#toh criminal au

[childlikegoblinqueen]

SCOM WRITERS NOTES! For Criminal…

Darius and Willow (and Hunter)

First? Some mental health stuff.

I’m back and my brain is working overtime not to panic and obsess about things that are currently out of my control.

Not easy. I’m sick to my stomach most days and raising my kids who are now WAY more aware than they were when they were literal babies in 2016 and have a lot of thoughts about *things* takes up a lot of headspace.

I’m going to continue to (try) distracting myself with fan fiction and writing notes… but I may be slower because of everything.

So see below for a few notes about Criminal and how Darius’ (and Steve’s) actions after Willow’s actions frame things.

Darius’ track record of truth versus omissions of full truth is BAD in SCOM. I know that a LOT of folks thought I was deliberately anti Darius etc and that is something that they are entitled to believe, but certainly I was working more with the idea that people are messy AF, especially people coming from an underground resistance to a fascist government, and Darius had other hang ups considering his own relationship with Hunter’s predecessor.

Darius made bad decisions that he meant well by at the time and sometimes even overcompensated to fix which ended up costing more to begin with. This is a REALLY HUMAN PROBLEM. He chose to dive back into government (and mend and reform it) which means it was IMPOSSIBLE for him to share certain things with others on the outside.

In SCOM Hunter, coming from the place he had been all his life needed distance from anything involving government. The two things just couldn’t fit together and as Darius had admitted (and Bria twisted) he’d felt sick when he saw Hunter realizing just how badly he’d failed at not mentoring him, but being in his life.

That said? Everything he had done (for better or for worse) was to protect Hunter and keep him out of government affairs so he could remain a private citizen.

And a big one, that displayed a TON of bias was how he handled the situation between Willow and Kikimora.

He has a lot of compassion for Willow and recognizes very well how someone can be pushed SO FAR PSYCHOLOGICALLY when it comes to the thought of a loved one being hurt and abused.

Further? Kikimora (unlike Hunter and Willow) was a grown ass adult when this occurred (more on that later in the story).

Torture is NOT Willow’s go to by any means. She felt outside her own body when she acted as she had. A feeling both Darius (and Steve) are likely to understand. And they believe she deserves a chance at healing.

So taking her memory and getting her into therapy was part of protecting Willow and Hunter at the time. Not only did he see her as a child who couldn’t process her emotions over not being able to protect someone she loved, but he saw her actual horror at her actions.

This shouldn’t be definitive of her future anymore than Hunter should be defined by his time as a child under Belos.

[autistic-writer]

Owl House Juvie Luz AU

It all started with a small spark a spark that forever changed Luz life forever. A spark that set off the fire works leading to a fire in her school. Luz no longer had to go to Reality Check Summer Camp but it would have been kinder then her new destination. Luz spent 2 years in juvie while her mother had to shoulder the lawsuits made against Luz.

On her first night Luz gets a harsh case of reality check. Her bunkmates made her life miserable. It's made worse when they mercilessly burn or shred the Good Witch Azura in front of her laughing at her.

Two years later Luz exits Juvie a changed girl. The town sees Luz as a danger to society and Luz is now an official outcast. For all intents and purposes this was now just Luz in name only. She hates magic because it never was there to solve her problems, she hates people because they never let her forget what she did, and she hates her mom for letting the pigs send her in with the other bad kids.

It wasn't until Luz meets the boiling isles refugees King and Vee that ger life turns around. Luz enters the boiling isles to find a place of chaos and destruction under the rule of Belos while trying to reunite the orphans with their mother the Owl Lady.

But is Luz the hero the isles need or is she only looking out for herself? Tell me what you all think.

[crimeronan]

using picrew to figure out wtf luz looks like in the princess AU (i mean. she looks like luz. i'm trying to figure out hairstyle n clothes) and jumpscaring myself SO BAD upon choosing a low ponytail.

[fanofstuff01]

Ok I know I already have an AU similar to this but that one was inspired from TOH so fuck it.

Adam grew with and is working as a commander for a Queen named Sera -his 'mom'-, who he thinks is a great leader who cares for her kingdom and everyone in it.

And I think you can get she's the opposite of that. She rules the kingdom with an iron fist and simply kills or imprisons everyone who goes against her.

Or them being demons is enough for her too.

She sends Adam to do these in actuality, but poor baby thinks he's sent to actual criminals.

Lucifer is an ex angel a demon rebellion leader.

I have more for this

@things-arent-what-they-seem66 @decentsoupperson

[tartsinarat]

Ngl was thinking about this whilst drawing some toh au stuff while watching doctor who in the background but I really feel like Pip would really be into the toh version of doctor who.

no idea what it would be called tho in the owl house but Pip’s into it for obvious reasons of sci-fi but also occasionally randomly fantasy?? show, which has chaotic mess of lore that makes no sense whatsoever (I say this with extreme love tho) and has a main character who’s a mad genius and criminal who stole a time machine and ran away to explore the universe and time which I feel meshes very well into what Pip would enjoy

Like I don’t see him enjoying space frontier as it’s pretty much Star Trek and that show has an really optimistic grand view of the future, it focus mostly on the good of people as a whole and that anything can be achieved if people work together and put their minds to it, I can see why Hunter and Gus would enjoy it which I find really sweet and adorable

On the other hand Doctor who has a very complex but pessimistic view on people/the universe, it mainly focuses on the crazy situations that a lonely alien on who’s constantly running away but desperately trying their best at all times to either atone for what they did in the past or to help people across time and space which I think Pip would find more interesting and relatable.

He’d also probably think that all the historical stuff in doctor who is real and that Britain is just constantly getting invaded by aliens.

Funniest thing though about him discovering Doctor who is Pip finally learning what a British person is, and that he’s got a British accent himself as I’m pretty sure there’s literally no one on the boiling isles other than Belos and Pip have that accent so he wondered where it’s from.

Pip also enjoys this show even more because time travel is a concept in toh, soooooooo the guy is just itching to figure out how to make a real Tardis, the only thing stoping him is that he’s in the human realm and in the demon realm the titan themselves was like “nope not even risking it” and decided to never allow him to be able to find a time pool again (he was apart of the events of elsewhere and elsewhen along side Luz and Lilith… it was awkward between him and Philip to say the least but it was more on Pips part because he was like” holy shit is he an older me?? Or my great great- something?? grandad what is going on???” So he didn’t know how to react to that and neither did Luz who was like yep they’re related, and Philip was like “what a strange hooded kid, I didn’t know that demons could mimic accents and appearances so well, I should be stay wary of that abomination and slay it when I have the time”. Oh yeah Pip does almost get killed but Lilith springs into action and does the badass punch to stop Philip. Ngl I’ll have to draw this as a comic at some point because it’s interesting to imagine/draw)

As well I had some ideas of him in thanks to them dressed up in a nerdy doctor cosplay which I found fun but idk if that’ll end up being what I draw him as for his Halloween costume, all three were picked because they all had similar Pip personality wise and I feel like he would relate most to these three in particular;

Like Pip, 10 is pretty much a wild card personality wise depending on the situation he can either be a sad destructive arrogant bastard with a slight god complex who takes matters into his own hands because he believes that he’ll make the right decision without thinking about the consequences or be a lonely silly guy who rambles a lot and is always running around and just wants to have fun.

