#Luz tells him all about the human world and the stuff in it

[sukunasbabygirl]

I think something that needs to be understood is that Wittebane fans understand that the brothers and Evelyn aren’t the main characters of the show, we understand the true focus is on characters like Luz, Eda, King, the Hexsquad etc, I mean I love those characters just as much.

The reason I’m personally frustrated, and many other enjoyers of the wittelore are as well, is because it was genuinely built up. We weren’t fixated on small crumbs, we were fixated on an entire story that was relevant to the world of the isles today and the characters today, we were fixated on something that made the antagonist both irredeemable yet human. Which, sidenote, I’ve made a few posts before on why it’s important that we have more villains who are both humanised yet irredeemable and why I loved Philip for that, so you can imagine how he was treated in the finale bothered me quite a bit, I digress however.

In Thanks to Them especially there were set ups that we never really got answers for, and there is a difference between show not tell and… show half of it but not the rest, which feels like what they did. We don’t actually know how Caleb found his way to the isles, or why there were clues to find the Titan blood, or how Philip got there afterward, being as he seemed to have arrived later than Caleb but had no idea in TTT where the Titan blood was. These all feel like questions that could be given very quick answers too.

They hinted at Philip’s guilt multiple times but never really went anywhere with it, and with how the finale played out, it would be better if they just didn’t show it at all. And I have so many feelings about how his death played out but I’m struggling to word them all right now, I know it was the intent to humiliate him and that’s fine, but the way it was executed was such a jarring tonal flip and to me at least, narratively, didn’t feel all that satisfying in the long run?

Also the fact that it’s confirmed now that the Titan was looking out for Luz… does bother me a lot, considering the early themes of the show. The fact they were just two humans who made their choices, and Luz looked to the sky and saw the light and Philip didn’t, it made them so interesting as foil characters, especially as Philip believed the isles was hiding the glyphs from him. But that was the thing, it wasn’t, at least not originally.

Back to the Wittebanes though, you can absolutely leave most of their story vague and told through portraits while also addressing the stuff that probably should be known, and honestly I feel like removing the Collector would allow this. I don’t hate the Collector, when he was originally introduced I found them fascinating as a character, for both his parallels to Philip and to Luz, but in the end, he didn’t exactly add much narrative or theme-wise to the story, which wouldn’t be a problem if these weren’t the final episodes, and he honestly felt under-utilised. Also there’s so many little confusing contradictions with their character. I feel like he could have been written to tie in with the wittelore and also remain a foil to Luz which would have worked well, but in the end it came off as very messy and the storylines didn’t really connect, which is a bit of a problem for a finale.

I know the show was cancelled and cut short, but the Collector we know was a decision made after they found this out, so it feels like we may have gotten more wittelore originally, which would have kept the story and themes cohesive. I think I’m starting to repeat myself now, and I’ve gone off on a bit of an unrelated tangent. I just have so many thoughts and nowhere to put them, and this episode really didn’t feel like The Owl House to me, it just lacked that same emotional flare that focused more on character and story beats in big fights than the shock value or enormity.

I wasn’t so keen on For the Future after rewatching and I think a lot of the arguably wasted screen time during that episode, causing a lack of proper set up for this episode, definitely affected things.

I love this show and I always will, and if you enjoyed the episode then I am so glad you did, these are just my own personal, very complicated feelings on things.

#toh critical #the owl house critical #toh #the owl house #toh criticism #hopefully most people have the critical tags blocked I don’t wish to make people feel negatively if they enjoyed it and don’t feel the same #toh spoilers

[monkeymindscream]

ngl watched the toh ending and thought you would hate this

First of all, kind of honored I take up enough space in your mind for you to see something and think "wow, this person on the internet I know of ain't gonna like this." That's very sweet Anon, thank you for sharing this with me.

Secondly, I didn’t… hate-hate it. I had a fun time watching it! And if I ONLY cared about the protags, I would have been very happy with it!

Unfortunately, I overwhelmingly care about properly telling a good story. Like even if Belos hadn’t been my absolute favorite, I’d be kind of disgusted with how much of their own plot the show left to be inferred.

"It was just Belos's backstory, the plot didn't need to go into detail for him-" Belos is the reason there even WAS a plot. Quite literally everything of importance that happened in the show happened as a direct result of his actions.

He formed the Emperor's Coven → Lilith and Eda have to duel to get in → Lilith curses Eda to win the duel → Eda doesn't join a coven at all and becomes a criminal → while on the run from the EC she finds King → to make a living she hocks human stuff → Owlbert steals Luz's book → the show happens.

Leaving out the backstory/the deeper look into the motives of the guy driving the entire plot (after teasing the fuck out of it, might I add) is comparable to only hinting that Lilith was the one to curse Eda, but never elaborating on it. Because truly, why bother hinting at that stuff if nothing at all was going to be done with it? From a storytelling perspective, it's appalling.

And before anyone tries to use "it's because the show got cancelled!" as reasoning, don't. They had options for how to handle this. They wanted Philly to have the paper-flat character they seemed hellbent on giving him? Cut Caleb out entirely. "A single overzealous puritan stumbles on a world inhabited entirely by witches and demons and conspires to destroy them." There. Clean, simple, doesn't leave any holes. They wanted to keep the whole "good brother/evil brother" angle? (which by the way: still the most boring, bullshit angle I've ever seen) Leave out the Collector. Take the time used on him and put it towards Caleb and the Wittebane history.

And before anyone tries to argue about that, I'll leave you with the fact that Dana decided to add the Collector after she was told the show was being cut short. She KNOWINGLY chose to take the already very limited time she had left to tell her story and dedicate it to a flight of fancy rather than actually tie up the loose ends she set up.

That's what I hated about this last episode. Once the adrenaline of watching it for the first time wore off, there was really nothing left but disappointment and a sense of this could have been BETTER. And there's no real reason I can think of for why it's not better, which is. Infuriating.

#toh spoilers #owl house #muttering about owls #toh critical #the owl house

[strangerpringle]

Ok so I have this au that’s basically just The Owl House but Huntric is a side plot- (it’s gonna be a long one)

So in this au Hunter WAS Edric’s date, but they broke up behind the scenes after Knock Knock Knoking on Hooty’s Door, and we get a hint that they hand a thing in Reaching Out when Edric is stirring the potion, he’s looking at his phone and King asks what he’s looking at, he gets all embarrassed and puts it away, but not before we cut to a picture of him and Hunter being all happy n stuff. Then we find out in Labyrinth Runners that they used to date, but according to Edric Hunter was too focused on his Golden Guard duties to put effort into the relationship and Edric dumped him, and they’re both kinda salty and sad about it then blah blah blah plot happens. Now during Thanks to Them Hunters realizing he thinks he still has feelings for Edric, but Belos is being Belos and doesn’t wanna leave this poor kid alone so that starts to occupy Hunters mind (literally) so we don’t get much Huntric until For the Future. SO NOW during For the Future the hexsquad is back at Hexside, but now Edric and Emira are working with Matt and Jerbo, (also Jerbo and Emira are dating because I think they’d be cute together) Emira is taking care of the younger kids while Edric is trying to make weapons with potions, and Hunter takes notice of this. So Edric is VERY relieved that Hunter is alive because he knew that Hunter has a sigil. Now they’re actually talking and they both start realizing how much they’ve both changed, now Emira knows Edric still has feelings for Hunter, so she sends them to get more food from the supply closet, now they’re alone and can finally talk. While they’re talking Hunter says he’s confused why he ever went out with him in the first place, Edric tells him that he could tell that he was hiding his true self from the world, Edric would love the moments when Hunter would accidentally start to ramble about things he likes, but be heartbroken when he would catch it and stop himself, and move on to do whatever work he had that day. Edric wanted nothing more then for Hunter to let him see the real Hunter, but he never did, it hurt too much so he had to leave him. I’m that moment all Hunter wants to do now is tell Edric all about what he’s learned about himself in the human realm-AND OOP they almost kiss because feelings, but Edric stops them and is all like “haha uhh we should get all this good back to the others.” But while Edric’s on his way out the door, Hunter gets taken back to the moment when Edric broke up with him and his only thought is “I cant lose him again” AND MUAAHH HE KISSES EDRIC THEN EDRIC KISSES HIM BACK AND ITS CUTE IM GONNA CRYYY AAAHHHHHHH-anyway, so cut to the end of the episode where Luz now has her palisman, Edric comes up to Hunter and asks “So, you wanna give this another shot? :)” and Hunter says “When this whole mess is over, I’ll take you on a proper date, the human realm is really nice actually, I think you’d like it!” Edric replies “…I’d like that a lot <3” “Cool *they hold hands* can’t wait❤️” AND WE SEE THEM HAPPY AND IN LOVE IN THE EPILOGUE THE END YAY :D💞💞💞

#the owl house #the owl house au #huntric #toh hunter #edric blight #hunter x edric #edric x hunter

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

just remembered this post by @smokestarrules again and it’s making me think about the implications for luz in the rest of s3.

like yeah! she puts up a front that she’s okay in front of everyone. that if she isn’t happy, necessarily, then at least she’s just upset over the same stuff her friends are upset about. ie being trapped in the human world and missing their families. if she tells amity, willow, and gus that she feels at fault for the whole belos thing or getting them trapped in the human world, then she knows they’ll tell her that isn’t the case and that isn’t what she wants to hear. same with camila she wants her mom to be angrier at her about leaving home.

hunter has never blamed luz for the belos thing. in fact, if he heard luz and phillip’s conversation in hollow mind, he probably knew luz was tricked the whole time. but the way he grew up, his understanding of “fault” is that even if something isn’t directly your fault, that doesn’t matter if you end up having to make up for it. he’s been blamed for so much stuff that wasn’t his fault in the past, that he doesn’t bat an eye when luz blames herself helping belos. at the beginning of thanks to them, he tries to make her feel better by acknowledging her guilt, but he didn’t find it necessary to tell luz that it wasn’t actually her fault.

and luz takes this as hunter agreeing with her that she SHOULD feel guilty about belos. this in addition to hunter’s trust in her, both of them knowing each other’s secrets and all, makes luz gravitate towards talking to hunter more. because hunter, while he means well, will ABSOLUTELY feed into luz’s guilt, since he doesn’t understand why you shouldn’t do that. (also if luz does feel guilty about getting her friends trapped in the human world she would feel the least bad about hunter. bc he technically doesn’t have anything left in the boiling isles to return to anyway)

but by the end of the episode, hunter’s realized that he deserves better than what belos tells him. they all deserve better. just because belos tried to drive a wedge between luz and her friends by blaming her for helping him, doesn’t mean luz was actually to blame. and now hunter knows to refute that. but even though luz gets a pep talk from him, amity, and her mother, i doubt she’s internalized the sentiment that being tricked by belos doesn’t make her complicit in his crimes. and if she did, based on her track record, i don’t think she’s internalized the fact that no, her mistakes aren’t magically worse than everyone else’s and arent something she needs to put herself in danger to fix.

in fact, now luz is probably feeling guilty about hunter’s whole possession thing. so she might start avoiding talking to him about feelings out of guilt like she has been with her other friends and her mom. on top of that, hunter’s probably going to stop agreeing with luz when she self deprecates. he’ll do what the others do and tell her she’s a Good Person Actually and not everything is her fault, which is the LAST thing luz wants to hear. and luz already doesn’t feel comfortable talking about this stuff to her other friends and family. without hunter, i think luz will probably just bottle up all her feelings for the next two episodes.

and like. when luz thinks she’s responsible for bad things happening to someone she loves, she is SO DOWN to put herself in danger or distress to “help.” she breaks into the conformatorium and fights belos because she thinks it was “her fault” eda was being petrified. she tries to fight a selkiedomous to make up for eda losing her magic. she almost gets blasted to bits by the blights to get willow and gus enrolled in hexside again. she upset her mom by leaving so she decides to stay in the human world forever. she purposely gets herself captured and brought to belos with no plan because she thinks she’s the reason he’s like this today. and given how luz already decided to stay in the human realm, and how we never hear what she planned to do with her palisman if that happens, i have some ideas on how she could “help” hunter with losing flapjack and all of them are sad.

and don’t forget king. he’s with the collector, who luz helped belos find, and was also at the head in the first place because they were coming to rescue her. luz is going to think king being captured by the collector is ENTIRELY her fault. luz is going to tackle the collector and get marcy wu’d. and she isn’t going to tell any of her friends and family ANYTHING because they’ll try to say stuff like “don’t put yourself in danger luz” and “we care about your as our friend/daughter/sister/girlfriend and would be sad if you got hurt luz” and “your mistakes are human and dont make you irredeemable luz” and she Will Not Want To Hear It.

