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ordinaryschmuck · 2 years ago

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The Owl House from Worst to Best:

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won't read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck! I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

With The Owl House sort of returning in about a week, I figured that to celebrate, I would do the impossible: Rank the series from worst to best.

Why do I say that's impossible? Because The Owl House is one of those shows that makes me so happy that, while at its lowest...it's not that bad. Yes, even the episode you already know will be the worst isn't exactly the worst written episode in television's history. It's just that compared to the series at its highest, when you look at what's at the bottom, the cracks start to show.

So, you might as well say this is a "worst" to best list. Some might disagree, but hey, you try judging a show that makes you feel this happy.

Also, since I've talked about every episode in The Owl House, I'm not going in-depth on what I think about them. I'm using one to two sentences maximum. Three, if I really want to push it. If you really wanted to know what I think about each one, here’s a masterpost of every review I’ve ever made about The Owl House.

With that said, let's start this list off with, let's be honest, the one you already knew was going to be considered "the worst."

(Also, it goes without saying, but there’s going to be spoilers in this. That’s what happens when you talk about every episode of a series.)

40. “Once Upon a Swap”-Again, it's not bad, as there are some decent jokes sprinkled in...but "Once Upon A Swap" is pointless. Other episodes at least have outstanding character interactions and plot relevance for me to consider them essential to the series. But this episode really is the one where if you cut it out, you'll miss nothing (just put Lilith revealing that she and Eda wanted to join the Emperor's Coven in another episode).

39. “Really Small Problems”-I love the exploration between King and Luz's relationship and appreciate that it was an accident that he shrunk Gus and Willow...and that's all the compliments I have. The jokes aren't as funny as they could have been, Tibbles really is the worst character in the show, and Eda's subplot is...painful. Not bad, but just below average isn't pretty either.

38. “Sense and Insensitivity”-I don't dig Luz and King's story about writing a book, nor do I enjoy how quickly it's resolved, but Eda and Lilith's B-plot saves this episode. You get a sense of how much they care about one another which, in turn, adds extra pain in "Agony of a Witch," making this episode a C+ to a B-.

37. “The First Day”-The pacing really is what kills this one. There's so much "The First Day" has to do, and the writers have so little time to do it that when they do some familiar story beats, it comes off as disingenuine and out of nowhere. Still love it, though, for the new characters introduced and the lesson being told, but that doesn’t automatically make this episode better.

36. “A Lying Witch and a Warden”-Yeah, the message is heavy-handed, and the pacing's all kinds of wonky, but I still say this pilot does its job in making us like the series while future episodes reveal why we should love it.

35. “Hooty’s Moving Hassle”-I was entertained by the shenanigans Luz, Gus, and Willow got into and felt the shock in that reveal of Willow and Amity's past friendship...but did Eda really need to be that incompetent? The Hexes Hold'em thing manages to come back later in a much better episode, but I don't know. I feel it would take more than Tibbles to trick Eda that easily.

34. “I Was A Teenage Abomination”-Initially, you don't care that Luz and Willow cheated because they were standing up to the mean, one-dimensional bully. But, now knowing who Amity is and why she acts the way that she does, you start to see that she has a right to be mad and that Luz and Willow really shouldn’t feel too proud of what they’ve done. At least this episode gets points for introducing the rest of our main cast and having a fun B-plot with King and Eda.

33. “Something Ventured, Someone Framed”-Why does Gus' first episode have to be a liar reveal story? It's not as bad as it could have been, but it does leave a sour impression of what Gus episodes could be. On the bright side, we see how determined Eda is to make Luz happy, which is always lovely.

32. “Witches Before Wizards”-This was the reality check that Luz needed to see that the Boiling Isles isn't a fantasy world she can just escape to. Are Eda and King a little too mean spirited when it comes to joshing on Luz about her being the chosen one? Maybe, but they hardly knew her at this point, and I feel like Eda and King coming to save Luz more than proves that they'll always be there for her despite the occasions they'll laugh at her.

31. “Adventures in the Elements”-King's B-plot of dealing with evil stuffed toys is funny, but having it hurts Luz's story. If we really got to see what she went through in training with Eda, it would make Luz's big outburst genuine and understandable rather than impatient and whiney. At least I still get chills (ha) at seeing her learn a second spell, so I guess things aren't too bad.

30. “Escape of the Palisman”-Luz's story is engaging, and King's is weirdly cute...but the overall episode didn't wow me, you know? It's hard to explain, but for me personally, "Escape of the Palismen" is missing that extra zip that makes it go from good to great.

29. “Any Sport in a Storm”-I loved the stuff with Hunter and Willow, showing so much about their characters while maybe sparking a relationship that could hopefully go somewhere...but that subplot with Luz and Amity is worse on a rewatch, oh my word! We do not need half an episode dedicated to why Amity has The Great Witch Azura books when a seven-second conversation of her finding them washed up on the shore or buying them off of Eda would work better. The stuff with Willow and Hunter at least saves this episode, but man, does that stuff with Luz and Amity sting.

28. “Enchanting Grom Fright”-A beautiful episode that digs deep into Luz and Amity's anxieties (mainly Luz's) while ending with an explicit reveal that made the entire LGBTQA+ community watching this feel their jaw drop. It's great...though I will admit, I feel like this episode gets worse the more I rewatch it. NOT BAD, but the cracks (King's subplot, how it takes place in one day when it feels like two, and the fact that they let children fight a monster) become more difficult to ignore despite how the incredible stuff makes me want to.

27. “Wing It Like Witches”-In this episode, Willow proves how much she's changed by going against Boscha, a character who doesn't want to change. Meanwhile, you have Amity doing the same thing by choosing to be a part of the wildness that is Luz's friend group instead of siding with such trivial things as social status. Some people remember this as the goofy sports episode with Amity acting as a gay disaster but, to me, "Wing it Like Witches" celebrates character growth and development, and I am all here for it.

26. “Lost in Language”-Sure, we get a "two idiots and a baby" subplot, but at least we get a great "don't judge a book by its cover" storyline that finally kickstarts Amity's road to redemption. You see, this is how the good stuff outweighs the bad: Having more good and less bad.

25. “The Intruder”-It has a decent spooky atmosphere that introduces Eda's curse and how it cleverly ties into a chronic illness allegory, to the point where fans debate that she shouldn't have it cured, thus telling you how impactful that allegory is. It still bothers me a bit that King takes most of the blame when Luz's attitude contributed to his error, but I don't find as much issue with it as I used to. It's all still great.

24. “Covention”-I still stand by this being the perfect episode to show a friend if you want to get them into The Owl House. "Covention" has most of our essential characters, features some stellar writing that makes the episodes before it pales in comparison, and it's early enough where it won't spoil much. If you want people to watch The Owl House, start here and then show them the rest of the series so they know the kind of quality they'll be signing up for.

23. “Them’s the Breaks, Kid”-A cute, fluffy episode that manages to be the most essential at the literal last minute. Hats off to these writers for expertly making something that gives us a break from the story while still giving us important story beats at the same time.

22. “Young Blood, Old Souls”-A solid, tense, and emotional ending to the first season even if Lilith's redemption and the overall story could have slowed down a bit.

21. “Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances”-This episode is really engaging in the beginning and jaw-dropping in the end. It's just the stuff in the middle that could have used a lot more polish.

20. “Separate Tides”-A solid beginning to the second season, catching fans up on what they missed between seasons and letting the characters adjust to these new shifts in the status quo. Not as spectacular as the rest of Season Two, but still pretty great.

19. “Escaping Expulsion”-We're finally officially introduced to Amity's parents, not only giving Amity one last test of her loyalty to Luz but showcasing Luz's loyalty to her friends with how far she'd go to help them. Now, maybe Eda acts a little too recklessly, and Gus and Willow get sidelined a little too hard...but the amount of excitement I felt in seeing Luz blush at Amity is immeasurable. So leave me alone if I consider "Escaping Expulsion" is worth ignoring those two valid criticisms!

18. “Understanding Willow”-An incredible episode that gives us great insights into both Willow and Amity, their histories, their friendship, and how they became the people they are today. And, hey, the B-plot doesn't detract too much from the A-plot's drama and story. That's a plus for a Season One episode.

17. “Follies at the Coven Day Parade”-This almost felt like a season premiere. It had big, epic scenes, some compelling character moments, and established a sense of dread that remains consistent with the rest of Season Two. It really is outstanding...too bad Luz desperately wanting to help Kikimora is too insane of a concept that it severely hurts the episode.

16. “Through the Looking Glass Ruins”-A Gus episode that gives his character much-needed development that also gives us a Lumity subplot about them being cute while developing their relationship? Can I get a "HECK YEAH?!"

15. “Eclipse Lake”-A great episode that allows our two redeemable characters to talk and bond, with Amity proving how much she's changed by trying to offer the same chance to Hunter, despite how he's not ready to take that step just yet. It's all good...but what's with writing Eda as an idiot and letting Gus and Willow get sidelined again?! C'mon, writers, you're better than this!

14. “Agony of a Witch”-This was a tense and emotionally painful episode that is only a taste of the kind of stuff we'll get in Season Two. There's nothing to complain about here. It's just too good.

13. “Hunting Palisman”-Hunter's kickstart to the path of redemption, paired with an episode that's more or less about Luz figuring out what she wants in life and confronting the fact that she doesn't think stuff through. It's a great character study about our protagonist and our favorite bad yet sad boy that may or may not have sparked an AU of mine. I can't help but have a warm spot for it.

12. “Echoes of the Past”-An episode that finally gives King some depth, making him more than just a comedic sidekick in everyone else's adventures while giving him a real purpose in life. I always felt like King was directionless in Season One as his whole "becoming a tyrant" never felt like nothing more than a child playing make-believe to me, so I'm grateful "Echoes of the Past" gave him a path to get started on. Even if said path took him to darker places.

11. “Eda’s Requiem”-This episode not only introduces a fan favorite with Raine but also provides some character depth to Eda as she struggles to hang onto the past rather than ignore her problems with the present. Eda goes out of her way to keep her kids with her forever and possibly rekindle an old flame, only for life to provide both good and bad surprises that allow Eda a chance to accept what life throws at her instead of letting things be the same. Such a great episode that's only shy of making the top ten because others are better than it.

10. “Elsewhere and Elsewhen”-Here, we get a celebration of Lilith's character growth in how much fun and respect she shares for Luz, set up to a major reveal that most of us had already seen coming, and a phenomenally performed and even better-written scene between Eda and her father. Initially, I felt that Eda talking with her dad should have been something for its own episode rather than being the subplot of another, but with how great it is, who am I to really complain? Especially with how great everything else is.

9. “Yesterday’s Lie”-A Luz solo adventure (which is already winning some points on that concept alone) that introduces fan-favorite #3, Vee, and proves, even more, why Camila is a great mom. The woman saw a scared child and took her in, and cried her heart out because her daughter has been in a strange, unfamiliar environment that is far from Camila's protection. If your takeaway from this episode is that Camila's an awful mom despite all the evidence proving otherwise...you're beyond help.

8. “Reaching Out”-The episode that finally shows us the pain that Luz is keeping deep inside herself and how she's willing to find ways to find distractions rather than deal with the pain she feels in her heart. We also get some great insights from the rest of the Blight family (primarily Edric, Amity, and even Alador). And while that's all good, I wouldn't go so far as to say that they don't steal away from what Luz is going through, as she still has her own time to mourn and decompress.

7. “Hollow Mind”-Easily the darkest episode in the show, giving us a glimpse inside the mind of a madman and witnessing the many crimes and murders he committed before rising to power. What's even better is that we are, not once, supposed to feel sympathetic toward Belos but instead feel fear towards what he's done and what he plans to do. And it would be the best episode if not for the fact that literally every episode after just gets better and better.

6. “Edge of the World”-This one (mostly) brings King's arc to a close, giving him the answers he's been searching for but in a way that shocked most and left others afraid, given the current environment that he is in.

5. “Labyrinth Runners”-This one proves that the rest of the characters can stand out on their own without our main trio, each of them getting so much development and proving how powerful they can be.

4. “O’ Titan, Where Art Thou?”-This one allows King the time he needs to cope with new surprises while upping the intensity and drama as Luz and Eda literally fight over whether they can defeat Belos.

3. “Clouds on the Horizon”-This one, despite partially setting up the big finale, still stands out on its own as an episode that brings Amity's arc regarding her family to a close, all in a way that's...satisfying, depending on how you perceived Alador. Still, I'll be damned if I ranked the episode with Lumity's first kiss any lower.

2. King’s Tide-And this one...was an intense finale that allowed every character to contribute in their own way, all while ending on a cliffhanger that left me with no idea how things would get resolved. Amphibia's "True Colors" at least left me with some clue, but with "King's Tide," I've got nothing, and I am both excited and scared to find out what happens next. And this would have been the best episode...but...

1. “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door”-Let me explain (and I will have to break my rule for this): To me, the best episode for a show isn't one that has higher stakes or more hurtful emotions. Instead, the best episode is the one that features everything that's to love about the series. And that really is "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door." It has hilarious jokes, fantastic character insights, some real dark s**t, compelling drama, and some of the best LBGTQA+ representation, all through an adorable romance between two girls. And it accomplishes all of this while being an episode about Hooty. Hooty! The character we all wrote off as the comedy relief and nothing more manages to be the same character that gave us everything we could have ever wanted. If that doesn't prove how amazing The Owl House is and how "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" is the best episode...I don't know what will. It's great, you all know it's great. Why bother debating on it?

And you might have noticed that it doesn't take long until I start singing an episode's praises more than I talk about what went south with it. That's because, as I've said, The Owl House doesn't really have bad episodes. Even as I made this list and saw where some episodes were ranked, I found myself thinking, "That's not fair. This episode should be that bad." And it's not about how one episode is good or even about how one was bad, but because some episodes are better than others. "Wing it Like Witches" isn't a poor episode because it's #27. It's there because it couldn't measure up with what's above it. And is that really something to complain about?

If The Owl House is still passable at its worst, then that tells me what I already know: We have nothing to worry about when it comes to Season Three. The writers might have less time, but they're competent enough to at least make something that’s a hoot in a half.

#the owl house #luz noceda #king clawthorne #eda clawthorne #amity blight #willow park #gus porter #toh hunter #the golden guard #lilith clawthorne #toh vee #camila noceda #the owl house reviews #what i thought about

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lollytea · 2 years ago

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I wish we could see how Lilith and Hunter’s relationship would change after everything. Lilith would never admit that she held a grudge to a child and Hunter would definitely not know how to address her outside of the coven system (what was exactly the hierarchy there?). But then one she finds him reading one of her papers and then he has actual interesting feedback. And she loves hooty but it’s nice to have someone who can hold a conversation and not just stare mindlessly as she rambles. And Hunter loves his friends and doing stupid teenager shit, but every once in a wild he needs space to be a boring grandpa. Anyway what I am trying to say is that I think that they would be academic colleagues and see them as the research team responsible for rediscovering the lost history of the boiling isles and wild magic, after centuries of lies.

This is SO cute and also very correct.

"Boring grandpa" abdjnk he literally IS Lilith's (great (x20)) grandpa.

But yeah I want to see them have an interaction now that they've both broken free of Belos's influence. And like. If they're gonna go to the effort of establishing that Lilith hates Hunter, why not give some sort of conclusion of that. One interaction season 3 I beg of you. Like how would they even address each other after everything?

I feel like they'd be pretty awkward around each other at first. The reasons Lilith couldn't stand Hunter were all related to Coven Stuff and immature jealousy over the "Special Treatment" he received. Lilith was a very petty childish women.

Well at this point she's done some soul searching and has recognized how psychologically warped she is because of the Emperor's Coven and that it does not remotely define her worth as a person. So really, what is there for her to hold a grudge against Hunter about? She's aware that he turned his back on the Coven, on all his "Special Treatment" because he realized how corrupt Belos was. Just like Lilith did. This would probably open her eyes to the realization that she and Hunter are just two victims of the same system. He's been under Belos's thumb since birth. Meanwhile Lilith was around his age when she joined the Coven and it was basically her entire world since then. I don't think anyone in the Emperor’s Coven was more thoroughly brainwashed than Lilith and Hunter.

But like. Would she feel guilty? Probably. Would she know how to address it? Probably not. I could honestly see Lilith just attempting to make painfully awkward smalltalk with Hunter or win his favour in her painfully awkward Lilth way. More than anything this would probably confuse the fuck out of Hunter, but he's just as awkward in return.

Judging from that one Dana art, while they were both in the Coven together, Hunter was pretty much walking on eggshells around Lilith. He knew she hated him and was trying to avoid doing anything that would make her hate him even more. But now that they no longer have the favour of Belos drawing a wedge between them and she's being weirdly nice to him, he has no idea how to react. What's her angle here? Why has she suddenly dropped the "Golden Brat" nickname? This is weird and he doesn't trust it. Yes he always wished Lilith would be nicer to him but now it just feels unnatural. Freaks him out.

At some point Lilith is presenting her very own exhibit at the museum and, since the two are running in the same social circles now, Hunter attends along with Luz and Eda. He really does want to support her. But at the same time, he does everything in his power to not interact with her. He dodges her at every turn, as she converses with all the other museum patrons and history enthusiasts. Eventually she's close to noticing him and Hunter ducks into the first room he finds, which just so happens to be Lilith's office.

Now does Hunter know that it's not morally right to snoop around in your ex colleague's office? Yes. Would he do it anyway? Probably. He's just has this insatiable curiosity, what else can he do? Plus he really does want to come to some understanding about Lilith. In all the years he's known her, she's always been wearing one mask or another. Whether chilly or uncomfortable pleasant. This is how he stumbles upon one of her papers.

Hunter gets sucked in by the topic, the enthusiasm, the expert research, the precision, and he wonders if she's always been this passionate about history. He never really knew any of her interests while they were in the castle. She never told him. It feels weird to read. The way Lilith writes reminds Hunter of the way his brain goes really fast when he's thinking about a topic that's set his interest ablaze. He never would have figured that they had anything in common besides that good ol' Coven Trauma.

That's when Lilith walks in and Hunter is quick to blurt out an apology. Lilith hurriedly waves him off and pretty much offers him anything in the room if he wants. Does he like the desk?? It's all his!!

