tamp down the ever-so-slight flame of anxiety that fluttered into life inside him. This was clearly something larger than her usual requests, to have required such a preamble. His brow furrowed gently and he prepared to meet whatever it was Willow was about to say with all his equanimity – which was still, after all these years, in shockingly short supply.

“I promise,” he repeated honestly.

Willow bit her lip. Watching her fang worry the plump, pink mounds was almost enough to get him to blindly consent to anything, so long as she would just let him kiss her once more…

“What would you say to… swapping bodies?”

Hunter blinked down at her. “Swapping…?”

Willow shifted, sitting up from her position and leaving him colder than before. She turned to face him, the excitement restrained by her good sense nevertheless still very obvious to one who knew her as well as Hunter did. “There’s a body swap spell. It’s old wild magic. I’ve looked into it, and it certainly doesn’t seem too complicated. I was thinking, at least at first, we could just swap bodies, see how it feels. If it’s too weird, we don’t have to go any further. But if we liked it, then maybe we could consider… doing more…”

Hunter listened to all of this carefully, trying not to let his fear of everything unknown control his initial reaction. This was something that required proper thought. Still, his mind couldn’t help but immediately fish out from all possible outcomes the absolute worst.

“Hun?”

He blinked himself back into Willow’s beautiful eyes.

“If it’s too much…”

He grabbed one of her hands and squeezed. “No, no. I… I think I need to sit with the idea for a bit. But I certainly don’t see the harm in at least trying it. We wouldn’t need to go any further than just… trying it. I-if we were uncomfortable, I mean.”

Instead of being disappointed, Willow beamed. She always did this, rewarding him for setting his boundaries rather than complaining that he was stepping on her toes. She rocked forwards to kiss his cheek. “Take all the time you need,” she told him earnestly. “I appreciate you thinking about it, sweetheart.”

“Anything for you.”

[oodlesofowls]

feel free to use as pfp WITH CREDIT!!!

Willow is aro and i will fight you on this!!!!

she was born to be aro!!

plants: aro

confidence/independence ark: aro

green eyes: aro

color palette: aro

that green steak in her hair: 👁️👁️ ARO

ok now ill actually talk about her being aro. since day one willow gave aro vibes. and as much as i love huntlow, i love aroace huntlow in a qpr better. i think hunter is probably the clingier of the two and willow is very independent but still cares SO MUCH she is always there to help but also likes having her own space. if she moved in with anyone she WOULD have her own room (with occasional sleepovers tho hehe).

but yea i think willow would see hunter as very important to her and one of her favorite people but not “the one” or whatever. and not her only form of support.

and on that note willow is so into relationship anarchy. she prioritizes who she wants when she wants!! screw having one person as her priority, she has a whole found family >:)) also her working out is so slay and she just such a strong independent person and no one can take that away from her!!!!

ok now tiny hcs hehe

she casually proposed to hunter cuz she wanted the tax benefits and he was cool with it

romance ambivalent alloaro

def gives alloaro vibes

could be aroace but WE NEED MORE ALLOARO REP SO SHHH

a lil loveless (as a treat >:))

wears aro ring aggressively

diagnosed hunter with aro (aka she told him what being aro was cuz she heavily suspected he was aro from the start)

[avatarmerida]

So Dana tweeted this and I’m not sure what to label this AU but basically Willow is a baddie skating in the halls and Hunter is a student council member who is always on her case. Do they have magic? Idk. Am I obsessed? Yuh. Also based on this art and this art by @turquoisespace35 this art by @smallpapers and also this art by @gravityfying. Anyway, here’s some huntlow fluff thanks for the inspiration guys! Hope ya like it!

———

Hunter was simply minding his own business, trying to identify the bird in the tree above him and having a rather pleasant afternoon as he tried to destress from his eventful day. To be fair, every day was eventful for him. As a student council member and top of his class, he was responsible for making sure Hexside' reputation stayed pristine. This had earned him a rather unfavorable reputation himself. He was a legacy, he had high expectations, so he needed to do everything in his power to bring everyone to his level. In his mind, he was strict but fair. But the students saw him as a glorified hall monitor.

Which is why he always walked home alone.

As he admired the red bird that seemed to be calling out to him, the pleasant sound of silence was interrupted by a panicky echo.

“Look out!” came a familiar voice, but before Hunter could attempt to ‘look out’ as the voice had advised, his world went blurry and the next thing he knew he was pinned against the tree. When he regained focus, having a few choice words at the ready, he was stunned to find the culprit was one of his classmates.

His rebellious classmate with the most dress code violations. His resilient classmate who always had holes in her stocking and scars and bruises on her knees from skidding and falling so often. His carefree classmate who was the reason he carried a first aid kit with him. His breathtaking classmate whose bright peridot eyes somehow managed to shine through the yellow tint of her safety goggles. His classmate who was… a classmate, and nothing more.

Does she skate everywhere? He thought, knowing her skates were the cause of their… position. Skating in the hall was one thing, but this path was all downhill; even a pro would have a hard time stopping.

“Hunter! Hi! What are you doing here?” Willow casually asked the boy she currently had pinned against a tree, her hands resting naturally on his chest. Even with the height her skates gave her, he was still so much taller than her.

“Well I… I have a life outside of school, you know,” he replied, somewhat lying, his face positively beet red. Her skates made her so much taller, but she had never been this close to him. She had flipped back her signature yellow shades to see him better, apparently he was so close that he was in focus without them.

“I know,” she said plainly. “I just thought you had that big presentation today.”

“Oh that, no that’s tomorrow.” he said, his composure returning at the mention of business. “Really? Cause I’m pretty sure that’s where Amity is,” said Willow, backing up to give him space. “I thought it was the 4th.”

“It is,” he said. “On Wednesday.”

“No, Hunter today is the 4th,” said Willow.

“Wh- a-are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Don’t you remember when you wrote me up on Friday? You said ‘this is the last one of the month’ because the next day was the first and that was Saturday, so then Sunday was the second and then yesterday-.”

“Oh no,” he said softly, the color draining from his face as he realized she was right. His breathing became faster. “Oh no, oh no, oh no! H-how did I mess this up?’

“Hey, it’s okay! It doesn’t start until 4 so you-.”

“It’s almost 3:45 and the school is at least a 35 minute walk,” said Hunter, beginning to spiral. “A-and we always start right on time and I’m supposed to go first and if I don’t go then my proposal won’t be considered and if my proposal isn’t considered then that means I’ve spent weeks preparing for nothing and not to mention if my uncle hears that I-.”

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey,” said Willow, waving her hands in front of his eyes to get him to snap out of it. She placed her hands on his shoulders to direct his focus on her. “Just breathe, okay? Look at me and breathe. Count with me 1,2,3 in and 1,2,3, out. In and out.”

She motioned him to follow as she counted with her fingers, not removing her eyes from his until he felt safe to follow her instructions. Hunter would normally feel silly but it actually helped him. He focused on Willow and while his anxieties did not disappear, they definitely felt less heavy.

“Good,” Willow said gently when she could tell his heart was no longer about to explode. “Now, let’s think of a solution, okay? There’s always a way to help. Now, you’re right; the school is about a 35 minute walk from here-.”

“I know, it’s useless to even think that-.”

“-but I bet we can cut that in half on skates,” she finished with a smile.

Hunter looked at her like she was insane, like there was a punchline coming, but she remained unmoved. She was serious.

“What? Are you gonna carry me to the school on your skates? Y-you’re just gonna scoop me in your arms, and whisk me away as we speed off together into the sunset like you’re some kind of beautiful knight who reached me o-or something? Is that what you’re saying?” The way Hunter said it made it seem like he didn’t believe it was possible but also that he had had this impossible thought before. More than once. He didn’t seem against it.

“Um, not quite,” she smiled. She turned to remove her backpack, a blush gracing her cheeks (though it was nothing compared to the one Hunter currently wore) as she pulled her solution from her knapsack.

“You brought extra roller skates?” Hunter said, somehow not really supposed.