#toh #the owl house #shut up pandora #luz noceda #hunter toh #hunter noceda #should i tag the others this is mostly about how luz lost her self deprecation echo chamber aka her brother #bc hunter has decided to feel good about himself and tell luz to feel good about herself unfortunately #i will #phillip wittebane #emperor belos #camila noceda #amity blight #willow park #gus porter #eda clawthorne #king clawthorne #but yeah what if in the finale theres a dramatic fight scene where you see hunter would obviously be doing better if he had a staff #and luz hands him her palisman and tells him to take care of it for her #and promptly gets herself marcy wu'd #she probably feels guilty about flapjack i can see her thinking it wouldnt be fair to hunter if she had her palisman #after she 'caused' him to lose his so she decides to let him use hers as a replacement #and obviously luz's palisman cant replace flapjack and everyone knows it but luz still sees it as her way of helping #besides even though camila obviously didnt want her to stay in the human world forever if it would make her unhappy luz doesnt know that #she doesnt know her mom watched her video diary shell take camilas 'its our duty to help your friends' as #'well pop by to help the boiling isles and come back after and THEN ill tell my friends im staying in gravesfield forever' #so while she loves her egg to death hunter could have so much more use for it in the boiling isles #in conclusion i do think that luz noceda bottom text #oh yeah #luz and hunter are siblings

[asherisawkward]

In March, before the release of 'Watching and Dreaming', I wrote this comment to a post on the topic "You found a genie and wished for 20 episodes in the third season of The Owl House instead of 3 episodes. How can this go horribly wrong?". Now I have found it. I corrected a couple of mistakes and gave a little explanation in parentheses

Everything seems great at first. Each of the episodes tells about how Hexsquad get to know Human Realm, get into some kind of trouble and escape with the help of magic. In addition, we are shown how Phillip adapts to the modern world and studies it, and builds new stuff. Maybe Phillip visits Gravity Falls and Los Angeles (Hometown of the heroines of the "Amphibia" series), as he finds information that something strange was happening there. And at some point we become aware that all this time Phillip was watching Hexsquad through the cameras

Perhaps sometimes, instead of Phillip, we are shown how Bosha and other students of Hexside live and deal with their problems. Kikimora is still among them.

The events of the episode "Thanks to Them" take place near the end of the season. When Hexsquad realize that they have a rebus showing where the Titan's blood is, Phillip finds out about it. He takes the Titan's blood, but Hexsquad notice him and start following him. They arrive at his base, which is located in another city. While Hexsquad are exploring the base and looking for Phillip, he uses Titan's blood to activate a portal through which dozens of robots get to the Boiling Isles. Hexsquad find a working portal and pass through it, hoping to have time to stop Belos. Next, we are shown how Phillip is sitting in a room with monitors that show all the places where Hexsquad were before, including a room with a portal. After Hexsquad have entered the portal, he smiles, picks up a bag, goes to the portal through different rooms, and activates a device that makes him invisible, after which he enters the portal.

The next few episodes are devoted to how Hexsquad study the changed Boiling Isles and come to Hexside, where they meet Bosha, other children and a disguised Kikimora. At the end of each episode, we are shown what Belos is doing. He has re-equipped his old hideout and now, through numerous robots, he is watching the entire island. Later it will be shown that the robots have reached other islands, what gives you the feeling that Phillip probably will personally explore these islands.

All the worst will be in the final episode. We will be shown how one of the robots arrived at the Archive House unnoticed and placed various books, game consoles and just toys in a prominent place. The Collector will find these things and together with King will begin to study them. Luz and her friends will use a teleportation glyph to get into the Titan's head, but robots are already waiting for them there. The robots will shoot sleeping darts and Hexsquad will fall asleep.

Luz will wake up chained to a chair, she will be in Phillip's hideout. Phillip will be sitting across from her, they will have a conversation. Luz will be scared, she will ask where her friends are, she will threaten Belos. Phillip will calmly begin to tell what he has been doing all this time, how he studied the modern Human Realm, invented new things, spied on the Hexsquad and came up with plans. We find out that game consoles and other things were delivered to The Collector so that he would have something to play with. Phillip will say that modern Human Realm is quite strange, but he is used to it and is going to clean it of all the filth.

He will turn on a live broadcast on the screens of what robots are doing now all over Demon Realm. Luz will be forced to watch as robots kill hundreds of witches. She will scream, she will cry, she will beg to stop it, and Phillip will smile. When the robots are done, Luz will be silent and cry quietly. Phillip will tell her that she doesn't have to worry, because he didn't touch the dolls - it's necessary for a Collector to play with something.

Luz will quietly ask where her friends are. Phillip will say that they are still alive. One of the screens will show a room in which all the surviving students of the Hexside, Hexsquad and Kikimora will lie. Phillip will show that with the help of some spell, artifact or technology, he can control people. And then he will show Luz a drawing in which students, Hexsquad, Luz herself and Kikimora will stand together and smile, but they will be gray as a stone. Phillip will say, "You remember petrification, right?" and Luz will shudder at the realization.

She would beg Phillip not to do it. Phillip will say that Luz doesn't have to worry, Hunter will stay alive, but he won't remember Luz, her friends, or the Boiling Isles (And he shows her the memory gun). And that now it's time for Luz to go to bed. Phillip gives Luz a sleeping pill and she falls asleep despite trying to stay conscious.

Phillip frees her and carries her in his arms to the same room that was shown on the screen. He puts it with the others, and then uses the item that he told Luz about. Witches and human get into poses, open their eyes, smile, and Phillip turns them into stone. After that, it is shown to us that Phillip did something to Odalia's mind so that she would start to really take care of The Collector and love him.

After that, we are shown how Camilla and Vee are sitting at home and talking, they are worried about the guys. They hear the front door open and run to it. Phillip is standing on the threshold. He shoots them with sleeping darts, they fall asleep, then get into poses and Phillip turns them into stone. Robots take the statues out of the house and load them into the car. In the next scene we see that Camilla and Vee are standing in the same place as the statues of Luz and the others.

Hunter wakes up in bed in a completely new place for him. Phillip is standing next to the bed and Hunter smiles when he sees him. Phillip says Hunter is a little injured, but he will be well soon, and in the meantime, the two of them can play some game. Hunter happily agrees.

The credits begin. At the end, it says "Thank for watching" in large letters. It looks like it's written in someone's blood

That would be absolutely devastating to watch! Watching Philip once more create and carry out his plans in such a calm and collected manner would be terrifying, and it would really amplify how scary of a character he is. I also like the idea that Philip would be going around to other places of weirdness and anomalous activity in order to further his research. I mean, imagine if he and Stanford met and got along. The man would be so distraught to find out the true purpose behind Philip’s visits. The idea of him using robots is interesting, and I like how it’s a callback to Amphibia. All in all, a very interesting AU idea!

#The Owl House #TOH #The Owl House AU #TOH AU #Philip Wittebane #Emperor Belos #Luz Noceda #Hexsquad #Bad Ending AU #Ask

[astrolavas]

what do u think hunter and vee interactions are going to be like? because they both have some parallels i think

YEAHHH!! GOD i do wonder what their dynamic is gonna look like, especially at first cuz..... i feel like there's so much potential for something so interesting to happen.

because on one hand, they have so much in common. they can both bond about being mistreated and used by belos and about being.. basically experiments/extinct species that belos had brought to life.

like, vee is a basilisk, and we know what she went through while imprisoned by the emperor's coven; we know basilisks are supposed to be extinct but were brought back to be studied basically, that they were forced to consume magic, and that she and the others managed to escape.

and hunter..... still hasn't fully dealt with with being a grimwalker. he just recently found out he's someone's clone (a human's at that, although it's sth that he suspects rather than knows because he still hasn't gotten the definite proof... but he will soon that's for sure), that there were MANY others before him, that he was created by belos purely out of his selfish ambitions, that he's not a witch, and never was. he read those books at hexside; he probably knows he's made up of all of these... ingredients. that he's probably the only grimwalker in the world. that grimwalkers are a species that belongs in the legends, or the extinct folder, and HE is one. and to add to that, he's also afraid to tell willow and gus (he already knows sth technically but hunter doesn't know that he knows so) that he's a grimwalker because he values their friendship so much, and he's so worried he'll lose them once they find out the truth about him, it's..... H...........

so yEAH, so there are...... quite many parallels between them, and many things they could talk about; relate to each other with.

but on the other hand, hunter HAD been helping belos as his "right hand man". and even though that was obviously not his fault cuz he was abused, manipulated and lied to his entire life, thought he was doing good, i feel like..... vee might definitely not see it like that, similarly to how she assumed luz's life had been perfect in yesterday's lie and didn't rly see luz's point of view at first.

except THIS is even more of an extreme situation because with luz vee was at least mad at her cuz she thought luz had a perfect life that she didn't appreciate enough etc. etc., sort of a "i'd have acted differently if i were you" situation; being angry at her for running away but also grateful she did. complicated stuff. now, when we're talking about hunter's situation, it is directly linked to belos.... who's the reason for everything that's happened to vee, so it's.. OOF. she's NOT gonna take it well. especially since him being the golden guard/belos' "nephew" is more likely to be mentioned first whereas him being a grimwalker is hunter's carefully guarded secret.

so yeah, there's def some bonding potential cuz of their similar experiences, like, a LOT. but if vee finds out abt him being the GG and that he helped belos....... yeah, the start is gonna be.. very rocky, to say the least

#oof......................... #it also depends whether there's gonna be time for anything like this in the limited minutes we get but. IF they interact then like- yeah #nicole answers #Anonymous #hunter toh #vee toh #also nsxjknsxk slowly getting to finally answering some questions h #my toh talk