However Hunter then holds up the paper and tentatively asks if Lilith wrote it. Lilith nods, flustered and apologises for all the inksplots and the sloppy handwriting and--

Hunter reads a paragraph aloud, rambles out a few impassioned comments and then asks if she could please elaborate on this one part here. It's super interesting the way she talks about it.

Lilith's suck-up persona drops instantaneously. She completely forgets about it in that moment. Nobody has ever asked her to elaborate on her work before. People usually find them boring. She's so ecstatic she nearly tears up. She crashes down in the seat next to Hunter, the awkwardness between them evaporating and the two talk for hours. She's so excited that she forgets about her own exhibit.

And oh my god YEAH. I never thought about that potential future before but I could absolutely see Hunter researching lost history alongside Lilith. That's actually so cool to think about. They would make such good geek friends.

#i remember before the hunter and darius dynamic was introduced a lot of people wanted lilith to adopt hunter #i was never a fan. not because of their antagonistic relationship #but the fact that lilith is NOT maternal in the slightest #but i am HUGE on them being nerd buddies together #cool aunt lilith. she cannot parent to save her life but she can share so many fun facts

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hinachan06 · 3 years ago

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The Owl House review:

Season 2 episode 11 Follies at the Coven Day Parade part 3

Okey the photo on episode 17 of season 1 Wing It Like Witches and the one in this episode is the same:

I still can’t with Luz expression 🤣 🤣 🤣

I’m with Eda on this one, Kikimora put a lot of people that Luz care at stake without caring (Eda, Luz herself and Amity) In episode 19 of season 1 Young Blood Old Souls, episode 6 of season 2 Hunting Palismen and episode 9 of season 2 Eclipse Lake.

Luz we know that you want to help her. But not everyone wants to be helped.

Luz wants that everything goes well and help Kikimora with her mother, because of that insecurity she have with hers. But that won’t go away by doing that sweetie, but at the same time wanting to help Eda to contact with Raine and knowing the problem that’s another thing.

We already know that Willow works out since some time ago Dana published a drawing of Willow working out:

We all waited for this moment since season 1 episode 15 Understanding Willow.

This two finally got to talk alone.

It seems that Amity still feels guilty even now. That’s a nice detail.

We can tell by her body language, she’s moving her hands because she is nervous and doesn’t know what to say.

Even Willow notices her discomfort, her expression chances when she looks at Amity.

Amity takes all her frustration about Luz trying to hide that the fact that she really went to the human realm. “Phune” “Phane”. It’s okey take your time. “Her thingy at school” . (I needed to do it sorry XD )

Such a mood indeed.

Amity don’t beat yourself and it’s nice and so much positive seen that she doesn’t want to watch Luz’s phone. That reminds me to another parallel on episode 7 season 1 Lost in Language:

Luz said back then that: “no one deserves this, because that was Amity’s privat thoughts.” I guess what I’m trying to imply is that Amity doesn’t want to see something that wasn’t for her or wasn’t mean to be seen by others, only Luz’s mom.

Ummm Willow I don’t like seen you getting angry...

Ohhh thanks I thought it would be something bad.

This cute moment reminds me of again the episode 17 season 1 Wing It Like Witches:

This moment for me it’s so important and significant. Even so their friendship is “restored” little by little, we can see at Willow’s expression that she wished it didn’t happen in the first place. What I see it’s a sad smile on her face. :(

On a side note we can see a picture of Willow, Luz and Gus in the background.

Raine at first glare seems fine but I don’t know. That thing they have that “thorn” seems suspicious.

“PEOPLE” Such a second mood here.

“Such much calmer than before”... Ummm Kikimora if I remember correctly.

You did this to THEM (on episode 7 season 2 Eda’s requiem):

So I don’t know what I have to think about Kikimora anymore.

It’s really strange seen that Kikimora afraid of someone. Knowing her record in the show. Terra is a interesting name. ( meaning ”ground” maybe)

Terraaa... What did you do to Raine!!! Why does they have headaches!?!

Could you please DON’T... WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUUUUU...

Stop hurting Raine pleeeeeaseee. :(

I’m more worried that YOU ruin it and not Terra.

Look the illusionist from episode 5 of season 2 Through The Looking Glass Ruins:

It shows that was Luz's idea.

Reallyyyyy Luz

Hooty’s WATCH!!! Not gross at all naaahhhh.

Dana posted sketches about the episode and this is one:

Their expression tells everything. Dana posted something similar too:

Luz you’re a terrible actress, but points for trying. 😂 😂 😂

Also, the scoop it should be exclusive for Amity, dear.

And here comes the third mood. :)

Aaaaand this is the closest that we seen about Luz and Raine meeting.

For now I guess.

Amity to the rescue.

This will hurt I can tell.

Their memory was remplaced. Agggh darn you Terraaaa...

Welp I guess Raeda angst again it is then.

Terra Snapdragon, please go awaaaay lady.

“Stealing is legal now” “I am your god”. Thank you Hooty for the comedy relief. 🤣 🤣 🤣

Lady you sneaky little sssssss...

snake, yeah snake.

Uff good save Amity.

sweet potato it is then.

Yep the conformatorium a third time, not gonna happend.

yeah and this:

Kikimora been still without blinking

Look at them go skateboarding. It’s kinda snowy.

It’s sad to see that Raine didn’t want to do this either.

Raine is conflicted too. They have a confused look. It’s sad that Raine didn’t reconized the song that both of them played :(

Eda is determined to bring them back at any cost 😭 😭 😭

Even though Raine is brainwhased, they still cares about Eda a lot. 😢 😢 😢

It’s imperceptible but Raine have a tear on their eye.

This is so sad, Raine is self conscious that they didn’t want to push Eda away and at the same time they protected her. Raine is definitely hurt.

Amity’s suspicions are pretty much confirmed. She definitely knows Luz was hidding about travelling to the human realm.

It was pretty obvious that she was going to betray you Luz. Since promotion is a very appealing word. 😒

Now this confused me, since all this time Kikimora didn’t say anything about Amity and now out of nowhere she remembered that Amity was at Eclipse Lake and was the one who made the fire ruckus.

Protective Luz + Hand holding(1)

Amity dear that’s clearly a kamehameha. And you said at episode 9 season 2 Eclipse Lake, that DragonClaw Z was ancient:

The animation is so smoth. 😌 😌 😌

The way that they look at each other. Awww.

Luz you’re to pure for this realm.

Hand holding(2)

Oh no not you again.

What are you a spoiled child or what.

Her heart just broke right there.

Welp bye I guess, geez Belos really is persistant.

Babies, if I remember corretly this is the third Luz hugs Amity.

Awww 😍 😍 😍

They’re going to talk about the fact that Luz lie about the portal.

Luz seems to be very conflicted, but Amity didn’t want to push her to tell her.

That’s a healthy relationship right there.

Amity wants to know more about Luz not only the good things also the things that it’s difficult to talk about. Luz said that helping Kikimora with her mom could help with her situation. But it wasn’t.

Luz trust to tell Amity about her travel to the human realm.

Holding hands(3)

The gang is finally together. Holding hands(4)

Yep Eda is right again. Belos words means nothing.

Such a mood (4). Her new from the sneek peak it’s from Amity braiding her hair,

Also Willow 💅

Holding hands(5) Uncertain future.

Taking things one day at a time.

This chapter was a roller coaster of emotions. Comedic moments between King and Hooty, cute moments with Luz and Amity, Willow and Amity talking again as friends and reconnecting, Raeda angst and Kikimora trying to be useful to the emperor and Terra watching over her.

*edit* Also I wanted to say that it’s nice that Amity wanted to learn spanish for Luz, and a lot of people headcanon this, on drawings and fantictions, well it’s amaizing that this fact is canon :)

I’ll review episode 12 tomorrow.

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lampmanliveblogs · 2 years ago

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Episode twelve! Now… I have been warned about this episode. I don’t know yet what it’s about, but I know it’s gonna be big. I’ve even been lucky and managed to avoid seeing the title so as of this writing I have practically no spoilers. A comment left by a certain theorist cat makes me think it might be about Hunter and/or Belos though.

Regardless of what it’s actually going to be, I know it will be big. So let’s not waste any more time and get into it.

We open with a shot of Luz own version of my conspiracy corner. Except hers is cooler because it’s cork board and not just a wall, she is better at drawing than me, she has a glove soaked in an ancient Titan’s life blood powerful enough to pierce dimensions, AND she has red string! I wish I had red string.

She is trying to figure out how to make a new portal door that will actually work and won’t collapse. We see her theorizing about whether there is more Titan’s Blood to be found and asking why Belos needs the portal. We can also see the photo of her, Eda & King from the Grom episode, as well as a helpful reminder from King to hydrate. She also made a note to buy a new glove for Amity, which, while sweet, is probably unnecessary. Amity’s rich, I think she can buy a new glove on her own. Heck, she probably owns more than one pair of gloves to begin with.

Lilith spotted! Gwendolyn spotted! And… is that… what’s his name, the potions guy… Morten? Morten spotted!

That bowl Hooty is holding with the eyes made me think of a joke. I was going to tell you it… but then I realized it only works in swedish. Whoops.

Anyways, this looks like a birthday. Is it Lilith’s birthday?

Judging by how uncomfortable Lilith looks as opposed to everyone else looking happy, I’m guessing it really is her birthday.

So in addition to Gwendolyn, Morten (whom she might’ve befriended now that she need elixirs from him), Eda and King, there is also Tiny Nose (who I guess is friends with Lilith?), and, uh… whoever that is on the left. I think I’ll call you call you… Blueish Purple. A very self-explanatory name, please don’t ask me why I went with that.

Lastly, there is the Emperor’s Coven scout. Not gonna lie, I saw him and started laughing, he looks so out of place. But hey, Lilith was in the Coven for what, thirty years? She’s bound to have (had) at least some friends. Most of them probably don’t wanna associate with her now that she’s a traitor, but I guess this guy stuck around.

I’m gonna go ahead and guess that’s Steve? He was with Lilith in one scene in an episode in season one. And to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have remembered that if it wasn’t for my sister. She’s a big fan of The Owl House (thanks to me, I’m the one who gets her into all the good shows) and she mentioned Steve once.

(oh, and Lilith is wearing glasses. I quickly went back and checked, and she wasn’t wearing them in episode four, but she was during her short appearance last episode and I didn’t notice)

If I had just waited a few more seconds, I would have not only seen Steve’s shirt that helpfully informs us of his name (I actually have a shirt like that; our grandparents gave me and my siblings shirts with our names on them for Christmas last year), but I would’ve also known that is, in fact, not Lilith’s birthday, Instead, she has become the assistant curator of the Supernatural Museum of History.

…wait, where did Tiny Nose go? And why is King’s glass knocked over? The shot-reverse-shot was literally less than ten seconds, what happened? Did we accidentally stumble into another timeline again?

The character I dubbed Blueish Purple turns out to actually be names Floar DeSplora.

A quick google search tells me her actual name is Flora D’splora. She is Lilith’s former mentor and a ”bad girl historian.” I don’t know what that is, but what I do know is that she is extra as can be. She used a whip to grab one of Hooty’s delectable appetizers, only to throw it to the side. She then used her whip to pull a griffin out of the sky to fly off on. Oh, and I guess she also said something about the Emperor wanting Lilith to stay out of trouble.

I say I don’t know what a bad girl historian, but between the historian, the whip and the adventurer part, I’m thinking this character might’ve taken a few cues from Indiana Jones.

(Edit: Future Lampman here. I realize Flora’s namesake later on)

So history is being brought up. There is a lot of interesting history that I would love to learn. The history of King’s family is one thing that comes to mind. Another is the history of Philip Wittebane, his brother, and Belos. We did see Luz working on the second portal door as well as the Echo Mouse Musse. Maybe this episode will be about Lilith going on an adventure (to show that she can be a bad girl historian too) and we end up learning something important.

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #toh s2e12 #elsewhere and elsewhen

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fermented-writers-block · 3 years ago

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PART 1 of 6 of the Owl Deity Hooty Theory

[NEXT PART]

[OWL DEITY HOOTY THEORY MASTERPOST] (in development)

(TLDR at bottom of post)

Over several long months of research and analysis since March of 2020, I have been following an utterly fascinating thread of potential misdirection and subtle details throughout The Owl House, and today, I would like to start weaving together of what I believe could become one of the biggest and most cleverly disguised twists in the entire show.

To begin, let’s take a look at the B plot of Understanding Willow:

On first glance, it’s an ultimately inconsequential sidestory with the sole purpose of justifying an excuse to keep Luz and Amity in Willow’s mind, as well as providing some well-needed room to breathe and release tension after the veryemotionally charged confrontation with Inner Willow. After half an episode of Eda and King outdoing the other in ridiculous ways to win Gus’ vote and Gus running off in frustration at the end of the episode from Hooty’s inane rambling, it’s easy to laugh off Gus’ pick and assume that nothing/of value was said when he closed the door for the interview.

However, if one pays close attention to that very scene, Hooty actually canstill be heard (if faintly) underneath Eda and King’s grumbling, interestingly talking about how “It all started with a hunt. Blood red skies. That’s right, I was created-.”

Now, while it may seem silly to focus on dialogue from Hooty of all characters, this A) tells us that there was an event in the past involving blood red skies and a hunt of some kind, B) that Hooty had been created close to said event, and C) implies that what he knows but can’t tell as a story worth a damn is EXTREMELY important to be included and be hidden in such a manner.

For comparison, the only other instance of dialogue being tucked away in the background in the entire show is in Wing It Like Witches:

During the lecture at the beginning of the episode, the history teacher openswith lore on Belos appointing a head witch to each coven over 50 years ago, immediately cluing in the audience to try and decipher the rest of the lecture as it moves to the background. Adding to this is how the musical sting when Luz shows off her movie obscures what he says even further, making it even more of a intriguing puzzle that the creators clearly intended for viewers to pick up on and attempt to solve.

In contrast, the hidden dialogue of Hooty’s interview is much shorter and not as hard to decipher as the teacher’s history lesson, but at the same time, there are few to no indicators whatsoever in that scene to clue in the audience to even check for something like that. It comes at the end of an episode where most viewers would have been paradoxically tired out and driven abuzz by the revelations of Amity and Willow’s relationship, doesn’t attempt to draw much attention to itself, and frames itself as a comedic subversion of audience expectations with neither the “greatest witch who ever lived” or the self-proclaimed king of demons being picked by Gus.

Instead, he picks someone that the show portrays constantly as an oblivious and gullible idiot after being described as a “state of the art defense system” at the very beginning of the series. Someone who, despite it being played for laughs, is scarily capable of casually subduing Lilith offscreen one episode and then beating her and an entire squad of Emperor’s Coven members without even the slightest change in personality or temperament.

Someone who, due to being the Owl House itself, could be considered the titular character of the entire show, yet is taken for granted by those who inhabit him and barely gets any respect from even the cutely patronized King - including when Hooty could be interpreted as having potentially been full on DEAD for a time given the use of extremely cartoony X eyes and a lack of vital signs in The Intruder.

And someone who Eda at best tolerates and at worst abandons in personal interactions and only occasionally acknowledges him when he’s actually doing his job. Yet at the same time is so implicitly trusted beyondprotecting her home to the point where - when up against the closest person Eda has to an equal outside of likely Belos - the only actually recognizable spells Eda used in combat were 1) stereotypical energy blasts, 2) a single shield spell in Covention, and 3) a noticeably large reliance on imitations of Hooty above any other spells she could have decided to use instead.

In short, the show repeatedly tells us he is just an idiotic gag character through and through, but at the same time demonstrates he has immense power through both onscreen and offscreen demonstrations, implicitly tells us his importance ahead of time through Eda’s imitations in actually serious situations, and treats his interview and origin story as - if not even more- important to keep secret than a long lore dump about how Belos’ reign works.

After all, there being only two instances of hidden background dialogue in the entire season is already intriguing on its own, but for one to get plenty of clues to draw in people’s attention and for the other to be treated as just another gag about a “mere comic relief character” - aka a good way to draw away attention and lower one’s guard - heavily suggests a far deeper significance buried under layers of misdirection, comedy, and conditioned audience expectations.

I mean, when Eda bragged about being “a bad girl living in a secret fortress,” Hooty followed with a remark about how “I’m the secret.” While that line may sound like Hooty simply being confused as part of a one-off on the surface, it’s an odd dialogue choice for the writers to pick when you think about all the other reminders of his nature as the house itself throughout the season. With the precedent these moments set, it would have been much more appropriate for him to latch onto the “fortress” side of “secret fortress” AND it would have been just as equally funny of a joke about his awareness skills, but instead, Hooty broke away from the established trend to say something that would make people suspicious were it to come from anyone else.

In a way, this reminds me much of the many subtle bits of foreshadowing strewn across the show, like Luz unknowingly describing Amity in Witches Before Wizards and Eda burning a hole through Luz’s coven type quiz that coincidentally selected the same track she had taken at Hexside as “a punky potionist.” At the time of airing, these initially seemed like one-off jokes, but eventually came back in full force several episodes later with Amity’s hidden sensitive feelings and love for the Azura books becoming clear in Lost in Language, and the reveal of Eda’s school track in Something Ventured, Someone Framed with her school misdemeanor pictures.

That said, compared to these individual bits of minor foreshadowing, the jokes about Hooty in Understanding Willow appear to simply be the most obvious pieces in a giant puzzle, implicitly and outright telling attentive viewers that there’s a major mystery to be uncovered here.

In fact, I feel bold enough to say that we could be looking at a twist on a similar scale to that of the Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and Stanford Pines twists in Steven Universe and Gravity Falls respectively, what with this particular puzzle piece coming from how Gus wanted to make THE greatest interview of all time, and how he was looking for someone who was “interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy:”

Note the emphasis on the ‘and’ here, as Gus had made a big deal that “people aren’t meantto be all those things” at the beginning of the episode, so as a result, stripping away all the comedic framing of his subplot leaves the intriguing implication that whoever - and, perhaps, what- Hooty is, they really are the most interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy person out of everyone.