“I literally go nowhere without them!” Willow exclaimed in a bright, bubbly one, as she handed them to him. “They’re my dad’s old pair and I was gonna give them to Gus but they’re too big, but they should fit you! How lucky is that?”

“What, you expect me to do the presentation in roller skates? That’s worse than not showing up at all!”

“No, we can put your shoes in my bag and you can change when you get there,” she said simply. “We can totally get you there in time, I know a short cut.”

She seemed so sure, so genuine, so sweet. Hunter found it hard to keep up appearances as he let out a dramatic sigh as he snatched her skates from her and he leaned against the tree to start putting them on.

“Well, don’t think this means I’m gonna stop writing you up,” said Hunter as he carefully slipped off his shoes.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she smiled, gently rolling her eyes endearingly as she went to place his shoes in her bag. She fought back a grin when she noticed the red cartoon birds that decorated his socks, but she kept that to herself.

He watched him struggle with the laces for a moment, they were loose on his ankles but the edges were frayed and were hard to get through the holes on the very top. She leaned down to help him, and when their fingers touched briefly Hunter pulled his hands back like he had just touched lava. Willow said nothing, knowing how prideful he was as she felt his eyes on her as she wordlessly tightened his laces.

She couldn’t help but hope that he was speechless the way she had been the day she had fallen in the hallway. It was the usual game, she was teasing him beckoning him to chase her to give her the citation in person and she had been overzealous and lost her balance skating backwards. But he didn’t taunt her or laugh, but rather rushed to her side riddled with concern. She remembered how there were no words in her head as she watched him drop the cold persona that she had long suspected was an act to lecture her on safety, not because it was a rule or because he wanted to say “I told you so” but because he cared about her.

Willow suspected he wasn’t used to someone caring about him the same way.

“I know you’re just doing this so you can tell everyone how uncoordinated I am,” he muttered after a minute, not knowing how to maneuver the silence. He didn’t really believe Willow would be so ruthless, he was just embarrassed that he needed saving.

“What?” said Willow, genuinely surprised by his harsh tone. It wasn’t his usual harsh tone, it had a twinge of hurt beneath it.

“Well, why else would you be so nice to me?” He asked as she finished the bow. “No one likes me.”

Willow giggled.

“What?” asked Hunter, not used to being laughed at in a way that didn’t feel condescending.

“Boscha’s always saying I’m no one,” she said, rising to her feet. “So maybe I’m the perfect person to like you.”

“Don’t say that!” He said sternly, as he quickly stood up as well, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “You’re not no one.”

He said it with such conviction and anger, as though the idea of her believing she was any less than she was inspired a fury in him unmatched by any uniform infraction or social injustice. He didn’t need to add “because” or “to me” because he felt it was so obvious. She was too vibrant and kind and strong to be no one.

As she searched her mind for a response, she saw Hunter begin to lose his balance and quickly leaned forward to catch him.

“I’m guessing you’re not much of a skater?” she asked lightly, not knowing what else to say.

“I uh don’t have much time for leisure or recreational activities,” he said, clearing his throat as he was overly aware of her hands on him, one on his back and the other gently on his chest. It was difficult to remain professional in such a stance, but if anyone could try it was him.

“Well, consider this a crash course,” she teased.

“What?”

“Oh no, sorry,” she laughed nervously. “We’re not gonna crash. Well, probably not. Well… we’re gonna try.”

“Oh this is a bad idea,” said Hunter, his legs shaking.

“Hey, don’t worry,” she said, helping him regain his balance until he stood by himself. She held out her hand to him and gave him a sweet smile. “I won’t let you fall.”

He carefully took it and allowed her to lead him.

She did not seem opposed in the slightest to be holding his hand, to be seen holding his hand. He mainly focused on keeping his skates facing forward and not knocking into each other, but Willow had a natural balance. He knew it came from practice, that if he wasn’t here holding her back she’d be doing elaborate spins and jumps, but still he felt safe beside her. If he wasn’t in a rush, he felt like he could do this forever.

He just wished he had a helmet.

As they descended down the bumpy street, there was so much for Hunter to be nervous about: falling on his face, being late to his presentation, showing up to his predation with a face that had clearly been fallen on, but the most pressing matter at the moment was whether or not the stunning girl holding his hand could feel how sweaty it was. His heart was racing but not from the cardio. It was a good thing Willow knew where they were going because his eyes certainly were not on the path ahead of them.

This was the longest silence that had ever passed between them, Willow wasn’t sure what to make of it. She had seen Hunter concerned before, but these nerves were new. She tried to lighten the mood.

“These are your fault, you know.” She said, adopting her normal tone as seen in their hallway encounters.

“What?”

“My rollerskates.”

“What? Me? How? I never-.”

“Do you remember my most common infraction before you were always hounding me about my skates?”

“Tardiness,” he said without hesitation.

She smiled, wondering if he remembered everyone’s violations so quickly. “Yeah, I was always running late because Bocha needed to make sure she tormented me before first period.”

“Ms. Park, I assure you if I had known that was the reason I would’ve handled the situation with more-.”

“I know,” she said simply. “But still, you said something once that gave me an idea. I didn’t tell you that Boscha was the reason, I just said I kept getting lost and you said ‘well then, find another way.’ So I did.”

“You heard that and got ‘rollerskate everywhere?’”

“Okay, I might’ve put my own spin on it,” she giggled as they turned a corner, and she felt his grip tighten . “But it worked, didn’t it? I haven’t been late since.”

“Yes but roller skates are still against school safety and dress codes,” Hunter pointed out.

“But they get me there,” she said simply. “And they got me off Boscha’s radar and onto yours.”

He looked at her with wide, worried eyes. “Miss Park, I hope you’re not suggesting that I am on a level with Boscha,” he said seriously and another smile tugged at Willow’s lips as she couldn’t help but notice the disgusted way he said Boscha’s name. How he didn’t even bother to grace her with formality. “I know I may be strict, but I hope you know I would never want to make you feel how she makes you feel. I know she used to sit on the council, but If I ever-.”

“No, no nothing like that,” she laughed. “It’s just, I much prefer being on your radar is all I mean.”

“Oh.” Was all he could say. It still didn’t add up, she liked being in trouble? “Huh.”

Willow saw and understood his confusion. “You’re really into your position on the student council,” she said as though he was unaware. “Sometimes it feels like breaking the rules is the only way I get to talk to you.”

Did she know how every morning he held his breath, worried today was the day she changed her ways? That he wouldn’t feel her breeze as she zoomed by him in the hall, her braids coming undone as she maneuvered through other students like a maze? She had never injured anyone (besides herself) and she technically wasn’t running and hadn’t damaged any school property, but Hunter had scoured the handbook for something to say about it. Because he just wanted an excuse to talk to her.

“And you… like talking to… me?” He asked.

“Yeah,” she said simply. No hesitation, no eye rolling, no sarcasm. How could that be true? “Ya know, you’re not as uptight as you want everyone to believe you are. I think you’re secretly a big sweetheart.”

“Me?” He scoffed, he had certainly never been called that before. Not even ironically. “How am I sweet? I write you up every day!”

His voice shook as they quickly moved to avoid a pot hole but Willow never let go of his hand.

“Well, yeah but,” Willow couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean, you make a big show of writing me up and threatening me with detention but you never actually follow through.”

“What? I-I have! I mean, I must have at least once er-”

“No,” she said, shaking her head, “You always say you could but you never do.”

“Well, t-that’s because it goes straight on your permanent record.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, obviously unconvinced. She was pretty sure those didn’t even exist. She also knew it wasn’t because he didn’t have the power to, because he sent Boscha to detention literally all the time.

She had her theories, but right now probably wasn’t the right time to voice them.

