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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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What I Thought About "Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door" from The Owl House

Wow. They are really pushing it for that secret message, huh?

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

I think it goes without saying at this point that Season Two of The Owl House is setting itself up as a season without filler. Now, filler episodes aren't always bad. Yes, it hurts when a series turns away from the main plot for a week. But at best, they're utilized as a chance for the writers to play around with the characters and developing said characters without it relating to the overarching story. So, some people who see that consider it a bad thing that a series doesn't have that many filler episodes.

I like to call those people: F**king morons.

Don't get me wrong, I see where some of you are coming from. And I'd be willing to agree...if The Owl House was a plot-driven series. Which it's not. It is a character-driven series. Because for every plot thread and narrative that the show presents, they always relate to the characters and develop them further each time these threads get brought up. For example, look at "Knock Knock Knockin’ on Hooty's Door" (It pains me just to write that). Several narratives move forward, and it’s all done to make the characters grow. And to explain how requires going into spoilers. So keep that in mind as you continue reading.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Hooty: Might as well start with the character that this episode is about.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't a huge fan when I found out we're getting a Hooty-centered episode. I've grown to love him over time, but he is a comedic character that's best used in small doses. Primarily due to how his voice is grating to me (My ears are still bleeding...). With that said, I do really love his contributions in "Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door" (Seriously, there couldn't have been a less awkward title?). Hooty's antics when trying to help everyone are as hilarious as they are heartwarming. He deeply cares for his friends but just doesn't understand how his plans could do some unintended harm, which is pretty lovable if you ask me. We also get some surprisingly great insight into his character, as he feels insecure about basically being the comic relief who doesn't really do that much other than being funny. Rarely do you get that level of dimension from a comedic character, and it's even more uncommon for that to work out as well as it does here. It once again proves just how competent the writing is in this series to the point where we get an episode about Hooty, and it's funny and heartwarming instead of being annoying. And whoever is responsible for that, you're the best.

Lilith’s Letter to Hooty: I mean it when I say that I love how Lilith kept her word about her and Hooty becoming penpals. Their friendship was something I would have never expected to love, and I'm still shocked that it works so well, so seeing it continue like this just warms me to the bone. Plus, it is pretty sweet that Lilith's kind words are what inspired Hooty to do what he's done in this episode...meaning it's Lilith we should thank here--SON OF A WITCH! Even when she's gone, she's still working her way into my heart!

King going through Puberty: What?! KING IS EVOLVING!

(There, I made a Pokemon reference. Do I get my cookie now?)

Eda Keeping Herself Awake to Train Herself: I'm willing to bet a large sum of money that this has everything to with Raine getting captured last week. If Eda was still the most powerful witch in the Isles, she might have actually saved them. But she isn't, and now the love of her life is in the clutches of a tyrant planning something that could potentially be the end of everything. So I can understand Eda pushing herself to her limit to get back on top again, as I would probably do the same. It's not healthy in any way, and Eda would be doing more harm than good. But when it comes to the people you love, logic doesn't always win out in the end.

Luz Wanting to Make her Way into Amity’s Heart by Making the Echo Mouse Happy: ...That's it. I Just...I just love everything about it, ok?

This was also when I knew that I was wrong to doubt that there would be zero Lumity in this episode. I realize my follies now, and I humbly apologize.

Hooty Teaching King About Demons: This was so funny. So, so funny. Probably doesn't come as a surprise, especially since The Owl House proves itself as a comedy before, but the jokes have never hit as frequently and as hard as they did here. From Hooty getting offended by King's dance to him and Dana's insert wanting a "DNA sample," everything managed to successfully make me lose my s**t. It does come at the expense of King suffering, but I can stomach that much more than if it were Eda or Luz. And, as a bonus, we get lore about how demons work, added with another great joke of King getting in trouble with Hooty for saying he already knows this stuff. Humor isn't always the show's strong suit, but when it works, it f**king works.

King Wanting to Know What he Is: But despite how funny King's vignette was, we still get to see more of his character grow. We learn that he's frustrated now that there's this big question mark over his life now, feeling extra angry that his father "abandoned" him to leave such a present mystery. It shows the hidden resentment he has that Lilith inadvertently brought out, made even worse when King's father hasn't responded to the video yet. King hasn't really gotten that much development until "Echoes of the Past," so it's pretty cool that the writers haven't really slowed down on it. Especially when it leads to these great moments of King venting his frustrations.