I could go further and talk about why I suspect the mystery surrounding King’s origins, whether true or not, is partially meant to misdirect us from paying attention to Hooty, or how the TOH crew’s could be disguising legitimate clues to his nature among made up and highly meme-able joke answers in order to proliferate said concepts throughout the fandom - thus letting us do all the dirty work of getting ourselves used to the ideas and used to dismissing them at the same time - but to bring things to a close for now, I’d like to leave you all with a question that I’ll start answering next time:

What does it mean when both the most powerful and notorious witch on the Boiling Isles and the possible actual king of demons/the Titan itself/something don’t match up to a house? And what do you think it is that makes him so special to warrant such misdirection?

TLDR: Between Eda’s golem spells, the show stressing his nature as the titular house, his implicit strength, and the odd dialogue and structure of Understanding Willow‘s subplot in relation to him, I believe I have good reason to suspect the show has been giving us many hints towards Hooty being much, much more important than it would like us to currently believe or even joke about. Particularly, through clever uses of comedy to establish and enforce a strong audience bias against looking closely at him or unironically taking him seriously, and to potentially plant the seeds for something I will start exploring in Part 2.

#the owl house #the owl house theory #owl house theory #the owl house speculation #toh theory #the owl house hooty #toh speculation #owl deity hooty theory #long post

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starlightandust-marejai · 3 years ago

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Tame the Beast

"But there’s something off when Raine comes inside tonight. The first thing they notice after closing the door behind them is something glowing, which they recognize to be a bottle of Eda’s elixir on the bedside table, completely full. And then there is a growl."

Raine meets the owl beast.

Read it on AO3 Here:https://archiveofourown.org/works/34020355

There’s always something strange going on at the owl house these days.

Hooty loves chattering everybody’s ears off and he is often swallowing up or breaking things he shouldn’t, Luz and King’s comedy hour somehow turned into Luz and King and Hunter’s prank each other hour somewhere along the way, and more often than not it is Raine and Eda who become their victims. You could say that not even at night the house is fully asleep, and so the constant noises, weird ones at that, are the norm.

Which is why Raine didn’t even flinch when they came up at the door of what now is their shared bedroom with Eda late at night and heard what sounded more like a monster snoring. Eda surely has always sounded like one when asleep.

But there’s something off when Raine comes inside tonight. The first thing they notice after closing the door behind them is something glowing, which they recognize to be a bottle of Eda’s elixir on the bedside table, completely full.

And then there is a growl.

When they look up, what stares at them is not the is not the playful glint of Eda’s beautiful golden eyes; but the void, pitch black of the owl beast’s angry gaze.

Raine startles so that their knees give out under them. They stumble backwards and fall on their butt, their back hitting the wooden door. The beast steps out of the nest, not at all happy at being taken out of its slumber, and slowly creeps towards them, head hang low and teeth bared.

Raine just stays where they are, shaking and paralyzed in fear at the sight of those huge sharp claws that could easily tear them apart. They feel a lump forming in their throat as they remember holding a crying, desperate Eda, after she accidentally hurt her father with those same claws. “It was to protect you!” is how she justified closing off, lying and pushing them away all those years ago. “I was terrified of what the beast would do to you if I ever lost control!” Even though it still hurts that Eda wasn’t able to trust them, Raine definitely understands what she was so scared of now.

Last they say it, when Eda was first cursed, the owl beast was different, smaller, and its mane was fiery gold like her hair. As the beast comes into their personal space, Raine shrinks into themself, whimpering “You’re a lot bigger than I what I remembered.”. The creature comes to a halt in front of them, and Raine closes their eyes and braces themself for a hit that never comes.

After a few seconds, when all they feel is the owl beast’s hot breath on their face, they open their eyes, and to their surprise, the beast doesn’t look angry anymore. It steps carefully around Raine, almost tiptoeing, and starts sniffing at them. “What are you doing?” they ask, mildly amused, even though they know it won’t answer, being too busy sniffing at their neck, their hair, their clothes and whatever it can finds. “Do you like my new cologne or something? That’d make sense, Eda likes it too.” They joke.

The beast reaches a particular sensitive spot at the back of their ear, and Raine lets out a high-pitched squeal. It startles for a second, but something left of Raine’s face seems to have attracted its attention. Raine sits perfectly still as the beast comes really close again. First there’s only the tickling sensation of its mane nuzzling their cheek, and its really stinking breath filling Raine’s nostrils, but suddenly there’s a painful tug at their ear “Ah! No! no, no, no! Don’t do that!” they yell and put their hands up, trying to move the beast’s face away from their own so it stops tugging at their earing. “Okay, okay, I’ll get it, I’ll get it for you, stop that!”

Owl beast Eda huffs, looking mildly offended at Raine’s resistance. They sigh, carefully removing the little piece of metal from their ear, and offer it to the owl beast with an outstretched hand. “Here. Is this what you wanted?” The beast cocks its head and gazes adoringly at the small shiny offering. It gently picks up the earing from Raine’s hand in its mouth and takes the treasure to its nest, along all the others, for safekeeping.

Now that the adrenalin is over and the beast is busy with its new toy, Raine takes a moment to really look at it.

The owl beast overall resembles a lot a gryphon, but half owl instead of the more common half eagle. Even though it is, unarguably, a beast, Raine can recognizes little bits of Eda in its face, in the silver of its mane, in how the ear tuffs frame its head just like Eda’s loose hair strands fall around her face. Its wings, even folded, are obviously very large, to be able to lift such a big creature into the air, (though Raine guesses the sheer amount of fur and feathers makes it look even bigger than it really is). Its appearance is very strong and brutish, but it walks and moves around with what Raine can only describe as cat like grace.

And to be fully honest, the way she looked at the earing and nuzzled Raine with such care was pretty adorable.

The beast finishes stashing its treasure and once again walks towards Raine, who gives it a confused look, right before being scooped by the back of their collar and taken to the nest, where they are very gently placed down. It takes them a few seconds to process what just happen, by the end of which she has already laid down and made herself comfortable, surrounding Raine with its strong paws.

The beast just cocks its head and quietly stares at Raine, as if trying to communicate something with its eyes alone. Against their better judgment, Raine outstretches their hands, and without hesitation, she butts its head against it, leaning into the warm touch of their hand. The silver fur is surprisingly soft against their skin, and just under their fingertips, Raine feels a slight vibration and realizes that she is purring. Loudly.

“Heh, you’re just a really big cat, aren’t you?” they whisper, voice filled with endearment, and slowly stroke the creature’s mane. “I would have never guessed.” The beast leans even further into Raine’s touch, who now has a lapfull of owl beast, and in turn, Raine nuzzles against the beast’s fur. It feels weirdly comfortable.

What a contrast this is to the tales Raine’s heard of the wild witch of Bonesborough, who, when angered or startled, would turn into a giant owl like violent and bloodthirsty monster who hurt countless citizens in its moments of rampage. Raine counts themselves lucky that the beast didn’t immediately pounce them; but then again, Eda said she had made a truce with the owl beast and that they both even talked sometimes. Raine guesses that, since they are Eda’s spouse, the beast must have recognized them as their mate. How cute.

After a while just sitting there, Eda looks a little tired, and Raine wonders how she would feel about a little lullaby. They draw a spell circle in air and summon their violin; and the creature’s eyes, which were half lidded, are now wide open and gazing at them with curiosity. The beast coos at the slow, sweet melody that comes out, its feathers puffing out in contentment. Raine can feel the beast’s loud purring against their back, just in time with the vibration of the strings. At one point in the middle of the song, the beast pulls back a little, just enough to nuzzle Raine’s cheek with its nose and lick them, and Raine’s heart soars. “Feels like sandpaper” they say, chuckling at the ticklish feeling the beast’s tongue left behind.

Raine keeps playing until they feel Eda’s body limping out with sleep. They dematerialize the violin and try to find themselves a comfortable position against her huge fluffy body. They lean against her mane, cradled between one paw and her face, surrounded by her warmth and comforted by the sound of her heartbeat and her steady breathing. Raine’s pretty sure tomorrow they will wake up with the worst back and shoulder pain ever, but tonight is the most comfortable they have been in a long while, the most safe and sound they have slept in their whole life.

#toh #toh fanfic #toh fanart #the owl house #the owl house fanart #the owl house fanfic #the owl house art #eda the owl lady #eda clawthorne #the owl beast #raine whispers #raeda #raine x eda #fanart #digital art

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sepublic · 4 years ago

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Season 2 Teaser for The Owl House?

So for those of you who haven’t caught up; A few days ago, Dana released an exclusive photo of herself on Instagram, with a cryptically-blurred reflection in her window that was all too conveniently-placed;

Now, this COULD just be some game she’s playing, but like; Reverse-image searches have yielded nothing, and it hurts no one to speculate! Thanks to @50shades-of-blue, who had the common sense to remember to flip the reflection, we have something more akin to THIS;

This image bears a decent resemblance to a sequence from the show’s intro, in terms of structuring; We have characters divided and separated by golden bars. This points to Dana’s image being a shot from a new intro for Season 2, either one for an entire season, or a single episode. I say this, because looking at the subject matter… On the very left, we see something vaguely blue, and similar in resemblance to a bile sac;

This could actually be the Titan’s heart, image below for reference;

Not only that, but as Blue’s helpful tracing points out, the other two figures in the ‘slots’ bear a resemblance to Owl Mask and Kikimora, the latter having the fingers of her hand-hair splayed out, and the former appearing to take off their mask.

What little we see of Owl Mask bears a decent-enough resemblance to the Season 2 character that Dana teased, further cementing a connection between the two. Not only that, but we get a glimpse of five (possibly six) colorful symbols above the three character slots, each likely pertaining to the Coven Heads, as shown by Blue’s earlier tracing.

In particular, you can tell the blue symbol has the same distinctive, U-shaped horns of the Healing Head; And the green symbol bears enough resemblance to the Plant Head, with their dark-green bangs covering most of their lighter-green face. Combined with symbols that seem similar to the Construction, Beastkeeping, and Oracle Heads, the exact layout we’ve seen so far coincidentally seems to match the banner layout seen in The First Day;

You have from left to right; The Construction, Plant, Beastkeeping, Bard, and Healing Heads! Now, if you look to the very right of the image, there also seems to be a sixth symbol, a bit lower than the others, with what appears to be a purple coloration; This is likely the Oracle Head, especially since it matches with the aforementioned placement of the banners. Now, exact positioning beside, we also know that there are three more symbols obscured, the ones for the Abominations, Potions, and Illusion Heads. If we go by the pattern established by the rest of the image, with the Heads at either end of the display being placed lower than the rest, and the rest being shown in an up-down pattern… Then it seems we more or less have the vast majority of this mysterious screenshot, with some of it blacked out!

As others such as @preciseprose have suggested, there’s a good chance that this is a screen transition, hence why only a specific corner and portion is obscured; Because if this shot parallels the one seen in the Season 1 intro with Willow, Gus, and Amity, which burns away in the middle to reveal King… Then it makes sense that a similar transition would happen with this show, perhaps obscuring from the outside-in this time as a contrast.

Now, what’s interesting is that this style of shot, once reserved for protagonists and friends/peers of Luz, is now being designated towards lesser-known antagonists associated with the Emperor’s Coven. While this could just be how the Season 2 intro works, with Gus, Willow, and Amity appearing later or earlier, likely closer to Luz; It does make me and others wonder if we’ll get a dedicated intro to the Emperor’s Coven with Belos, front-and-center! I’ve talked at enormous length in the past of Luz and Belos being parallels… And it’d match other Disney TVA shows, such as Gravity Falls, Ducktales, or Amphibia, who had villainous takeovers for their shows’ intros as well!

This could of course allude to an episode with a heavy focus on the members of the Coven System, specifically Belos and his aides Owl Mask and Kikimora, as well as the Head witches of the Covens he appointed and presumably trusts. This is of course all fascinating and has me even MORE intrigued, but also; The placement of the Titan’s heart alongside Owl Mask and Kikimora suggests its treatment as its own character as well… Which, if it’s a giant heart, it presumably represents and operates as a stand-in for the Titan, perhaps the conduit with which Belos even speaks to it (and vice-versa?) through! AKA the Heart represents the Titan, it IS the Titan, which then suggests that this Emperor’s Coven triumvirate consists of the Titan, Owl Mask, and Kikimora…

But that’s not the only consideration! I’ve talked before about character parallels in this show… We have Luz and Amity, Eda and Lilith, Owlbert and Lilith’s palisman. I’ve speculated on King and Kikimora being parallels, and even Hooty and Belos… But that always made me wonder; What about Willow and Gus? Do THEY have parallels, associated with the Coven System and its Emperor? And for a while I entertained Warden Wrath and Owl Mask, but lo and behold; I may be right, at least about one of those two, and also in general about parallels! Because if we compare the placements… We have the Titan and Willow, Owl Mask and Gus, and Amity and Kikimora!

Owl Mask being a parallel to Gus is interesting, because they’re operating as a spy for Belos; And presumably, Illusionists would be great at stealth. I wouldn’t be surprised if Owl Mask used Illusions, albeit to disguise and mask their own presence; A parallel and contrast to Gus, who uses Illusions to create and draw attention and spectacle! Not only that, but it makes me wonder if Owl Mask is also a child prodigy like Gus, if they have issues with being overlooked, and as a contrast to Gus, they’ve embraced this instead of fighting against it…? And Owl Mask is sent to spy on Luz the human, perhaps a parallel to Gus’ own fascination with humans…?

Then we’ve got Willow and the Titan’s heart. Now, this one interests me… And it makes me think about how Willow is presented with a raw, innate strength, and an uncanny ability to cast magic without summoning a circle nor glyph. I’ve talked before about Willow and Belos having parallels, as they both have distinct shots with their eyes glow green; Could this parallel stem more from a connection to the Titan, than anything else? Then as @aguigenae suggested, instead of Luz (or JUST Luz) being able to speak to the Titan… What if it was Willow? It’d re-contextualize her ability to draw onto raw, magical potential through pure emotions… And similarly, a lot of her spells draw power from the Isles itself in the form of plants, and we know the Isles as synonymous with the Titan!

With how Belos seems to draw power and spells from the Isles, albeit with fleshy and stone formations… Perhaps Willow serves as a parallel and foil, creating constructs from the Isles as well, but in the form of plantlife! Her being able to speak to plants might provide a medium to contact the Isles they’re rooted in… And as I said before, Willow has shown an unusual ability with magic not unlike how Belos can cast magic, but through his unique form of spheres and orbs. If Willow is associated with the Titan’s heart, perhaps she could speak to it in a way that Belos can’t- Perhaps they BOTH can speak, and this will lead to a conflict with Belos, who seeks to preserve this ‘privilege’? Keep in mind that it’s Willow who openly defies Belos the most by rallying an entire crowd against him- If she’s the face of the revolution, her being able to speak to the Titan could create further parallels and odds between the two!

Not only that, but… Talking again of Willow and the Titan’s Heart, if the two are parallels; What does this say about the Titan itself? Perhaps like Willow, it’s a being with raw magical power, easily terrifying, and with a connection to nature (as it IS nature in its case). If these characters are dark parallels, then what if the Titan was like Inner Willow, wrathful and fully exploring its dangerous power, having felt harmed and hurt, twisted…

But what if it was also a Willow who never learned to stand up for herself? A powerful, dangerous witch… But with no true self-esteem, no believe in themselves? What if the Titan was like a Dark Willow, and this self-doubt was what allowed Belos to manipulate it? I’ve speculated before that perhaps Belos has managed to sway and influence the Titan into seeing his way as the right way to handle magic… If it was a dark parallel to Willow, perhaps the Titan is hopeless, thinking there’s nothing it can do to oppose Belos, feeling like it’s smarter than him, as a toxic friend with control; Think Anne and Sasha from Amphibia!

We might even get a scene paralleling Willow and Amity’s first appearance, with how Amity condescendingly mocks Willow, albeit with potential, if misguided, good intentions. Perhaps Belos is like this- He’s cruel and manipulative of the Titan, but he also genuinely believes in what he’s doing, that this IS the best for the Isles, and that this is how the Titan should have its magic be utilized and taught. But, in absence of Amity, we see Willow’s true feelings of resentment and anger that have bottled up… So what if the Titan was like that with Belos, except dialed up? What if the Titan hates Belos or wants to see him defeated, but isn’t entirely sure if he’s wrong, either…

So to get into blind speculation, what if- What if the Titan has tried to create a new champion? By going behind Belos’ back and communicating with a new, younger witch, perhaps one that reminds it of Belos before he turned corrupt… What if the Titan is contacting Luz and/or Willow? Hoping to find someone else who will actually speak for them, not just talk over as Belos possibly is doing? Maybe the Titan is trying to foster a new witch, an alternative champion to depose Belos or take over; Or have Belos and Luz/Willow compete, to prove to the Titan who has the best philosophy to magic through their own respective victories?

And if Belos were to find out… Well, I imagine he might do something drastic to the Titan. He has control and access to its heart- Could he torture it in retaliation, perhaps causing quakes across the Isles that echo the Titan’s throes of agony? Would Belos do something drastic to prevent the Titan from helping Luz/Willow, adversely affecting the Boiling Isles in the process? Similarly, if Belos is a toxic friend to the Titan, perhaps there’s symbolism to his castle built around the Titan’s heart… Kudos to @fermented-writers-block for some of these ideas;

Perhaps it could be interpreted as Belos having an iron grip over its heart, or the Titan building up walls around its heart –thanks to Belos’ encouragement- and letting in only Belos…? Alas, Belos is the one who convinces the Titan to hide itself away and let only him in, because only HE cares, only he knows best… And yet, he’s the one who helped build those walls that the Titan hides within. Ultimately, his castle MUST fall- Especially if it’s being used to exploit and manipulate the Titan’s heart in other, literal ways as well…

Finally, let’s talk Amity and Kikimora sharing placements. There is of course the obvious implication of romantic feelings, but also… What if, instead, there was this idea of Belos being like Luz to Amity, for Kiki? For Amity, Luz was an outsider who came out of nowhere and changed her life for the better, helped her stand up for herself- What if Belos was that to Kikimora? What if he was an outsider, a human even (before he changed and decayed) that changed Kikimora’s life forever after he appeared from nowhere… The two starting to a prickly start, before truly caring for each other? As Belos encouraged Kikimora to stand up for herself, eventually culminating in her own life improving(?) as Kiki is now second only to him, the Emperor of the Boiling Isles! It might explain why he seems to trust her so much- The two genuinely care for each other and Kikimora feels like she owes everything to him…

And, to incorporate my own analysis/speculation of Amity; Perhaps Kikimora has placed all of her sense of self-worth into Belos, about how she can help him, because only HE ever made her feel like something! What if as a toxic parallel to Luz and Amity, Kikimora has lowkey become dependent upon Belos- Who, while kind to Kikimora… Kiki still has placed all of her self-esteem not in herself, but in Belos’ approval of her. And while Belos DOES approve and provide support, it’s still dangerously dependent and shows that Kikimora can’t really stand for herself, that she needs someone else as a litmus test to judge her worth as a person.