“I… well, the thing is I…” he offered her a soft look as he tried to find the words. Something in his eyes made her think maybe he was about to confirm her theories. “I think I actually might…”

But before he could finish, the hill became too steep and Hunter promptly lost his balance. He unwillingly surrendered Willow’s hand as his arms flailed to his sides trying to save him from tumbling forward. Willow rolled beside him, keeping her eyes on him as she tried to grab his hand again. When she realized she couldn’t, she improvised and reached out to grab in an embrace, trapping his arms at his side as she clung to him tightly. They continued to skate down the hill at increasing speed as Willow tried to ease gently into the breaks so they wouldn’t go flying.

Finally, they reached flat land and when they did Hunter arrived deeper in Willow’s embrace, his cheek pressed firmly against hers as she shut her eyes, focused on keeping them safe. All he could focus on was how close they were. She lifted him off the ground, not knowing her own strength and all he could do was just be lifted by her.

Their faces were touching, oh Titan their faces were touching!

He swore he wasn’t breathing, he swore time stood still as he floated in some parking lot being held tightly by Willow Park. He could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo, a collection of jasmine and mango.

“You okay?” She asked, opening one eye to make sure no damage had come to him.

“Never better.” He squeaked. He wondered if he even weighed anything to her.

“We made it,” she declared gleefully, and he was so close he could feel the smile on her face. He was so lost in the euphoria of being so close to her he had totally forgotten the reason for it. Then his eyes registered where they were.

And in record time too.

“We made it,” he breathed as she set him down. How had he ever doubted her?

“Not quite yet,” she said as she took his hand and led him once again. “C’mon!”

They slid through the side entrance and something about it made Hunter feel oddly… giddy. Willow sped ahead of him like a bullet, her brow furrowed in determination as she raced against the clock.

“Move aside!” She announced to a few lingering students walking through the halls. “Precious cargo, coming though!”

He laughed, in spite of himself, feeling like he was in a dream. Being with her in the hall now instead of against her felt… right. This was how she saw the world: fast, exciting, scary. Normally he was just a mere star she passed by, close for only a brief moment before her orbit spun her elsewhere. But now he was fully caught in her gravity, hoping to be a moon, a sun, a comet; anything that followed her closely. Anything she’d let him be.

All too soon, they were outside the classroom where Hunter was to give his presentation. Willow could see they were still setting up and Hunter would get his chance to do his presentation.

“We did it!” She declared victoriously, wiping the sweat from her brow. “We did-.” She looked up at him in excitement but was taken back when he didn’t share her elatement. Instead, his focus was on her. He was looking at her like she was some precious jewel he had been searching for his whole life. “What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face or-.?”

“You’re amazing,” he said like the phrase took all the air in his lungs.

She gave a tiny chuckle as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. It wasn’t what she had been expecting to hear but she certainly wasn’t complaining.

“Well hey, don’t waste all your charm on me, student council,” she teased. “Getting here was the easy part, you still have a speech to give.”

“Right,” he said with a rare smile. Willow wondered why he didn’t smile more, he had such a pretty smile. “Anyway, thanks for all your help. I… really appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” she said, and Hunter swore a rosey halo surrounded her. As he was admiring just how picturesque she was, a mischievous smile crept onto her face, as she allowed her wheels to bring her closer to him. “Um, excuse me, student council member Wittebane, but wearing roller skates in the hallway is against school policy, in case you weren’t aware.”

He offered her a shy, playful smile, running his hand through his hair as he leaned against the lockers, absentmindedly sending a chill up Willow’s spine. She caught him off guard and for a moment he was a little silly. Like he felt safe enough to be.

“Well, I guess I have to make an exemption today,” he said, his voice possessing a lighter tone that Willow was certain few people had ever heard. She liked it. She watched him quickly sink to the ground as he began to undo the laces on the skates as she handed him his shoes from her bag.

“Tomorrow morning though, no roller skating in the hallways,” he said, mocking himself as he wagged his finger at her. They both knew she wouldn't listen.

“But what if I’m running late?” She said innocently as she helped him back onto his feet once he had returned to his shiny dress shoes. “I have classes on opposite sides of the school, how else am I supposed to get there in time?”

“Well uh, I’m sure I could assist somehow,” he said, clearing his throat. He owed her one after all. “I could get you a special hall pass or help you plan a route or-.”

“Maybe you should start walking me to class,” she suggested.

“As punishment?”

She shrugged. “If you wanna call it that,” she said, brushing some invisible lint off of his shoulder. “Here, lemme fix your tie. Can’t have you beating my record for dress code violations, now can we?” She made sure he didn’t reflect the journey too much, adjusting his pin as well. Even after all that, he still managed to look so pristine. Maybe it was his posture, or his height, or the sharp definition of his jawline but his demeanor just seemed like it was permanently studious. Like he had a shell that extended to his heart. Like the cracks in his composure could only be seen up close and Willow wanted more than anything to have them memorized. Willow had caught glimpses of these cracks before, when she made a joke that caught him off guard and summoned a smile or dared him to joke back before following up with policy and procedure. These cracks didn’t make him foolish or fragile as she knew he worried they did, no: they made him shine.

The classroom was becoming louder as Amity tried to gain control so they could start and Hunter knew they’d be starting soon. But all he wanted to do was watch her fuss over his tie like she just wanted an excuse to be close to him.

“Willow, I-,” he started and her eyes instantly darted up to him. He then realized that that may have been the first time he had used her first name. He said it so gently, like he was worried he wasn’t worthy of it. She looked at him with wide eyes, like she hoped he’d say it again.

“Yeah?”

“I uh… I guess better head inside,” Hunter said, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. Both because he didn’t want to leave and because that wasn’t what he wanted to say.

“Guess you’d better,” she echoed, though she did not release him.

“But thank you again,” he said. “For helping me, for getting me here. No one’s ever done something like that for me before.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have plenty of experience with being a no one, huh?” She said coyly. She knew he was about to protest, but before he had the chance to, she rose up and slyly pressed a quick kiss to his check. “Good luck, Mr. Student Council,” she whispered with a playful wink, doing one more small spin before skating away, leaving him stunned by the lockers.

She knew she had left a faint lipstick mark on his face, and from the corner of her eyes she noticed that he could not bring himself to wipe it off before finally heading inside.

Must not be a dress code violation, she thought to herself. Good to know.

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Retrospective Season 1 Finale: Remain in Light (Patreon Review for Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy Autobots. It's been over a year, two spotlight issues, a two issue prequel, an annual and as of this review, 22 issues but we've done it we've reached the end of more than meets the eye season 1.

It's been a long project but one of my faviorites, one I always wanted to do but simply didn't have the time on my own and was more than happy when Brotoman commissioned these. I owe him a world of gratitude for his support and patience. Without him I woudln't of been able to talk about gay disfunctional robots every month and for that, i'm eternally grateful. This is one of my faviorite comics and re-reading it slowly and intently has only solidified that.

So a few things before we dive into this wonderful story: The first is something I forgot to mention last time that brotoman pointed out, something important I missed in my tired daze: How big a moment Rewind saying "I Love You" To chromedome is.

See before this, the series was coy about the two: It made it damn obvious the two were a couple.. but also used terms like them being "friends" and no one using words like couple, common law husbands or pound pals. The two were just a duo at first and if you were a mite thick headed like yours truly, who at the time I first read the comic didn't look for gay subtext like a bloodhound after a cheeseburger, you'd miss it. It was still obvious, the way they act around each other, their history, the way they fight.. the two are ENTIRELY an old married couple and act it and anyone looking closely could see that. But Roberts knew that those three little words were, to quote an interview with Sequart Orignization, a step up.

All that said, the Chromedome/Rewind relationship stepped up a gear – and moved fully into the open – with issue #16, when Rewind tells Chromedome (not for the first time, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it on the page) that he loves him. I was conscious that this was really nailing certain colors to the mast, and I was ready to make a case for those three words to stay in the script. But both John and Michael Kelly at Hasbro were incredibly supportive and encouraging, and the declaration of love survived the editing process. The reaction to the first Transformers gay couple was amazing – overwhelmingly positive. To be honest, I thought most people would be pretty cool with it, because most people are sensible and decent, but it was still encouraging to see. Hooray for Transformers fans."