1 is a grumpy trickster that has strong opinions about right and wrong, he also appears rude or uncaring but actually cares a lot and is the guy who ran away and stole a fucking time machine. He and 14 (14 is basically a mature 10 but I was tempted to go with him instead of 10 but he doesn’t have the ego problem so 10 it was lmao) fought a god like being that’s from another dimension thats obsessed with playing games.

4 is a bit of an odd ball though, he’s the weirdest doctor out of the bunch. He’s pretty silly, but at times he’s shifts into being quite callous and broody but still has a heart of gold. As well as 4 seems to struggle a lot in acting human as he’s pretty distant, aloof and alien at points, he even emphasises a lot throughout his run how he’s not human. Which I feel Pip would find extremely relatable as well as enjoying 4’s adventurist spirit and his extreme hatred of authority.

I think 4 is Pips favourite so he’d most likely cosplay as him during thanks to them.

Omg almost completely forgot to mention but I didn’t add his scar on purpose, he’s used illusion magic to remove it to make the cosplay more accurate and because his curse at that point is showing more physically on his body at this point in season 3 (he goopy 😔) and I can imagine it’s hard to explain to people in public why you a rotting infected looking green scar across your face and an even worse looking arm that’s weirdly proportioned to your body.

[quadrantadvisor]

My TOH time travel au is like. The Collector never stopped the draining spell. Hunter escaped its influence by going to the Human Realm, but when they finally return, everyone else is gone. Goop Belos is at large, King never learned to get along with the Collector because he was busy grieving, The Boiling Isles are in chaos.

Some shit goes down, the group gets separated, and King ends up with Luz and Hunter. In a moment of final desperation, he connects with his dad, and they use their titan magic to send Hunter and Luz back in time, not in a predetermined time loop, like the time pools, but basically creating a new universe where they have the power to change things. It takes so much energy that to accomplish it, both titans have to give up their life force (a la Rise!TMNT movie).

Hunter and Luz are now a few months in the past. In their timeline, practically everyone they know died, and their little brother just gave his life to give them a second chance. They are traumatized and codependant and DESPERATE to stop the day of unity.

From everyone else's perspective, two masked criminals suddenly appeared in The Boiling Isles. They strike hard and fast, and no one knows what they look like or what they're trying to accomplish. They use stange magic no one's ever seen before, and the Emperor's Coven can't keep up with them.

One of their first criminal acts? Kidnapping the Golden Guard.

(They couldn't just leave him there.)

[polyhexian]

Y'know that genre of TOH fic where Hunter stumbles through the portal a few years pre-series and gets adopted by the Nocedas? Okay so like, eventually AU offshoot that follows that premise, except Jasper and Hawk Hunter are there too.

The Golden Guard and the Martlet get blasted through the portal door during a fight and it closes behind them and they're just like, well shit. They have a brief standoff until it becomes clear that they don't have an immediate way back and Hunter is like "OKAY, we are stuck in the Human Realm and as much as it pains me to say this, we need to call a temporary truce so we can work together to survive and find a way home." Potentially this isn't long after that time the Martlet saved Hunter from those people who were attempting to ransom him so he's a little more willing to work with the guy at the moment. Hunter is being VERY MATURE by making the call to cooperate with this criminal, since they obviously need to join forces in this strange and uncharted territory, though once they get home they'll go right back to being enemies. Meanwhile Jasper is like uhhhhhh this is not an eventuality I prepared for but I maybe I can turn it to our advantage.

They make camp in the old abandoned house, because it's just sensible. It's free shelter and it's where the portal spat them out, best to stick around the area. It rains the very first night and there is brief panic followed by the awe of "oh wow it really doesn't boil!" while they stand in it and marvel, which quickly changes to "oh shit now we're cold and wet". They continue to marvel from the cover of the porch and stare at the non-boiling rain and the green grass and trees.

Hunter and Jasper: Wow, it's just like he said.

Hunter, squinting at Jasper suspiciously: Wait, like who said?

Jasper: Uhhhh hey, look, is that a jackalope without antlers?

That night they discover that the issue with old dilapidated houses is that they leak. They're lying on the one patch of dry-but-not-dry-rotted floor and Jasper is like "Hunter. Hunter, please, just give me the staff. I can fix the roof in sixty seconds tops and I promise I'll give it right back" and Hunter is like "THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM GIVING YOU THE STAFF."

The next few days are filled with wilderness survival skills, which is a little ridiculous considering they're in a small pocket of woods in the middle of suburbia, but like, those are HUMANS out there, we can't just APPROACH them! Unfortunately, suburban woodland is not conducive to foraging. Hawk Hunter is adept at catching antlerless jackalopes so they've got that going for them.

Hunter is trying to figure out how to get home, but Jasper is well aware that that was Eda's portal they went through and is pretty sure that it isn't gonna reopen anytime soon. He's also realizing that this could actually be the opportunity he's been waiting for. If they don't go back to the Boiling Isles, he has time to explain things to Hunter. Even if the kid refuses to believe him, what's he gonna do? He can't run back and tell Belos. Jasper might actually have time to convince Hunter of the truth.

(Idk how to justify the portal not opening for 1-2 years, but for the sake of the plot the portal needs to not open. Maybe Eda's taking a break from the Human Realm because the trash slug pickings are so good. Maybe she comes through one time and Jasper pounces on her and tells her she can ONLY DO IT at a predetermined time when he can make sure Hunter doesn't see it. Heck, maybe JASPER somehow has the portal key and hasn't told Hunter and is well aware that the portal WON'T open because he's got their only ticket home… And much later this leads to "WE COULD'VE GONE HOME THIS WHOLE TIME???")

After a few days Jasper's feeling pretty confident that this might actually work so he's like, okay, look, if we're working together it's not really convenient for me to wear this mask all the time, so…I'm gonna take it off. Uh. Please don't freak out.

Hunter: WHY THE FUCK DO YOU LOOK LIKE ME?

Jasper: Hey look, Hawk's brought dinner, I'm gonna go skin this byyyyyyye.

Inevitably, Luz discovers them.

And this is the point where I need to change gears, because tbh I'm having the most fun imagining this AU from Camila's POV.

Luz is like "Mama, I've made some friends! They're magic! They're living in the abandoned house out back! I'm taking them snacks!"

Camila is like MIJA WHAT? and runs after her. She's expecting criminals or delinquents and instead finds a pair of Renaissance Faire hobos. The man is very polite but his son is glaring at her and Luz suspiciously and they both hedge around basic questions like "why are you living in this abandoned house?" and "where did you come from?" with very unconvincing answers. Camila's realistic side is telling her to call the police, but her sci-fi side is taking note of their pointy ears, and the fact that their clothes look way more functional and lived-in than any cosplay she's ever seen, and how Luz keeps insisting that they're magic, and she's just like…y'know what, I'm just gonna leave this be.