Finally, we know Amity is the least talented compared to Willow and Gus; Given how we have the literal Titan and Owl Mask, compared to Kikimora, who caves into Luz’s threats… It’s possible Kikimora is the least powerful amongst the Titan and Owl Mask, but has made up for it with raw determination and skill? After all, she presumably cast the magical cage that all of Luz’s efforts wouldn’t have been able to defeat. Perhaps like Amity, Kikimora had to work hard to prove herself, to earn respect; And like Amity in Episode 3, Kikimora feels a desperate need to hold onto that sense of accomplishment and superiority, and can and WILL retaliate viciously when it’s threatened. To Kikimora, she’s dedicated everything into making up for her own shortcomings, just like Amity- So she despises cheaters, or at least people who undermine that work.

(I know what some may be thinking- Isn’t Kikimora a King parallel? Well, these parallels work in multiple ways… Amity parallels Luz, but then so too does Belos, presumably. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amity was both a parallel to Luz AND Kikimora, then.)

And, that’s my general thoughts, analysis, and speculation, all based from this reflection we’ve seen! It’s possible Dana is trolling us, by accident or otherwise, with a videogame screenshot… But hey- It doesn’t hurt anyone if we’re wrong, I say! It’s all in good fun… Besides, if it WAS a teaser from Season 2, and we didn’t give our shot, then we’d all feel like idiots! We may as well take our chance and analyze, because- Just in case…!

#the owl house #the owl house luz #Luz noceda #the owl house belos #emperor belos #the owl house willow #willow park #the owl house gus #augustus porter #the owl house amity #amity blight #the owl house kikimora #the owl house season 2 #speculation #theory #analysis #Dana terrace

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toh-writings · 3 years ago

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Fortunes of Love Pt 1 (Eda x OC)

Summary:

When King needs his most loyal soldier fixed, Eda decides to take them to an old acquaintance of hers to get it patched. What starts as a visit turns into another visit, then another, then another. Eda begins to wonder why they were never friends before.

Warnings: None

It was a surprisingly quiet afternoon. Luz was still at school, Hooty was taking a nap, and King was off somewhere playing. And Eda had every intention of taking advantage of the break in the chaos. She slumped onto the couch with a sigh, a steaming mug of tea in her hands. She took a sip of her drink, closing her eyes and relaxing, a lazy smile on her face. This was the stuff.

Eda’s peace was shattered when a screech rang out through the house. She sighed, putting her mug down on the coffee table. Looks like her tea would go cold. She crossed her arms, scowling at King as he dashed into the room, but her face softened when she saw him. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, his little stuffed rabbit clutched tightly in his arms.

“Eda!” he screeched, running into her legs and toppling over. He was quick to get back to his feet.

“I’m right here, King, you don’t need to screech.”

“Eda, Eda, The worst thing ever has happened!” He continued to screech, not bothering to lower his voice a bit. “Francoise’s been injured!”

He shoved the rabbit in her face, showing the arm hanging on by a thread, the stuffing spilling out.

“He needs immediate attention or I fear he’ll lose his life!” The little demon insisted, looking quite devastated at the turn of events. Eda sighed, a soft smile on her face.

“Alright, alright, let me see.”

She gently took the rabbit from him and took a closer look. The thread attaching the arm to the body was in pieces, bits poking out of the worn fabric. It had probably just gotten too old, played with too much, something like that. She wasn’t the best at sewing, but it looked easy enough to fix.

“Guess I can fix it. Just let me get some things.”

She handed the rabbit back to King and gave him a little pat on his head. She had a bunch of junk in the closet to look through.

It was tougher than she thought it would be just to find a needle and thread. Luz had returned from school before she had even found anything.

“Eda? What are you doing?”

The witch huffed from her pile of stuff, the shelves of the closet empty. She grumbled, wading through her pile and standing by Luz.

“Looking for a needle and thread. King broke his doll.” She said dismissively, idly drawing a circle in the air. All the junk on the floor jumped to attention and flew back to their spots. “Clearly, I didn’t find anything.”

“Awww, that’s why King looks so depressed.”

They looked back to the couch where King sat, still clutching his broken rabbit with big crocodile tears in his eyes. He sniffed.

“Yeah. We need to fix that thing.”

Eda went quiet as she thought, pacing the living room. Okay, maybe she couldn’t fix the damn thing herself. That meant she would have to find someone else to do it. She went through all the people she knew in her mind. Half of them hated her, so it was easy to cut the list down. None of the first people she thought of actually knew anything about sewing or stuffed animals. She had to dig deep before she remembered someone who might be able to help. It was a long shot, but they had to try.

“Alright you two, I have an idea.”

She turned to them with her signature cocky smile.

“We’re going to the market.”

--------------------------

The Market was busy this time of day, the witchlings who just got out of school running around through the crowd. Eda hated being at the market when it was like this, but desperate times they say. The market was large and there were many stalls, but only one of them was the one they needed. She wished she remembered where it was better. She had never actually been there before, she just passed it every once in a while. After several wrong turns and irritated mumbles, she finally spotted the familiar stall.

“Ah, here we are! Told ya I’d find it.”

She crossed her arms, a prideful smile on her face, but Luz and King looked doubtful.

“It looks like a … fortune-teller?” Luz said, cocking her head to one side.

And so it did. The dark blue stall was decorated with white glittering stars and a crystal ball sat on the counter alongside various other tools. A group of teenagers were clustered around it, giggling and squealing at each other.

“How is some palm reading supposed to help Francoise?” King shouted, looking irritated.

“Just come on, ya little demon. Trust me.”

King continued to grumble his doubts as the approached the stall. The group of teenagers dispersed as they approached, talking amongst each other and staring at their hands in wonder. As they left they could see the witch waving goodbye. She looked friendly enough, her black curls tied back and what looked like a snake hanging on her shoulders. She smiled at them as they approached, though she looked a bit hesitant when she saw Eda.

“Hello! How can I help you?” Her voice was small and quiet.

“There you are! What was it again? Nila or something?” Eda’s voice boomed in contrast to the other witch. She leaned against the counter, a hand on her hip.

“Niliana.”

Eda gave a dismissive wave.

“Whatever, close enough. Listen, Nily, we have a bit of a problem here and need your help.”

She nodded to King. He still looked doubtful, but jumped on the counter and showed the witch his rabbit. She focused on it instantly, brows furrowed as she inspected the damage, humming thoughtfully.

“You want me to fix it?”

Eda nodded.

“It’s desperate! We must heal Francoie immediately!” King shouted, waving his arms around. “I don’t want to lose my best buddy!”

The woman smiled at him, giving his head a few pats.

“He’ll be fine. I can fix him. Come on then, my supplies are in the back.”

She left her stall, leading them into a tent behind it. Luz gazed around it in wonder. It was dark, little balls of light floating around the ceiling giving all the light they needed to see. There shelves upon shelves of stuff surrounding them, crystal balls, crystals, various jars of herbs, and other mysterious substances. Even more dried herbs were hanging from the ceiling alongside various fabrics. In the middle of the room were several comfy looking chairs and a love seat surrounding a round coffee table with a few unlit candles.

“Take a seat, I’ll get working on this.” Niliana told them in her soft voice, motioning to the chairs. Luz hopped into a chair, giggling as she bounced slightly. Eda sat with a sigh, sprawling out over the love seat, but King couldn’t sit. He followed the witch, right on her heals as she walked to what looked like a work table. The shelf above it was lined with various stuffed animals in various rates of decay and mismanagement. King crawled onto the table, watching anxiously as she got to work. The snake on her shoulders slithered away due to some unspoken command, curling around a nearby staff and turning to wood.

“This is a nice place ya got here!” Luz said, still staring around in wonder. “I haven’t meant anyone who was really good at oracle magic before! Can you tell the future? How? What’s your favorite way to do it? What’s all the herbs and crystals for? How…?”

“Slow down, kid!” Eda said, laughing. “Not everyone can talk as fast as you.”

“Oh, right sorry.” Luz said, looking a bit sheepish and shrugging.

“No, dear, I can’t tell the future. Not exactly. Oracle magic is actually quite complicated. It’s more like I see pieces what could happen. I do it by connecting to others magic. I like reading tea leaves the most. The herbs are for the tea. The crystals can be used to focus someones magic so I can read it and use it to tell the future.”

She answered easily, not missing a beat as she worked. The rabbit was empty of all stuffing now, the broken thread removed and the arm sitting next to it. She got herself a bucket and filled it with water, adding an herb here and an herb there. Once the concoction was completed she put the pieces of the rabbit in to soak.

King stared into the bucket, then looked up at her, confused.

“What are you doing?” He asked, the nervousness creeping into his voice. She smiled at him again.

“He’s just taking a bath is all. It’ll make his fur soft and stronger.”

King nodded, keeping a close eye on the bucket.

“What do you mean you see pieces? What does that mean? And what does tea have to do with telling the future?”

Niliana sighed.

“Why don’t I just … show you? Would that appease you?”

Luz’s eyes went wide and she nodded, almost bouncing with excitement. So, she started putting together a pot of tea, heating the water with a magical floating fire. With nothing left to do but wait, she finally sat with a sigh, grabbing a deck of cards to fiddle with.

Luz never stopped talking, but once the witch had settled the girl went oddly silent. Niliana looked over to her to find the girl watching her with intent, curious eyes.

“Sooooo…” She started, a smirk on her face. “How do you and Eda know each otherrrrrrr.”

“We went to school together,” Eda spoke up before Niliana could, but she didn’t seem to mind. She just nodded.

“We were both in the potions track, at least for a short time.”

“Ugh, those classes were so booooring.” Eda groaned, slouching even further in the love seat at the very memory of them. “It was nothing but stirring and stirring. I don’t know how you managed it.”

“Clearly, I didn’t.” She said, twirling a card between her fingers. “I transferred to the oracle track shortly after you left.”

Eda snorted.

“I’m amazed anyone's making potions these days with a class like that.”

Niliana shrugged.

“I didn’t think it was all that bad. The monotony was calming, especially when I was having a bad day.”

Eda waved her hand aimlessly, clearly unimpressed.

“Awww, you guys were friends?” Luz asked, but Eda shook her head, confusing the girl.

“Not really. We were more like … Aquaintances. We knew of each other, but we didn’t hang out or anything.”

“We only really talked when we were paired up for a project.” Niliana added.

“Yeah, I remember that! I always got a passing grade with you watching my back!”

“You made me do all the work.”

“Not like I was learning anything anyway. I still did some of the stirring, didn’t I?”

“Mmmm, I suppose. Not much. You were too busy getting into trouble releasing spirits in the locker room or something.”

Eda snickered, remembering all her troublesome pranks.

“They never could get rid of those spirits. They made me do it!”

Niliana looked doubtful.

“And how exactly did they manage that?”

Eda just smiled, sitting up so she could ruffle Luz’s hair.

“I had to get Luz here into that school somehow.”

They spent a while retelling some of there adventures from school. Well, Eda retold some of her adventures. NIlly occasionally would add something here or that, mentioning something she herself remembered. Otherwise, she busied herself with other things. The tea needed to be finished and handed out and the rabbit needed dried off after soak and restuffed. The tent was filled with laughter. Even King was laughing at some points, though he kept his attention mostly on his rabbit.

“I finished my tea!” Luz piped up. “Do you read the leaves now?”

“In a bit, hun, let me just finish this real quick.”

King bounced anxiously, watching her carefully as pulled the needle through the fabric. Finally, the string was tied off and snipped.

“He’s done! Ya fixed him!” King shouted, eagerly grabbing for the rabbit, but the woman pulled it away.

“One last thing.” She said, opening one of her drawers to pull out a black ribbon. She tied it around the rabbit’s neck, forming a cute little bowtie. Only when that was done did she hand it to the little demon. He snatched it from her hands, giving it a big hug.

“Francoise! You’re all fixed!” He cheered. “Thank you, lady!”

He jumped off the counter, dashing over to Eda to show her his newly fixed rabbit. She whistled.

“Dang, it almost looks brand new! I knew you did this sort of stuff but I didn’t know you were good at it.”

Niliana shook her head.

“How did you even know? I don’t remember telling you about it.”

Eda shrugged, moving to the side so King could sit next to her, Francoise in his lap.

“I don’t know, you mentioned something about fixing stuffed animals during one of our projects.”

“And you remembered?”

“Yeah, I know. I even shock myself sometimes.” She smirked smugly, crossing her legs and putting her hands behind her head.

Niliana rolled her eyes, sitting down and putting a hand out to Luz. The girl eeped gleefully, rushing to give her the tea cup.

“Now, what do you want me to focus on?”

“Uh, what?” Luz asked.

“I need something to focus on. So, what do you want to know?”

Luz thought for a moment, then beamed.

“Oh, oh, I know! Will I ever fall in love?”

Eda rolled her eyes, mumbling something about teenagers and love. Niliana smirked at that before gazing into the cup. A moment later her eyes started glowing teal. Luz watched, fascinated. Several moments passed in silence before Luz got too impatient.

“Well? What do you see?”

Niliana closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. They were no longer glowing, returned to their usual golden brown. She thought for a moment, Luz staring at her intently, slowly inching closer to the witch.

“You will fall in love. In fact, you’ll fall in love with someone you already know and who you’re already close with.” She finally said, placing the cup down on the coffee table.

“Whoa, really? How do you know?”

“When I read your tea leaves, I focus intently on you and whatever you want to know, in this case, love. When I go into my trance, I don’t really see things, I feel things. They're more like impressions. I felt love, that’s how I know you will fall in love with someone. But I also felt a sense of familiarity, which is how I know it’s someone close to you. I’d advise you to figure out if any of your friends like you.”

“Whoa…” Luz whispered, looking amazed. Eda chuckled. It was amazing that her face didn’t freeze like that.

“Alright, hotshot. If you’re so good at this then read my stupid leaves.” She said, leaning forward, her teacup hanging off a finger. Niliana snatched it before it could fall and shatter. She shot the other witch a hard look.

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know, just tell me something about my love life or whatever.”

The witch stared into the teacup for a moment before her eyes lit up once more.

“This is all nonsense anyway,” Eda added, sitting back and crossing her arms. Luz looked taken aback.

“What? Why?”

“Simple. There’s no such thing as a set future. It hasn’t happened yet! Sure, you can be told what might happen and give all sorts of random advice or whatever, but it’s you’re own actions that determine what really happens. That’s not something she can control.”

Luz looked a little downtrodden by her mentors' words, but brightened almost instantly.

“So she can’t tell exactly what’ll happen, but she can point me in the right direction! It’s like well-informed advice.”

Eda waved a hand dismissively.

“Whatever you say, kid. Personally, I don’t let this stuff get to me.”

Niliana blinked, her eyes returning to normal once more.

“... alright, there’s a lot more to go through here.” She commented, looking rather thoughtful.

Eda frowned, just a bit irritated.

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

The woman didn’t seem affected by Eda’s steely tone, continuing with her even, soft voice.

“You have a pretty crazy love life already, it can be hard to sift through. You feel a lot of love for the people around you, so it's hard to say if there’s anything new there … There will be others that’ll come into your life and join your little family, that’s for sure. For a wanted criminal, you really draw them in.”

Eda huffed, her irritation fading as a soft smile spread on her face.

“I suppose so... “

She tried not to react to the look Luz was giving her.

It was a few more seconds before Niliana spoke up again.

“For someone who’s dated a lot, you haven’t felt a who lot of romantic love before. But there will be someone someday. Probably someone from your past. You may be nervous about it, it’ll be odd and new, but It’ll be worth it. My advice would be to not go searching for anything, but don’t shove anyone away who might want to get close to you. You may never find love if you stay closed off. But make sure they’re making an effort, too.”

She gave a little nod, satisfied with her reading, and put the teacup next to the other.

“My turn! I want a reading too!” King piped up. Niliana nodded and made him a cup. He snatched it out of her hands with a “nyeh’ and gulped it down. He shoved the now empty cup into her face. “Do your magic, Lady!”

Niliana chuckled, taking the cup from him and reading it.

“You, dear, are going to live a very happy life surrounded by the ones you love. You’ll be very pampered like you are now.”

“Yes! Only the best for the King of Demons!” King said, puffing his chest out. Eda pat his head, nearly knocking him over.

“Whatever you say, tiny.”

They left shortly after that, all waving as the left. Niliana waved back from her tent.

“I liked her. We should visit again sometime!” Luz said, looking up at Eda expectantly. King did the same from Luz’s arms, tail wagging. Eda sighed, a smirk crawling onto her face.

“Fine, if you want.”

The two cheered, running ahead a bit. Eda smiled at them.

#edalyn clawthorne #the owl house #toh #toh eda #eda x reader #eda x oc #eda clawthorne #edalyn clawthorne x reader #edalyn clawthorne x oc

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virgosahel · 3 years ago

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Luz Appreciation Week 2022 - Day 5: Using the Noggin'

She can be a bi mess, but our girl Luz is not dumb. Let's celebrate her beautiful mind!

A Game of Reflexes

Eda could feel everyone’s eyes on her but she couldn’t let that distracted her. She needed to relax, focus and, most importantly, not to show any sign of stress. The stakes were too high.

“It’s your turn, Edaa~”

“I know, dang it, let me think!”