[proudfreakmetarusonniku]

owl house au where a year or two before the start of the series hunter somehow gets himself stranded in the human realm and can’t get back for some reason. camila finds a child routing through her trash who’s incredibly cagey about what’s happened and flinches from any sudden movements and decides Fuck This, My Child Now, clearly wherever this scrawny fourteen year old covered in scars and bruises came from isn’t safe so they can stay as long as they need. he insists the only reason he stays is because he doesn’t want to starve to death, even long after that stops becoming believable.

camila doesn’t believe the stuff hunter says about the boiling isles at first- assuming they’re a fantasy he created in his mind to deal with whatever he must have gone through- but after a checkup, it’s… undeniable. to camila, it doesn’t change anything, though- witch or not, this is a child with nowhere else to go. meanwhile, of course, luz thinks that hunter being a Real Life Witch is the coolest thing ever and attaches to his side and refuses to leave.

hunter is… anxious, most of all. the human world and the nocedas are strange, and he doesn’t know what to expect, which usually means danger. he doesn’t know what the nocedas are expecting in return for their kindness, and waiting for the other shoe to drop is agonising. but… luz might be annoying, but she listens to his stories about the demon realm and finds him cool and is the first person he’s met who really looks up to him. and camila speaks to him like his opinion has value, allows him far more than he’s ever been allowed before, and doesn’t hit him, which is really weird but in a nice way.

by the time the series starts proper, hunter noceda (which he goes by for purely “legal” reasons, he insists) is still not exactly… accustomed to the human realm. he’s incredibly socially awkward, and has incredibly bad social anxiety. he’s aggressive and sometimes instinctively lashes out when startled, which has lead him to having his share of issues. unlike luz, everyone else basically thinks he’s just a weirdo too caught up in his own delusions who at most has weird ears, and even then people usually just think they’re fake. he can do what he’s ordered to, but any sort of independent life skills he’s horrifically incompetent at, to the point he’d probably be back to eating garbage if he had to live on his own again.

so, along with luz’s inability to tell fiction from reality- only worsened by the fact she knows some of it is real- camila decides the best thing for the both of them is to send them to reality check summer camp, and, well, we all know how that goes. owlbert steals luz’s book, luz rushes to get it back, hunter follows because that’s what he does best, and they end up in the boiling isles.

luz, of course, is enamoured with this new realm, having heard all about it but still enraptured with seeing it for the first time, and when she meets eda she’s eager to learn more from the perspective of someone who’s on the other side of the law to hunter. meanwhile, hunter is very, very unhappy with the whole thing, distrusting eda immensely (though being fascinated by her wild magic), and desperately wanting to go home, though whether that’s the emperors castle or the human realm he isn’t sure. he sticks by luz- she’ll get herself killed here without him!- but he’s very much not happy about the whole thing.

so, basically, this au is just an excuse for luz and hunter sibling content throughout the whole series. sue me.

#my aus #the owl house #toh #The owl house aus #toh au #luz and hunter sibling content beloved

[avatarmerida]

In His Dreams

Ignore the lack of actual plot I just needed a story to justify a tiny Huntlow head canon I had so here

———

“Wait, you wanna go in my mind?” Hunter repeated, confused as he sat of the edge of the couch.

“Yeah, Eda put Amity and Luz in Willow’s mind before and she taught me how!” Gus exclaimed, the rest of the group smiling behind him. This was a hard and awkward pitch, but Gus felt so sure about it.

“Okay but why?”

“Because you might know something about Belos that could help us figure things out,” said Luz.

“Things… Caleb might’ve known,” added Gus hesitantly. Hunter had told them all only a few days ago, but Gus had known for awhile. He knew Hunter was coming to terms with it, but it was still hard news for him to share so Gus brought it up only when totally necessary.

“Memories are part of the base of creating a grimwalker,” explained Amity, better at being blunt than Gus. “Belos would probably do a good job at hiding them-

“-so we can search for your subconscious for things you didn’t even know you knew!”

“My subconscious? So, like, my secrets?” His eyes darted to Willow before returning nervously to Gus. “Um so it would be you going in my mind?”

“No I gotta stay here to control the spell,” said Gus. “Willow and Luz are gonna go. We figured Luz would know anything from the human world and Willow wants to be on other side of the spell for once.”

“It’s not that bad I promise,” she smiled before adding in. Harsh whisper. “At least I won’t set anything on fire.”

“Right,” said Hunter, remembering her telling him this story. “Actually, I think I would prefer if Blight went.”

“Are you sure ?” Willow asked, assuming he was joking. “Because Luz knows more about human stuff and that might be helpful if Philip-.”

“I meant instead of you, Captain,” Hunter said as though the words physically pained him.

“Oh,” was all Willow could muster, understandably surprised, seeing as Hunter knew she was the one who has set the fire in her mind last time.

“It’s nothing personal, I just think that uh-.”

“No no, it’s your mind,” said Willow with a calming breath. Hunter could see she felt hurt, but she truly respected his honestly. “Whatever makes you more comfortable.”

She meant it, Hunter knew that, but he wished he could tell her why and ease her mind.

“So, we’re doing this?” Gus asked and Hunter nodded, knowing his friend had asked the question fully prepared to proceed. He knew this was important and only he could do it, but he’d be lying if he said the idea was comforting. He barely liked being in his mind, he couldn’t imagine how someone else would find it.

“Okay, so I guess it you and me,” said Luz, turning to Amity. “Wow, wouldn’t it be cool if we got to go into everyone’s mind together?”

“Once was more than enough,” Amity said lightly. “You got the radio?”

“Right here, Sweet Potato,”

“All right, once you find what you need send the signal and I’ll get you out,” said Gus. “You don’t wanna be in there a second longer than you need to.”

“Hey!” Hunter said, offended.

“Nothing personal,” said Gus preparing the spell. “Okay guys get ready.”

“Is this gonna hurt?” Hunter asked, concerned.

“Only if I do it wrong,” said Gus. “But I haven’t gotten practice it yet, so we’ll see.”

-

Hunter’s mind appeared to be under construction. The girls found themselves in an open field, a gentle breeze blowing and the sky with just the right amount of clouds. Before them stood a grand building, seemingly being rebuilt. They walk towards an once inside they saw a grand hallway of paintings being repainted by themselves. The lines would see I truce and then relapse, sometimes altering very little as if being resceanned to verify their authenticity.

“Looks like Hunter’s still processing everything he learned about Belos,” said Amity. “I read about this, it’s changing the entire outlook of the memory, sometimes it unlocks things that were repressed.”

“Is it safe to be here?” Luz asked, mesmerized and terrified of the large paintings. “Aren’t things kind falling apart in here?”

“We just need to be extra careful,” said Amity. “Strictly looking, I’m worried with the state of everything the inner Hunter might be crumbling too. We shouldn’t interact with anything.”

“Right, strictly snooping,” said Luz as they began to wander. Most of the memories were unhelpful and they started to rewind at random places, the tone and volume shifting as the true meaning was being interpreted. But it all clearly belonged to Hunter.

They wandered for awhile as they memories free more coherent, but what they found was mostly lonely and draining.

“His core memories are shifting,” noticed Amity. “We need to find something more recent, it should be more clear and not shifting as much.”

“Hey here’s one with Willow!” Luz called.

“Good, at least we know it more recent,” said Amity joining her to view. “Looks like a flyer derby match.”

“Is it me or is she glowing?” Asked Luz, squinting to get a better look. “It’s like there’s a halo or a spotlight on her. Aw, she looks like an angel.”

Willow flew forward on her staff in midst of a very intense game that seemed to have been neck and neck for awhile. The crowd look onward as she scored a point, looking frantically behind her as though searching for something. Hunter appeared out of nowhere, snatching flags left and right before appearing at the posts to seal their victory.

The stands cheered as Hunter sailed around as he delivered the finals flag and floated to Willow who eagerly greeted him with open arms. He remained on his staff as he floated beside her and Willow leaned up to give Hunter an eager celebratory kiss. She placed her free hand on his cheek as the other steadied herself in the air. He closed his eyes and returned the kiss, nearly falling of his staff as raised brought up his hand to hold the side of her face. The action seemed natural and famialr as though they had done it a thousand times before. They were lost in their moment, unaware and uncaring of the crowd around them, focused on each other.

“WHAT?!” exclaimed Luz and Amity together.

“When did this happen?!” Amity screamed.

“Why wouldn’t she tell me?” Luz screamed at the same time.

“How long has this been going on?”

“Do you think she told Gus and not me?”

“Did you know?” They finished in union facing each other.

“No!” Said Luz. “Did you?”

“No,” said Amity. “But it doesn’t make sense-.”

“Hey! Willow is a catch and Hunter is… better than he was…”

“No, no that,” said Amity. “Well, yes, that, but look at how choppy the memory is.”

“So?”

“So, it’s different than the other memories, it’s not altering itself but something off in a different way,” explained Amity. “This seems like an important memory so everything is crisp and clear, but it’s like it’s only this moment. There should be more, but it stops here. The background isn’t consistent, like it’s composed of different memories overlapping. I think this is a dream.”

“Oh that makes way more sense, cause Willow would have definitely told me about this.”

“If I’m right then we’ve entered a dangerous part of the mind,” said Amity. “We’re deeper than his subconscious; we’re in his imagination. This is more than memories these are his thoughts, dreams, and feelings. They not necessary real but they can still be dangerous. Dreams, nightmares, anything can live in here. Anything Hunter can imagine.”

“And I guess he imagines a lot of Willow,” said Luz who ran ahead to scan the rest of the dreams, viewing a scene of Hunter and Willow dancing at his idea of Grom. “Is he taller in his dreams? Or does his boot just have a higher heel?”

“Luz, I don’t think we’ll find anything here, this part looks too new to be something Belos knew about,” said Amity, glancing at the windows she passed.

“Oh woah, look at this one he has goatee!” Luz said, having too much fun as she directed Amity to her window.

“Wait a minute, is this… are they..?”

“Oh my gosh, he dreamt about them getting married!” gushed Luz, watching the scene as a future dream Willow walked down the aisle, her hair longer but still in her beloved braids adorned with dozens of flowers. Hunter, old enough to have grown a goatee and rid himself of his under-eye bags, looked at her with utter adoration as he awaited her in an outfit of green and gold. “Oh, look at Willow’s dress! She looks so pretty! Hey, where am I? I should be the maid of honor.”

“Luz…”

“I know you’ve known her longer so I won’t be mad if it’s you but I should at least be a bridesmaid,” said Luz scanning the crowd. “Look, Gus is there. Aw! Can we stay to hear their vows? Look at the flowers! I can’t wait to get back and tell Willow-.”

“Luz you can’t tell Willow about any of this,” said Amity, turning her girlfriend away from the sentimental scene. “Clearly, Hunter has feelings for Willow that he’s not ready to share with her. It makes sense why he didn’t want her to come here.”

“Awh, you’re right Bonita,” said Luz. “Sorry, my little shipper heart just got excited.”

“Once he confesses though, I fully intend to mercilessly tease him about this,” said Amity. “But this isn’t why we’re here; we need a memory to follow, something out of place…”

“Flapjack!”

“No, it would be something more specific from his past, something out of place-.”