Except she can't stay uninvolved because Luz keeps hanging out with these people and she's…glad her daughter is finally making friends, but she is also keeping an eye on them. She has…some concerns.

Camila: So what kind of hawk is that?

Jasper: Uh…brown?

Camila: …Do you have a falconry license?

Jasper: A what?

Camila is like, oh my god. Do I need to call the Fish & Wildlife Service?

She goes over to check on them one day and finds them in the middle of an argument amplified by non-magical staff fighting and she's just like, oh my god. Do I need to call Child Protective Services? Then she realizes that actually Hunter is inflicting most of the injuries here and Jasper's just kinda taking it while Hunter yells at him and she's like. Do…do I need to call Adult Protective Services?

One day she finds them skinning a deer on their front porch and she's like YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT and they're like what, why? and she's like YOU NEED A HUNTING PERMIT and they're like…why?

At some point Jasper decides to go scope out the town and maybe find a way to acquire some supplies. Camila sees him walking out of the woods by her house and she runs outside to stop him.

Camila: Jasper! You can't just walk around with a mask on!

Jasper: What? Uh…okay, I guess it is a little flashy, I'll just wear the face covering.

Camila: Jasper, you cannot go into town with your face covered, we don't do that here.

Jasper: But my face is going to attract a lot of attention I'd rather avoid?

Camila: You are going to attract SO MUCH MORE attention if you COVER YOUR FACE like a CRIMINAL.

Jasper: Okay, I'll just pull my hood down really far.

Camila: NO ONE WEARS CAPES OR HOODS, JASPER, ESPECIALLY NOT IN SUMMER. Look, how about I just drive you around town, and if anyone asks we'll tell them you're an avid hiker who survived a grizzly bear attack.

Jasper: What's a grizzly bear?

Camila: I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that question. Let me get my car keys. And grab you a t-shirt.

Hunter says something about how Hawk Hunter is an unholy creation of "wild magic" that needs to be destroyed and Camila's like "oh my god Hunter, no, animal cruelty is WRONG, and also all birds of prey are federally protected species" and Hunter's like "it's made of wood, Mrs. Noceda, it's not even really alive" and Jasper bursts out "HUNTER, THINGS THAT ARE MADE OF PALISTROM WOOD ARE DEFINITELY REAL AND ALIVE!" and Camila doesn't understand the resulting argument but while they're yelling she looks at Hawk Hunter and says "if you need a place to hide just knock on my door" and he scrutinizes her for a moment before giving her a solemn nod. She doesn't want to consider the implications of how she apparently just communicated with a bird.

She's really hung up on whether or not she needs to report a kidnapping. On the one hand, they're obviously father and son. On the other hand, Hunter has mentioned needing to get back to his uncle, who apparently raised him, and he doesn't seem very familiar with Jasper at all, and most kidnappings are committed by family members… But also Hunter's uncle kinda sounds like a religious extremist so…maybe Jasper has reverse-kidnapped a kidnapped child?

Jasper obviously cares about Hunter, but Hunter's acting more like an antagonistic roommate than a son. Though maybe that's just a teenager thing? He really doesn't treat Jasper like he's his dad at all though, Camila's pretty sure Jasper didn't raise Hunter. Best she can figure, after piecing bits together over time, Hunter was raised by his religious extremist uncle, who Jasper was also involved with somehow but managed to get away from, and he seems to want to get Hunter away too, but Hunter doesn't agree.

She becomes reasonably certain that they mean no harm (not that they're harmless, she has SEEN them fight), and she has to admit that she likes them, and she supposes she should be grateful that Luz is making friends. But Camila is WELL AWARE that Jasper and Hunter are, like, not…okay. She's not sure what Jasper's deal is but he clearly has issues. Hunter is a nice kid but he walks this weird line between demanding things like he has the power to requisition whatever he wants on a whim and being super nervously polite. Camila refers to Jasper as Hunter's dad one time, and Hunter turns red and shouts "HE'S NOT MY DAD HE'S MY ARCH-NEMESIS" and Jasper just grimaces and Camila is like I have no idea what you two need therapy for but you DEFINITELY need it.

Luz keeps running off to the woods with her Azura books. She says Hunter nitpicks them for everything they get wrong about magic but she doesn't mind because it sparks interesting conversations about what real magic is like. Camila finds herself wondering if Hunter would be more interested in sci-fi.

She starts digging around in her basement to see if there's any old junk they can use. Jasper's like "oooh can I take this typewriter?" and she goes "oh, sure! do you like writing?" and he's like "haha no it's for Hawk, he's upset he can't properly yell at me right now" and she's just like. Uh. Okay then.

Her old sewing supplies are also discovered. Jasper and Hunter are pretty self-sufficient but Camila does help them out a lot and hasn't called the Human Authorities on them so they're always looking for ways to repay her. Jasper offers to mend the pile of clothes she hasn't had time to fix up and she just gives him all these supplies she hasn't touched in years. So he's sitting there with fabric and thread like, okay, it's been a while, what do I want to make? And then he just instinctually starts on the pattern he's made a hundred times before. Hunter walks in on him an hour later and does a double take and goes "Is that Sprig??" and Jasper stabs himself with the needle.

Luz keeps talking about how they're magic, but Camila hasn't seen any magic. Camila isn't going to comment on the alleged magic. Camila DOES notice that every time she goes over the house appears to be a bit more fixed up, and then it somehow has electricity, and Jasper has started bringing her various fruits and vegetables as thanks-for-not-calling-the-cops gifts, which he is apparently growing in the garden that suddenly grew up overnight. There's an avocado tree, of all things. It popped up the day after she invited them over for dinner and served something with avocado in it and commented on how much she loved avocados and how annoyingly expensive they can be. She doesn't know how Jasper managed to get an avocado tree to grow in Connecticut and she's not gonna ask. It's eventually joined by an orange tree and a lemon tree and a coconut tree and after that last one she casually leaves behind a field guide to trees and their growing regions the next time she visits. Jasper might take it as a challenge because next thing she knows there's a plantain tree, too.

Hunter has either decided to trust Jasper with the staff, or has hit the point where he can't stand living in a leaky old house in a woodland that has proven TERRIBLE for foraging and is willing to risk lending Jasper the staff if it improves their situation, or refuses to trust Jasper with the staff but is willing to let Jasper coach him through how to fix up the house and grow the garden. Hunter's like "do you even know how to fix a house?" and Jasper's like "of course I do, and it'll be nowhere near as hard as remodeling a cave without magic" and Hunter's like "okay yeah from the ten seconds I saw of it it was a nice cave" and Jasper's like "aw you remember the cave?" and Hunter's like "shut up."

Luz wants to know allllll about the Boiling Isles and Hunter tells her about how great it is and she sighs like "I wish I could go there" and Hunter's like "Well, once we find our way home, you can come with us! Maybe I could convince my uncle to let you work with me. The Emperor's Coven is great, we get to sleep in until 5AM and we get a whole day off every year and we help bring order and stability to the Empire!" And Luz is like "Never mind, your fantasy world sounds oppressive. Ooh, wait, are there rebels? You said Jasper's your nemesis, does that mean he's a rebel? Maybe I'll just join the rebels" and Hunter's like "If you do that I'm legally obligated to arrest you" and Luz is like "Hey, my mom hasn't gotten you arrested for squatting, you owe me."