I"m happy to hear that the reception was entirely positive and that Hasbro was supportive. I'm sure there are still a few idiots who were again it here and there, but like those who actively deny huntlow happened.. their a few idiots who can't accept objective reality and there's only one way to deal with them

Moving on to Remain in Light itself, We need to talk about the big shockwave shaped elephant in the room. Dark Cybertron is intended to be the finale for both this and Robots in Disguises' first season, a big epic crossover to shake up both series status quos and onboard us into season 2.

In practice.. it's the big showy finale to Robots in Disguise with the MTMTE cast guest starring. It's still VITAL to MTMTE, I would've simply recapped it like I intend to recap RID if that weren't the case: Nautica and Nightbeat are introduced, joining the crew in season 2, Megatron has his heel realization that leads to him also joining the crew, Cybertron finds out Prowl didn't kill MOST of the lost lighters (RIP Rewind I), and Chromedome powerbombs the motherfucker off a cliff.

I'll unpack this scene more when we properly get to it but I cannot see Prowl get powerbombed off a cliff while he's somehow SHOCKED this happened despite begging for it. It's Dellliccciooousss.

The fact is while a crossover was inevitable the death fakeout meant both books were completely isolated from each other, and thus their plots.. really don't intersect much. Prowl's actions have consequences and his baiting Chromdome leads to bad shit over in RID, but for the most part the two books are their own stories and their own spheres and by the time they intersect it works well enough... but it's clear they just work better on their own. It's likely why the third addition to this line, Windblade (both volumes) was made to stand on it's own while having an easier time intersecting back with Cybertron as our heroes are one teleport away versus the lost light being deep in space and in it's own character stuff. Windblade, btw is fucking great and I intend to cover it at some point, just not as part of this retrospective. It's it's own beautiful thing.

So while Lost Light was going to get into the Dark Cybertron hype, it needed to cap off it's own story first as it would've been a bit much to try and cram two series with a wide buffet of ongoing plots and plans together. So we get Remain in LIght where a LOT of character arcs are paid off, a few questions are answered, and a few things are set up for both next season and the eventual finale of the series. As usual it's remarkable how much Roberts set up, but here's where it gets to payoff more: last arc paid off the overlord conspiracy and rewind and chromedome's relationship, this one pays off magnus' breakdown, the circle of light and even where we found skids and just what was chasing him. It's a true epic and I can't wait to share it with you under the cut.

Part 1 picks up exactly where we left off: Tailgate is running to tell Cyclonus some "stupid news" while Rodimus, Blaster and Ambulon look over the security footage since Ratchet was busy telling Tailgate he gonna die. And to remind us Ambulon exists before the carnage to come.

For now Blaster's friend Mainframe is able to track the shuttle, so Rodimus is rounding up a crew to go find Magnus, with a determination we've scarely seen and a grimness we really haven't.

Meanwhile it turns out Tailgate's sickness... is cybercois, a condition that slowly kills the trnasformer, taking away their movement , speech and eventually memory.. and given memories of this place are all Tailgate really has he didn't take it well. Cyclonus urges tailgate to face his death with dignity and head on, agreeing to keep it secret and leaving... to mutilate his own face with a large scrap, enraged the one person he has on this ship is about to die and he can't just cut his diseas in half.

Hot Rod leads the crew to a big hole, making it very clear that he dosen't care what they ahve to say their going in... and for once his impusilvness pays off as what he finds is Luna 1, cybertron's missing moon which was mentioned before and I honestly forgot was the setting for this arc but it's a brilliant payoff and a way to have Rodimus have acomplished something big: he found one of the lost moons. Even if the quest has gone nowhere, this is still pretty damn big and he has perceptor confirm it. What's more curious, even if Perciptor dosen't buy it? Luna has a BILLION PEOPLE on board.

So Rodimus assembles his crack team.. and this is the first time we really see what we'll call Team Rodimus come together: While Rodimus has interacted with all these guys before, this is where it becomes clear how much he cares about them as more than just his crew:

First recurit is Rung whose surpised after Rodimus' outburst last time they talked. Naturally that's exactlyw hy: Rodimus flipped out largely because it was something he didn't want to hear... and with magnus gone he NEEDS that opposing opinon.

The rest of the team includes Brainstorm, whose happy to go and is already packed (holds up suitcase), Ratchet as the Medic, Perceptor as the more stable science guy to Brainstorm's mad scientest, and Whirl... who Rodimus flat out admits he just needs to throw a punch. Also going along is Chromedome, who Skids begs to help him: Since LUna 1 is allegedly's a giant treasure trove, Skids wants something to repair his memory. Swerve also wants to go but is harshly turned down by rodimus due to limited capacity, while Cyclonus agrees to go and take Drift's place as spirtual advisor, since he's the most religious person on the ship left, which he agrees to if Tailgate can come.

What I really get from this is while Rodimus is asking most on qulaifications, only being really straight with Rung.. like I said this shows who he really cares about: his team has to be small and he's a dick to swerve.. but it's likely more he knows Swerve might be in danger here and if there were room, skids and swerve would be along. These are who he can count on, who he's leaned on, who he needs without his two main supports on the ship. And this team will only grow as time goes on.

For now Team Rodimus heads to the planet, with Tailgate hoping to find a cure and Cyclonus.. thinking hope is a lie and telling him to never hope. And also he killed his puppy. He made him a puppy and then he stabbed it. A bunch. And then he showed tailgate the pictures.

Anyway our heroes land on the seemingly barren moon only to find...

IT's a hell of a reveal, and one that will be vastly important down the line... it won't really have any consequences for NOW but just remember this in a few years when we get to the final arc. For now jus tnejoy the sense of wonder on everyone's face: even Ratchet, the crankiest of crank and Tailgate who

We then find out what constructed cold means as Tailgate asks... granted I think I covered this definition back in chapter 1, but as a reminder; cold construction is making a cybertronian via "Spark splicing" using a bit of someone elses to craft a new one. This was in part due to demmand: Cybertron couldn't expand out into the cosmos if it didn't have enough people. Problem is as we've seen like any society Cybertron is quick to prejudice, and thus once Nova Prime who invented the process left, many a city started trying to "prove" constructed cold bots were inferior, something Chromedome is still bitter about and rightfully so.

It's about then things go to hell: On the ship commuincation is suddenly blocked between the bridge crew and away team, and Skids hears some clanking. on Luna 1, our heroes are soon swarmed by decepticons as Lockdown arrives

Okay probably not the right reaction but for those curious who this guy is, Lockdown was one of the handful of original characters from Transformers Animated, my faviorite transformers show and the one that reignited my spark for this fandom. And then this comic did it again, it's a bit cyclical. Point is even if I badly need a refresher on that series, Lockdown was their kraven the hunter, a bounty hunter who hunted down autobots for the decepticons, mostly working for them out of necisity and largely being his own man, so he fits for being a gun for hire for someone else. He sadly dosen't get as much to do here, at least in this season I can't remember if he shows up again, but it's just nice to see something from Animated imported as later installments tend to either make new transformers or stick with the core ones.

On the ship.. things are worse... Skids is confronted by those mysterious robots, who i'll just go ahead and call by their proper names: Legislators... only this time their giant sized and emerging out of the oil pool. What's worse is they soon creep up on EVERY deck of the ship, all shouting the same thing: 1984. Oh and in case you thought things couldn't get any worse as Team Rodimus flees... Ratchet is shot down and isolated....

We pick up from the siege in issue 2: the ship's overrun, our heroes are outgunned and only Swerve is able to land a solid hit as only one came to Swerves

... admitely I just wanted to show off the my first blaster. (Clears throat)

SAY YOU, LITTLE AUTOBOT. YOU WANT TO SHOOT THINGS WITH ALL THE BIG KIDS BUT YOU CAN'T FIRE THEIR BIG OLD GUNS FOR BIG OLD BOTS WITH YOUR WIDDLE BITTY BABY HANDS? TRY MY FIRST BLASTER! MY FIRST BLASTER IS A GUN DEISGNED FOR LITTLE FELLAS LIKE YOU. jUST POINT SHOOT AND MY FIRST BLASTER WILL TELL YOU IF YOU DID AND SUPPORT YOU IF YOUR NOT. MY FIRST BLASTER, FROM BRAINSTORM INC A DIVISON OF BRAINSTORM IS SMARTER THAN YOU LLC.