“No but look it’s Flapjack with Hunter but he’s… different?” Luz said, pointing ahead. Flapjack excitedly chirped around Hunter’s head as he laughed, but Hunter didn’t quite look like himself. His hair was styled differently and he didn’t have his scars. Even in his own dreams he did not look like this. “Flapjack doesn’t have his scar, he had it when Hunter found him. I can tell by the lighting it’s not a dram but this memory can’t be his.”

“Luz, what if Belos hid Caleb’s memories inside Hunter’s dreams?” Amity said, connecting the dots.

“We just need to follow the right memory!” Luz exclaimed. “Follow him!”

“Hey Caleb!”

———

Outside, Willow and Gus were sitting Hunter who attempted to mediate to create a clearer mind for Luz and Amity to be in. Willow sat beside him, monitoring his breathing as he tried to steady it despite her eyes locked on him.

“Just try not to think about it,” advised Gus.

“When has that ever been the effective to not think about something?” Said Hunter, trying to keep a calm consistent tone.

“Just picture a field,” said Willow. “A calm, wide field.”

“A field, a field,” Hunter repeated. Willow knew he struggled relaxing under normal circumstances and knew repetition was a part of his process. Her hand hovered over his, hesitant to take it worried he wanted distance from her.

“Uh oh,” Gus said suddenly and Willow pulled her hand back, moving further from Hunter.

“Nothing! I mean, I wasn’t-,” muttered Willow.

“Willow, we might have a situation,” said Gus.

“Oh you meant-oh no! Is Hunter okay?” Willow asked, standing up to see him better.

“It’s nothing yet, but he shouldn’t be levitating the way he is right now!” Said Gus and Willow saw Hunter had indeed began to clot subtly from his seat.

“If someone was wouldn’t they call on the radio?”

“I dunno what’s going on but I can’t pull them out,” Gus said. “They’re stuck and we need to guide them out.”

“How?”

“You need to go in and find them!”

“But Hunter doesn’t want me in his mind!”

“If you don’t go there won’t be a mind to be in!”

“Are you sure you can handle three people?”

“I’m gonna have to, but make it quick!”

———

Willow arrived where Luz and Amity had, the field was calm and bright now. She looked around for clarification the spell had worked and was greeted by a familiar face.

“Are you the inner Hunter?” Willow asked timidly.

“I am,” he responded, offering his arm to her. “Let me take you to what you’re looking for.”

“You’re not… upset that I’m here?” She asked as she took it, and the Inner Hunter simply smiled.

“Not at all, you’re always welcome here,” he said. His voice was calm and confident. “I have a bit more clarity than the Hunter you know, thought there’s still a lot to sort out. You know, I’ve been in quite a disarray since I met you.”

“Me?”

“Yes,” he said with a fond sigh. “Well, not just you. There’s been so much happening and changing recently, a lot to unlearn and process, but you were a good change. You sparked a new path, you were our first kindred spirit.”

“You mean besides Flapjack, right?” She said with a small smile.

“Of course,” he said retuning her smile, continuing to lead her through the path. “It began as admiration, of course we’ve admired people before, but so often that admiration birthed insecurity and anxiety. But you were worthy of admiration without trying to be. We had put up walls and acts and convinced ourselves that we were content with loneliness, that we were worthless without approval. But you were patient. You were kind without any ulterior motives and honest without cruel intentions. I felt seen and welcome because you saw the best in me I could see it to. And I liked it. To have someone let me fail, to want me around, to care about me and not my title, well I was in utter turmoil. I thought I knew who I was, thought I knew my place in the world. But after I met you, I had rethink it all.”

“Oh wow, I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” he went on. “Your genuineness inspired emotions that had been repressed for years to come forth. Before this was all guilt, fear, and arrogance. But hope and happiness have started to bloom, and they’re rooted in a more solid and healthy foundation.”

“I did all that?”

“You helped start it,” he said. “Having your trust allowed us to trust others, to want to be worthy of trust. Your kindness inspired kindness. The confidence true friendship inspires can really help you grow.”

“I think I know what you mean,” she said. “I’m glad I met you too. But if you really think all those things about me, why didn’t you want me to come here? I mean, I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to explain that to me I should just respect your decison, I just wanted to help-.”

“I know,” he said. “But the feelings for you are… complicated. And we’ve had our share of complicated feelings, about many things, but somehow these are complicated in a way that isn’t bad. Just new.”

“I see,”

“Your friends are over here,” he said as they stopped, pointing to the grand building Hunter’s mind had conjured to store his dreams. “Sorry, our friends are over there. See? Still new.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Are you… gonna remember telling me all this?”

“Maybe,” he said. “This mind has been through a lot, fact and fiction merge and blur and change so much that some memories are hard to trust. But at the end of the day, we’re not afraid of you knowing how much we care about you. Because you deserve to be reminded of how special you are.”

“Wow, thanks,” she said, blushing.

“You better get to them, there’s not much time,” he said. “They’ve unlocked some pretty serious nightmares.”

“How do I save them from such a dark nightmare?” She asked looking on as clouds surrounding the building.

“You just find a brighter dream,” he said simply, looking at her.

-

In no time, the three girls sprang forth, unharmed but not unshaken as Willow’s presence helped free them from Caleb’s memory of Philip. Hunter woke up begrudgingly as the trio gathered their bearings.

“We have a lead! We have a lead!” Said Luz, rising to her feet. “And we didn’t set anything on fire!”

“I feel like that shouldn’t be as common and you all keep suggesting,” groaned Hunter as he sat up, his head aching.

“There might be another portal,” said Amity ignoring his question. “We found a bunch of Caleb’s memories from earth and Luz says she’s seen the places nearby. It might be a clue, we need a map!”

The two rushed out of the room to grab the history book Hunte that soften early that contained map of the town from hears ago. Willow had exited with Luz and Amauri but remained quiet as they rushed theough their findings.

“You okay Gus?” She asked.

“Yeah, just dehydrated I’m gonna grab a juice box while they’re liking for the map,” he said darting out of the room.

“What about you?” She asked turning to Hunter.

“Me? Uh, no thanks I don’t want to a juicebox,”

“No, are you okay?” She asked with a laugh. “If I remember this part correctly you probably have a really bad headache right now.”

“Well, maybe a little…” he admitted, taking a deep breath. “Thank you for helping them, Captain.”

“So you remember then huh?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “I know you respected my request and only went in to save me. Thankfully, my inner self is a more eloquent speaker. He’s had more practice. So I hope you understood why-?”

“Everyone needs privacy,” reassured Willow. “It’s good to set boundaries, but just know I’m here whenever you want to talk.”

“Thank you, Captain,” said Hunter, glad to know there was no resentment. “By the way, uh, you didn’t happen to see anything else whe you where in there, right? Like after you left the inner Hunter you didn’t like look around did you?”

“Why? Was there something specific you-?”

“No, no!” Hunter stuttered, not wanting to go into detail. “Just, uh, wondering is all.”

“Nothing embarrassing, I promise,” she said with a chuckle, sitting beside him a she heard Amity and Luz begin running down the hallway. She placed her hand strategically close to his. “But can I ask you a totally random question?”

“Yeah, what?”

“How long do you think it would take for you to grow a goatee?”

#huntlow fanfiction #huntlow #winter toh #toh #the owl house #willow park #hunter wittebane

[ammonitetheseaserpent]

Final chapter? FINAL CHAPTER- IT’S HAPPENIN-

Sooo yeah, we’ve reached the final chapter of Tide of Tied Minds, and… wow. I remember when I first started jotting down ideas for the first chapter in my journal, and the idea of writing the final one seemed like a world away. And now we’re finally here? Weird.

Anyhoo, I wanna thank everyone who joined me on this little ambitious undertaking, and those who’ll come to read it still. It means a lot to me that you all like like my random lil jottins. >w<

I’m glad I took this small step beyond my writing norm, too. My usual fare of writing one-shots is something I find very freeing - I can just take an idea and write a quick little thing for it, and bam. Writing this, though, felt that much more rewarding. They’re both satisfying in different ways, y’know?

I think this chapter is the one that’s changed the most throughout this. I originally had a whooole different plan on how I wanted to end this fic, but after WAD, I got a new, small idea and it grew into what you see here. I did keep the idea of having a flashback at the start, though. Also, the original title was Time Well Spent, as kind of a placeholder that looked like it would become the final title, and I was not planning to make another title a song reference after 3 and 4 - buuut as you can probably see, my inner music geek won out in the end. XD

Done with the 6 chapters of TOTM, eh? Well, I am, anyhow - for those of you clicking on this post for the first time, there’s still one more ride left…

Tide of Tied Minds

Chapter 6: The Stars Are Projectors

Summary: The Collector reflects as they prepare for their favorite human’s celebration.

Chapter Word Count: 2,578

Trigger Warnings: Discussion of death; discussion of trauma

-

Their powers were fading - thanks to Belos’s green goop spreading up their wrists - but they were not about to let anything happen to all the people still in the Archives.

Puppet strings snagged each jutting spike on top of the building, and the Collector put all his strength and willpower and adrenaline into keeping it upright. Some of the people in there walk into his line of sight, looking shocked, a few pointing up. He smiled down at them to tell them everything would be fine; they’d all be safe because he’d make sure of it.

Finally, the house stopped falling - just in time, too. The Collector’s strings all snapped, and all the tension sagged out of their body at once.

It had taken pretty much everything they had, but they’d done it; they’d saved the Archive House and all the people in it from collapsing into the Boiling Sea.

Cool; just gonna… rest now, for a few billion years. Maybe more, he thought as he flopped down onto a travel star.

The star floated down until it gently put the Collector down onto the front of the Archive House’s balcony, where he flopped down sprawled on his stomach, breathing heavily.

A group of Luz’s friends/classmates approached him, led by a purple-haired witch girl - Amity, their mind supplied.

He shrank away from them, expecting them to scold or punish him, to hate him for all he’d put them through.

But when that didn’t happen, they caaarefully peeked an eye open - and saw Amity offering them a hand, a small smile on her face.

Happy and relieved all over (which caused more of that weird wet stuff to well up in their eyes), they took it, and she helped them to their feet. A woman who looked like Luz walked up to the front, approaching the Collector. Her face carried a kind of warmth they’d never recognized before. “Thank you for the help, pequeño amigo.”

-

During their last visit to the Owl House for a short while, the Collector had spent some time getting to know the others.

Amity, the sorta sassy abomination-focused witch and Luz’s girlfriend, who treated them with an almost expert patience.

Willow, the super-strong plant witch who looked out for all her friends, whether that be through gentle caring or kicking someone’s butt with vines.

Gus, the fun-loving illusionist who could rival the Collector’s chaotic energy, and who excitedly told them all his favorite things about the human realm.

Hunter, the Grimwalker that he’d finally gotten to know as his own person, not just another one of Belos’s toys and attempts to bring back his brother.

It was a breath of fresh air; getting to kick back, make some new friends and just… be a kid for a while.

After a while, though, unwelcome thoughts and memories started to settle back in, the closer he got to the group. They initially tried to shove these to the back of their mind, wanting desperately to have as much fun as he could, and not fall back into being slammed with things he didn’t want to think about. But the more time he spent among mortals, the more reminders he’d get, until they were all-encompassed by the now-unavoidable notion.

The notion that finally made their decision for them.

They were going back to the stars.