The witch continued to look at her cards. She tried to maintain a neutral expression but her sweaty brow betrayed her. Luz, on the other hand, was looking at her opponent from behind her cards with a mischievous grin.

“Thunder!” Eda shouted, drawing a card that figured a dark blue cloud; from it came out light blue bolts that were aiming to Luz’s deck.

“Glass shield!” One of the cards on Luz’s side of the table arose at the command and placed itself in front of the deck, protecting it.

Eda growled, while King, Owlbert and Hooty cheered Luz, that was now grinning much more than before. “What’s the matter? Can’t beat a ‘wittle baby’ like me?”

Eda clenched her jaw, because every replied she could think of was something that she shouldn’t say in front of King, no matter how she needed to release her anger. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to think what her next move could be.

She couldn’t let her win.

~Fifteen minutes before~

“I’m home!”

Luz entered in the living room expecting a crushing hug from King, but that never came. The demon in question was wearing a French maid uniform and was using a feather duster on the things put above the fireplace.

“… What’s going on?”

“Eda taught me a new game, and I think I’m winning!”

“And, just out of curiosity, how does the game work?”

“You dress as a monarch,” King said, pointing at his outfit, “then you choose a room to take as your domain. The one that as the most beautiful reign wins! Eda’s not even trying to win, her kitchen-reign is a mess!”

“Yeah, I can imagine that…”

Luz went through the kitchen door, and saw Eda sat on a chair with a little pink tiara in her hair. She was watching a show in the crystal ball while eating some Abomi–berry ice cream.

“Eda!” Luz exclaimed, crossing her arms. “Did you Tom Sawyered King?”

“I don’t know what that is,” Eda stuffed her mouth with a spoonful of ice cream, then she swallowed loudly, “but if it means that I smartly induced that kid to do what I wanted AND make it feel like he got what he wanted, then yes indeed.”

“And the costume?”

“Well, why leave all the fun just to King?”

Luz narrowed her eyes, frowning. “You’re incredible…”

“Well, thank you!”

“You know what I meant! We’ve split up the chores, and you must do your part!”

“Hey, I’m just doing my job as a tutor, teaching you ‘wittle babies’ how the world works.”

If she was angry before, then now Luz was furious.

“Oh, so we have to learn from you?”

“Exactly!”

Eda turned off the crystal ball and took it with her out of the kitchen, leaving Luz alone with her anger. She reached King, put the crystal ball with the other stuff that he just cleaned and gave him her tiara.

“Well King, you beat me, you’re the Supreme Ruler of the living room.”

While King celebrated his victory, Luz walked to the couch and flop down on it, glaring at Eda intensively. She looked at the scene she had before her eyes: Eda leaned on the fireplace, that was using the crystal ball as a mirror to take some food from her teeth, King dancing, jumping, and screaming ‘I’M THE CHAMPION OF EVERYTHING!’… And she had an idea.

“Hey Eda, how about a bet?”

“Uhm?” Eda turned around, with a finger still inside her mouth.

“Yeah, I mean, if I have to learn from you, better start right now, don’t you think?” Luz went out of the room and returned with two chairs. She pushed the coffee table at the center of the room with her leg, then placed the chairs at the ends of it. She sat down and looked at Eda, still with her back on the fireplace. “We’ll play a game: if I lose, I’ll do your chores for a month, and I’ll admit that you are the smartest witch of the Isles; but if you lose, you’ll do ALL the chores of the house for a week, and you’ll never exploit King with your tricks again.”

“Wait, what did she do?”

“Interesting…” Eda said, ignoring King. The stakes were very good. “I accept, but no made-up games.”

“I agree with you. What about… Hexes Hold’em?”

Eda laughed, clapping a hand on her leg. “What, you really think you can beat me at my game?”

“What’s the matter, are you scared?”

“Well, if you insist… but I don’t have a deck anymore”

“Oh, I’m sure that Hooty has one in his belly.”

~Present~

Hooty had a deck (and many other things), so they started playing. And now Eda was losing. Miserably. She didn’t know how, but Luz managed to block all her attacks. That she had learned a telepathy glyph?

“I think you can only make one moooove~”

She’s right. Dang it, when did the kid learn the rules so well?

Eda was desperate; and desperate times require desperate measures. The only way she could win know was to draw the wild card, but she couldn’t risk finding something else. She took a card, but without even looking at it she threw her hand behind her mane, like she was getting in position for tossing a ball toward the goal.

“Let me tell you Luz, you’re still in time to call off the bet.” Eda said, and at the same time, with her hidden hand, she switched the card with a spare wild card she carried in her hair; you know, as a lucky charm.

“Stop stalling and play!”

When she finally hid the other card in her hair, she slammed the card on the table.

“Wild car-”

“The Gatherer!”

Luz’s card hit the table before Eda’s. From it, a long, hooded figure appeared, that with his flute lured the wild card beside them.

“What’s that card?”

“That, my dear King, is the Gatherer card” Luz explained. “You can only use it once in the game, even if it’s not your turn, and has the ability to take control of the opponent’s card; you just need to have your reflexes ready to put it right before the other card. Now that I have the wild card…”

And just like that, the cards exploded, and an inscription made of fire appeared above their heads:

WINNER: LUZ

Eda was too stunned to be angry. Instead, she looked at the girl and, proud, bowed slightly.

“Well kid, you beat me, fair and square. How about celebrating with some cookies?”

“Yes!” King replied for Luz. “And you’ll clean all the dishes after!”

King jumped on Eda’s back and together they went to the kitchen, followed by Hooty. Luz was about to go too when she was stopped by Owlbert. She looked at him and saw that he was mad at her.

“What?”

He flew towards the fireplace and landed on the crystal ball. The clean, very shiny crystal ball.

“Hey, I had to! Otherwise, Eda would have never learned to not deceive the others. Besides,” Luz continued saying, watching at her reflection, “if Eda didn’t cheat, I couldn’t even look at her cards. I swear that I didn’t see any other card, she blocked the visual with her body.”

Owlbert didn’t seem too convinced, but when he heard King and Eda squabble about the flavor of the cookies he decided to give up. He flew toward the kitchen, followed by a smuggling Luz.

#luz appreciation week 2022 #toh #the owl house #the owl house fanfiction #toh fanfic #luz noceda #toh king #eda clawthorne #eda the owl lady #toh hooty #owlbert

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tedturneriscrazy · 3 years ago

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🎶Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door🎵

I wonder if anything will happen in this episode.🙂

(I say as if I didn't watch the episode twice before going to bed and writing this post)

I don't think I'll ever not be amused by the way Hooty just...does things with his face

Seems like he found a thesaurus at some point

Okay so it's canonically spelled "Hootsifer," good to know

Also, this is really all we get of Lilith, huh?

His little hoot/coo at Lilith's letter❤❤❤

To borrow a meme format: If I had a nickel for every time Alex Hirsch was involved in a show where one of the characters was experiencing pubescent voice cracks, I'd have two nickels, which isn't very much but it's weird that it happened twice

Eda's face🤣

As much as this bit is played for laughs, Eda's clearly still shaken by what happened last episode

Jeez, Luz, priorities /j

Pictured: Hooty

The way King talks about being pelleted implies this is something Hooty does on the regular

Hooty's plan to help King is literally a Buzzfeed quiz? Okay then

Betcha never expected lore from Hooty, eh?

"DO NOT INTERRUPT"

Officially a "type of worm"

The dance being a grievous insult wasn't exactly from nowhere, but still funny nonetheless

WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING COCCOON

Tiny Nose playing Switch definitely seems to be drawing from Dana's real life experiences

Wait, Hooty and Tiny Nose are friends?

Well shit, turns out she could use magic this whole time. Guess her going Super Saiyan wasn't just the power glyph.

I am extremely skeptical of your medical credentials, TN

I have so many questions about the methodology they used for the blood test(s)

I think Hooty may have misinterpreted what King was looking for

I'm still amazed at how King has had, and continues to have, moments in the show with some of the greatest emotional weight

Ooh, sound powers!

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CRUMBLE!!!"

It just occurred to me that that segment consisted mostly of Alex Hirsch talking to himself

Hello not-at-all obvious setup

Today I learned that Hooty is the baker of the house. Maybe he'd critique Amity's fairy pie.

Aaaaand there's the sleep inducing

Oh shit

In hindsight the Owl Beast being part of a dream sequence is rather obvious

Wow, Eda, tell us how you really feel about the Owl Beast

Oh we're just gonna ride aboard the Trauma Express today, huh?

Oh, I guess Lilith did make an appearance, after all

Damn, Gwen, not even looking

Oh shit dad issues

Sandy Cohen?! (To anyone who gets that reference, hi. How are your 30s treating you?)

Well, I know who Peter Gallagher voices now, anyway

Oh dear...

(Also, bright flashing lights triggering the curse? There's an epilepsy allegory in here somwhere)

Blood and eye injury? Gotta stretch that Y7 rating

Now we have some context for that look on Eda's face when Lilith mentioned their dad: good old fashioned guilt!

I desparately want to make a "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" joke, but I'm better than that

New memory! Raine!

Oh no...

I get the feeling I'll hate this part, too

They were exes!😢 Guess the fandom called that one

The reasoning for them being exes is understandable, all too real, and goddamn heartbreaking

That said, the fact they never stopped loving each other🥺😢😭

I do hope we can see Raine again under less...traumatic circumstances. Maybe that wedding that was mentioned?

Oh shit, are we getting into the Owl Beast's memories?!?! What a tweest!

Bet nobody expected Cloaked Moonface to show up in the frickin Hooty episode

(Also, holy shit I briefly forgot this was the Hooty episode)

Who is this mysterious cloaked figure? And why are they so tall and long?

So the curse was a sealed beast this whole time. Damn.

And it was just picked up as beach junk to sell as a trinket. So much for it being connected to Belos. (Not that people will stop trying to do so)

Who had "experiencing sympathy for the Owl Beast" on their Bingo cards for this episode? Yeah, me neither.

And here we have the necessary Eda coming to terms with her curse segment. More accurately, Eda and the curse coming to terms with each other.

Goddamnit why does it have to be cute

"It's like sandpaper" IT'S LIKE A CAT I FUCKING CAN'T

Insert Steamed Hams reference here to kill the mood

New transformation!

Oh no she's hot!

No, Hooty, you made it surprisingly much, much better!

She might have a problem pushing people away and holding onto guilt, but Eda always knows that she looks damn good

Oh right, Luz having girl problems. Fuck, so much is happening in this episode!

"Cotton-candy-haired Goddess" LUZ! 🤣

Attuned to other people's emotions = being a fucking creeper

Oh Luz, what happened to you back home?

Also, 99.999% certain Amity would love your cheesiness

That's...rather morbid, Hooty

So much lore development, including the fact the Owl House has a basement

Classic inanimate object silhouette fakeout gag. Subversion in 3...2...1...

There it is!

I can't imagine being pelleted is a fun experience.

Honestly I have so many questions about how Hooty got Amity there in the first place, but I'm not so sure I actually want to know the answers to any of them...

Cue much panicking

Wow, I'm really getting some Into the Bunker flashbacks

Oh this is gonna be amazing isn't it

I commend Luz for not actually dropping dead of embarrassment

Seriously, how can Hooty set all this up so fast yet not hold a pen?!?!?!

Poor Luz, she thinks this is destroying her chances

Meanwhile Amity is just "Oh, Titan, is this actually happening?!"

The way she's fixing her hair!❤

Goddamnit Luz let this play out, she's so clearly into this!

"Again?!" Okay who do I have to kill?

Luz is luzing it

Nooooooo....

JUST TALK FOR FUCK'S SAKE (aka how like 95% of issues in literally any plot could be solved)

Noooo Amity's so heartbroken right now💔

This isn't what either of them wanted!

To be fair, Hooty, Luz had a part in this too. Not that she can be blamed entirely. Poor thing clearly had some awful experiences back home...

Now Hooty is McFucking losing it

Why did I think he was gonna say "Looks like I'm gonna have to JUMP!" I think I've watched too much Homestar Runner (jk there's no such thing)

Those pulsating organs are still gross

Eda swooping in to save her son (No, really, he actually is now)

I'll say things get weird when Hooty gets upset!

Yes, King! Save them with your voice powers!

Damn that is some romantic lighting, and Luz is enjoying the eye candy (cotton candy, if you will)

Luz's reaction to Harpy!Eda is the family-friendly summation of how the fandom has reacted.

Hooty really just tearing up the landscape in remorse

Mother-daughter moment about love life!

I appreciate not just Eda's encouragement but her actually asking Luz what she wanted

God, Eda is best mom

Also, OH FUCK IS THIS HAPPENING?!

OH SHIT

THESE ADORABLY AWKWARD NERDS❤💜💙

"I'm not as cool as you think" could be interpreted as self-deprecating, but here it seems...oddly reassuring?

The way Luz eloquently says how she wants Amity in her future...beautiful❤

Luz making some good faces

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YOU CUTE DORKS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

THERE IT IS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

LOOK HOW HAPPY SHE IS

WE WERE LOSING OUR SHIT OVER A PECK ON THE CHEEK THREE WEEKS AGO AND NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE HOLY FUCK

Awkwardness is still there, but that's to be expected

BET Y'ALL DIDN'T EXPECT THAT TRAILER SHOT TO BE IN THE HOOTY EPISODE HUH

THE WAY LUZ RUBS AMITY'S HAND😭😭😭😭😭

(And yeah, it's gonna still be scary, but only because it promises to be so wonderful)

Let's give it up for Hootsifer, goddamn!

Let'a also appreciate just how fucking funny it is that Lumity becomes official in the Hooty episode

Fus ro WEH!

Hooty actually saying "Luz's new GF" out loud...

In just about any other show the love interests getting together would be a climax/culmination of the entire plot. Here? It's actually used to advance the plot, and that is brilliant!

Dana Terrace and the crew really just knocking it out of the park again and again, huh

"They're adorable, and deserve all the happiness!" Well said, Hootsifer. Well said.

Probably for the best they had Hooty promise that. As much as what happened/progressed, there was a lot of property damage.

OH SHIT ONCE AGAIN

King's dad/relative! And he's voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson!

GODDAMNIT HOOTY

Wow. Just...wow. This episode.

King has voice powers! Harpy!Eda! Lumity are girlfriends for real!!!!

How do you pack so much into a single episode?! And so expertly?!

I had my suspicions before, but this confirms it: The Owl House is the greatest show of all time.

And we have two episodes left until the hiatus! And 11 episodes in the season after that! What are we in for?!?!?!

I, for one, can't wait to find out!

#the owl house #toh hooty #luz noceda #eda clawthorne #king clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #gwendolyn clawthorne #dell clawthorne #raine whispers #amity blight #lumity #toh s2 spoilers #the owl house s2 spoilers #the owl house season 2 spoilers #the owl house spoilers #toh spoilers

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rohad93 · 3 years ago

Text

Sea Legs

My last fic before i go on hiatus for the duration of season 2.

Have a good one yall!

~ ~ ~

Luz stared listlessly out at the sea as the ship bobbed along; bored. The same rolling blue-green ocean stretched out for miles in every direction just as it had every day for the past month and a half, endless and unchanging. She loved the sea, really, she did; it was why she had left home the first minute she was able to and had joined the first ship that would take her.

The Tawny Owl was a 'merchant' ship. At least that was what it’s captain, Edalyn Clawthorne, or The Owl Lady or Cap'n Eda, as she preferred to be known, called it.

Even though Cap'n Eda used actual finger quotes around the word 'merchant', they definitely did sell things

Just, things that weren't theirs.

Luz didn't mind it really.

They didn't kill anyone… Well, she didn't. If people got unruly while Tawny Owl crew was trying to take their things then Eda was sometimes known to fire off a few rounds or toss someone overboard and 'let the ocean do as it would'.

King also had a bit of a mean streak when the moment struck him. The first mate was a small man with an ego and temper that was much larger than he was and was prone to exploding at a moment’s notice.

He cared though, in his own way.

Hooty, though, was… something else.

Despite their, sometimes, shady nature, Luz loved the Cap’n and the rest of the crew just as much as she loved the sea. She’d grown up on stories of sea monsters and daring adventures across the water in large, gallant ships. People going to far-off places to see new things.

That was what she wanted and she did get a lot of it. She’d met all kinds of people and characters in her five years sailing with Eda and the rest of the crew.

All that being said, sometimes, the long weeks and months at sea could be very, very boring.

Not all the time. Somedays, when they weren’t doing the usual tasks of tightening ropes, repairing sales or swabbing the deck they would fish over the side of the boat.

Most of them fished with a net or string, but Barrelman Hooty, would climb down from the crow's nest and dive straight into the water, knife clenched between his teeth.

Luz would never understand the large, muscular man, but he was nice and took care of her a lot. More than once he’d hauled her out of the way of danger but, even so, he was more than a little strange. Like how he liked to wear two eye-patches… even though both his eyes were fine.

She’s asked Eda once and the answer had been a shrug. There were some things that just defied explanation.

They had been out at sea for a month now, chasing after an actual merchant ship that had been rumored to have some incredibly rare and precious cargo on board that wasn’t exactly well guarded. That had been enough for Eda to have them heave to.

So now, here they were, weeks into a chase, well, sort of. They were sneaking up on the merchant ship a little more each day, waiting for the perfect time to hit it when they pulled into dock near Port Royal.

They should be coming up on it tonight and, in Eda’s words, were going to ‘Rob it blind and then blast it to kingdom come if we have to!’

Luz was content to wonder just what kind of priceless goods the ship could be carrying to not have much in the way of protection. Most of the time they did that so as not to draw attention to themselves. Of course, they’d hit their share of bum ships that they thought would have goods but hadn’t had much of anything, much to Eda’s chagrin. That was just the sort of risk they took.

She leaned her arms on the side of the ship, watching the waves lap at the worn wooden hull. The sun was starting to set and they would be moving in soon.

The plan was simple, in theory. They would pull into the dock and she would slip onto the ship while the rest of the crew made distractions of themselves. Hooty was really good at that too.

She stood there for a long while, getting lost in her thoughts and listening to the distant sounds of seagulls as they flew overhead; the heat from the sun was tempered by the cool breeze that was pushing them steadily through the water at a good clip. The sun had just started to set when she heard Hooty call down from the crows nest.