WARNING: NOT SELLABLE ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE LOST LIGHT. DO NOT GIVE TO BOTS UNDER 1. DO NOT USE WHILE DRUNK UNLESS IT'D BE REALLY FUNNY. COPYRIGHT VIOLATERS WILL BE HUNTED DOWN AND DIPPED IN ACID.

Meanwhile Skids continues his fight and easily wins using his super learning, able to predict his new foes attack easily and counter it.. the problem is while it's a great skill when your fighting a few of Legislators.. it's not so great when your fighting NINE of them and they'll likely keep coming.

So back on Luna 1.. it isn't much better. Whirl and Cyclonus get seperated from the group, and Rodimus, while finding out Ratchet got taken down from tailgate.. simply can't go back for him.

Rodimus then procedes to do some dope as hell sacrlige as he plunges into a titans corpse to give him more room to evade their captors. Sadly while his moves are dope as fuck and Lockdown is sure to give them the slow clap they deserve.. he's already gotten everyone else. After taking a second to tell pharma everyone else hates him, a worthy use of his time. What a legend.

So our heroes end up in a jail cell where, for the past two issues, Rodimus has been recapping these events to Minimus, his cellmate.. who looks an awful lot like someone a certain dead bot was looking for.. hmmm. Questions for later.

For now Rodimus admits they weren't just dumped in a cell first, as Rodimus correctly figures Lockdowns taking them to his boss: a long lost moon as a base, teleport tech.. all of this screams big bad.. and Lockdown is at the end of the day a guy just doing his job. Pharma mentioning a collective "lord and master earlier" already told us this, but it's a nice character bit, shows that beneath his reckleness Rodimus is far smarter than he appears and far more capable than most give him credit for. He's an idiot, sure, but he's one with great skill and intiution.

And sure enough there is a big bad behind all this.. and of all people it's..

I was as shocked as rodimus but it's a clever rug pull: We've seen Chief Tyrest brought up a lot, his accords are what Ultra Magnus is duly appointed enforcer of and back in Last Stand of the Wreckers, he's the one who oversaw the Aquetius trials. So seeing him show up is a suprise... but seeing him be BEHIND all this is a nice swerve. He also makes a perfect contrast to our crew: the embodiment of order and rigidity veruss our far looser, far more human crew. Metaphorically I mean thir still giant robots.

Tyrest is being an obstinante dick, proving he really is Magnus' boss, charging our heroes with crimes against creation. We find out our ambus ISN'T dominus, but his brother minimus, an allged energon trader who hasn't tried to escape because he's waiting for his day in court, a BIGGGGG honking neon sign of a clue at who this guy is. But more on that later, for now Tailgate has a bit of a breakdown, with no one knowing why since he didn't tell anyone present he's dying and could be trapped here for what days remain.

Meanwhile Ratchet.. is not doing any better, with Pharma torturning him, showing off his new shapeshifting hands which can become TWO chainsaws. That double groovey. He's no less stable than last time, but now he dosen't need to PRETEND to be and is honestly an even better villian on return: he has a joker style quality to him as he fiddles with his double groovy hands and plays with ratchet making him ask what's in THE BOX

Turns out 9 robots vs skids does just mean send more legislators and we get a nice speech from the guy, with him pointing out how the Lost Light took him in, cared for him and welcomed him no questions asked.. and

Unfortunately while Skid is totally badass.. he's also wiped.. and thus dosen't see this coming

We'll get into who this fine bastard is later, for now he knocks out Swerve too.

Back in Prison, Tailgate asks about tyrest, noting Nova Prime had a chief science offer of the same name.. the same guy. We get Tyrest's backstory: He was a nobody until the war when, with Dai Atlas' help , they helped 10,000 neutrals off world. Tyrest returned to TRY and broker peace, simply two city states, one for each side, but naturally since one of those sides was Megatron that never went anywhere. It instead lead to the Tyrest Accords, a series of rules of engagment the biggest being not exporting cybertronian weaponry. It's thanks to him the universe isn't a smoldering crater and thanks to Optimus he's chief justice.

As for what he's doing here... no one has a clue. He was last seen during the Aquetius trials, which Rodimus helpfully recaps: trials using a judging machine that 100% predicts guilt, and hasn't been seen since the trials. They also pass around energon sticks, something equivlent to either gum or cigarettes or autobot slim jims

Rung offers Minimus to snap into one.. then delberately spills it and spills it more, causing him to HAVE to get them off the ground and organized... and proving what Rung's figured all along:

Yup, while Ultra Magnus was indeed Ultra Magnus... he was also Minimus Ambus. It's complicated and naturally Hot Rod's a bit confused, so Magnus backs it up slightly: he war bought into luna one and reparied... then smacked in the face by tyrest.

Tyrest decides just bitchslapping Magnus PHYSICALLY isn't enougH: having read his logs and found his actions disgraceful, both the micromanagment and the various fraternizations, he disables the armor and left ambus as he was.

As for why Magnus was a fancy suit of armor, turns out Ultra Magnus is a legacy of brave autobots, all one percenters.. but smaller rewind sized ones, Loadbearers. So while their not super tanks from the start.. it means they can be heavily modified and thus wear the Magnus Armor. The Magnus Armor was forged after the original Magnus, a real brave bot, died: Tyrest saw what fear and awe he imposed and realized he could exploit that and thus created an "immortal lawman". If this is sounding very sinestro to you and making you nervous, that's the idea. As for why small transformers it's simply that most cybertronians can't get fancy armored add ons" too much and they freeze up. A loadbearer has plenty.

So our magnus, Minimus was the latest.. and seemingly last. He also has ten days left.. but it turns out Pharma wasn't lying: Tyrests doctors can work miracle.

Back in the flashback, we get a recontexulization of Magnus character from Tyrest, who isn't exactly reliable , hence why I didn't think too heaviyl about his words before.. but in hindsight.. they make perfect sense and the interview I mentioned backs it up: Magnus.. had a nervous breakdown.

For most of the lost lighters the war ending is a fresh start: the war is over.. but for the bulk of them the war wasn't something they fit into. They were fighting because they had no real choice or had been for too long. And in the case of some like Chromedome the war simply took one terrible thing they were forced into and swapped it for another. The war ending means a chance ot start over and do anything else.

Magnus... fit perfectly. He was a stickler for order, a natural talented combatant, and while he was the latest to wear this armor, he more than earned it. The war was chaotic and horrible, but it also had rules, a clear bad guy (even if this book shows there's still plenty shades of grey in the autobots), and a clear end goal. Life.. dosen't have those. LIfe is just doing your best and hoping today is good. It's not perfect, it's often messy, but it's just how it is. Magnus didn't really have to worry about small talk or what he does with the rest of his life.

It also explains why he took the lost light: it was seemingly close to what he'd been doing: going through space, righting wrongs, etc, all. Cybertron would've had more order.. but it was also filled with thousands of bots who resented him for everything he'd had to do over the war, and a new world he understood even less. It was the lesser of two evils, so he overcompesated by becoming anal retintive in the extreme. He's a soldier who simply couldn't cope with the war being over, a tale sadly as old as the nasty institution itself and didn't get himself the help he needed.

Magnus replacement.. was Star Saber, that guy we saw make Skids into a kebab. Magnus was mostly talking to them though.. because he was curious. He asked to be put in there as.. nothing is adding up: the decepticons, the titan, and now this "crimes against creation" charge that wasn't in the laws before. magnus, still being a tad naive even after all of this, goes to talk to tyrest.