Not permanently, of course - but there were some things he felt he could only sort out away from the Boiling Isles, and some things he was sure the people of the Isles could sort out most effectively with some space from him. There were a lot of… complicated feelings the Collector had that were tied to the place; it was where they’d been imprisoned, where they’d met and been pulled into a false friendship by Belos. He wouldn’t blame the people of the Isles if they held complicated feelings toward him in turn as, sure, being kept in the Archives had kept them from being swept up in Belos’s takeover of the Titan, buuut being turned into puppets and used as playthings was evidently not an easy thing to be put through - if the way a lot of people had regarded him with fear and still seemed wary was anything to go by. That was part of it, too; guilt over what they’d done.

But bigger than each of those things, perhaps, was the notion they’d been trying so hard to avoid this whole time - he had terrifyingly up-close knowledge that mortals could break for good, but a lot less knowledge on what it could take to break them. That scared them more than they’d probably admit, especially considering how powerful their own magic was; he could hurt someone before he even knew it. It was better, safer, he thought, to keep a distance from these new friends until he’d learned more about how to control his powers. Maybe King could also teach them more about mortals, too - after all, they could (and most definitely would) be in touch with him whenever they wanted.

Besides all that, they haven’t been to space since they were trapped, and, well… they really wanted to see it again, wanted to explore far and wide just like they used to, now that he could. Space was familiar, home-ish and comfortable in a way the Isles wasn’t quite yet. He didn’t know how long it would be until it did become that, or until he could be among his witch and human friends without feeling all jumpy that any of them could get hurt at any moment - but they did feel that those things were very much within reach.

When the Collector first told everyone he was leaving for a bit, and explained why, some people seemed worried. Luz and Eda asked him if he’d be all right on their own, and it was stressed to him that he could always come back, that they had a place here, should they need it.

Everyone said their goodbyes, and he gave Francois back to King. Just as the Collector was about to step outside, though, they were stopped by King. His Titan buddy pressed the rabbit plush into their hands; a gesture of trust, a reminder that the Owl House would always be open to them, and a way of ensuring they’d never really be alone again.

Then King pulled the Collector into a hug, whispering “I hope I see you again soon,” into their ear.

At that, they almost broke down right there, out of pure sentimental joy.

He didn’t, of course. But he came close.

-

During that time since they’d overrun - and then helped save - the Boiling Isles, the Collector kept in touch with their friends and family, and visited them often. They’d left the door wide open, after all, and he was more than happy to make use of that as often as he pleased inbetween their little space escapades.

This particular visit was a little bit different than usual.

Luz had told them about the upcoming celebration of her birthday - or quinceañera - during his most recent visit. According to the people they’d asked, a birthday was meant to commemorate the passing of a year in someone’s life. It never failed to fascinate the Collector how, in the face of their relatively short lives, mortals came up with all sorts of ways to celebrate and make the most value possible out of their time.

At the notion of celebrating such a meaningful event for his pal Luz, well… when he went back to exploring space that day, he miiight’ve dream-visited King and told him about something special they wanted to do for this day.

Their first trip back in space was a blast. Everything they’d missed about the place was there for him to get into all over again! He counted stars, slept in the nooks and crannies of slow-moving asteroids, and saw loads of different planets. King kept them updated whenever the mood struck him, and gladly answered any questions they had. The little exploration had lasted about a month or so before they’d decided to see the Boiling Isles in person again. He felt like he was ready to see everyone again, safely this time.

When he came back, he wasn’t sure what to expect, or how much he’d be welcomed. That almost didn’t matter when they entered the Owl House and were greeted by Eda and King like an old friend. Luz was further back in the house with her mother Camila, and gave him the same welcome when he saw her - this was also when he met her basilisk sister Vee, who was (coincidentally enough) also having her first visit to the Isles in a while.

They stayed on the Isles a long while, almost twice as long as their space trip, getting to know everyone all over again and learning what they’d been up to. He was surprised at how natural it seemed, talking to all their friends and listening to them talk with zest and zeal. He got closer to everyone; closer than he’d ever been.

The place they spent the most time, though, was at the Owl House, which pretty much became his home on the Isles. Luz, King, Eda and Raine (Ray-Ray) all helped him figure stuff out about himself and the things and people around him, and showed them things they’d never known before - like family. A long time ago, family hadn’t meant much to him. From the Archivists and their constant, annoying dismissals of their little sibling, to Belos and all the Grimwalkers he only pretended to love, but who all had no worth of their own to him as long as he could make more. This, though, was different. This felt… right, as weird as it felt to call anything in his life that. It was a strange feeling, having people who understood him. They remember how Gus told them he knew what it was like to think someone was your friend, only to find out they were just pretending in order to use your abilities for their own gain.

A few times, during their visits, he approached some residents of the Isles and offered to help with the rebuilding, partly to test how they felt around him - and while some were still kinda wary, they never protested the idea of the Collector willingly helping take back some of the damage he’d done to their home. It gave him hope, and made him realize that he’d begun to find not just friends and family, but a community. For all the differences and knotted-up feelings between them, there was one thing that inspired some solidarity among them all in general - the same guy had once had them dancing to tunes of his choice. This was something they all understood, even when it came to the Collector. He got a taste of this when Hunter told him about the things he was forced to do under Belos, and how he coped with it.

The rebuilding took a long time and was not easy, as the former ruler’s final act had dealt a looot of damage to the Isles. There was definitely a lot of deeper damage the guy had done, that wasn’t as simple as being repaired. All the same, the Collector got the sense that, given enough time, things would (eventually) be okay, especially as people were now able to put energy into doing things they enjoyed without fear or restriction. Once, at his prompting, Willow had told him about flier derby, and how it gave her a sense of freedom and fun she hadn’t had a long time before. He sensed that all over - how, even if things would never really be the same as they’d once been, people could come together and find ways around that, to be able to flourish and be free again.

One time, Luz gathered a bunch of kids around herself and Amity, and together they regaled the group of a tale they’d told the Collector briefly before - how Belos was finally defeated. The kids watched, wide-eyed, as the two recounted the moment he was ripped from the Titan’s heart and melted by boiling rain, before being stomped on and finished off for good. For all his palisman-prolonged life, death had finally caught up to him.

Death…

It’s something the Collector tries not to think about, as much as that doesn’t do to actually stop his mind from going there. It’s something they’ve seen only a few times and still don’t completely get, but they hope beyond hope to never see it again. Sometimes, on bad days, just a glimpse of the decaying bones the adult Titans were reduced to brings on memories of their hands shaking and stained with red, or grasping desperately onto an orb of light.

Just like the Isles and the people on it, there are things in his life he’ll never fully be able to heal, but they’re learning to be able to live with that.

Four years. A pretty insignificant chunk of time by his standards, and yet so much has changed.

The Collector peers down at the Archive House, resting on top of the Titan’s skull like a crown. The huge left hand that reaches up, fingers poking just above the planet’s atmosphere - almost as if in greeting to the cosmic deity, or wanting to reach out and cradle them on its palm.

Come to think of it, there was one other thing Luz had told the Collector.

At first, he didn’t get how she’d been able to fix herself, when even he couldn’t fix her. Well, not until she told them that it was the Titan - the Boiling Isles - King’s Dad - who had given her his last bit of life to bring her back from wherever she’d been (which also explained why the big guy’s glyphs weren’t working anymore).

She’d also told them that the Titan had confessed they’d made a mistake by trapping the Collector.

The Collector goes into a dive toward the outstretched hand, then spreads out his arms at the last second to slow their fall and land gently onto its clawed thumb. He reaches out one of his hands and gives their perch a little pat. “Farewell, big guy.”

Just then, small, bustling sounds catch the Collector’s attention. Leaning forward and zooming their vision in, he browses around Bonesborough until his eyes reach the Owl House - where they see a crowd milling outside, coming to greet Luz and her mother Camila with lights and a huge banner. Whoop! The Collector quickly jumps up, hovering a few paces above the thumb. The celebration’s starting, and they will not let the fun end without doing his bit.

Time to put on a show. Grinning gleefully, the Collector conjures a ball of cosmic magic and raises their arms to light up the night sky.

Once they start wrapping up their display and turn to leave, he hears a faint sound - a massive chorus of “byyyeee!” from a gathered crowd in front of the Owl House, all waving excitedly to him.

The Collector laughs, the sound tingling through their whole body and making it feel lighter, a sound of pure, hearty jubilation. He waves down to his people as he flies off. “Kthanksbyyyeee!”

#the owl house #the owl house au #toh au #tide of tied minds #the owl house fic #toh fic #the collector toh #toh the collector #the collector #toh amity #amity blight #toh willow #willow park #toh gus #gus porter #toh hunter #hunter wittebane #hunter deamonne #hunter noceda #toh camila #camila noceda #toh luz #luz noceda #toh king #king clawthorne #my jottins

[sakebytheriver]

I keep writing Huntlow fanfiction.

Enjoy some human world fluff

Sometimes, he couldn't help the thoughts he had about Willow, okay? Just because he was raised in the palace didn't mean he didn't know what slang terms were, he'd read books about the etimology and origins of witch slang, so what if Luz had invaded the Isles with her new human slang, like "sick" and "crush", he knew what he felt towards Willow was nothing like how he felt for Gus so yeah, he'll admit what he feels is definifely what Luz would call a "crush", the thing is there was so much more stuff going on.

Sure after that first day of flyer derby when he was back in his room at the palace and was staring at her Penstagram profile he couldn't help but think about the romance books the palace librarians slipped in between his other books. Belos did his best to keep those kinds of books away from him, but the palace librarians were all old witches who would giggle everytime he came into the library and they'd slip some kind of banned book in between the stacks of his research. Some of them would be educational books about the changes a witch's body would go through during witch puberty and talked very scientifically about reproduction, but there were others that were less educational and more indulgent.

The first time he found one of those books his entire face and ears lit up so red, he felt like he had a fever. The librarians never slipped him the more explicit media he knew they kept hidden in their own secret stash, but the ones they did give him were enough to teach him about romance and dating, so when he was staring at the picture of Willow on her profile of her smiling while holding a bouquet of flowers she had apparently made herself and imagining what it would be like to have been the one to give her the flowers he knew he had a problem he'd probably have to address at some point.

But then he'd been in the emperor's mind, he'd run away from the castle, he'd found out he was something called a Grimwalker. Then he was living in the school she goes to and he was saving Gus from being branded with a coven sigil, but then he was knocked out and Willow defended him and she was touching him, but once again things were happening and he couldn't think about it yet. Then he'd saved Gus and the two of them had pulled him into this embrace and she was holding him in a way that pressed his nose directly into her hair and it smelled like flowers because of course it smelled like flowers. But then he had to tell the entire school about the Day of Unity and the fact that her hair smelled like flowers had to be tabled for the time being.

And in one instant he saw a different side to the sweet but tough flyer derby captain as he was staring at her try to rescue, well him, but technically Luz disguised as him whatever the situation never really made sense to him anytime he thought about it, but all he knew was the world moved in slow motion for those split seconds while Willow rose from the ground surrounded by giant vines she conjured rather violently from the ground, her eyes glowing bright green. Her power was aweinspiring, and it stole the breath right from his lungs to watch her fight like that, for him.