“Land, hoot!”

Luz shook her head at the strange man’s queer turn of phrase but looked up anyway and turned her eyes towards the horizon. Sure enough, she could see a dark smudge on the horizons, slowly growing

“Ya ready to go, kid?” A sudden voice called and Luz looked up as Eda walked up to her, grinning brightly, arms crossed over her chest and her maroon and gold captain's jacket hanging off her shoulders.

“As ready as ever, I guess,” she shrugged as Eda came to stand next to her looking out at the sea.

“That’s the spirit!” she laughed, slapping the young woman on the back as she snorted. Luz grinned at her. This would hardly be the first time they had pulled this trick. Luz was by far the quietest and most inconspicuous member of the crew and thus, the best suited for the job when stealth was required.

Quiet in the grand scheme of things? No but definitely the quietest and least destructive member of the crew.

They didn’t wanna fight if they didn’t have to.

They definitely would though if the occasion called for it.

“What am I looking for exactly?” Luz asked, brows furrowing as she looked at Eda, who shrugged.

“Anything that looks like it might be worth money.” She held up her fingers and rubbed them together with a grin.

“Right…” Luz nodded and Eda clapped her on the back one more time.

“No worries, kid. This will be an easy job,” Eda assured her and, with that, turned and walked back toward the helm where King was glaring at a map that looked suspiciously like it was upside down.

Eda said that about most jobs, but it wasn’t exactly as easy as she made it out to be.

Within the hour, they pulled into port and, just down the dock from them, was the large ship they had been following for the better part of a month.

They waited, watching it as the most of the crew filed off once night fell and made their way to the nearby tavern.

“You ready, kid?” Eda asked her and Luz nodded. “You know what to do.” She grinned as the rest of the crew moved off the ship, to throw their plan into action

Luz nodded and, with a canvas bag thrown over one shoulder, she took a breath before heaving herself overboard into the waiting, dark waters below. She hit the cold water in a sudden rush, becoming all but weightless for a moment as she plunged through the water.

No matter how many times they pulled this stunt, she never got tired of that part.

Except when it was really cold.

She surfaced with minimum noise and shook her head, wiping some water off her face as she swam toward the other ship. The closer she got, the more she could hear the yelling and fighting of metal clanging as cutlasses clashed and musket shots rang out in the night. Eda and the rest of the crew, already creating a distraction.

She swam up to the ship's hull and grabbed hold of one of the ropes dangling down into the water and tensed as she started to haul herself out of the water, carefully and slowly climbing up the side. The sounds of fighting was growing slightly more distant at this point. Her crew were leading whatever people had remained on the ship away. With a grunt, she hauled herself up, peeking over the side to the deck. It was empty and she flung herself over the side, pushing her sopping wet hair back out of her eyes. She moved quickly to the captain’s quarters and didn’t need to look long before she found the captain’s log and took it with her, flipping through to the back and finding the cargo log. She scanned the list quickly and found all the usual suspects. Spices, wood, soap. Nothing that really jumped out at her except one thing.

A very large crate, marked as exotic meat, heading to a well known and expensive eatery in the capital. There was nothing special about that though so she shoved the book into her bag and hurried back out onto the deck and scurried to the entrance that led below deck, where whatever they were carrying would be kept. Her time was ticking by quickly and she didn’t want to be left on board when the rest of her crew pulled back and this ship’s crew came back.

It was dim down in the hull of the ship; a few oil lamps hung from the wall, their flames flickering and casting long shadows across everything. She walked as quickly and quietly as possible across the creaky floorboards, eyes skittering across all the crates scattered around the room but nothing immediately stuck out to her as being important. She’d been with Eda long enough to have developed an eye for things that might be worth something, most of the time anyway. Most of the crates were marked with stamps for things she knew and had been marked in the log book. Tea, spices and the like but nothing like what Eda had expected to be here. There were a few sacks on the floor that she ruffled through and found some tiny bags or uncut gemstones, which she stored in her bag. It was better to come back with something than nothing at all.

She moved quickly, searching through everything she could but there was nothing here that Luz would call a ‘great treasure’ she grunted to herself, frowning. Eda wasn’t going to be happy but there wasn’t much to be done about it. As she moved, she caught sight of the large crate sitting against the wall and with nothing to lose, moved over to it. It was longer than she was tall and came up to her waist. She gave it an experimental kick and jumped when something thumped back.

“Wha-!” She reeled back, blinking at the crate but nothing else happened. She leaned forward, hand raised and gently taped on the box but this time, there was no answer. She blinked at the box for a long second.

Maybe she’d imagined it?

Just as she was about to turn and go, the box thumped again, making her jerk.

Something was in there!

She looked around and quickly found a prybar, not even pausing to consider just what might be inside before she wedged the bar under the lip of the crate and with a grunt and a mighty crack, pried the lid loose, sending her stumbling back

It crashed over the side, falling to the floor and the sharp, salty smell of sea water immediately hit her. She took a cautious step forward and peered into the crate. It was full of dark, murky water and… something else. Something glimmered dimly just under the surface but it was too dark to see.

She ran over and grabbed one of the oil lamps hanging from a nail on the wall and moved back to the crate, holding the light over the lips of the box.

Something, green, glimmered below the surface and she leaned closer toward the water, squinting into the depths.

Suddenly the water sloshed and she jerked back with a shriek, landing flat on her butt on the floor and jarring her tailbone painfully as something broke the surface of the water. She scrambled to sit back up, fumbling for the lamp and holding it up in front of her.

Luz felt her jaw all but come unhinged as she stared back at… a woman?

A woman was staring back at her from the confines of the crate but she didn;t look like any woman Luz had ever seen before.

The first thing she noticed was her hair. It lay wet and flat against her shoulders in a bright shade of pale green that Luz had never seen on someone before with long strands of ruddy brown at the crown, pulled away from her angular face.

The next thing was her ears.

Long and pointed.

“Wha-” Luz continued to gape as a pair of bright, golden-colored eyes stared back at her in a glare.

Just when she thought she couldn’t be any more surprised, something else flipped up out of the water.

Long, blue-green fins attached to an expanse of scaly flesh. The scales seemed to shimmer and shine even in the low light of the lamps.

A tail.

A handful of stories from her childhood suddenly popped into the forefront of Luz’s mind. Tales of sea creatures, half-human and half-fish, that swam faster than any man could ever hope and had no need to breathe.

Old wives’ tales of pulling sailors under the depths to drown. Creatures that would steal and hoard the treasure from sunken ships.

“A mermaid…,” Luz heard herself mumble, almost unbidden. Her shocked stupor was broken only as the tail splashed back down into the water and droplets of warm, seawater splashed her in the face, making her blink. “Wow, you’re…” she scrambled back to her feet and took a step forward but then the creature… woman? The woman in front of her jerked back, spine pressed against the side of the crate, shoulders bunched up around her neck, and Luz stopped, holding up her hands. “It’s okay… I’m not gonna hurt you or anything,” she tried to calm her but those sharp eyes only continued to glare at her silently. Luz frowned, humming. “You probably don’t understand me,... do you?” she asked and, again, silence was her answer.

She moved slowly around the crate, careful not to actually get any closer but those golden iris’s never left her. Not that Luz could blame her. She wouldn't be happy about being shoved into a crate either. She had a swathe of bright magenta fabric wrapped around her chest, studded with what looked to Luz like sea glass and pearls. Their shiny surfaces catching in the light.

A real-life mermaid, just like in her stories! Luz could hardly believe her eyes.

“You must be the thing…,” she breathed quietly but then frowned. The thing they had come looking for…

She jerked, suddenly and again the sea creature jerked back, sloshing water out the sides of the crate but Luz didn’t notice as she dug the log book out of her bag and quickly scanned it and found absolutely no mention of any mythical sea creatures or even anything alive on their manifest.

In fact, the only thing that even came close to matching the description of the crate in front of her was the one line of text she had noticed.

Exotic meat…

“Ay dios mio, they're gonna eat you!” she yelped, dropping the book to the floor. She didn’t notice the way the woman’s eyes widened. “I gotta do something…,’ Luz mumbled to herself, pacing the room quickly and chewing on her bottom lip as her thoughts raced a mile a minute.

The ocean was only just outside… she only had to get her upstairs. Luz whipped back around to lock eyes with the mermaid, staring back at her.

She couldn’t just let some stupidly rich aristocrats eat a mermaid and call it exotic meat!

She took a step forward and, predictably, she pressed herself back against the far wall of the crate.

“It’s okay,” She held up her hands as she slowly approached but she could see it in the woman’s eyes, as clear as day.

Fear.

“I’m not gonna hurt you but if I don’t get you outta here soon, someone else will,” she spoke in low, quiet tones as she approached. Time was slipping through her fingers like sand as she spoke. They were both going to get it if she couldn’t get out of here quickly. She took another step forward and the creature’s lips pulled back over a pair of fang-like eyeteeth, trying to ward her away, her tail splashing angrily in the water and Luz paused.

There was no way she was going to let Luz get her out without a fight.

There was no way she was going to let people eat a rare and mythical creature.

“Okay then!” She bowed up and the woman seemed to draw back some but the snarl never left her face and then Luz quickly covered the last few paces to the crate and grabbed her.

To predictably disastrous results.

Apparently, mermaids have claws; who knew?

Luz let out a pained sound as she dragged the struggling creature out of the crate, hauling it over her shoulder and sloshing sea water everywhere as she felt the sharp lashes of claws digging painfully into her back, searching for an escape.

She turned and ran, doing her best to keep her balance as a long, muscular tail whipped around frantically and the woman growled and snarled in her grip as she clawed at her.

“I’m just trying to help you!” she yelled as she sprinted up the stairs, panting. She was solid and the thrashing around while mauling her didn’t help Luz in the least.

She managed to make it up onto the deck, still flailing as she stumbled around, trying to maintain her balance as the woman thrashed in her arms.

“Please be still!” Luz hissed, voice pitching as she felt another talon dig through her thin tunic, shirt, and skin. Why did she have to be so dang nice!?

Just as she was crossing the deck the woman reared back in another attempt to break free and then blinding pain shot across Luz’s face in a trail of fire from above her eye down her cheek.

“Argh!” She stumbled but managed to keep her footing and made a beeline straight for the side of the ship, despite the warm blood she could feel dripping down her face. She didn’t hesitate to throw the woman over the side, watching as she hit the water with a splash. She didn't resurface but Luz figured she’d swam off the moment she’d hit and then she realized the sounds of fighting had stopped.

“You, stop!”

She looked over her shoulder to find the crew had returned and were darting across the deck toward her.

“Bye!” she grinned, wiggling her fingers.

She threw herself over the side of the boat and fell to the water with a splash. Limbs akimbo as she hit the water like a cannonball and didn’t even pause before she started swimming back to the Tawny Owl, beneath the dark water. The salt water burned her myriad of cuts but that was much preferred to a musket shot through the back so she never slowed, holding her breath as she moved through the water back toward the ship.

When she finally resurfaced with a gasp, it was on the other side of the ship, out of sight. She panted as she swam off to the dock and hauled herself up onto the planks. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off she felt every gash in her skin with striking clarity and she didn’t like it at all.

It. Hurt.

She walked down the dock toward the Tawny Owl , consoling herself with the thought that she had done the right thing. Even if the recipient hadn’t exactly been grateful about it…

She wiped a sopping wet arm across her face and pulled her sleeve back to see the blood quickly seeping into the fabric of her sleeve. She’d gotten her good too.

Eda was waiting for her when she finally climbed up the plank.

“Hey, Kid, how was - What the hell happened to you?!” Eda’s shout got the attention of all the rest of the crew as she jogged forward, eyes darting over Luz’s bloody face.

Luz paused. She couldn’t very well tell Eda she had rescued a mermaid from being someone's dinner. She probably wouldn't have even believed her to start with and, even if she did, knowing the opportunistic captain, Eda would’ve wanted to sell her for sure.

“They had… dogs,” she said after a moment.

“Dogs?” Eda repeated and Luz nodded.

“Guard dogs, they attacked me down in the hold,” She quickly lied as Eda looked at her back and chased a breath at whatever she saw.

“They tore you up, Kid…, You best go down and see Viney,” she said and Luz nodded; it felt like it.

“So what, we got nothing from all that time?!” King’s sudden squeal made her stop and Eda looked at her questioningly.

“I did manage to grab these, that was really all there was except some crates of tea and stuff.” She dug through her bag and handed over the little bags of gemstones, which Eda appraised for a moment before nodding and slipping them into the inner pocket of her captain’s coat.

“We can make some decent money off these, not a total loss, good job, Kid. Now, go see Viney, you’re bleeding all over my freshly swabbed deck!” She ordered and Luz didn’t need to be told twice before hurrying down to see the ship’s doctor.

Viney whistled loudly as she examined the litany of long cuts in Luz’s skin as she wiped away the blood.

“Them things got you good, didn’t they?” she commented as Luz sat on a stool in front of her, bandages in hand.

“Yeah,” Luz mumbled with a nod. Her whole back was a mass of throbbing but Viney assured her she would be fine, so the deckhand contented herself with playing with the doctors large, black parrot, Puddles.

“Strange though….” she hummed and Luz glanced at her over her shoulder.

“What?”

“You don’t have any bites… just all these long gashes… are you sure it was dogs?” she asked and Luz paused in her petting of the bird.

“Oh yea… big ones,” Luz nodded and Viney just hummed but said nothing else about it. Once she was all patched up, Viney sent her on her way with orders of no heavy lifting till her gashes closed up some.

She caught sight of herself in the dirty mirror as she stood to go and saw the bloody gash that trailed from just over her left eyebrow and down her cheek, thankfully, missing her eye. That was going to leave a mark for sure.

“Hey, I finally got my first cool scar!” She grinned and from behind her, Viney just laughed.

~ ~ ~

The day was bright and a gentle breeze was blowing across the sea as Luz sat on a plank lowered down the side of the ship as she used a knife to scrape the barnacles off the hull.

It was ‘chore day’ on the Tawny Owl and that meant all of the general maintenance required to keep them afloat like mending the sails and replacing old, frayed ropes. They sat out in the middle of the ocean so they wouldn't be bothered while they worked.

Since she was off any kind of heavy lifting duty’s, per Viney’s specific orders, Eda had given her the easiest job on the ship. Luz was pretty sure she felt bad for sending Luz down into a ‘dog infested’ hull to grab loot too.

The truth was a secret Luz would take to her grave.

She and Eda were pretty close but she didn’t want to test that by telling her that she’d been mauled by a honest to goodness mermaid; a mermaid that someone would probably pay through the nose for. Luz had literally thrown a fortune overboard. That wouldn’t be a fun conversation to have.

She hummed along to the sound of the song the rest of the crew was singing up on deck as it wafted down to her by the water.

“To bring us sugar and tea and rum!” she sang quietly to herself, head bobbing along to the jaunty tune as she wedged the blade under another barnacle.

She let her mind drift back to that fateful night. She could still clearly see the glint of those scales in her mind, could still see the pointed ears and eyes as bright and shiny as the doubloons Eda was always running through her fingers in her quarters.

A real, living mermaid. She could still hardly believe it and might have thought it all a dream had her throbbing back and newly scarred up face not confirmed the reality of the situation.

Luz was still struck by how otherworldly and pretty she had been… despite the whole mauling thing...

Who in their right mind would think to eat one?!

She was lost in her thoughts when the sound of splashing water made her look up and turn. The gentle waves lapping at the boat seemed undisturbed and she didn't see anything. More than once she’d been down here and something had jumped out of the water and smacked her before, so she kept a careful eye out. You only needed to be smacked in the face by a tuna once to learn that lesson.

Seeing nothing, she turned back to the task at hand but as she turned she did spot something, sitting on the plank beside her.

An oyster shell sat on the wood beside her and sitting there, inside it, was a pearl.

“Huh?” Luz looked around but was greeted by nothing but ocean waves. She set down her knife and picked up the oyster, it was still wet and dripped as she carefully rolled it out onto her palm. It was perfectly round and smooth between her fingers.

“Where… where did it come from?” she mumbled, scratching her head with her other hand as she gazed down at the small jewel. With a shrug she slipped the pearl into the front pocket of her shirt and turned back to the task at hand but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

She nearly forgot about it entirely until a few days later.

They had come to a stop in the middle of the ocean to fix a tear in the mainsail at about sundown and while they did, Luz lowered herself down to the water in one of the rowboats, determined to do some fishing while she had the time and Hooty was too busy helping with the sails to go diving into the water, scaring them all away.

The boat bobbed along in the, for once, placid water. There was hardly a breath of wind, as was often the case at this time of day. When the sun began to sink over that distant horizon it caught the sea ablaze in sparkling hues of red, orange, and pink. The ocean sat quiet, or, as quiet as it ever got.

The tear in the sail came from a little... incident between Hooty and King rather than any storm or winds. Luz hummed to herself as she cast out her line and set her little driftwood pole against the side of the boat. Now all she had to do was wait.

Admittedly, that was not her strongest suit.

So, she picked up the old worn book at her side and flipped it open, the pages filled with a great number of charcoal sketches. Some were messy, a jumble of lines and shapes with no rhyme or reason while others were smooth, refined, and accurate to life in their detail. Fish and other sea life spread across the parchment.

She was pretty happy with some of them.

She flipped to the last sketch she had been working on and frowned to herself. Sketchy lines and rough shading of a long, scaly tail and a face with pointed ears. She wasn’t happy with it. She needed more than a few moments of seeing her but that wasn’t going to happen now, so she did the best she could.

The warm, waning sunlight glared into her eyes as she sat hunched over her sketchbook, looking up occasionally to check her line. In an hour she’d caught one measly little fish about the length of her palm and not much else.

She sketched out another line and frowned to herself when she pulled back to look at it. It was all wrong! She grunted and set the charcoal between the crease of the pages and closed it with a snap, setting it off to the side.

She leaned back in the boat, looking up at the clear blue sky, and sighed. Her mind inevitably went back to thinking about the mermaid whenever she had a spare moment. All those stories she had heard and read as a kid, all the tales of grand adventures and mystery that had led her to this life to start with and she had finally come face to face with something truly incredible…

...and it had tried to maul her.