While he does, WHirl and Cyclonus have escaped having killed a bunch of decipticons themselves and after their done getting to the numbers, see a cell block above... identified as such because it's directly over a giant smelting pool, as whirl puts it "a prison you can dunk" Whirl of all people is the logical one here: They need a ton of weapons to go rescue the others, and he can sniff an armory. Somehow. Honestly I'd question it but if anyone could find weapons through sheer force of will it's whirl.

Back with the head tha twouldn't die, Ratchet assumes this is about revenge.. and it is, Pharma wanted to hunt ratchet down, but his main goal

Thing is Pharma's a mite bit paranoid and hasn't removed them because their hard locked, and he assumes rigged to explode. Ratchet uses this to his advantage: he calls Pharma a coward, stating that he really didn't do it because he's scared he can't and essentially challenges him to a surgery duel: first to fix it win. Honestly Chicago Med and Grey's Anatomy could use WAY more of those. I'd watch every episode twice if it was a death sport race to see who can surgery faster. Get it on it Dick Wolf and Shondra Rhymes!

So back with the bicker twins, Cyclonus and Whirl argue, with Cyclonus pointing out byu this point.. Whirl could've had his own hands back and his face if he wanted, with Whirl genuinely worried if he stops being angry, he wouldn't be him anymore. Cyclonus gets stabbed from behind for our THIRD stabbing this story and our FOURTH in the last few issues, but it's not fatal, Whirl saves him.. and our dynamic duo find the prisoners: not our heroes, who are as it turns out somewhere else.. but the circle of light. It's why they have so many swords avaliable.

Back with Ratchet he made a bit of a tactical error.. while his gambit was clever.. he forgot that Pharma is basically the joker now and thus had ambulon and first aid brought here as swerve and skids were to Team Rodimus cell: their going to be the guinea pigs and despite ratchet's begging, he can't get the contest called off. This is happening. And unfortunately for ambulon instead of across the waist... Pharma decides to go lengthwise.

Semantics point is ambulon is super fucking dead and purple chainsaw blood is all over. It's a brutal, horrifying death.. and tha'ts really the only reason it works. That Pharma set up this horrifying death game, when he could've just done minor surgery and used one of the Legislators, since they aren't really sapient at this point anyway. Otherwise.. Ambulon is a guy we barely knew who disappeared entirely: Pipes was also mostly absent till his death.. but Pipes felt like an actual character and had enough characteirzation up to his death. Ambulon.. feels like he was kept on just for this chainsaw death since First Aid had more to give. It's not a bad death, I mean... look at that gore, but it's not as weighty especially coming after two big tearjerking ones.

Back at the cells, Swerve fills the rest of the crew in: the legislators have locked down the place, and he tells them about Star Saber, who it turns out in this unvierse is a notorious evangelical nutball who tried to do atheist genocide. So you know the MOST stable person to give a big sword. Star Saber being made into a villian.. was a bit contervseral according to tv tropes. Saber Originally was the optimus prime equilvent for one of the G1 animes, Transformers Victory, having a neat design and big old sword. So making him into a sociopathic religious nut wasn't the best for some. Me I think it's fine: the series already has plenty of heroic autobots and it helps reinforce the idea that being on the autobots .. dosen't make you a good person. Same with Tyrest.

He shows up to drop off a new prisoner.. and it makes Chromedome have a relization: when Skids memory was begging for estape it was asking for getaway... the autobot whose now being loaded into their cells.

Minimus goes to confront Tyrest who couldn't give a shit what Magnus thinks.. but is willing to explain what his grand evil plan is and why he's doing all this supervillian nonsense: guilt. Turns out Tyrest is one of the archetechts of Cold Construction, and instead of using sparks.. it used the matrix. This is a brilliant move and explains why, with cold construction only stopping fo ra bit because it was assumed the matrix was dry when really someone stole it assuming this was blasphemous.

And sadly. Tyrest has started to agree. The Aquetius trials drove him around the bend, with all the guilt and horrible actions of the autobots on trial getting to him.. to the point he started to drill into himself, hence the holes.. including one in his own head. Huh Egon WAS right it would've worked.. as Tyrest saw something beckoning him and thus the space bridge is a portal to cyberutopia itself. But being ... unhinged to say the least, Tyrest has decided he has to atone first... since all the criminals on trial were constructed cold, he assumes their an abomination and plans to use a literal killswitch to kill every last one tommorow. And beofre Minimus can stop this.. he has a legislator squish the poor guy's head.

Onto Part 4. After a reminder of the various gushers of blood abound, we cut to a fight with Whirl, Cyclonus and the Circle of Light. Turns out the circle had been cut down a bit, but is still a massive army, allowing for an epic battle while everything elses going on and the revelation that will come in hand in a bit that Cyclonus, being a true believer, can power their faithswords, which use energy from a spark to do something something something religion. Look I'm being as through as I can, but this is a MASSIVE story arc.

In the Cell Getaway TRIES to have a reunion with Skids, while also introducing his catchphrase bomp.. basically a sort of fistbump he used to annoy skids. At any rate Skids can't remember anything but Getaway can and fills the rest of the cast in on Tyrest's madness, which is a term I try to be careful with as someone with a mental illness myself.. but really appleis to a man whose drilled a thousand holes into himself and is trying to do holy genocide right about now. When Rodimus mentions Ambus not being back yet... Getaway drops the bomb on him baby, he drops the bomb on him... that Ambus LURED them here.

Back with Team Holy Genocide, Tyrest explains how the hell he knows this switch will work to someone who was there for it: He kidnapped Pharma because Pharma is apparently famous for being Forged, so he could prove it wouldn't kill Forged transformers. THe attack on the circle of light? A whole cities worth of test subjects, taking ten thousand down to one thousnad. Speaking of which given the Circle is a mite testy about the genocide, Tyrest decides to handle the situation by.. letting the equally religious genocidal monster he keeps on payroll handle it.

Skids has a bit of a breakdown over his missing memories so not wanting to see his best friend break down further, Swerve asks Gateway to fill him in on what he's missing. Skids and Brainwave were partners in the Dipolmatic Corps... which was really Autobot Special Ops. What good would being spies be if they broadcasted that fact? They had a similar job as the wreckers, impossible missions and such, but while the Wreckers were more Impossible MIssions Force, going in somewhat subtle and always ending loud and dangling themselves off cliffs, the ASO were more the stale beer type of spy: get in, do the mission, maybe surivive.

Their mission this time was to put a mind bullet in Tyrest's head.. not kill him, to Skids relief, as the binary gun, that gun Skids couldn't find when he was introduced, wasn't designed to kill, simply implant a thought, and a very simple one at that: Resign. As for why, while Skids boss didn't know the fulls cope of what tyrest is doing he got the feeling something bad was going down given he was chasing down titans and talking to the decpticons. Sadly .. Skids missed, Tyrest set his horeds on them and while Skids escaped, he followed one last protocol: after all the binary gun had two bullets... and the other was used on him to erase the mission

To no one's suprise, Prowl's the spymaster here and to even less shockity shock, him prodding the already deranged man with a god complex led him to speed up his plans. The good news of all this though is Getaway.. can get the mout. He's an escapeologist, a master escape artist, macguver as a transformer and the only reason he hasn't busted out? He didn't have a fresh set of keys.

While Getaway plans his way out, so does Ratchet, who has an argument iwth first aid: First Aid makes the valid point that Ratchet has a savior complex; he hasn't really retired.. because he dosen't think anyone else can do the job as well as him. Turns out this isn't it: Ratchet didn't let first aid help.. because Ambulon was long dead by chainsaw to the face, and he simply was stalling to weaponize his corpse, a nice little callback to drift doing the same. The two argue over what to do with Pharma, Ratchet not wanting to sink to his level and First Aid wisely feeling Pharma will just come back to haunt them again, if probably not the one to do it since i'ts clearly out of anger his friend we saw maybe once just got chainsawed in half by the guy.