And maybe it made his stomach flutter a little to see her so frantic to get him back, but he also knows she would have done the exact same thing for Luz if she'd known the truth so he tried not to let himself think about it, but by the end of the Day of Unity they were all stuck in the human world and thinking about romance with Willow was nowhere near on the forefront of his mind. Yet after a few days stuck in the human realm turned into a few weeks it became a little harder to ignore the feelings he had for her especially since they were all living in the same house and his crush on Willow seemed to be the most obvious thing on the planet. Luz, Gus, and Amity were always whispering about it and sharing secret smiles anytime he blushed at her, so yeah he could tell he was going to have to deal with this crush a lot sooner than he thought.

Because now the five of them were out at something called a farmer's market and Luz, Amity, and Gus had somehow been able to convince Willow that the three of them had something very important to do in the opposite direction of the flower booth, but Hunter would be so very happy to go with her. He had to roll his eyes at how obvious their lying was, even if he was secretly grateful for the time alone with her.

"Okay, I only enough for one thing, the agave or this set of tiny succulents." She held both options in her hands, showing them to him.

He shrugged in response and reached into his pocket for the ten dollar bill they'd each been given by Noceda and offered it to her.

"Just take this and buy both." He said casually.

"Hunter!" Willow yelled, making him jump.

"What?" He looked around frantically.

"That's yours. We're going to find a booth after this for you to buy something for yourself." She explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We are?" Hunter asked. He knew Mrs. Noceda had given it to him so he could get something with it, but it just hadn't occurred to him that there would be anything here he would want.

"Yes, of course. I saw a booth full of old books a few stalls down. I remembered you were talking about how much time you spent in the library at the palace." Hunter couldn't believe what she was saying, she remembered something he'd said about himself. He must have been staring at her for a minute too long because her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and she turned away avoiding his eyes. "I mean- I just thought maybe you'd wanna read something, but I guess maybe you wouldn't want to read a human book. So in that case we could find a different booth or something- It was just an idea and I just- um."

"Yeah, you were right. I-I would like to look at the booth with the books." He said awkwardly putting the ten dollar bill back in his pocket.

When Willow looked up at him and grinned, he suddenly didn't care that he'd phrased that in possibly the most awkward way he could have.

"Great, now that that's settled help me pick which plants to buy." She held both of them up right in front of his face.

He couldn't help it he burst out into a full body laugh eyes closed and hunched over. When he looked up again he couldn't describe the way she was looking at him. He straightened up as she turned away from him to look at the plants in her hands.

"I think I'll go with the tiny succulents, because if Mrs. Noceda's gardening book is to believed the agave is going to grow way too big to keep in the house." She put down the potted plant and started making her way to the cashier with the succulents.

Hunter just watched her walk away looking at her from a distance he felt like he finally understood her. It had been weeks since they'd met and gotten stranded in another world since then he'd learned so much about her and she'd learned so much about him and all he wanted was to keep learning more about each other together. She smiled at the cashier and revealed the dimples in her cheeks, the sun glinted off the frames of her glasses, and as she talked some of her hair fell from the green headband she was using to hide the points of her ears, he wanted to be the one to brush it back in place instead he stood back and watched as she did it herself. As the cashier put her succulents into a bag she turned around to look for him and as her eyes met his, she smiled, and he couldn't help but smile back.

When she walked back to him, he held out his hand to take the bag from her, she stopped in front of him and looked a bit surprised, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.

"Oh, okay." She said before slipping her free hand into his, she smiled at him before she continued to walk out of the plant booth, completely unaware of the bright red blush covering Hunter's entire face.

"I actually- um yeah okay." He said before stopping himself realizing that he's actually holding hands with her.

Willow looked over her shoulder to smile at him, and he really couldn't believe how lucky he was right now. She stopped in front of the book booth and he didn't know what took over him, whether holding hands with her made him bold or if it was the fact he finally realized she had blushed almost as much as him when the other three had ditched them earlier, but he stopped right in front of her using his free hand to brush the hair that had once again fallen out of place away from her face. He couldn't help but feel proud about the way she looked up at him with wide eyes and an open-mouth, soft blush coating her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, Willow? Can I ask you something?" He said, letting his hand brush down her cheek. She nodded against his hand. "Is this a date?"

His question seemed to startle her out the shock his movement had put her in and she looked away from his eyes as her cheeks lit up almost as red as his do.

"Oh, well, I mean that wasn't my plan-I mean not that I had a plan or anything. It's not that I don't want this to be a date or-"

"Because I'd really like it if it was." Her eyes snapped up to see him smiling at her his cheeks just as red as hers. Her face softened as she looked at him, and she smiled before leaning up on her tippy toes to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Then it is." She said as she dropped down to the flats of her feet. As he was staring at her face on fire, she grabbed his shoulders and turned him towards the books piled up tables. "Now go pick a book. We only have a half hour until we have to meet the others at the food court."

She pushed him towards the books, and if anyone asked it was not to hide the goofy smile, she couldn't stop from spreading over her face. Willow ends up helping Hunter pick out a book about the history of magic and mythology in different earth cultures that he said was to help them research ways to get back to the Boiling Isles, but Willow could see the way his eyes lit up as he talked about the book and she knew he was actually really interested in reading it. They held hands and talked as they walked to the food court to meet the others. Luz gasps and squees at the sight of their intertwined hands, making Hunter roll his eyes, and Willow have to explain that yes, they had decided this was a date. Gus and Amity laugh as Luz screamed and wraped Willow in a crushing hug.

Hunter couldn't believe this is what his life had become, a moment like this sitting next to Willow holding her hand as the five of them eat food and watch as Luz explains something called a movie theater and how that was their next stop, Gus teasing the two couples about being so oblivious and dorky before getting together. He was glad they all got to experience it even if it was just one moment closer to when they'd have to find a way back to face the Collector. Willow squeezing his hand brought him back to the moment and getting lost in her smile instead, thoughts about the Boiling Isles could wait till tomorrow, today he was on a date with Willow Park and he couldn't be happier.

#ignore me #huntlow #fanfiction

[vilmublue]

The scene with Luz and others showing Collector around and teaching them about friendship and stuff reminded me of Freedom from Wings of Fire.

(Pic by Flarefinder)

Spoilers for the last (so far) Wings of Fire book The Flames of Hope:

She is a 5000-year-old dragon child who doesn't really understand how life and morals work and has some interesting powerful abilities which is why the other characters have to reason with her.

How, you may ask?

Well, an evil power-hungry human stole her egg to use her as an experiment, abused and dehumanized (dedragonized?) her to the point of only calling her a lizard and not giving her a name, making her internalize that dragons are violent monsters incapable of love (not true.)

To take over the world, the human planned to use this special plant he found that can infect and control other living things *insert The Last of Us reference here*

He fucked it up and both he and the dragon died and their consciousnesses linked with the plant. The plant always wanted to spread like plants do, but as a result of this merging it received human intelligence and more power hunger. While the human and the dragon shared the mindscape in which they now existed, the human still bossed her around and planned his evil human plans, while she spent her time mostly fucking with and annoying him–because they were now stuck together forever and hated it and each other.

So, the dragon never got to grow up and never really had a life. She wanted to play and have friends and just generally actually experience things, but that wasn't really possible in the mindscape–not even if she took over infected people and saw other places and did stuff through them. She was bitter about her fate and didn't care about others having good things because she never got to have anything. She kidnapped a kid to play with her. She was interested in others' memories, which she could look at with their permission, to sorta attempt to live through them and imagine what she could've been had she lived.

When trapped by them, the good guys then try to convince her to let them go and go against the human's plans. They show her their memories with all the relationships, family, friendship and other good stuff. One of them shows himself chilling with his boyfriend and she's like:

They eventually show her that dragons aren't inherently bad at all like the human always told her and teach her about her actual heritage and tell her that her mother had loved her, being one of the mama dragons who burned human cities to the ground thousands of years ago, because they kept stealing their eggs. She grows attached to the good guys...but unfortunately, unlike the Collector, she won't survive to the end with her new friends.

Because in order for the evil human and plant to be defeated, she has to finally truly die with them. But before that...they want her to have a name before she passes away. She asks if Freedom works as a dragon name. It does.

#Wings of Fire #WOF #The Owl House #the Collector #Freedom #Breath of Evil #cartoons #books #dragons #vilmu posts

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Wholesome Random Headcannons for The Owl House Characters, because I don't know what else to post about.

Luz's favorite princess is Areil, Amity's is Tiana, Hunter likes Bell.

Lilith and Eda's middle initials are the inverse of each others first. Making their respective initials L.E.C and E.L.C.

Luz loves to get those hardback books that have those 2-3 pages in the back, because she uses them to write continuation epilouges for minor characters who she feels deserved more page time.

She thinks about making a fanfiction account online and posting some of her stories, but is ultimately to nervous about people not liking her work.

Hooty favorite game to play it dress up, and the largest closet in the Owl house is full of Hooty's costume collection. Anyone who so much as touches the door will find themselves stuck playing dress up with Hooty for minimum of 2 hours... it's actually pretty fun...ssshhh

King is actually French and his little bunny buddy Francois, has the same name as his Titan Dad. King subconsciously remembered hearing the name at some point, and liked it.

"Mike Socks", Lilith's palisman, is named after a bard tailor who invented white no-stain fabric for making into tank tops, socks, and undergarments. Lilith bought a biography on him as a teen, and for weeks he was all she wanted to talk about.

Eda found this really boring and would beg Lilith to drop it and talk to her about anything else...after meeting Raine Eda stole the book from Lilith and started quoting it whenever, to try and impress them. Lilith would have been angry, if she hadn't found the whole thing so hilarious.

Gus's first "Human artifact" was an unopened pack of cartoon stickers Perry bought from Eda. Gus is as enthusiastic about stickers as Mabel was and if the two ever met they would race to see who could cover a room with them the fastest.

Eberwolf's fur is actually as soft as it is fluffy. Only Darius knows this. His secret reason for "letting Eber force him into carrying him around" is that feeling Eber's fur is relaxing to him.

Willow's favorite plants are actually different types of ferns, vines, and constrictor plants. She finds flowers kinda basic/uninteresting (similar to Isabella Madrigal). But after adopting Clover she turned a corner of her yard into a flower garden for her, and tries to fill it with more exotic blossoms.

Palisman are notorious gossips, and will totally meet up to laugh over all the silly things their witches do.

Emira Blight is really talented at Math, and plays chess. Edric is skilled at science and cards.

After the events of the Day Of Unity, and his and Odalia's divorce, Alador insists he and the kids start getting up on Saturdays and going to the flea market as a way to spend time together. All three Blight kids expect it to be incredibly boring. All three of them are pleasantly surprised when they actually have fun, and find some cool stuff.

Edric eventually adopts two more bats, whom he names Batira and Battins.

Steve and Mattholomule used to sit at their table and work on crafts or draw together before Steve left for the Emperor's Coven.

Now that he is away so much the pair stay in touch by sometimes sending each other pic's of things they made over pentagram. Steve's uses the pictures Matt sends him to decorate his walls.

Hunter sadly doesn't get the dolls he left at the castle back. But between Darius's lessons and tutorials he finds on Penstagram he learns how to sew dolls. He remakes his old toys, and then he starts making then for his friends too.

King tells him that " the Titan has big plans for you to make him the greatest stuffed animal army in all the world." Hunter is not sure what exactly that means, but hey, if that's the titans plan.