King’s Shouting Powers: KING learned FUS RO DAH!

(And now that's a Pokemon reference AND a Skyrim reference. WHERE'S MY GOSH DANG COOKIE!?)

Eda’s Nightmare: If King's vignette hits you hard with the laughs, Eda's will absolutely hit you harder with the feels (never make me say "feels" unironically again). Knowing that Eda's life got thoroughly screwed over by the curse is something we could figure out on her own. But seeing just how much the curse ruined her life and tore apart relationships that mean the world to her really does a swell job at ripping apart the soul. What's even more tragic is, technically speaking, it's all sort of Eda's fault too. She kept hiding the curse, refusing to be a burden to others who would do all they could to help. If she had only been open and honest, things probably wouldn't have changed much, but they most likely would have been better than they are now.

Eda Attacked her Father as the Owl Beast: ...I don't know what I was expecting when "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances" hinted that there was some possible tension between Eda and her father...but it definitely wasn't this.

The fact that we see blood where his eye used to be doesn't make things any happier, either.

Raine Broke Up with Eda: Before we get into anything else, let's celebrate the fact that it's now confirmed that Eda and Raine really did use to date in the past. Because this show is just f**king phenomenal with its LGBTQA+ representation!

But, seriously, this is a fantastic reveal that goes far beyond just shipping...well, sort of. It shines a new light on Eda and Raine's interactions from last week, revealing that while they're not a couple anymore, they still very much love each other. It helps make their last interaction especially tragic, as they were both on the same page now and could very well be together again. Only for them to be forced apart for the second time in a way that's much worse than the first. And I frickin' adore that this series changes the impact of one episode one week later. Again, it shows just how competent these writers are, and kudos to them for making something so...perfect.

The Moon Person: WHO THE FU--Nope. Nope! We have more than enough mystery bulls**t to deal with through CreepyLuz and Philip Wittebane, so I am PUTTING YOU ON THE BACKBURNER FOR NOW!

(They're probably nothing more than a one-off character, anyway)

The Owl Beast and Eda are Connected: Through visuals alone, we, the audience, can clue into what the curse really means. The Owl Beast doesn't want to be a part of Eda as much as she doesn't want it to be a part of her. Whether they like it or not, and they very much don't, they're stuck together. The thing is, and this is what I love the most, they still decide to make the best of their situation rather than let it ruin their lives even more. This might be the best possible turn Eda's curse could have made. It'll still affect her, and there are probably more negatives than positives, but at least now, it's not the worst thing in the world. And I feel like that's all anyone can ask when in a position like her own.

Eda's “Pretty Dream”: I don't know what emotions are toiling inside me more with this moment. Awe and wonder over how beautiful Eda's dream is, or heartbreak over the implication that she has only had nightmares since getting cursed...I'm gonna say both. Yeah, it's definitely both.

Eda’s Harpie Form: Well, fan artists are gonna have a field day with this...especially the freaks.

(You know who you are. And you're weird!)

Luz Calling Amity a “Cotton-Candy Haired Goddess”: ...Have I ever mentioned how much I love this show?

Hooty Kidnapped Amity: ...Hooty, if your stupidity wasn't charming, I would be more than willing to call the authorities over how you kidnapped a girl in your version of a knapsack and locked her in the basement. For that is going to ring SO MANY alarm bells in people's heads.

Amity and Luz Stuck in a Tunnel of Love: *Smacks lips* Mmm. The adorable awkwardness of this moment is just *chef's kiss* magnifique!

Luz being afraid of getting made fun of:

Amity’s look of hope: I mean...just...f**king--LOOK AT HER:

That is the look of a girl who, while embarrassed as hell, still is ecstatic to learn for a brief moment, everything that she is hoping for has a high chance of being real. Who, in their right mind, wouldn't go "Aw!" at something so pure and innocent?!

Luz Destroying the Tunnel of Love: This is how to effectively utilize dramatic irony. The audience can understand why Luz is tearing the place apart because she explicitly states that she's afraid of Amity rejecting her in the end. They also know that's bogus, thus making it extra painful to watch Amity's heart break more and more with each second (which is perfectly represented through Amity's expressions). You feel bad for both of them, and even worse when you know that it can easily be prevented by the simple art of communication. That's what makes it great dramatic irony. Knowing the point of view of each character results in a scene that evokes emotions in two different ways.