To be fair, she probably would have been scared and less than welcoming if she’d been stuffed in a crate and was being shipped out to be some governor's exotic dinner. They had been trailing that ship for a month. She had to have been in there for at least that long, probably longer. Did they feed her or just leave her in a dark, water-filled crate?

Luz frowned to herself and closed her eyes. The thought made her angry.

At least she was free now.

Probably somewhere far away.

There was a sudden splash and, before Luz could even open her eyes, something large, wet and wriggling slapped her in the face.

“Argh!” She sat up, eyes snapping open as a large tuna fell into her lap, flopping and flinging seawater everywhere. “Mierda!” She tossed it off her onto the floor of the boat where it flopped around. “What the hell?!” She blinked at it for a long moment before the sound of sloshing water made her turn and her jaw hung open.

A pair of golden eyes were peering up at her from just above the water a scant few feet away.

Luz sucked in a sharp breath as she stared back at the eyes looking back at her.

“You…,” she mumbled. She could hardly believe her eyes. “You’re here!” she jerked forward and the eyes reared back before disappearing beneath the water. “No, don’t go!” Luz called, scrambling for the other side of the boat and half throwing herself into the water.

She didn’t even register the saltwater stinging her eyes as she looked around frantically. The water was bright and clear and she blinked, coming face to face with those eyes again, blinking back at her in clear surprise. Luz opened her mouth to speak and bubbles poured out as saltwater rushed into her mouth.

She reared back, flinging water as she flopped back into the boat and choking on the water she’d swallowed.

Luz hacked and coughed, spitting up water, not noticing the eyes now peeking up over the side of the boat, watching her.

“Ugh!” she spat out the water and pushed the wet hair out of her face, blinking to clear her eyes. “Right… air,’ she grumbled to herself and wiped the water off her face.

She looked up and saw the creature looking at her over the rim of the boat.

“You’re here…” She honestly didn’t know what else to say in the face of a mythical creature staring back at her from the water with bright, curious eyes.

Till she did.

“Why are you here…?” she seemed to mumble more to herself than anything and she moved forward. Once more, the skittish creature dove under the water but Luz didn’t follow this time.

Not as far anyway. She leaned over the side of the boat and glanced into the water.

Just below the surface, the woman was staring back at her.

The large fish flopping around hit her leg and she glanced at it before turning her attention back to the water with sudden realization.

“You threw that up here… why?” she cocked her head.

The woman’s eyes seemed to linger on Luz’s face. It took Luz a moment to realize she was staring at the long, scabbed-over gash running down her left cheek.

She flicked her tail in a slow, almost sorrowful movement and Luz found herself mesmerized by its floating path through the water behind her, smooth and languid.

She dragged her eyes back to the mermaid's face. The creature brushed back floating tendrils of green hair and blinked slowly at her. Golden eyes lowered demurely as the face twisted in an expression that Luz recognized immediately: regret.

"You… wish that hadn't happened?" she asked.

The mermaid looked at her for a long moment and nodded. Then she darted forward, emerging from the water with a splash that made Luz lunge backward in fright.

The mermaid looked at the human, huddled in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the boat and sighed.

"I'm sorry... for what happened," she said finally, her voice low and her eyes quickly darting away from Luz’s.

Luz blinked up at her for a long moment as she held herself up on the side of the boat, making it tip dangerously under her weight.

“You do talk!” Luz jerked forward and the woman tensed but didn’t dive back into the water, though she did flinch away slightly.

“Yes…,” she mumbled and glanced back at the human only to find her staring up at her in wide-eyed wonder. Eyes, all but sparkling in the glinting light of the setting sun.

“This is amazing…” Luz mumbled to herself, absolutely flabbergasted, eyes darting everywhere. She was back, right here in front of her!

Suddenly, her brows furrowed as a thought occurred to her and she looked up at, brown meeting gold.

“Why are you here?” she asked, cocking her head and the mermaid turned away from her, pushing a few strands of wet, green hair behind her ear.

“I wanted to say thank you… for saving me… and I’m sorry… for the… clawing,” she mumbled, waving a hand over her own face. Luz reached up to touch the rough scabs over her cheek.

“It’s okay,” Luz said simply and then those gold eyes swiveled back to her. Shock and confusion clear in their metallic depths.

“It’s… how can you just say that… I…” She glanced down at the long, sharp claws that tipped each finger.

Luz arranged herself more comfortably on the floor of the boat, tipped precariously under Amity’s weight leaning on it.

“I probably woulda lashed out too if someone shoved me in a crate for who knows how long…,” she said with a little shrug. “I’ll heal” She waved a hand dismissively.

The creature still didn’t look content with that but nodded.

“Thank you…” she trailed off and Luz perked.

“I’m Luz.” She grinned, holding out a hand.

The woman blinked down at it for a second.

“Humans shake it when you meet new people,” Luz explained. Mermaids probably didn’t do that. Why did humans? Something to ask Eda later.

Hesitantly, she reached out and wrapped her hand around Luz’s, who gave a gentle shake. Her skin was damp but soft and smooth under Luz’s calloused grip.

“Amity,” she said and Luz grinned even wider.

She pulled back and happened to catch sight of the sea glass attached to the fabric wrapped around her chest and had a sudden realization.

“You left the pearl!” she suddenly yelped, making Amity jerk back at the sudden yell. “A couple days ago, when I was down by the water…”

“Oh… yes, that was me…,” she nodded.

“Have you… been following us this whole time?” she asked and Amity nodded her head. “Why? Just to tell me thanks?” Luz cocked her head and Amity’s eyes darted away, her tail flicked lazily out of the water, slapping the surface and disappearing again. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding.

“Yes, I… I didn’t know where I was being taken or what was going to happen until you showed up and said…” she seemed to trail off.

“That they were going to eat you?” Luz asked and she nodded.

“Yes… so, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Luz smiled and before she could think to say anything else, a voice from up above called out to her; Morton.

“Hey, Luz! The sail's fixed, so we’re gonna get going, you ready to be hauled up?”

The boat suddenly rocked violently, sloshing water and Amity vanished beneath the rippling surface just as Morton stuck his head over the edge up above her.

Luz blinked at the water where she had vanished before turning up to the deckhand and nodding.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she called, frowning and Morton nodded.

“Hey Hooty, come help me haul up Luz!” She heard him call, followed by an excited yell of agreement. A second later she was being hauled quickly up the side of the ship but her eyes were glued to the water below. A shadow moved through its depths before disappearing.

The second she hit the deck she grabbed her book and her fish and hurried off down to the kitchens.

~ ~ ~

A week later, Luz was still thinking about her meeting with Amity and wondering if the mermaid had left now that she had finally said what she wanted to Luz. They had been sailing along at a quick clip, heading towards Eda’s favorite place in all the seven seas; The Boiling Isles.

A collection of islands in one of the more dangerous areas of the sea. It housed a number of ramshackle little towns and bases, the majority of its residents being of the… non-law-abiding variety.

They managed to knock over a couple of merchant's vessels along the way and finally got a hoard that Eda was happy with, so she declared that they could take a couple week's rest and they returned to their own little reinforced hamlet in one of the Isles' many coves.

It was dark when Luz threw her things down in the meager shack nestled between Eda’s and Viney’s before heading back out to the beach. The moon was full and cast enough light in the clear sky that she could see just fine. It was late but the rest of the crew was in full swing of a drunken stupor and the yelling and screaming of their revelry echoed out into the bright, starlit night; there wasn’t going to be any sleep even if she wanted to.

Instead, she picked her way over the large black rocks that lined the shore and led out into the water. Her steps were careful, the lapping waves making the rocks slick in places but this was hardly her first time.

It wouldn't be her first time falling in either, and probably wouldn't be the last either.

Still, with her sketchbook firmly in one hand and a small bundle of goodies in the other, she made sure not to step anywhere the moonlight bounced off the wet stones before settling herself onto a large, flat rock that jutted out over the water. She flipped it open and grabbed the charcoal laying between it’s pages.

After the other day, she had a much clearer picture in her head and set to sketching. It was kinda rough at first. It had been a few days but she’d had a dream about glinting, blue-green scales and sharp ears.

She really wished she had some way to color it. Black just didn’t seem to do the lines justice; it would have to do though.

The distant sounds of her crew drinking and singing were nothing more than a whisper over the sound of the gentle waves lapping against the rock. She was zoning out, tongue poking out of her mouth as she worked carefully to get a line just right when a splash, not loud but distinctly louder than the rest, made her look up.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she caught the pair of dimly glowing, gold eyes staring back at her from the other side of the rock.

“Amity!” She jerked, scrambling to the edge of the rock as the mermaid lifted further out of the water as she approached.

“Hi, Luz.” She smiled up at her and Luz couldn’t help but think how pretty she was when she wasn't snarling and growling at her anyway.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, setting her book to the side, careful to keep it away from the water dripping off Amity as she leaned her arms on the rock.

“I… uh…,” she mumbled, claws clicking on the rock as she tried to think of something to say and Luz couldn’t help the smile working its way onto her face.

“Did you follow us here?” she asked and grinned wider at the pale pink that seemed to break across Amity’s face. “Not that I’m complaining about seeing you again but don’t you have anything better to do than follow around a bunch of grumpy pirates?” she laughed.

Amity grew quiet at that and Luz frowned at the sudden tight look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly. Amity seemed to hesitate before looking up at her.

“I don’t know how to get back home,” she quietly admitted. “I don’t know how long I was in that box or even what direction it went,” she mumbled, voice tight and Luz’s eyes widened. She hadn’t thought about that.

They had been chasing that ship non-stop for the better part of a month and there was no telling how long Amity had been on board beforehand. She could be hundreds of thousands of miles from where she started.

“You don’t have any idea where you came from?” Luz asked and Amity shook her head, eyes trained on the rock beneath her. Her claws creating little gouges in the stone as she clenched her hands. Luz didn’t know what to say. ‘Sorry’ seemed sorely lacking but what else could she say?

“Do you want some candy?” was the next thing to pop out of her mouth and Amity looked up at her, questioningly.

“Can..dy?” she repeated the unfamiliar word and Luz nodded and scrambled back over to where she had left the little cloth-wrapped bundle. She snatched it up and hurried back over to Amity, sitting cross-legged in front of her as she untied the knot. A small pile of crystalline-coated fruits rolled around in her lap as she looked through them before selecting one and holding it out to Amity.

“It’s a type of human food. It’s sweet and they're really tasty. This one is my favorite,” she offered it out and the mermaid hesitated a moment before plucking the rock-like food from Luz’s palm. She hesitated, eyes darting up to look at Luz, searching and the human just smiled.

She popped it into her mouth and paused.

Luz watched her, silently, feeling herself grin as Amity’s eyes widened, sparkling with awe and delight. Her amazement doubled as she watched the two pointed ears twitch and it was maybe the cutest thing Luz had ever seen.

“It’s… really good,” she mumbled around the treat, face breaking out in a smile. Her tail flipped out of the water, to flick lazily this way and that, sending droplets of water into the air.

“Right?” Luz asked with a chuckle as she popped one into her own mouth and set them on the rock in front of her, within Amity’s reach. Gold eyes flicked up at her, a silent question and Luz smiled. That seemed to be all the encouragement she needed to grab another.

“So, what are you going to do?” she asked and Amity frowned around her treat.

“I don’t know yet…” she admitted and Luz pursed her lips.

“Well, you’re welcome to hang out here with me till you do,” she offered and Amity looked up at her.

“Okay…,” she nodded.

They sat there for the next few hours as the moon made its way across the sky, talking. Luz told Amity about all the different places she had been and things she’d done since joining Eda’s crew. It amused Luz how fascinated she was by the simplest of human things. Some things, like ships she was familiar with but anything on land was new and wondrous to her and Luz happily explained everything to her; as best she understood it anyway.

“What’s that?” amity pointed a finger to the book in her hand.

“Oh! It’s my sketchbook.” She flipped the pages open to show Amity some sketches of the crew and a few animals.

“Oh…”

She flipped through a few more pages, Amity asking questions about the things like the horses, and dogs sprawled across it’s pages. Luz was hardly paying attention to the pages, more content to watch Amity’s face light up at each new drawing.

Till she flipped the page and Amity blinked.

“Is that… me?” she asked.

“Huh?” Luz leaned the book back and felt her face heat up as she stared down at her first, rough sketch of the mermaid. “Oh…. uh… yeah,” she finally said and reached up to rub the back of her neck nervously. She hadn’t meant to show her those.

“It doesn’t look finished…,” was all she said.

“No, I started this right after…”

You mauled me.

She wasn’t gonna say that!

“...after we met. I couldn’t remember everything well enough, so I gave up on it.” she shrugged as they lapsed into, what felt to Luz, tense silence. The gentle sound of the surf breaking against the rocks and shore was the only sound for a long few moments.

“What about now?” she asked and Luz blinked at her. Her confusion must have been apparent because she carried on. “Do you think you could finish it now?” she asked, looking up at Luz, eyes filled with such bright curiosity and wonder that it made her breath stutter in her chest.

“Yeah… I think so,” she nodded. “I’ll work on it,” she promised and Amity nodded, seemingly indifferent but Luz could see the subtle rise at the corners of her mouth.

Eventually, the hour grew quite late, or early, and Luz noticed that the sounds of her crew had petered out into silence, no doubt they had all passed out by now. She herself was growing tired now.

Amity noticed too as her head started to bob down to her chest more and more often, eyes drifting closed.

“You should sleep…,” she said as Luz let out a jaw-splitting yawn and nodded drowsily. She stood and stretched, back giving a satisfying pop.

“Yeah… will you be here tomorrow?” she asked, turning her gaze back to Amity as she picked up her things.

Amity stared up at her, face a mask of surprise and wonder before she schooled it into something more neutral and nodded.

“See ya tomorrow then!” Luz called before picking her careful way back down the rocks toward the shore.

Amity watched her go.

~ ~ ~

When they were docked, everyone kind of did their own thing if there wasn’t any repair work that needed to be done to the ship, as was sometimes the case after a raid. So no one really questioned it when Luz went darting down to the sea around noon the next day after throwing a canvas bag with some things in it into one of the rowboats sitting on the shore.

No one except Eda, who was down by the water, looking at the ship.

“Where’s the fire, kid?” she asked as Luz started shoving the boat out of the sand and into the water. “Don’t you get enough sailing already?” she laughed as Luz hopped in the boat.

“Just… enjoying the peace and quiet on the water, ya know how it is!” she laughed nervously but Eda nodded.

“Be careful,” she called before walking up the plank onto the ship.

Luz picked up the oars and rowed out into the ocean. Once she’d muscled her way through the swells moving inland the open water was smooth and placid, as gentle as it ever was anyway. The peaceful, constant movement bobbed her boat gently as she threw down the anchor.

She’d never exactly discussed with Amity where they would meet but the mermaid didn’t seem to have any trouble finding her either.

She waited, listening to the sounds of the surf for a little while before a gentle splashing made her grin as a familiar head of green hair broke the surface of the water.

“Amity!” Luz grinned down at her.

“Hi, Luz,” the mermaid smiled up at her shyly, brushing a few strands of wet hair out of her face.

“Where did you stay last night… Do mermaids even sleep? She asked, tapping a finger to her chin, suddenly curious and Amity snorted.

“Yes, I sleep. I stayed in the coral reef below us,” she said.

“There's a coral reef below us?” Luz asked wide-eyed and Amity nodded. This was the first time she had heard of it but then again, she wasn’t surprised her crewmates didn't appear to know about it. One of the most surprising things she'd learned as a pirate was that a great majority of sailors couldn’t swim or were even afraid of the ocean. That was just crazy to Luz, she loved to swim.

That little fact was one of the reasons Eda often put her on duties that took her very near or in the water. As far as she knew, herself, Hooty, and Viney were the only members of the crew that would get within ten feet of water deeper than their waist.

“As in, directly below us?” she asked, and again, Amity nodded. “Can you show me?” she asked and Amity’s eyes widened.

“You can swim?” she asked, seeming to peer over the edge of the boat at Luz’s legs, looking in disbelief. That only made the pirate laugh.

“Of course I can swim. I am an excellent swimmer!” she jerked a thumb toward herself but faltered. “I mean, not even half as good as you probably, but for a human, I'm great!” She asserted and Amity giggled under her breath.

“Okay, I’ll show you,” she nodded and Luz dumped her canvas bag out, pushing everything under one of the slatted benches to keep out of the sun and slung it over her shoulder.

“Why do you need that?” Amity questioned as she moved around.

“Coral makes great medicine, the ship's doctor, Viney, crushes it up to use in ointments and stuff. She mentioned we were running low and would need to stock back up before we left the Isles. I can kill two birds with one stone!” she explained.

“Why would you kill birds?” The mermaid cocked her head.

“It's just an expression, nevermind that. Let’s go!” She grinned before taking a deep breath and diving over the side of the boat, into the water with a loud splash.

Luz opened her eyes and the water briefly stung but she was pretty used to it and glanced around before finding Amity, looking at her curiously and she grinned, careful not to let out any air or let water in.

She definitely wasn’t as good a swimmer as Amity, whose every movement propelled her quickly through the water with ease, down toward the ocean floor.

They weren’t too far out, so the water wasn’t terribly deep here and she got down there quick enough. She could see all the brightly colored plants and fish moving about the coral. She dug the knife out of her bag and quickly set about cutting off some of the long branches before the burning in her lungs made her shove both back inside and move quickly back toward the light.

She broke the surface with a gasp, panting as she sucked in large lungfuls of air.

“Are you okay?”

She glanced over at Amity, who had surfaced next to her and she nodded.

“Yeah, it's just deep enough that I can get there for just a minute before I need air,” she huffed, finally getting her breath back.

Amity hummed before grabbing her hand, making Luz blink.

“Hold your breath,” she instructed and Luz did so just before she was pulled under and they were moving quickly through the water toward the ocean floor.

The water rushed past her face as Amity pulled her down.

Yeah, definitely not even half as good a swimmer as her.