The argument is interupted by Team Rodimus. Turns out the keys... were all the stuff on everyone and using Brainstorms breifcase straps (he had it on him as it's designed that only those who KNOW it's there see it) and Chromedome's fingers to create a dart gun, knock out the guard then have everyone use the sticks on the bars at the same time. THeir out, and Tailgate is hopeful he can find a cure. And what I like, and forgot to mention is HOW Luna 1's a treasure chest: it's not because it was lost. Luna 1.. is just luna 2 with a diffrent name. But since Tyrest took up refrence he also took every bit of treasure the magnuses had built up with him and thus he really CAN work medical miracles. It's juts without Pharma.. they might not be able to.

For now it's time to light up the stage cause it's time for a showdown. With team two guys , a religoius leader an an army it's not great as the legislators won't stop and there's a LOT of them, and Star Saber makes it worse. While Dai Atlas does his best against his polar oppiste.. Saber snidely tells him "Primus hates you and stabs the life out of him"

Team Rodimus don't have it much better.. they arrive, point a gattling gun at Tyrests face.. and tyrest simply activates his staff and the bodies hit the floor. It's a subsonic suggestion they can't move, so powerful they don't even belivie it when he tells them and with that.. he pulls the switch. Brainstorm and Chromedome start to fade.. and they aren't alone...

It's a brutal sequence ending with the scavengers... and with that tyrest has almost won, and all he has to do.. is step into the light of his portal as it activates.

So as the final chapter opens, Tyrest is about to get his big prize when...

It's a clever save: Tailgate's condition had been front and center for most of this arc, Ratchet outlined loss of functions.. it's poetry. I also love him jamming his finger in the head hole, it's a detail I did'nt notice till writing this but I love it.

WIth that the rest of the crew can rally.. but Tyrest uses tailgate as a human shield with Tailgate revelaing his condition so Rodimus can shoot.. but Rodimus has grown from the incident with fort max and can't bring himself too... thankfully..

Before we can process "how the hell is magnus still alive", we cut to the battle outside and we get an awesome fight with Cyclonus and Starsaber, with Cyclonus stabbing the fucker in the eye.. before he gets teleported away. Where? Well.. that's al ong ways off from being answered, but for now he's away from gutting people range so that's good at least. Back with Team Rodimus, Rodders asks what we're all thinking "What the hell". Turns out in a clever, if still somewhat labored twist... Minimus didn't tell them HOW many loads he was carring. This is as far down as he goes, but it still makes a lot of sense. Tyrest not KNOWING this dosen't, but we can handwave it as Tyrest assuming he got the heads and just.. not carring enough about magnus to double check the corpse, a mistage that made him into one.

Our heroes need to scramble to find someway to shut off the killswitch though as Tyrest was still sane enough to not put a shutoff on it. Before they can deal with that properlyt hough, Pharma heads into the portal with First Aid giving chase.. and Pharma saying far more than he needs to, chuckling and grinning about all the autbots at delphi and bursting into laughter about his lengthwise joke... and soon bursting from the head as first aid shoots him.. and then collapses, not able to deal with taking a life for the first time

It's a powerful moment. Pharma absoltuely deserved to get his head burst... but it's still a life and it dosen't, as first aid clearly hope, make the pain of everyone he's lost go away.

So while this goes on Perciptor has a hail mary: he hooks rodimus up to it, which MIGHT hurt him and will defintely destroy their matrix piece, using it to undo the code. While Rodimus makes a "there goes our map" quip.. it's very clear he has no intention of backing out: personal glory isn't worth the deaths of everyone.

So with Death on the way he decides to clear the air with Magnus, ask if he really betrayed them. Turns out.. yeah he entirely lured them out here, having become disturbed with Rodimus' increasing irresponsiblity. It wasn't a full trap as he had no idea Tyrest was so far gone, he just wanted him to give Rodders a lecture, snap him out of it, tha tsort of thing not you know, nearly kill them all and then try to commit genocide as an encore. It speaks to who Magnus is: he's orderly.. but he's not the zealot his former boss is. He just wants to do the right thing.

And so does rodimus..w hich leads to one hell of a confession

It's a powerful moment an da wakeup call for rodimus: while he's still carefree after this... it's him realizing he's been way too caviler.. and let his own ego and pride get people killed. And he needs to , instead of hiding from it like he did, face the conseqeucnes of his actions. It's also a nice moment in that instead of seeing his sacrifice as a way out or a glorious way to redeem himself as he might have before the incident... instead Rodimus just hopes he lives long enough to begin the real work.

As he writhes in pain, Tyrest.. turns out not to be dead and says one word: one... which sends all the legislators their way.

In the meantime Skids ends up on Cyberutopia.. yeah... in a big reveal it, or some form of it exists and skids ended up there due to taking the portal: it was blocking anyone who had guilt in them, and Skids.. finally felt free enough to try it.

What he saw there will be important later but for now the plan worked: everyone is saved and Whirl celebrates, deciding to put the past behind him and cyclonus... and after a quick murder fantasy Cyclonus agrees. He has somewhere more important to be.

Back in the control room the legislators swarm and Skids shows up to help.. while something takes Ambulon's corpse through the portal. No time to dwell on that setup now as the legislators need to be stopped..a nd it's tailgate who once again saves the day in a brilliant way too. Remember how Magnus had him memorize the law and just about everything including the dimensions of the kitchen sink? Well when finding out the law computer is right there, this allows tailgate to easily write a new one REPEALLING them all. the legislators freeze, our heroes win the day, and Tyrest vanishes. And sadly while Tailgate won the day.. he passes out.

Thankfully we have a solution: on his deathbed we get a very poginant line from Tailgate, the little bot who simply wanted to be special and important...

It's a small line.. but one that sums up the comic> life isn't about being a big hero or saving the unvierse, though our heroes certainly did that.. it's abotu living it. It can be hard, messy and often rediculous.. but it's more than worth it.. and with that Cyclonus gives Tailgate the gift of life.. by stabbing him in the chest

And for once.. IT IS HEALTHY as it was a way to do a spark transfusion, one Whirl of all people brought up. It was risky.. but it was worth it.

So as Rodimus decides to bounce, deciding this big discovery wasn't really wroth it with one crew member dead, first aid traumitzied and brainstorm in his lab, unknown to all having taken the super spark, and the rest of the sparks having gone quiet after the matrix became dust.. he's lost.

Magnus however.. is found. He may not know what his future is.. but he's finally at some sort of peace.. and has a ncie gentle talk with cyclonus

Remain in Light was one of my faviorite arcs of lost light.. and re-reading it only clinched that view: it's a tense epic that's fast paced but manages to cover a LOT of ground without anything feeling underserved, and the result is stunning. It's a worthy end to season 1.

And it WOULD be where we leave off.. but before dark cybertron we have one issue left, issue 22.

Little Victories is a nice Coda to the season, an issue I skimmed over the first time I read the comic due to the art... not being great. Artist James Raiz takes over from here through dark cybertron and his art style isn't bad, being kind of sketchy and gritty. Not my cup of tea but not bad art. The problem.. is that the art style dosen't fit lost light at all. I mean look at this panel with cyclonus

It's a good joke, but it looks just so dead serous and grungy. It just dosen't fit what's entirely a slice of life issue, showing a recuritment film Rewind made before his untimely passing.

That said giving the issue a second chance or two i've come around... once your ready for the jarring art shift, you can enjoy the story with plenty of fun documentary gags including Magnus having part of the film removed and getting editiing rights, as well as having Swerves swears censored.

There's two plots here: The first involves everyone being curious what Rungs alt mode is, with Swerve having a bet as to who can get him to show it first, leading to a really great, really stupid joke

I love this comic for it's deep characters, engaging plot and world building.. but I also love that a large part of the comic is just roberts letting these robots act like jackasses. It makes them so damn relatable. I mean someone had to try this.

The other is Thunderclash, what a guy. Thunderclash is a legendary hero and the king of the parody sues, a guy so noble and kind that even optimus looks up to him, a hero unparalleled. He's this series Ace Rimmer, and intentionally too as Roberts is a big red dwarf fan, something that isn't a huge suprise but is welcome.