Camila actually manages to wheedle answers out of Jasper one day while they're drinking spiked lemonade on the porch (his lemons, her vodka) and she asks "what is you guys' deal?" Jasper admits "I am desperately trying to deprogram my son from a cult" and she's like holy shit okay that actually tracks. Do you want me to get you some books? Do you want me to call Rick Alan Ross?

At some point Hunter storms into Camila's house and announces that he is staying for the night, and possibly the foreseeable future, and then tacks on an anxious "please." Luz starts squealing about a sleepover and Camila is just like "Is…everything okay with you and your father?" and Hunter looks really lost and doesn't answer and lets Luz drag him away. Camila goes to see Jasper that night and finds him sitting on the porch roof gazing up at the suburban light pollution and she calls up "Are you two okay?" and Jasper grimaces down at her and says "I might've…told him about how I created him?" and Camila's like yikes, I hope things don't go this bad with Luz when I give her The Talk. Meanwhile Hunter is laying in a sleeping bag next to Luz, staring at the ceiling and having a crisis.

Idk, I don't actually have any ideas regarding The Reveal or father/son bonding or how this all factors into the show plot or whatever, like, I'm exclusively hooked on Camila being extremely concerned and confused but ultimately deciding that she isn't gonna narc on her weird new neighbors, lol.

I guess regarding father/son things, since this is probably not long after Manny's death and Luz is grieving, we could say she probably talks to Hunter a LOT about her dad, and how much she misses him, and Hunter sits through all these monologues and considers how his arch-nemesis is actually, apparently, his father, and between Luz's grief and being stuck in the Human Realm with no way home and the fact that he has always wondered about his family, he figures he can maybe give Jasper a chance. So that could work.

But really it's like, in the background we have Hunter and Jasper dealing with their fantasy problems and navigating their newfound relationship, and in the FOREGROUND we've got Camila helping them settle in and pass as humans and telling them to stop poaching the local ecosystem, god, this isn't 1600s colonial Connecticut this is suburbia, if you want meat I'll get you some from the grocery store, you give me more than enough avocados to make up for it. Also she's quietly researching squatter's rights and digging into public property records and asking her elderly neighbors questions until she learns that the folks who owned the abandoned house retired to Florida and died 20 years ago and their son who inherited has apparently forgotten he owns the place.

I guess at some point Jasper and Hunter DO go look around town, which is when we get "Why is the Golden Guard symbol on this town's sign?" and then Hunter stares at a certain statue before calling over to Jasper "Hey, who's Caleb Wittebane and do you have any idea why we look exactly like him?" while Jasper is like "Caleb WHO?" and then five seconds later both of them looking at the other statue and going "Is that fucking BELOS?"

Luz: Why are you two suddenly obsessed with researching my boring town's boring history?

Hunter: IT'S IMPORTANT, HUMAN. Tell me everything you know about the Wittebanes!

Luz: Uhhhh idk, I think there was a reenactment at the Halloween festival last year? I didn't pay attention, reenactments are dumb.

Hunter: HOW do you know so little about the place where you live??

Luz: Dude, I've lived here for less than two years. Besides, historical witches are nothing like fantasy ones. They're BORING. That reenactment was a trial. Why would I want to think about the colonial legal process when I'm thinking about witches? Have you seen my report card? History is not one of my special interests.

Unfortunately for Luz, history has just become Hunter and Jasper's special interest, and she is their unwilling guide and provider of context for Human Things. They start exploring Old Gravesfield and she's like "whyyyyyyy are we wandering around an old cemetery full of dead people no one cares about anymore??" while Hunter and Jasper are taking note of old Puritan names on the headstones and Jasper is like "there are WAY too many of these that are similar to past Golden Guard names, that can't be a coincidence." They go to the historical society and low-key grill Jacob Hopkins for info (low-key because the guy is happy to talk and talk and TALK) while Luz is just dying in the background. They don't have ID to get library cards so they keep dragging her to the library to check out books for them. They're reading about colonial history and Puritan philosophy and Luz is just like WHY do you CARE, you guys are from a FANTASY WORLD that is SO MUCH COOLER than this boring old place! Hunter shows her his cloak like "Luz the Golden Guard symbol is on the historic seal of your town" and she's like OH WAIT MAGICAL MYSTERY?? and is suddenly a bit more interested.

Camila comes home one day to find Jasper facedown on her living room floor surrounded by books while Hunter paces around muttering to himself and she goes to Luz in the kitchen like "Uh…are they okay?" and Luz looks up from her phone like "Huh? Oh, yeah, I think they just found out they're Christian or something."

Camila is like. Um. What?

Luz goes on "But not, like, Narnia fantasy generic Christian, like. Weird Christian. I dunno, they've been taking a lot of notes about Puritan beliefs and Bible verses and I think something must've clicked because they both suddenly bluescreened. They haven't said much but I guess there's a lot of stuff that's really uncomfortably familiar to them?"

Camila tentatively says "I was under the impression that Hunter's uncle was some sort of fundamentalist" and Luz nods like "Oh, yeah, Jasper says Belos is like 400 years old and we have a working theory that he might be Philip Wittebane. I'm just waiting for them to finish reprocessing whatever trauma they just realized is probably religious so they can start infodumping what they just figured out."

(In the living room Jasper is like "He insisted on naming you Hunter. Oh my god. Oh my GOD. That witch-hunting ASSHOLE." Hunter is like "I never bothered to doubt the Day of Unity or 'the will of the Titan' but this 'predetermination' thing sounds very similar and also like complete bullshit. Saying it's the will of an invisible man in the sky makes it sound stupid, but with that perspective I guess it's also stupid to say it's the will of a visible corpse on the ground?")

Of course, Luz won't let them obsess over history forever, so they compromise and do other things too. Like watch nature documentaries, which are less boring for Luz but still helpful for Hunter and Jasper because suburban Connecticut is not a great example of the Human Realm's various ecosystems. Camila finds Hunter watching his fifth documentary about wolves and she's like "are wolves your favorite animal now?" and he's like "no, this is just…extremely important research" and she's like "of course mijo" and then gets him a pack of wolf patches that he sews on all his clothes. She doesn't understand why he and Jasper are so offended by giraffes, though.

Hunter also DOES turn out to love sci-fi. A lot. Camila lets him go through her Cosmic Frontier collection and he flies through it as fast as Luz flew through Azura. Camila isn't sure why he latches on to Chief Engineer O'Bailey so strongly but she knows a comfort blorbo when she sees one. Luz is like "ugh but why sci-fi?" and Hunter is like "the only reason your 'fantasy genre' isn't realistic fiction is because it's WRONG."