Hooty’s Breakdown: This was...genuinely hard to watch. Not that it was badly written, far from it. It just...hurt seeing how destroyed Hooty was when he realized he failed the people he has such an admiration for. On the upside, a wholesome moment follows soon after as the Owl House gang tries to reassure Hooty that he's done a lot of good that night. It's a pure action that shows even though Hooty gets on their nerves all the time, they still care about him...damn it. I think I'm gonna cry.

Eda’s Advice for Luz: ...Eda...You're the best.

You found out that your surrogate daughter wants to ask a girl out, and not only were you quick to deliver the best possible advice ("Just go for it!"), but you also quickly reassure her that it doesn't need to be perfect.

And you know what? That's it. Eda is the best cartoon mom! She might not technically be Luz's mom, but I don't give a s**t because she is the best!

Luz and Amity Ask Each Other Out: Shh-sh-sh-sh...

Do you hear that?

...

...It's the sound of dozens of Lumity fans collectively losing their s**t...and I'm one of them.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!

IT!

IS!

CANON!

AH-HAHAHAHAHA!

HOLY S**T! Holy s**t! Holy s**t...might just be the best way I could possibly describe this! Finally, after all the waiting, speculating, and praying, THESE TWO IDIOTS FINALLY GOT TOGETHER! AND IT WAS PERFECT! I mean, it was awkward as s**t, but that's what makes it perfect! You know why? You wanna--Hey! *snaps fingers*. You want to know why? It's because they're teenagers. Of f**king course, it's going to be awkward! This is their first relationship, so there will be a lot of missteps along the way. And that, in itself, brings me to the best (second best part?) thing about it happening in episode eight of the new seasons. Most endgame couples get together in the climax or even at the end of the series. But to have them get together this early on, means there will be quite a few episodes dedicated to showing them grow as a couple.

And better than that--EVEN F**KING BETTER THAN THAT--dozens of kids are going to see these two, a realistic depiction of young love that just so happens to involve two girls, and are going to learn once and for all that there is nothing wrong with being who they are. That fact alone is f**king incredible. Yes, it sucks that season three got cut short, and we'll have even less time with Luz and Amity, but knowing how many kids have felt seen today almost makes it worth it in the end.

And if I see one mother f**ker saying this was poorly paced, I might just hunt them down for SPORT...Sorry if that was an overreaction. I'M JUST SO HAPPY! Because they're happy! Look at them. Listen to them! It's so...GAH-HAHAHA!

“They’re adorable! And deserve all the happiness!”: You're darn right, Hooty! You're darn right.

King’s Father(?) Shows Up: What the--WHAT?! They're doing this now?! Here?! After everything else?

Oh, man. What could this mean? What dynamic changes will this cause in the main cast? How could the writers fit this in during the next two episodes? And what--

Hooty Eats the Letter: ...Pfffft--HAHAHAHA!

Oh, man...I should be mad, and I wouldn't blame others if they are...but that is too much of a brilliant f**k you that I can't help but appreciate it. Bravo writers. Bravo.

WHAT I DISLIKED

...Dislikes? Dislikes? You would honestly believe that after everything I witnessed in this episode, that I would have the gull to list anything wrong with it?!

HOW DARE YOU ASSUME THAT I WOULD BE SO CALLUS TO--Actually, I do kind of have an issue with the episode's title. It's just too much of an awkward mouthful for me to get behind. I understand that the writers wanted to sneak the K into the secret message, but were there really no other titles starting with K that they couldn't come up with?

But that's just a personal issue, and in no way do I think anybody else would feel the same way. Especially with how well-written everything else is anyway.

IN CONCLUSION

"Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door" (title aside) is another A+ episode. It was hilarious, heart-wrenching, and downright adorable while keeping me entertained with every minute. I'm sure there are some issues I was willing to ignore due to how expertly written everything else was, but why bother looking for the chinks in the armor when I could just enjoy a perfect episode for being so...perfect! Some of you might be willing to disagree with me, but to that, I say: Don't knock it till you've tried it.

(Now, if you don't excuse me, I'm going to go lie down. It's...It's been a day.)