For those not familiar with Ace, he's the alternate counterpart of Red Dwarf's Arnold Rimmer, an uptight attempted ladder climber who usually fails due to his own incomptience and ego, while Ace is everything Arnold WISHES he could be: Smart, handsome, good with a joke, beloved.

So naturually someone like Rodimus, full of ego and self importance himself, needed someone just simply better than him doing the same job who everyone on his crew unabashadely loves. Thunderclash is just.. that nice and I love the ways they bend over backwards to make EVERYONE fall for this guy, from him being one of the few autbots to be nice to cyclonus and earn his genuine respect with his knoweldge, to teaching Perciptor of all people something. It's just great fun and it's just as fun to watch Hot Rod gnash his teeth over someone else getting all the attention.

There's also a third kinda plot as the crew runs into the Ammonites, a group of robots fighting a forever war with some bug aliens that whirl seemingly end sin ten minutes. We don't know how and tha'ts how I sleep at night

All three collide at the end: Thunderclash's ship needs a jump, esspecailly since, while an epic hero of epicness, he's dying: the ship is Thunderclash's life support and being the autobot's own personal jesus, he's naturally using this time to save everyone he can. It's why his crew's behind on their own quest for the knights.

Sadly one of his crew turns out to be an ammonite spy and they turn out to not have been the good guys, thankfully Rung has an idea and turns into a blunt insturment. Or is it an object. point is he's blunt, hard and blunt. As for WHAT he is...

This will be important going forward, and in hindsight may be one of the most important little bits in this issue. Thunderclash will be too.

We then get the ending which is... eh in my eyes. I like Lost Light's comedy, I point you to just a few paragraphs ago with the stupid alt mode night joke. But this bit.. feels a bit of a stretch: it turns out the film was being screened to the circle of light who ALL, every one of them, boo hiss and complain about them all being fuckups. Besides being more than a little harsh... the film was made by a DEAD AUTOBOT. Rewind DIED before this was made and i'm damn sure they told them that. I like the jokes and I don't mind shots at how little the crews acomplished, it's a decent runner but here.. it just feels mean. Doubly so since the lost light JUST SAVED THEIR ASSES and the ENTIRE UNIVERSE, and not a one of them think tha'ts neat. We get a heartwarming ending showing how much it means but this joke.. just really dosen't work at all. One of Roberts rare misfires but boy is it off target.

That said the issue overall is fun and i'm glad I gave it a second shot. It's good stuff and like seemingly EVERYTHING before the finale itself, it's got a lot of setup.

Next Time: Before we can get to DARK CYBERTRON we have to see what everyone else has been up to

Thanks for reading

[fanboyvini]

i'm seeing a lot of posts about how huntlow is heteronormative or not canon, so here are my thoughts

First of all, "Heteronormativity is what makes heterosexuality seem coherent, natural and privileged. It involves the assumption that everyone is 'naturally' heterosexual, and that heterosexuality is an ideal, superior to lgbt."

A f/m couple is not heteronormative, it is something normal and will always exist as well as queer couples

"But it makes it seem like girls and boys can't be friends!"

Gus is friends with Willow, Amity and Luz. Hunter is friends with Luz and Amity

Luz and Amity being queer and being in a queer relationship is not like they are an exception for being queer, but exactly one of the reasons why the show (and huntlow) is not heteronormative, by using the right definition of the word

"They don't blush anymore"

Nor Raeda and Lumity. It's what happens in real life too, when we're in a long term relationship we don't end up blushing as much as we did at the beginning.

"But they didn't even kiss on the cheek!"

Well yes, but why can a romantic relationship only be confirmed canon if there's a kiss?

I honestly liked Dana's choice, and that's what happened with Shera 2018 season finale as well. In many media, queer characters are implicitly confirmed, but we all know they are queer canon. While non-queer characters and couples are explicitly confirmed.

Dana (and ND) simply reversed the roles by making f/m couples non-explicitly confirmed while queer couples are explicitly confirmed. This is brilliant!

"Willow becomes a damsel in distress who needs a guy's help!"

I'm going to have to stop you right here.

Willow's character arc is that she saw herself as weak and managed to get stronger physically and emotionally as time went on. On the one hand this is great, but as time went on Willow was no longer allowing herself to show "weakness" and talk about her feelings, because she didn't want to go back to being weak.

This also kinda happens with Hunter, the fear of being vulnerable.

Hell, this even happens to Amity in season one and even halfway through season two! (off topic i also want to make a post on amity about this later)

Being vulnerable with people who love you and not having that need to be strong all the time is not a bad thing! It's totally healthy!

And many times Hunter protects Willow, Willow protects him in others scenes too! (i can make a post about this scenes later too)

"Huntlow says that only romantic love heals!"

Eh... no? Hunter has several key moments with Luz and Gus (I think he would even have more with Amity and even Vee if the show wasn't cancelled).

Just rewatch Eclipse Lake (Amity tries to help Hunter), Hollow Mind (Luz and Eda tries to help Hunter), Labyrinth Runners (Gus helps Hunter with an anxiety breathing technique, and then Hunter helps Gus later in the ep), Thanks to them (Luz helps Hunter and then says he's family too) and For the Future (Gus and Willow talk about Flapjack and that they don't care if Hunter is a grimwalker, and then while Willow vents, Gus is there helping her too!!)

And what about Lumity and Raeda? Did the characters' problems go away when they got into a relationship and does the romantic love heal everything? of course not! the same goes for Huntlow

You're forgetting (or ignoring) the canon, and all the character development and their relationships

Just because the characters are in a romantic relationship doesn't mean they're implying that a romantic relationship is the only kind of relationship that matters or anything like that

[dizzycloudzzz]

Beta Huntlow

Headcanons ³

*in the "middle-to-end of season 2" phase, same cycle of friends and everyone against Belos

they were seriously trying to avoid talking to each other due to certain disagreements buuut what the Titan united no one separates and here they were together again, stucked together by a bond named Gus, planning how to stop Unity Day at Owl House (Hunter's new shelter, beggar skin for him

EW intimacy? EWW mutual trust overcoming insecurities?? EWWWWW small moments of peace shared amidst the chaos to try to keep each other sane??? I can't deal with these two, no time for this guys

Willow is a safe haven, safe place, safe shield, she wants to protect everyone and Hunter's included in that, so he feels safer

"Hunter is in his moment, he needed to be all alone so we left the house to him while we go shopping" "so why is Willow with him???" "who is with whom. ☠️"

"... this might work! I can actually help!" "you actually need to be helped. I only told you about the plan so you could trust it. but leave that to the adults, kay?" "wha- I'm older than you- THAN ALL OF YOU" "you're a big damn baby. go back to eating your ice cream" "... I'm doing this because I want to and not because you told me to"

both are very homely and lazy, mumbling sad/cute things (only) when they're sleepy. btw they're almost always sleeping (while they can without The Horrors™ and the nightmares) Willow's the big spoon obviously omT who said that

he lets his hair grow and take care of it like Rapunzel and she cuts her hair whenever she can so it takes less work

drama king and theater child X shut-the-fuck-up-I-want-to-read affectionately. "HOoooLY TITAN I WISH I HAD A GIRLFRIEND AS GORGEOUS AS YOoooooU" "huh who doesn't?"

"Park, honestly, you are different from other girls 🫵" "??????? you too, dude. what did Amity do this time?" "well since you asked BLIGHT PUT fIRE IN MY HAIR–"

he steals and hides her glasses sometimes because he's an annoying brat, Willow has spare glasses because of this (before she had to look for it in a "hot or cold" dumb game

they're very studious because STUDYING IS SO MUCH FUN 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓 nerds. (almost) all discussions are for scientific purposes

both talk a loooot (they like listening to each other btw) and are good speakers, like they know difficult words and have ✨impeccable✨ diction

Hunter sitting in the corner of the room, Willow in the other corner completely silent, Gus arrived "shh. Willow is having a meltdown." "oh, I thought you were..." "I was. she calmed me down and now it's her turn."

adhd boy 🤝 autistic girl