At some point Luz has to go back to school. Camila takes note that Hunter is not going to school. She asks about it one time and receives two blank stares in response and then Hunter's like "I finished my schooling years in advance?" and Jasper's like "yeah he's brilliant, he's got published papers in academic journals and everything" and Hunter's like "wait you know about that?" and Jasper's like "of course I know about that! they're really good" and Hunter looks a little touched by this and Camila decides she isn't gonna push the school thing cuz she's pretty sure neither of them legally exist anyway.

Luz complains about school and Hunter is like "You need to pay attention to your teachers and apply yourself to your education!" and Camila is like oh thank god, finally, someone being a positive influence on Luz's academic life. Except then Hunter continues like "Following the rules is the most important thing anyone can do for the betterment of society, deviating from the norm puts all of civilization at risk!" and Camila's like wait no not like that.

On the plus side though Luz does finally get good grades in history! At least for the Colonial America segment. Hunter is offended by her lackluster academic performance so he starts reading her textbooks and helping her with homework and Camila is just thankful that Luz finally has a supportive study buddy. Though she does have to put her foot down when she realizes Luz is trying to get Hunter to write her essays. You have to do your own work, mija; if he's really good enough to get published in academic journals that don't exist, that means your teachers aren't going to believe you wrote it anyway.

So yeah, this goes on for a year or two, and then TOH happens.

I don't really have any ideas regarding how this entire setup would end up affecting the series proper, but I guess it's like. TOH starts but Luz and Hunter and Jasper already know everything. They've figured out the Wittebane backstory and with Jasper's knowledge they've connected it to Belos. They don't know why a witch hunter has made himself emperor, but Belos is obviously evil so it can't be for good reason. Luz gets to the Boiling Isles and she's just like "AW YEAH the last couple of years were just my prologue, TIME TO BE THE MAIN CHARACTER!" while Jasper is like "Hunter please don't do anything stupid I am begging you" and Hunter is like "I JUST WANT TO ASK BELOS ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS ON DOUBLE PREDESTINATION!" (Hell, it's been a year or two, potentially Hunter storms straight into six-month-old Will and is like "oh my god" while Jasper is like "I TOLD YOU" and Will is like "this job gets more suspicious every day.")

Basically Luz, Hunter, and Jasper would end up speedrunning the entire anti-Empire part of the plot. Belos is like "wait what's happening" when the girl he thought he duped centuries ago ends up being super aware of everything he's doing, and Raine is like "wait WHAT'S happening?" when the Martlet suddenly reappears with plans to kill Belos, and Eda is like "ahaha what is HAPPENING?" when Marty and the two kids tagging along with him start causing chaos. (And Will can just be like "wait what IS happening? hmm.")

But meanwhile Camila is left staring at Vee like. Okay. I have a snake daughter now. My human daughter's run off to another realm but I can probably count on Jasper to make sure she doesn't get snatched up by Hunter's uncle's weird religious cult. I've already paid for summer camp so I'm gonna send my new snake daughter off to learn human skills and we'll figure this out.

And then she does her best to keep an eye on Jasper and Hunter's house and keep Jasper's improbable avocado tree alive while he's away. He'd better get back before the autumn frost sets in because she is NOT losing this avocado tree. This is her favorite tree in the entire world and it has done wonders for her grocery bill. Jasper has come over to her house in the dead of winter with a basket full of fresh-picked avocados on multiple occasions and she has never once pointed out that avocados do not grow in the cold, because she highly values her avocado access.

At some point the Day of Unity happens and the gang ends up in the Human Realm but at least Jasper has a house and a garden and knows how to operate here so that takes a lot of weight off Camila. And since the house is nice and lived in it's very easy to see the weird lump of sludgy goop trying to crawl out the door. Camila scoops it up into a glass jar and stares at the single blue eye that stares back at her and asks "Do I want to know what this is?"

"That's my FUCKING UNCLE!" Hunter snaps, snatching the jar from her and shaking it. "Alright asshole, I don't know HOW you survived but I'm glad you did because I have QUESTIONS. Dad, can you grab all my books on Calvinist philosophy? Luz, I need a notebook."

"Hunter I am NOT helping you go insane over Puritans again."

Camila figures they know what they're doing and leaves them to it. She doesn't really want to know how the sludge is Hunter's uncle, but she supposes it's fitting. And she has to admit that she can't really ignore the magic thing anymore. She has a snake daughter now. Magic is clearly real.

Though there's always going to be a small part of her that groans and wonders whyyyyyyyyy did it have to be fantasy? Why magic? Why couldn't it have been a spaceship that landed in the backyard?

Grabs u

Okay I am an angst goblin tho so IMAGINE they tumble through the portal for Reasons and like two weeks later while hunter is out foraging for mushrooms or something Eda pops up and jasper has to tackle her to keep Hunter from seeing, and he's like listen, here's the infodump on what is Up with me and hunter now. This is my best chance to deprogram him. I just need a little more time. So don't come back when he will be here to see you. And Eda is like oh okay sure. Only jasper just keeps pushing off the inevitable "it's time to tell Hunter we can leave" even once he actually managed to get hunter on his side regarding "Belos should not be beating you" and maybe even "the empire is bad-" and, you know. "He is lying to you." ONLY.... Eventually the cookie has to crumble, right? Eventually the bubble has to pop.

One day Eda pops in and pops out, but Luz followed her and left the door open. Just long enough for hunter to see it! And hunter is like omg a way back. But like. For whatever reason he can tell that jasper doesn't want to like maybe he sees jasper closing the door or something and they get into a huge argument and hunter realizes that jasper has known how to get home for YEARS and has kept it secret- so. You know. "He is lying to you." Then the door pops back open and vee comes through, only for hunter to be like fuck YOU and dart straight into the door and slam it behind him, leaving jasper and vee standing outside like HHHHHHHHH

Jasper desperately trying to keep things together like. He knows Eda will be back soon. Either she will toss the human back out or she will come for more crap in a few days. He can keep this under control. He tells vee to pretend to be luz, hey, I was also a slave to the emperor, yada yada ill protect you, just make sure Camila doesn't find out her fucking kid is missing. And he's like okay: I have three months to get back to the boiling isles and retrieve luz and send her home before Camila notices and also I need to find hunter and Also convince him not to hate me for this and ARRRRGHHHH this sucks.

Hunter doesn't know Eda but he DOES know Luz and like. Imagine the hilarity of after Luz and hunter being neighbors and friends for like three years where he has said he could use magic but she's never actually seen it he like, leaps in front of her as if to protect her from Eda with his staff poofing oh some magic armour like back! Away from my innocent human friend who cannot protect herself! And she's just like what the FUCK was that. Gimme that fucking stick right now

Of course once Eda realizes she's gonna be like shit I gotta go get your dad but Hunter is like DAD? and Eda is like wow he really hasn't told you shit huh yikes. But Hunter knows Eda is gonna turn him in now so he's gotta skedoodle. Time to be a weird homeless child occasionally bursting into the main plot because he IS friends with Luz but he's avoiding jasper and Eda and anyone who might turn him in. So he's also like in hiding to not be recognized. And then will exists as the current Golden guard and I'm sure he annoys the piss out of Lilith.