#The owl house #Toh #luz nocera #Amity blight #Lumity #edric blight #Emira blight #eda clawthorne #Lilith clawthorne #King clawthorne #Toh hunter #Hooty #Gus porter #Willow Park #darius deamonne #eberwolf the huntsman #Alador blight #Toh Steve #mattholomule

[theprinceandthewitch]

Edit 9/6/2022: I added context for certain points and cleaned it up a bit.

The main pairing doesn't work for me because there are very glaring flaws I can't overlook. Also when I write out all the stuff Luz and Hunter have going for them it's more interesting compared to what Luz and Amity have going on.

But for this one I'm just gonna be rambling about Luz and Hunter and some questionable writing choices involving them.

I'm putting this under a read more so I can go back and edit some stuff in I might have missed.

Let me start off with a list of all the Good stuff Luz and Hunter have going for them

1. They are literally narrative foils. They both go through a deconstruction of "The Chosen One" story archetype. Luz believed she arrived on the Boiling Isles to fulfill some kind of grand destiny while Hunter believed his destiny was planned out by the Titan.

2. They parallel Caleb and his Wild Witch lover. They really wrote Hunter (the only Grimwalker who looks the most like Caleb) running away from Philip to start a new life with an expecting witch (Luz, who is waiting for her palismen to hatch) like...

Okay so let me explain why this drives me crazy as someone who loves storytelling. Because this parallel doesn't start when Hunter is running away with Luz in Hollow Mind and stop in the season finale. It goes deeper than that - to a character arc level - and it goes all the way back to Hunting Palismen. This episode is the start of Hunters positive change arc and "betrayal." The person to spearhead his positive change arc and "betrayal" is our favorite WILD WITCH Luz. Completely unbeknownst to Hunter, the moment he lets Luz go he is taking a stand against Belos. And he's following Calebs footsteps by choosing a wild witch over Philip. That is so romantic it's crazy to me.

[I want to highlight that in their attempts to escape, they were both unsuccessful. Philip tracked down and murdered Caleb. And in the finale Philip hitches a ride on Hunter to follow him to the human realm.]

I also want to point out that Hunter knows how merciless Belos is. He tells Luz in Separate Tides that "the emperor is not a merciful man." We can see at the end of Hunting Palismen that Belos is physically abusive towards him. But despite knowing the very really threat of physical violence that will come if he fails this mission, Hunter still chooses to let her go. Hunters choice is extra crazy once you remember that his "uncle" was the one who took him in and gave him a future as a magicless being living in a magical world. The same "uncle" who has been telling him how dangerous wild magic is. So dangerous infact it took their (Belos' and Hunters') family away from them.

Luz really charmed her way into his heart during their brief truce to the point he chose a wild witch he barely knows over the man he owes everything to. All because she is the only person in his life to consider him a friend.

And most of the fanbase really couldnt figure out why some of us would ship them.

[Also no he didn't let her go because she saved his life, if he wanted to let her go for that reason we would have never raised his staff at her.]

3. Enemies to lovers potential between a witch and a witch hunter.

Edit 9/6/2022: Okay so again, this ties back to the past. Specifically to Caleb's life before arriving on The Boiling Isles. He would have grown up to become a witch- hunter because of the ideology of his society. In one of the flashback paintings we can see him and Philip as children idolizing witch-hunting. And in another painting, it looks like Caleb may have been on one of those witch-hunts as a teenager. We can also see him being "lured away" by magic, which indicates that despite his upbringing he is openminded enough to unlearn his harmful belief systems. Eventually, his mindset changes so much during his time on TBI that he chooses to run away with a witch and start a new life on an alien world. [There's also the possibility of him hiding the door from Philip, out of fear he'll bring others back to help him wipe out the people of The Boiling Isles.]

BASICALLY, what I'm trying to say is is that I think class traitors are very interesting. Because that's what Caleb was and all of the GG's who came after him follow that same path. They all inevitably forsake their dogmatic belief system to help others and to hopefully achieve a more fulfilling life. That's why I think this witch/witch hunter set-up is really neat.

I gotta say... its seriously fucked up for Philip to name the copy of his friend "Hunter" as a shorthand for witch hunter. And that he's been training copies of a man who fell in love with and wanted to start a family with a wild witch to help him hunt wild witches. That is so deeply deranged. Unfortunately for Philip, it's in Caleb's genes to be a decent human being who will always "betray" him. Because no version of Caleb is capable of being a close-minded and genocidal Puritan maniac like he is.

4. They both have a fascination for wild magic and share the struggle of trying to navigate a magical world without inherent magical abilities. And I do think if we were actually given more friendship development between them, Hunter would have actually learned how to use glyphs. Luz could learn what artifical magic is and maybe try to use it alongside wild magic.

5. Okay so I'm just adding this one because it makes for an interesting dynamic:

Luz: "At least you have your future figured out for you."

Hunter: "At least you can figure out yours." 

6. Complimentary color schemes. This is honestly just something I love to see because it always makes the characters look whenever they're in a scene together.

7. Hunter is literally the type of boy she likes. Luz is into older, angsty warrior princes with facial wounds and tragic backstories who have a cute animal sidekick. Yeah im counting Hunter as a warrior type. Because in Any Sport in a Storm, Hunter tells Gus and Willow what kind of dangerous training Belos has put him through. And like... do you see how beat up the kid is? He's clearly gone through shit. And he's... literally a prodigy with artifical magic. While he's not super ripped like Nevarath he's still physically fit enough to chase Luz through the city and climb on top of a building twice, in Hunting Palismen.

Neverath and Hunter share some other superficial similarities: They have the slicked back hair, heeled boots, and where the same exact shoulder armor.

Also in the episode where King and Luz write a book, Luz draws herself kissing a prince who looks suspiciously like a beta version of Hunter. Like... she's into princes my dudes. Anyone who says otherwise is being deliberately obtuse lmao.

8. Luz: "...and maybe meet a hot yet vulnerable upperclassman." Amity isn't an upperclassman because she tells Luz what she needs to do to get into her grade.

9. Hunter is "coded" as a "princess stuck in a tower, kept prisoner by some kind of evil being." Luz frees him from that tower by showing him the truth about Belos. Through finding this painful truth his entire entity as the "special" golden guard chosen by the Titan completely shatters. But through this shattering he can make a new, authentic identity and start a new life with people who actually love him. I really dig this kind of subversion of the princess stuck in a tower trope honestly.

10. Luz telling Eda that she met someone very interesting in Latissa (the city in Hunting Palismen) and referred to Hunter as "a bad but sad boy". Hunter has a very funny reaction to her comment. His whole head blushes and he acts like he wants to give the human a piece of his mind. He's acting as if he wouldn't bend like a twig for Luz if she got in his way, again. Absolutely adorable on Hunters part.

11. Hunter would have never met Flapjack if it wasnt for Luz. Luz guided Flapjack directly to Hunter and showed him that even though hes made from wild magic he isnt dangerous. Edit: Without her he would have never gained his strongest system of emotional support. We also have to add this to the Caleb/Hunter parallels as Hunter is the only version of Caleb he's taken an interest in.

Now I want to talk about the more questionable writing choices that don't make sense to me:

1. What happened after Hollow Mind is incredibly OOC for Luz, Eda, and King. But I just want to highlight how OOC it is for Luz, specifically. It doesn't make sense for Luz to not go after Hunter. She literally saw what Belos does to the golden guards who "betray" him. She knows Belos will send scouts out to look for him. But she just lets him run into the woods in the middle of the night. She doesnt know that hes actually going to Hexside. Its not like he can outrun her because she can just use Edas staff to catch up to him. It doesn't matter how fast Hunter is, a staff is always going to be faster. And if she loses sight of him Flapjack can just take her to him. She doesn't make any attempt to go after him and even stays at the Owl House all night.

This is straight up bad writing. And the only reason why it's like this is because the writers thought it would have been too weird for Luz to spend a night comforting a boy who fits her type in boys and has more in common with her than her girlfriend does. Seriously, what other explanation is there? How else can you explain this OOC writing choice? Luz and Hunter NEEDED this bonding moment. Hunter needed someone there for him after his preconceptions of himself were shattered completely. He needed a strong support system, and he should have got that with Luz, Eda, and King.

But he doesn't get that. Luz, Eda, and King let him run away into the night. And then Luz decides to leave with King to find his family WITHOUT MAKING SURE HUNTER IS OKAY FIRST FOR A WHOLE WEEK.

Excuse me!? She's not even going to make sure Hunter is safe even though she knows Belos wants to kill him? For all she knows he could have fallen to his death in some ditch in the woods. And as you can see by the scratches on his face he DOES hurt himself during to trek from Eda's house to Hexside.

OKAY I GUESS.

Yeah it's totally in character for Luz to leave a kid who just ran out of her house having a full blown panic attack to run off to God knows where in the middle of the night. Knowing full well that the main villain wants to track him down to KILL HIM. And that Hunter, being a literal prince, probably doesn't know how to do basic shit for himself like cook or clean his clothes. Which by the way we get visual confirmation that he doesn't know how to do any of that. The next time we see him hes wearing stained, poorly patched clothes and eating food Flapjack finds in the trashcan.

Also why was it so imperative that Hunter had to go to Hexside and not go into hiding with Lilith and Eda? Seriously, he could have gone with Eda and Lilith when Luz had to leave with King.

What should have happened is that after Luz and Hunter spend the night comforting each other Hunter decided that Luzs suggestion of going into hiding with Lilith and Eda was his safest option. While Hunter and Lilith aren't exactly on great terms at least he knows her. And it's better for a child like Hunter, who doesnt know how to cook or even clean his clothes, to be with two adults who know how to and can teach him how to do that stuff. But more importantly this gives him the chance to learn wild magic so he can have more firepower when he inevitably faces off against Belos. And ya know... he can give Lilith and Eda some insider information about Belos only his former right hand man would know. This would have certainly been better than leaving him to fend for himself for a full 7 days.

2. Removing Hunter blushing from Hunting Palismen is weird to me. Was this removed as a way to deter people from shipping them? Because if so then... it didn't work. Because blushing doesn't consistute as romantic development. I know this show thinks that having two people who like each other blush alot at each other is thrilling romantic development... but it really isn't. Besides, Hunter and Luz got alot of interesting story bits going for them that can't be taken away from them just because you remove this one moment.