She was able to cut off a good bit and stuff it in her bag before she had to resurface again.

“That was way faster!” she turned to Amity and grinned. “You are a good swimmer!” Luz laughed.

Amity’s face seemed to color some at that and she shrugged.

Luz tossed her bag into the boat before taking a breath and diving back under. Moving back toward the bottom before a hand wrapped around hers and pulled her down to the bottom. The water rushing past her was exhilarating.

As was the hand wrapped firmly around hers and the blurry grin she could see on Amity’s face through the bubbles.

When she finally came to a stop, she grabbed hold of the coral to stay anchored and couldn't help but smile at all the colorful little fish and bright plants that moved about. She reached out to touch a cobalt bluefish but it quickly darted out of her reach.

They spent a long while exploring the depths around the shore before Luz finally had to climb, exhausted, back into the boat, flopping onto the floor. She was exhausted but didn’t wanna head back in yet.

Amity laid her arms on the sides of the boat and it dipped a little, making Luz slide toward her and she laughed, sitting back up.

“Oh, I brought you something” Luz pulled her things out from under the bench and unwrapped it. Amity peered at her curiously as she held out… something.

“It’s sweet bread,” Luz explained as Amity took it. “They were selling them over by the docks. I thought you might like to try it.”

She watched Amity take a tentative bite… quickly followed by several more.

“Good, right?” she asked, still holding her own in her hand. Amity nodded as she polished off the rest of hers quickly. Her eyes darted to Luz’s and she couldn’t help but grin and hold it out.

“That’s yours…” Amity frowned.

“I can get more later,” Luz assured her, still holding her hand out. Amity still hesitated but Luz just patiently held out the treat and after a moment she finally took it and devoured it like the first.

“Thanks,” she mumbled and Luz just grinned, pushing back the wet hair that had fallen in her face. Amity watched her intently.

“What?” Luz cocked her head and watched the mermaid's face flush.

“Nothing!”

“Uh, okay?” Luz blinked.

They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting there, talking and enjoying each other’s company before Luz finally had to go back in.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” she called with a wide smile as she rowed back toward the shore.

“Bye, Luz,” Amity waved, then vanished under the waves, tail flipping out of the water for a moment before she was gone.

Luz felt her heart stutter in her chest.

~ ~ ~

The two weeks they spent docked on the Isles seemed to fly by for Luz. She woke early and got all the things she needed to do for the day out of the way and then made a beeline for the water.

She spent hours at a time bobbing along in the rowboat with Amity and always made sure to bring her treats from the little market in the Isles ‘capital’ Bonesburough.

The mermaid had proven to have quite a sweet tooth.

She often brought Luz things too, from the ocean floor. She’d amassed a small trove of gemstones, pearls, and shells that Amity had picked up out of the sands deep below them.

Luz laid, floating on her back on the water. Amity had her head laid across her stomach, her eyes closed. Where she was so heavy on land, she was nearly weightless in the water.

Her head on Luz’s abdomen did funny things to her stomach and she briefly wondered in the back of her mind if it was weird… to have a crush on a mermaid.

It took her a week to figure it out. Once she got past the awe of a real living mermaid hanging around with her, a sense of giddy excitement had remained and it was only after talking to Viney, very vaguely, that she came to realize just why being around Amity made it feel like she didn’t know what to say or do with herself.

She still wasn’t really sure what to do. Could you have feelings for a mermaid? She didn’t have any reference for a regular crush, much less one on a mythical creature.

Not to mention the fact that Amity was… amazing and wonderful. Why would she ever want a regular old human like her? She pushed all those thoughts away for now.

“So, we’re setting sail first thing in the morning,” she said and glanced up to see Amity’s eyes open, looking back at her.

“You’re leaving the Isles?” she asked and Luz nodded.

“Eda got news of another ship that's going to be sailing near here soon and… well, she wants what’s on it.” She waved a hand.

Amity hummed, tail flicking out of the water quickly. Luz had started to pick up on her bodily mannerisms and the quicker than normal flicking of her back fins, though not so fast as to indicate annoyance, told Luz that she was, maybe, a little upset.

“How long would you be gone?” she asked quietly and Luz gave a little half-shrug.

“Could be a couple of weeks or a couple of months. It depends.”

“I could follow the ship…?” she offered and Luz had thought of that but she had thought of a few other things also. To what end was Amity sticking with her?

True, she didn’t know how to get back home but she couldn’t follow her forever… even if Luz kind of wanted her to.

“Is it safe for you to do that?” she asked, finally moving to float upright, next to Amity. “It can’t be safe for you to be out in open water all the time, can it?” she asked and Amity frowned, gaze skittering anywhere but on Luz. She’d told her a story or two about having to hide from sharks and things, which made Luz worry.

That wasn't the only thing that bothered Luz though. It would be much harder to get down to the water to see Amity, which only elevated the chances of someone seeing them and Luz still lived very much in fear that if Eda or the rest of the crew found out about her they would try to sell her.

“It’s… not the safest option,” Amity admitted.

“Then… maybe you should stay here while I’m gone…?” Luz offered and Amity’s frown deepened, as well as the quick back and forth of her tail.

“If you don't want me to come along then just tell me so, Luz,” she rumbled and Luz frowned.

“No, no. It’s not that I don't want you around, I do…!” she quickly hurried to say. She did. She very much wanted Amity around. Amity was the only thing that seemed to occupy her mind these last two weeks. Not to mention how badly Luz wanted to kiss her every time she smiled.

She quickly shoved that thought away and rested her hand on Amity’s shoulder.

“I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you, Amity.”

Reluctantly, Amity nodded and Luz smiled sadly at her.

“I’ll be back before you know it.. Oh! I have something to show you!” she smiled and crawled back into the boat, shaking off as much water as she could before she went digging through her bag. “Look at this!” She pulled out her sketchbook and turned the pages, careful not to drip on it before she turned it around to show her.

Amity’s eyes widened as she stared at the clean, smooth sketch staring back at her from familiar eyes.

Her own.

Luz’s sketch covered two pages and was done in the most excruciating detail. Every line and curve was sharp and clean. Each scale was accounted for on the length of her tail and every gem and accouterment on her wrap in its place.

“What do you think?” Luz asked, grinning proudly to herself. It had its flaws of course. She was still learning but it was a pretty good likeness of the mermaid if she did say so herself.

“It’s beautiful, Luz.” Amity said, quietly, eyes still darting across every dark line.

“Ah, thanks. It kinda pales in comparison to the real thing but,” Luz shrugged, grinning sheepishly at her as she leaned over the side of the boat with the book.

Gold eyes turned upward to her and seemed to stare back at her for a long moment, something behind them seemed to flicker and the next thing Luz knew, she tasted saltwater and all she could see was Amity.

It took her far too long to realize what was happening and when she did, Amity had already pulled back and was staring back at her, face pink and looking unsure.

Luz just stared back, mouth hanging open.

Amity had just kissed her.

Luz’s jaw moved soundlessly, unsure what to say. She’d been thinking about it but she hadn’t even entertained the idea of just… doing it.

“I…” she managed to get out but not much else before the pink across Amity’s face turned red.

“I’m sorry!” she suddenly squeaked and then turned and disappeared under the water.

“Wait, Amity!” Luz tossed her book aside and dove overboard, into the water but already, Amity’s form was becoming a blurry spot in the distance. She would never catch her.

Luz resurfaced, hands tightening into fists.

“Mierda!” She slapped her hands across the surface of the water.

~ ~ ~

Luz sighed to herself, not for the first time that day as the ship moved through the seemingly endless expanse of sea. The sky was dark and gray, promising storms; much like her mood.

They had been at sea for four days now and she hadn’t seen Amity since she had swam off. She hadn’t been waiting in the usual spot the next morning when she’d run down to the shore before they had set sail.

Why? Why hadn’t she said something… anything! Now, Amity probably thought she had rebuffed her when nothing could be further from the truth.

She could still feel the fleeting press of Amity’s lips on hers and she really wanted a do over there! She’d been taken by surprise!

Who knew if Amity would even still be there when she got back, or even want to see her. A cool, gust of wind whipped through the air and she sighed again, staring down at the water.

“You okay, Kid?”

Luz looked up to see Eda walking up to her, frowning and Luz frowned.

“Not really,” she admitted.

“Is it your lady friend?” Eda asked and Luz’s head shot up, jaw hanging open.

“How did you…?” she started and Eda grinned.

“Come on, Luz, I was young once. I used to sneak off at all hours of the day and night once too to meet some… ‘friends’.” She said with a smirk and Luz flushed. “Also, Viney told me you came to her asking for advice,” she laughed and Luz grunted.

‘Of course she did.’ Luz thought bitterly.

“So… what happened, she turn ya down?” she asked and Luz frowned.

“No... the opposite actually… she kissed me,” Luz said.

“So why do you look like someone spit in your rum?” Eda frowned.

“She surprised me and I just… stood there!” She threw up her arms. “Then Amity sw- ran off and I couldn't find her…,” she grumbled, slouching on the railing.

“Ah, that’s tough, kid. Maybe you can talk to this ‘Amity’ girl when we get back?” she suggested.

“I dunno if she’ll even still be there when we get back,” she grumbled to herself.

“Chin up, Luz. You’ll just have to wait and see.” Eda patted her shoulder. “We should be coming up on that ship within the hour so put your game face on!” Eda said before walking away and Luz nodded.

They had a job to do.

She stood up and gave herself a shake. There was nothing she could do about Amity right now and if she didn’t get her head in the right place she might end up on the wrong end of a saber.

~ ~ ~

The rain was pouring down in sheets and thunder rumbled across the sky; the occasional streak of lightning flashing in the dark was nearly indistinguishable from the flash of the canons as they.

“Keep firing!” Eda was yelling somewhere over the din as they constantly fired shots at the galleon bobbing along only about one hundred yards away.

Luz grunted as she loaded another canon, sharp needles of icy rain stinging her face as she did and the second the shot was in place, King was firing with a strangled cry of rage.

“We’re gaining on them!” she heard Jerbo yell from somewhere behind her and Luz squinted into the rain. The ship definitely seemed to be getting closer… but not because they were gaining on it.

“Eda!” she whipped around to scream. “They’re heading straight for us!”

Sure enough, the ship had turned and was making a line straight for them through the storm.

“Prepare for a fight!”

They fired at the ship still till it all but rammed right into them, the force of the impact nearly sending everyone aboard stumbling to their feet.

“We’re being boarded!” someone yelled and thick boards clattered down across the expanse of sea between the two ships and the next thing Luz knew, fighting had broken out on the deck.

Shots rang out, almost muffled by the thunder.

Hooty had swung down from the crow's nest and went sailing right into a naval officer trying to board them, sending him into the dark waters below before he dropped onto the deck to grab the nearest barrel and chuck it into more trying to cross.

“Ha ha!” the man laughed crazily as Luz ducked under his next projectile. He still had both eyepatches pulled down over his eyes as he flung cargo around like it was made of paper.

Luz drew her knife; she hated this part of pirating.

A grappling hook flung over the railing, hooking in it and Luz rushed over and sliced the rope, sending the man on the other end plunging into the water with a scream.

She looked around, water running into her eyes and blinding her.

She could very easily see the man on the boarding planks, leveling his pistol at Eda, standing in the middle of the deck and firing shots.

“Eda, look out!”

She was much closer to him and jumped onto the planks and rammed herself into him, he tattered back over the edge, but not before his hand fisted into Luz’s soaked shirt and then she was plummeting into the dark water below with him.

She barely had time to scream before she hit the water and water rushed into her mouth.

She kicked up to the surface and sucked in a gulp of air before a wave broke over her head, forcing her back under.

It was dark and everything was moving too fast. She barely had a second where she was able to surface before more water rushed back over her, pulling her deeper into the water.

Then, she was pulled too far under and she could feel her lungs burning as she tried to swim back to the surface, only to be dragged down by the undertow.

She couldn’t hold her breath any longer and her mouth opened of its own volition. She sucked in a lungful of water and choked. Everything was going black as her eyes drifted closed.

A flash of green from the corner of her eye was the last thing she saw before the darkness overcame her.

~ ~ ~

Luz was vaguely aware of someone calling her name.

It was distant at first but steadily growing louder.

“Luz!”

Her eyes slowly slid open, everything was blurry at first but quickly coming back into focus as she stared up at Eda’s concerned face.

“Eda…?” she gurgled and the captain sighed in relief.

“I thought you were a goner, Kid,” she said, sliding a hand under Luz’s back and helping her sit up. Luz coughed, spitting up some water.

It was still dark and the thunder rumbled overhead but the rain had stopped.

“Did we win?” she asked, groggily looking around. The crew was moving about, cleaning up the mess that often accompanied the end of a battle.

“Sure did! Sunk them suckers to the bottom of the ocean! Got an extra prize out of it too, thanks to you!” Eda grinned and Luz blinked at her.

“Whaddaya mean?” she asked and Eda only continued to grin as she stood and helped Luz to her feet.

“I’ll show ya,” she jerked her head and Luz followed her across the deck and down into the hold. “We couldn’t find you and I was… the crew was afraid you’d drowned… till something pulled you up…”

“Something…? Luz asked as they rounded the corner of some crates down below and came face to face with the last person she expected to see.

Amity.

She was strung up in the rafters in a net and looked absolutely miserable till her eyes fell and Luz. Gold eyes lit up and she sat up best she could in the tangled net.

“Ay dios mio!” Luz darted forward.

Eda blinked as Luz ran across the room to the net hanging off the floor.

Luz’s fingers tangled in the nets' holes. “Are you okay!?” Luz cried.

“I’m okay…” Amity’s fingers wrapped around hers through the netting.

“What are you doing here?” Luz hissed and Amity frowned.

“I… followed when you left. I wanted to tell you I was sorry for what happened…”

“No!” she all but yelled, making the mermaid jerk. “Don’t be sorry! It was my fault… you surprised me is all…,” she mumbled.

“Okay, what’s going on.” Eda walked up behind her. “That thing can talk and you know it.” Eda frowned.

“It’s not an it! This is Amity…,” Luz admitted.

“Wait… Amity like, your lady friend, Amity?” Eda blinked owlishly at her and Luz pinked but nodded. “The mermaid?” she gestured and again Luz nodded.

Eda stared at her for a long hard moment.

“You have some strange and exotic tastes, Kid…,” she finally said and Luz flushed darker. “Explains why she hauled you out of the ocean… we got both of you in the net cause she wouldn’t let go… I figured we’d sell her at the next port city…”

“No!” Luz jumped in and Eda reared back at that. “Please, Eda, no!” Luz begged. “She’s… important to me.”

Eda looked at her for a long time, amber gaze flickering back up at the mermaid hanging in the net, fingers still wrapped around Luz’s and sighed heavily.

“Fine. If you hadn’t shoved that boot licker off the plank I’d have a new air hole and The Owl Lady doesn’t leave her debts unpaid. I’ll get Hooty and we’ll toss her back into the sea.” Eda grumbled before turning on heel and walking out of the hold.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Amity.

“Why did you let yourself get captured?” Luz asked with a frown.

“I couldn’t let you drown!” Amity shot back and Luz sighed.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she finally said, fingers tightening around Amity’s.

“You… you’re not upset about the other day?” she mumbled, looking at Luz from beneath her lashes.

“No, I’m not upset, you just surprised me… I…,” Luz pursed her lips, trying to think of the words to say. “I like you too… a lot,” she admitted. “But… I don't think it’s safe for you to just be following the ship day and night,” she said and Amity frowned but didn’t argue, Luz was right. She ran the risk of being captured like she was today.

“I don’t wanna wait at the Isles for you to come back for so long at a time,” she mumbled and Luz frowned, thinking.

There had to be something they could do.

A sudden thought struck her.

“I think I have an idea!” she grinned and Amity blinked.

When Eda came strolling back down the stairs with Hooty in tow Luz turned to her.

“Eda! I have a proposition for you!” she said, a toothy grin stretched across her face. Eda cocked a brow at the young woman; intrigued. She was a businesswoman afterall.

“Oh yeah? I’m listening…”

~ ~ ~

Luz bounced with barely contained energy as she stood next to Eda on the deck, the crew standing before them.

“Alright, all y'all listen up. We have a new crew member joining us, so if you’ll turn your attention to the starboard side…,” she trailed off and the confused looking crew did just that, only to find the mermaid they had captured, down in the water, looking up at them nervously and giving a tentative wave.

“Wait.. what?” Viney looked over at the captain, who grinned.

“Yup, you’re looking at our newest ‘deck’ hand.” she fingers quoted. “In charge of collecting all your medicinal water plants and all manner of things from the ocean floor,” Eda said, rolling around a handful of pearls Amity had brought up as proof of her usefulness.

“Welcome aboard!” Hooty grinned and waved enthusiastically down at her.

“Do… do you think he even realizes she’s a mermaid….?” Viney leaned over and whispered to Luz, who shrugged.

“Alright, now get back to work, we’re setting sail!” Eda called and once their surprised stupors had passed the crew jumped to attention, still murmuring amongst themselves about their newest crewmate.

Once they had dispersed, Luz threw down a rope and slid down to the water where Amity was waiting for her.

“So, ready to start life as a pirate?” she asked with a grin.

“I guess we’ll find out,” she smiled.

“You’ll be great! At night we’ll haul you up top, Hooty got a big barrel for you for now. Just till we figure something else out so you can be safe at night,” she said and Amity nodded.

“Luz, we're going!” King called down gruffly.

“I’m coming!” she called back before turning back to Amity. “I’ll see you later, okay?” she asked and Amity nodded. “Oh! One more thing,” Luz said.

“Wha-” Before she could even finish that sentence Luz darted forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. When she pulled back she was grinning, but the dark tint to her cheeks betrayed her, though she was pleased to see a similar splash of red coloring Amity’s cheeks. “Now I'll see you later.” She grinned.

“Luz!” Eda’s voice called from up top.

“Coming, I’m coming!” she called, shooting another look at Amity before climbing back up the rope.

#Lumity #the owl house #mythical creature #mermaid #pirate #fanfiction #TOH #Amity blight #Luz Noceda #Eda Clawthorne #Hooty #King #Viney #Jerbo #Morton #AU

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