But also just imagining jasper and Camila as getting to be really good friends and he's been insanely cagey with his past but she has gathered a general idea. Finding out like. The Awful Details. Also Hunter is out here trying to protect Luz- maybe even by sending her home lol. Jasper at the owl house with Luz and Eda while he tries to find hunter... And at SOME point Darius is going to show up and oh my god you're ALIVE? you've been in another DIMENSION? YOU BEING IN ANOTHER DIMENSION WAS UNRELATED TO YOU BEING SECRETLY NOT DEAD???

And Raine like. Seeing jasper without a mask and knowing who he is. Finally knowing what's up with hunter and him. And now jasper is staying with Eda. And jasper knows TOO much of raines shit. He knows they're a rebel leader and that's dangerous knowledge! Ohhh it's so dire here....

[deconstructthesoup]

The Web House

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

*cracks knuckles*

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

ANYWAYS!

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

Now, to the characters!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And yeah, I think that’s it for now.

[mdhwrites]

Why Are Swap AUs So Easy For The Owl House and IMPOSSIBLE For Amphibia?

So first, I want to make this clear that this isn’t to knock anyone who likes Swap AUs for The Owl House. I’m actually making this blog because today I was kind of reminiscing about The Crow House, my own Swap AU and the best answer I have to the question of “What would my version of The Owl House look like.” They’re a lot of fun to consider because being in a different narrative role and the like would do to the story and world is a really interesting question. I will say that I have seen a lot of Swap AU art that is frustrating for this reason though as they feel a lot more like characters cosplaying each other, including personality, rather than actually exploring what they would be like in the other’s role.

I’ve also seen a lot less Amphibia Swap AU art... And I think there’s a good reason for that. See, with TOH, the narrative role IS also the character’s personality. Luz is the isekai’d protagonist who warms up to a mentor, changing them and the world she arrives in for the better (at least in concept). Eda is the grizzled mentor who will learn to be nicer by her student. King is just comic relief and then lore wise is important and so becomes incredibly wise to fit his expositional spot in the world. Amity is the love interest and brief rival. Hunter is that a second time but done worse and as a love interest to a less important character. The better the character is is usually dependent on how good the trope they’re pulling on, not because they themselves are really going to surprise you or stay consistent even. After all, once Eda becomes Mama Eda, she also loses a lot her snark and her criminal background because that’s no longer the trope she is despite that still having been part of her recent history. Or hell, the fact that once the curse is resolved in S1, it only is ever a plot device, including power up, for Eda’s character because its narrative role as a part of who Eda is and something that hurts her is no longer relevant to the writers.

That actually makes swapping people’s position in the plot less about what their personality does to the plot but how you justify them being in the role that the other was. You have to ENTIRELY change the show in order to make a Swap AU more drastic than that by things like having the swap with Luz be someone who doesn’t like magic and genuinely has no interest in this world so that they never connect with Eda. The person you swap with Amity needs to not be a love interest but a genuine rival who never connects with the other person. You effectively have to go with the edgy options for a lot of things and at that point you’re just kind of missing the whole retelling point of a Swap AU.

And of course there would be changes but more in dialogue and the like. This was something I struggled with with my Lumity stuff in The Crow House because I still wanted some of the highlights but with a spin by how I changed things with Amity (including in Covention actually being a real danger to Luz and that making her opt for a non-magical way to win the fight) but I was still worried about it coming off as too much like the show. Too much like things weren’t different because, well... So few characters acted particular to themselves and more to their tropes.

It’s like in Looking Glass Ruins where Amity goes “I do stupid things around you.” That is a GREAT line for Lumity’s archtype... But it’s not for Lumity specifically. Amity has actually done very few things that would be considered dumb and those that would be, she’s never faced consequences for. Even her parents or Boscha never actually get back at her for her actions against them and besides that? Usually it’s Luz who’s the fuck up but that’s just a part of her archtype. But the line fits the narrative role for where Lumity is at in their relationship, even if it hasn’t been earned, so the writers include it anyways because that’s just how the writing in TOH works.

And again: That makes a Swap AU INCREDIBLY easy. You want to say X character would act like this in this narrative role? You probably can find a moment that excuses it. I mean, we get like six different versions of Hunter in S2 because every appearance is effectively a different character than the last with MAYBE a little transitional moment like in Hunting Palisman. Like the writers did, you can just excuse a character acting a certain because they all meld together to become so similar and so functional eventually so... Why not?

This is the exact OPPOSITE of how Amphibia wrote its story though. The one I actually think is easiest to point out is ANYONE swapping with Sasha. Grime is a very strong person after all who ruled by force and fear. His soldiers were actually fairly loyal, even if they were unhappy. Anne at the start of the show isn’t the Heart yet so connecting the with the toads, who she’d find disgusting like she often found the Plantars early on, wouldn’t be possible for her. This is partially because she’s also lazy. Meanwhile, Marcy is socially awkward and somewhat absorbed in her own interests so she also wouldn’t be able to talk to the guards in a way that turned them to her side. Even if either did, they would have no control there. Grime would still be in charge: Period. They would just be the weird soldier and thus also have no power to do things like the escort Anne got or convince Grime to just raze Wartwood and instead be a bit sneaker and a bit more charismatic.

DRASTIC changes happen if ANYONE other than Sasha is the one in Toad Tower. Her manipulative side, her want for control, her willingness to hurt those around her if she thinks what she’s doing is better for them, or more fun sometimes especially early on, is what makes her such a dangerous villain. However, just as Anne was affected by Sasha, it’s really easy to imagine Marcy and Anne affected Sasha back and that’s why she’s able to connect with guards and their odd interests... At least until they’re wrapped around her finger. Her viewpoint as the girl who will make her friend’s lives better and never questioning that is a large part of her arc. Her personality had to be tested and SMASHED before she could become a better person, which is why she’s actually at her most confident in S2 because S1 was a setback. She needed rock bottom to realize her convictions were wrong.

Which just in general is a masterclass in how to write a manipulative villain, let alone one that thinks they’re in the right for all their decisions. Sasha is one of the best written characters I’ve ever SEEN and I’m still only halfway through S2 of Amphibia.

But even just Reunion shows how Anne’s malleability that made Sasha able to control her is also why she was able to become a better person that Wartwood could respect and trust. How much of that can be said about The Owl House? Amity ALWAYS feels more motivated by a crush, especially in S2, in her changes than any moral position she used to hold or a specific part of her that agreed with Luz’s outlooks besides “I also like Azura.” Eda literally makes no sense because in S2 we find out she adopted King which throws her entire first season personality out the window. Hunter feels like he restarts his arc three times because Luz, Amity and Willow all can connect to him on really basic levels that have more to do with backstory than they do with personality traits.

So in short... Amphibia’s still fucking awesome, I still want to finish it by the end of the month, but TOH does continue to be better for fanfiction in one way or another with the choices it makes.

[trash-raccoon-boy]

Mactober, day10-crossover

Since I have a toh au with macaque as Raine I thought it'd be cool if they met, just like

Mac- "so you have an Ex/lover who's adopted a random child and is also a criminal?"