#lunter #goldenluz #these two are so unintentionally romantic it drives me crazy

[discatded]

hunter toh in my botw au.....oh i could go on and on abt this au. i think ill do lumity next?

feel free to ask question abt the au. please do actually. to get you started heres some base info under the cut. its VERY ramble-y.

base character matchups are Luz as Zelda, Hunter as Link, and Belos as Ganon. this au doesnt involve much from TotK bc i havent finished it but. given the story it will definitely come into play!

basic story/plot/exposition is that 10,000 years ago, the sheikah Made a Hero for the future. just in case. extra safety measure or whatever. they saw how difficult it was to overcome the calamity and were like, hey, what if we made the ideal hero for future hyrule? make it easier. and so they do. they Make a Guy (caleb is the first hero (yknow the one in the hyrule historia manga bit) so his bones arent available to use for a grimwalker. so idk if hunter is a grimwalker of the 10k hero or if hes made entirely independently bc the sheikah. probably could do that) and stick him in the shrine of resurrection. this is the true purpose of the SoR: its really more of a shrine of stasis, to keep this manmade hero alive till hes needed. think cryogenic stasis or whatever.

so. hunter sleeps in the SoR for 10,000 years. has an awful time. one of the first (maybe The first) fic i read on ao3 was about what the SoR was like for botw link and it. stuck with me. so now i incorporate it into everything i make for botw if possible. anyways he has a miserable time, which is important because he had this miserable time for 10,000 years instead of just 100. Anyways. like botw link, he loses his memories. unlike botw link, they are inaccessible. period. there is no remembering Shit. besides like. vague vibes that he was instilled with. turns out if you make a person and tell them for their entire short existence that theyre made for a thing, then even if they forget everything else they Will still remember that theyre made for a thing. even if they dont really. so yeah all hunter knows is that he is not a person, that he exists for a Reason, and how to breathe. and other basic bodily functions. hes basically a big baby with a hero complex.

the rest of the au takes place "pre-calamity". i have a vague idea on how the actual calamity takes place (and how to make it similar to botw w/out so much death bc i have thought Very Much about this specific time period and not whatever the hell would be going on a century later. lmao.)

so. when the SoR is Discovered by sheikah researchers everyone is Very Surprised at the Whole Human Boy inside. because well. that should not be possible. this thing was difficult as hell to get into and also there was quite a bit of rock in the way! so they assume him to be dead and just miraculously preserved by the SoR fluid. And then he wakes up screaming (imagine being in the most agonizing sensory deprivation tank ever for 10,000 years and then abruptly being exposed to the world again. not fun!) and everyone is like OH SHIT ITS ALIVE.

eventually they get him out and not having the worst overstimulation meltdown in the history of all time and space and get back to hashtag Researching. some ppl focus on him (taking care of him (like i said. big baby with a hero complex), figuring out what the hell is up with him, etc) and others continue examining the SoR. the ppl with hunter make very little progress. because just bc hes not having the worst overstimulation meltdown in the history of all time and space, it doesnt mean he has a clue whats going on at all. or that hes not still having one of the worst overstimulation meltdowns in the history of all time and space. the ppl at the SoR, however, find a plaque with his name and vague purpose for existing, as well as the sheikah slate. yippee!!!

after all this, once hes less. of a big baby with a hero complex ig. we move to more character-focused stuff than exposition. so ill end this here for now. if you read all this you are very invited to talk to me abt this! i would love that! a good place to start i think would be with explaining characters. most of the important characters in the show are in this au. and i do mean most. there is quite a lot going on

#my art #hunter toh #toh hunter #the owl house #toh #toh fanart #the owl house fanart #toh botw au #PLEASE ask me questions. i want to talk about this au so much but if i just say it all at once it will be unreadable. because i will ramble #forever. i had to WORK to get this the length it is. and its still long. and theres still so much

[blackyote]

Read on Ao3

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Hunter stepped out of the bathroom, impulsively tugging at a cuff to straighten his sleeve, then glanced down to check that the tuck of his hem wasn't sloppy. It felt strange, wearing something so breathable. He was used to a couple layers between himself and the world, but the others had encouraged him to try new things when they went shopping for human clothes and, well, this one had been hard to resist. It was a white "button up" (they were called) with a repeating pattern of Flapjacks flying across it.

Er, cardinals. Not Flapjacks. Those were pancakes. Which were not birds.

He mostly had it figured out.

Being new to this whole "fashion" thing, Hunter understood that some clothes looked better together than others, but he couldn't begin to tell you why that was. It made sense to him to just grab what he liked, and what he liked happened to be a pair of purple pants. (This delighted Luz for some reason.) Even if the colors were a lot louder than his usual white and gold, they were able to pull the outfit together with a red leather belt and white "loafers."

Things were more fashionable if they matched, apparently.

Walking out of the dressing room, waiting for his friends' reactions, he might've imagined Willow's eyes widening, but the memory still made him blush. This one was a keeper.

Even just looking at himself in the bathroom mirror now, he couldn't help but smile. He looked like himself, but a newer, freer version. Maybe it was just a facade for the moment, but if he looked the part, maybe the rest would follow. Earth Hunter got to be useful, but he could have a little fun, too.

When he exited the hallway to the den, however, Hunter stopped short to find everyone right where he'd left them.

"Uh, guys. I thought we were going to dinner." Luz had even told him to wear his new clothes.

To his left, everyone's favorite lesbians were in the kitchen: Amity perched on a barstool, phone in hand, with Luz cozied up beside. The latter turned to give him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Hunter. Amity's not feeling great. I think I should stay home and keep an eye on her." Amity coughed weakly into her fist, expression unchanged.

Hunter raised an eyebrow, sensing something was off but not wanting to push. "Oh... Okay." He turned his focus to the den. "Gus?"

Gus draped an arm over the back of the couch, half-turning to see him. The television was tuned to the Discovery Channel, as it often was when he had control of the remote. "Sorry, bud, but they're about to show this whole documentary on human civilization and how they manage to survive their world's harsh environments." He grimaced, looking like he'd been caught red-handed. "Maybe next time?"

That didn't leave many people. Exasperated, Hunter put his hands on his hips. "Vee?"

The basilisk was looking cozy in an armchair nearby, laptop open in front of her. Given her pajamas, she seemed the least likely candidate. "Ah, sorry— my friend needed some help with a research project. Last minute thing. I can't tonight." She was quick to add: "But you should go out and have fun!"

"With who? You're all—"

Hunter froze, realization dawning as Willow walked up beside him. She had clearly gotten dressed as he had, opting for a rusty orange blouse and skirt combo, a red bandanna covering her ears.

She frowned at the leisurely scene before her, same as Hunter. "Hey, why isn't anyone ready?"

Luz waved off the question this time, distilling it to, "We all have stuff going on. But you two go! You can tell us how it is."

Hunter looked at Willow and shrugged helplessly. She met his gaze, cheeks coloring slightly, before turning back to Luz. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Uh huh."

Hunter rubbed his neck, which suddenly felt warmer. "I dunno, maybe we should just wait until—"

"No," Willow said with finality. "If they don't want to come, that's their loss." She took his hand in hers. "We're going to dinner."

Now his face was warm, too. "Yes, Captain." Letting the epithet slip didn't help.

Luz tried to hide her snicker. "Just remember— take the bus six stops to 4th Avenue, okay? It's right there, you can't miss it."

"Got it." Still holding his hand, Willow made for the door, shooting Luz and Amity a cryptic look.

Hunter gave them a half wave as he passed. "See you guys later?"

Luz's grin was full of mischief, finally dropping the act. "Uh huh. Have fun on your date."

Hunter's eyes widened as he saw, too late, the trap he'd walked right into. He suppressed a squeak just as Willow pulled him through the door.

#the owl house #hunter toh #willow park #huntlow #luz noceda #the owl house fic #my writing

[edoro]

Sorry, that ask singlehandedly reignited the portion of my brain that was responsible for Belord in the first place and now I can't stop thinking about it. When does Ford first realize that he's being courted in the most awkward, repressed, bisexual-but-biphobic-only-internally way possible by Belos? How slutty does Philip Wittebane become in this quest? I am falling apart

please never apologize for this, you've brought such a wonderful thing into the world. i love nothing in life more than giving Philip extremely horrible cross-dimensional relationships, although in this case it's worse for Ford than it is for Philip.

i literally kicked my feet like a giddy schoolgirl when i saw this much like Philip does every night while writing in his diary about the handsome human stranger who fell Possibly Almost Literally into his lap no doubt by the work of divine providence

as for your question, oh my god. that's a really good one. like, Ford is the most oblivious motherfucker on any number of infinite earths, and Philip has never courted anyone ever in his life but all of his vague ideas of how it probably works are rooted in whatever nonsense he remembers from growing up in a goddamn Puritan colony in the 1600s so like. what DOES that even look like.

you know Philip is just absolutely moony-eyed over him tho. gives him the nicest suite of rooms. always taking him on tours of the castle and his labs and stuff. shows him The Weird Experiments. lets him play with his staff. gives him his own custom-embossed hand-bound leather journal to write in since his current one is looking a bit beaten-up. shares all of his Forbidden Texts with him.

and i mean really like, Ford has been crowned king of at least one dimension he went to, so all of this just looks like your fairly standard "fantasy ruler showering honored guest with gifts and privileges" stuff, although Ford at least has a few more decades of lived experience on Luz to know that that sort of thing usually doesn't come without expectations.

...actually you know what the most beautiful image just barreled like a derailing train into my brain, and it's of Ford sipping Boiling Isles liquor with Philip in his sitting room after the fourth Personal Dinner With The Emperor, looking at the way Philip is sitting there across from him petting his own hair and winding it around his fingers as he tells some deeply fascinating story about historical myths that Ford's of course never been able to get a real live actual first-hand source for before, and abruptly realizes that what Philip wants from him in return for all of this generosity appears to be, in fact, Intimate Relations.

he promptly chokes on his drink, Philip has to thump him on the back for a bit, he looks up from where he's fallen on the floor at the man leaning over him half holding him up looking at him with such concern on his lined, scarred face, there's a moment of Very Pointed Tense Silence, they both blush, the background goes all pink and soft focus with some lens flares...

as for how slutty Philip gets, incredibly so. he wants this man carnally and he is going to have him. sure he's a 400 year old shambling semi-solid monstrosity wearing a human suit whose proportions he has at best an approximate grasp on at any given time, but that's not going to stop him. his new best friend Stanford is clearly a monsterfucker and by God he is going to work every advantage he has.

do you know how long it's been since he got any action? Ford is going to have to clean out his hole(s) with one of those cans of compressed air. when he spreads his legs it's going to make a rusty swingset noise. the sheer novelty alone is going to mean neither of them need any fantasy viagra for at least a couple of weeks.

as for what Philip Wittebane slutting it up actually looks like, though... i'm just imagining him down to like, tunic + trousers + knee-high boots + however many underlayers he's got going on but also he leaves the gloves off. tantalizes Ford with whorish glimpses of his bare wrists. gets all sweaty in the lab and takes off the top shirt leaving him in only three more layers of undergarments.

do you think it's Hunter's job to lay out the Imperial Lingerie so his uncle can thot it up for the human i'm imagining some kind of softly coquettish gauzy night-gown. like full neck to ankles coverage but it's sort of see thru and it's just one layer, he's naked under there, unbelievably scandalous. hello Ford yes he hopes you will excuse his appearance it's just that he was on his way to bed when he realized he needed to share something with you and well you know how it is, those late night ideas, one has to grab them before they flit away, right?

(Ford, having gotten used to literally not seeing an inch of this man's skin below his chin, is absolutely bewitched by the visual implications that he has an actual body under there. grandpa piss is getting it ate like groceries tonight.)

...also we know Ford likes his "set his face on fire" shaving routine but there absolutely needs to be at least one incredibly homoerotic scene where Philip treats him to like, an old-style full-service wash-n-shave with the hot towel, the lather, and more importantly the antique straight razor. i've said it and i will not be deterred.

#belord #philip wittebane #emperor belos #stanford pines #the owl house #gravity falls #asks