Raine- "yep"

Mac-".... "

Raine-"... "

Mac-"sooooo... You like theatre?"

[childlikegoblinqueen]

Spot the difference.

Some self indulgent Criminal posting.

They're the same GIF.

[azure-wolf-227]

TOH My Hero Academia AU

The Owl House characters live in the world of My Hero Academia. Their Quirks are based on their signature canon powers and abilities, for the most part, just altered a bit to fit in with how MHA powers work.

Oh, the setting is in America, so some things like vigilantes and public Quirk use might be different than in Japan.

Thank @princess-of-the-corner and @swapauanon for their suggestions and ideas that helped make this AU.

The Hero Academia in this AU would be Hexside, here known as Hexside School of Quirks and Heroics. It’s also a boarding school because dorm shenanigans are fun!

Luz Noceda is the daughter of Camila Noceda, a Quirkless Veterinarian, and Manny Noceda, the Pro Hero Cosmic Knight, who tragically died in the line of duty when Luz was 11-years-old. Her Quirk is her Glyphs; like in canon, she can create different effects by drawing a specific Glyph or Glyph combinations.

Luz desires to be a Hero, but because her Quirk requires a specific method to work, she was thought to be Quirkless until the age of 13 when she noticed a Light Glyph while watching a video of her father using his Quirk. Even with Luz’s Quirk manifesting, Camila had doubts about her daughter becoming a Hero, fearing that Luz couldn’t catch up with kids who had their Quirks longer. Camila was also worried about Luz getting hurt and dying like Manny did.

This lead to Luz going out to train in secret and during one of those times, she ran into Eda Clawthorne, a vigilante known as The Owl Lady. Eda immediately noticed Luz’s potential and agreed to train the girl. Another reason was that Eda was Manny’s classmate in Hexside and Luz reminded Eda of him, though Eda didn't realize that Luz was Manny’s daughter until much later. 

Camila found out about Luz’s training which lead to an argument between the two and Luz running away to Eda. Eda convinced Luz to call her mom and arrange a meeting between them. While initially wary of the vigilante, Camila decided to trust Eda after realizing who she was, as Manny had told Camila about The Owl Lady.

So, Luz gets to go to Hexside and learn to be a Hero!

Luz becomes friends with Willow and Gus; Amity is mean at first but later defrosts; Hunter is the same age as Luz in this AU, so they are classmates. Raine Whispers is the Hero Minstrel Fox as well as the kids homeroom/heroics teacher. The BATs serve as Raine’s sidekicks and TAs.

Raine and Eda are still exes, but their mutual connection to Luz means that there have the chance to rekindle their relationship.

Of course, we can’t have a MHA AU without the hero trainees being thrust into villain attacks and plots.

The main antagonist is Philip Wittebane, of course. He is the President of the Hero Commission, and while he may appear afable, he is actually a religious bigot towards people who have “Villainous” Quirks, Mutation Quirks/Heteromorphs, and the Quirkless. Philip seeks to eliminate these groups, and to do so, he took on the identity of Belos, a criminal mastermind secretly backing many villainous and shady groups, all to further his own agenda.

Let’s finish things of with Vee!

Vee’s backstory in this AU is a bit of a mix Himiko and Eri. Her Quirk allows her to shapeshift into other people, but to power it, she needs to consume energy from other living beings. Her biological parents were disgusted by this ability so they sold Vee to some shady scientists (backed by Belos) who experimented on her. This experimentation lead them to copying Vee’s Quirk into others.

Vee managed to escape and while looking for a place to hide, she broke into the Noceda house. She tried to pass herself as Luz when Camila found her but, as Luz was at Hexside, Camila was not fooled. Quickly realizing that this girl needed help, Camila contacted Luz and Hexside for help.

[princess-of-the-corner]

TOH MHA AU

Ugh, why didn't I think of that!

Okay, Vee was sold by her bio parents because they thought her Quirk was horrid - the absorbs energy from living beings part, not the shapeshifting.

The ones who bought her were criminal scientists (secretly backed by Philip) who thought her Quirk would be useful, so they experimented on her. They managed to find a way to give her abilities to others - like this Aus version of the Great Basilisk.

Vee managed to escape and was taken in by Camila. I don't think the 'take Luz's place' plotline would work even if Vee tries it.

Yeah Vee taking Luz's place wouldn't work, or at least it wouldn't last long if it does.

Maybe Vee was like. She's run off and is living on the streets and gets desperate enough to break into a house. Just for a night. Just to grab some food and get out of the storm for a little bit. It's the middle of the night no one should notice.

But Camila comes down to the kitchen and Vee just decides to fake it and transforms into the girl she sees in the photos in hopes of saying 'haha just me mom I was getting a late night snack' and coax her back to bed before making a run for it.

Camila knows that Luz is at school(I'd assume we'd have Hexide as dorms for reasons), so whatever in the kitchen is Not Her Daughter™.

She's hostile at first, but Vee quickly turns terrified and apologetic and slides into a full on panic attack. Camila realizes she's just some scared kid who's probably homeless and decides to help her out.

She notices that Vee is clearly hurt, and has been hurt by someonee. Manages to at least coax out a little of what happened to her. Which leads to bringing her to Luz's school to talk to the Heroes there about her situation.

[aetherith]

Here is your card for Bad Things Happen Bingo. Happy writing!

Behold! I'm doing a BTHB card after I... never finished my first one. Please read the rules and info before submitting a request!

RULES/INFO:

I am prone to unexpected and infrequent hyperfixation changes. When this happens, it becomes extremely hard for me to find motivation to write for my previous hyperfixation; all I want to write about is my new one. If this were to happen, any prompt submissions for my previous hyperfixation will go void. I will reblog this post with edits made to announce this change. I’m really sorry if you sent in a submission and this happens, I can’t really control it as much as I wish I could. With that said, my current hyperfixation is The Owl House and my favorite character in it, Hunter (but you already know this if you’ve been here for a while). Until I experience another hyperfixation change, I will only be accepting submissions for TOH. Additionally, while I am totally fine writing about and including any and all TOH characters in my work, I would highly prefer if Hunter was involved in some way. This will allow me to be more motivated to finish the prompt and enjoy writing it more!

I will be accepting submissions for prompts! You can be as simple or detailed as you would like, ranging from “[Insert Prompt] with [Insert Characters]” to describing every plot beat and character interaction that takes place. I don’t mind whichever you choose (though a little bit of detail is useful). You can submit via an ask or over discord. Before submitting, please look over the submission guidelines below. I will not be accepting prompts that don’t follow my rules. PS: I’m already claiming the Nightmares prompt I have an idea for that.

What I will write: This is far from an extensive list (I’d recommend relying more on the ‘might write’ and ‘won’t write’ sections to determine what’s okay for a submission, since I will write just about anything else. For starters, I will happily write AUs, from canon divergence to everyone’s a criminal or something. I will also write for the following ships: Lumity, Huntric, and Huntlow. Keep in mind that I’m pretty terrible at writing romance, and far prefer writing platonic relationships. Speaking of, I will write for just about any platonic relationship/friendship available, even if that relationship doesn’t really exist in the canon of the show.

What I MIGHT write: This section is primarily reserved for subjects such as gore, torture, horror, and other subjects that are fairly dark and/or unsettling. Don’t be afraid of requesting prompts involving these subjects, but expect that they will be fairly mild in my writing, if not skipped over entirely. This is because I enjoy writing the rescue and recovery from these topics more than the topic itself. Additionally, if I you submit a prompt that includes something in this category that’s a bit too uncomfortable for me, know that I might alter the concept slightly to suit my tastes. If I do have to alter a prompt, I would try my best to keep it as close to the original submission as possible.

What I won’t write: Topics in this category will never be written, nor will submissions be received. In some cases, submissions with these topics might even get you blocked. I will not write NSFW (I am a minor writing about minors. What do you think). I will not write anything involving proshipping. I will not write anything dark enough to earn a fic the Explicit rating on Ao3 (so, like, REALLY dark. It would have to be extremely dark to earn this rating, since I’m comfortable writing some pretty dark stuff. There’s a limit, though). I will not write about the intentional disabling of characters. I will not write anything that isn’t on this list that I find problematic or too uncomfortable for my tastes. I have the full right to reject any prompt, though if it isn’t on this list, I will explain why.

I know that last section makes it sound scary but DONT BE AFRAID TO REQUEST THINGS! I promise I don’t bite and as long as you’re not requesting anything gross you’re chill! I’m super excited to hear your requests and to write them! Also, don’t be afraid to ask any questions! If you have a prompt you’re worried I will reject, don’t be afraid to send it in and just express that you aren’t sure it’s okay. If you do this and it isn’t a prompt I’m comfortable with, I will respond to you privately. Then, feel free to request something different. Have fun coming up with requests!

[sammydem0n64]

UHHHHH one more maybe KJNFKSNKJS ✏️

You guys don't even know about the Crumbled! The Owl House AU. but now you WILL

Idk how much you personally know abt TOH so this may be super inconprehensible to you specififcally but I like overexplaining things so dw abt it!

I'll focus on Gleo here, bc god this is crazy.

She takes Lilith's role, with Melphis being in Eda's role as context

This may seem crazy given that Gleo is a complete wild child (at 54 years old.) and LOVESSS being silly and breaking the rules, while Lilith is the complete opposite until season 2, but given the character backstory it all fits! Trust!

Canon!Gleo always wanted her parents' attention, but unfortunately, they always focused more on Donna and Melphis. Similar sentiments are applied here where her parents always focused more on her other siblings, leaving her in the dust. This sentiment grows further when Donna joins the Emperor's Coven (takes the role of the Oreo Gang, lolz), with her parents getting all hyped over it and pushing their other children to also join the ranks

Gleo was willing to do it in hopes of finally getting the praise she always wanted, but Melphis was a prodigy, They were to duel each other for the position, there could only be one winner, and she knew Melphis would smoke her. So she cursed him without anyone knowing in hopes of winning the duel, not knowing the curse was Long Term, lol

Ofc Melphis forfeited instantly to let Gleo take the win bc he DIDNT wanna Be In The Coven giving her the position by default, but he's still cursed! He's still spending the rest of his life fucked over because of her! And her parents didn't even go to her damn coven initiation!!

All three siblings abandoned their bio parents to live with Ivan, with Donna (Gwendolyn's role) devoting her life to trying to cure her baby brother, Ivan (Dell's role) being severely injured by Melphis/[insert whatever type of bird Melphis would b bc i don't imagine he'd be an owl] Beast, and Melphis. Well. HIS ASS IS CURSED AND ISN'T JOINING A COVEN AND IS A CRIMINAL!! She feels immense guilt and remorse for her actions despite never admiting what she did for years. So, when the emperor (Firo) promised that Melphis could be cured if she indoctrinated him, she jumped at the opportunity

This Gleo strives to make amends in her own little way. She still makes a lot of fucked up decisions and in theory runs from them by choosing Firo's way or the highway to fix the problem, but she cares. This role shows she DOES care for her family and wants to improve, which ofc, she does here!

It's just a neat little thing for her, a scenario where she owns up to her mistakes and makes amends for the harm she caused!

[ask-sarah-and-co]

Now I'm wondering about toh one, 😭 absolutely feel free to share if you'd like!!

AJHJAHJAGJGJ I just saw that I didn’t link it! that’s mb- i fixed it lmao

also link here bc I can

now that gladion, silver, grimsley, and lucian are all revealed, here’s more abt them in this au!

I’ve worked out the story more since last post- silver plays vee’s role (and Gladion masha’s)

like I mentioned in the last post, silver is still Giovanni’s son and Giovanni is ghetsis (belos)’s right hand man. also swapping marshal out as construction head to giovanni. sorry to the marshal fans. Giovanni is now playing the role of the plant lady who idk the name of (terra?? Is that it??)

silver is hiding at the school from Giovanni- until he’s found out and has to make a quick escape. he grabs a concealment stone and stumbles into some kind of portal. he disguises himself as Sarah and lives w her family.

this all takes place in the background tho- like he disappears and no one really notices.

gladion is basically the same as on this blog. As Sarah’s cousin, the closest to her out of all of them, he instantly notices that she’s acting odd. eventually he finds out abt silver/witches and promises to keep it all a secret.

lusamine is def more evil than in my canon. she eavesdrops on one of silver and Gladion’s conversations and decides to help Ghetsis via the portal silver used.

ghetsis turns on her late season 3 and kidnaps mohn, which makes her turn back to the good side.

grimsley suffers from an eda-ish werewolf curse. he turns into a liepard okay. Instead of being kinda random, like eda’s, I think his triggers every night. potions keep it at bay, you know the deal.

he gets potions from a “mysterious benefactor” who he doesn’t know the name of. he just takes them just bc why not? They’re free!

sarah meets Lucian when Grimsley runs out of potion and she has to lock him in a room. she checks the box the latest shipment came in, and there’s a note on the bottom of it. (There’s always been a note at the bottom- he just never checked it). It says that in case he runs out, come to this specific location and is signed “L”

Sarah goes there (it’s a stall at the night market) and it’s Lucian!

their conversations a little jumbled, but it’s smth like

“Aren’t you the oracle coven leader?!” ”Yes.” “Well, why are you helping Grimsley anonymously then?!? He’s a criminal!” “Well, he is technically my husband-” “WHAT?!” “-and I know that he’s suffering, so I want to help him.”

He gives her more potion, but she insists (and I mean insists) that he comes back w her, which he does.

Grimsley is all better after the potion and they explain to her their situation.

They were married happily when Lucian became the oracle coven head. Soon, grimsley became a known criminal for getting caught practicing wild magic, and some other things (*cough* gambling *cough*). It got so bad that they divorced- in name only- and haven’t seen each other to keep them both safe.

lucian also explains that his stall is in the night market bc he’s been illegally brewing potions (mixing magic)

And that’s all I’ve got. hope you enjoyed lol