#the owl house #the owl house season 2 #the owl house reviews #the owl house spoilers #toh spoilers #toh hooty #king clawthorne #eda clawthorne #raeda #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #lumity is canon #what i thought about

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eastofthemoon · 3 years

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Title: A Rose Has Thorns

Rating: G

Series: The Owl House

Characters/Pairings: Hunter/Willow

Summary: It was Hunter's first solo mission since he left the Emperor's Coven and moved into the Owl House. All he had to achieve was purchase a few items at the market. That should be simple, right?

Archive of Our Own

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Luz asked.

Hunter sighed as he held up the list, swinging the basket over his shoulder. “I can handle a shopping trip, Luz.”

“Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you’re not exactly used to things like shopping,” Luz retorted. “I mean, from what Lilith said about the Emperor's Coven...”

Hunter couldn’t deny that. Most of the domestic chores in the Emperor’s Coven were handled by servants or abominations. Hunter had never even done his own laundry until he found himself living at the Owl House.

That had been an interesting lesson. Eda claimed Hunter had done well, but Hunter had a hunch that setting clothes on fire was not as common as Eda claimed.

Hunter sighed as his cardinal flew to his shoulder. “Look, I’ll be fine. I have my palisman with me and I have actually bought things before.”

Luz chewed her lower lip. “Yeah, but-”

Eda placed a hand on Luz’s shoulder. “Let him go, kiddo. If Hunter wants to do this solo we've gotta respect that.”

“Besides, it’s not like he could do any worse than you did,” King called out from the couch. “He just has to avoid trusting any wizards.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Why would I trust a wizard? They’re famous for being shady-”

“Oh, wow, would you look at the time,” Luz said nervously as she pointed over her shoulder. “I have to, uh, go get ready for my date with Amity! See you later, Hunter! Byyyyyye!”

Luz hastily dashed out of the room. Hunter turned to Eda.

“Do I... want to know?” he asked.

“Meh, I'll fill you in on the blackmail later,” Eda said as she crossed her arms. “Seriously, kid, you sure you don’t want to at least take King with you?”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “For the last time, I’ll be fine. I’ll be back within the hour.”

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

Two hours later, Hunter couldn't suppress the twitch in his eyelid. He had finally managed to find almost every item on the list... except for formian crystal. He was almost tempted to just return empty-handed, but he knew the house needed it for their crystal ball - whatever his opinions on King's shows.

Besides, it was a matter of pride at this point. After his declarations, how could he prove to Luz and Eda that he could be useful and handle things like a normal person if he didn't return with every item on the list?

Unacceptable.

His cardinal gave a comforting tweet. It had tried to give him some suggestions, but hadn’t been in the market place for a long time. So in spite of intentions, the little palisman knew even less than Hunter.

Hunter patted the cardinal’s head as he glanced around the various shoppers passing by. There were many less people around at this time of day which admittedly is why he had come alone. There was a much lower risk of one of the Emperor Coven guards spotting and arresting him on the spot.

Still, Hunter wasn’t thrilled with the idea of asking someone for help. What if they recognized him and reported him? Maybe if he picked the right shopkeeper- Wait. Not far from him were a couple of girls close to his age.

Chances of them turning me in is lower, Hunter thought and walked over. At least if they're anywhere near as anti-authority as the human. I’ll ask them.

The two girls were laughing over some joke, but stopped abruptly as they noticed Hunter approaching.

“Hey, can I ask you two a quick question?” he asked.

The girl with pink hair and three eyes looked at him and smirked. “If you mean where to get a better fashion sense, that is not going to be a 'quick' answer. Where do we even begin?”

“Uh no,” Hunter said with a raised eyebrow. “I just wanted to know where I could find someone selling formian crystal.”

The other girl tapped her chin in thought. “Um. That's for old crystal balls, right? I think there’s a booth over in the east-”

“West side,” the pink haired girl jumped in with a grin. “She means there’s a seller on the far west side of the market.” She turned to her friend. “Right, Skara?”

The girl named Skara blinked, but then nodded rapidly. “Oh..uh, yeah, like Boscha said.” She gave a shaky smile and pointed. “To the far, far west side. Nearly...outside the market?”

“West side, okay,” Hunter said as he started walking in that direction. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” the girl named Boscha said with a smirk.

Hunter found her a bit odd, but he was too worn out from shopping to worry about it.

“Last item. Last item! I can do this. I just need to get this done so we can head home,” he said aloud to his cardinal.

Another hour later, Hunter had been up and down the west side of the market three times but he still hadn’t found any formian crystal.

“Where is it,” he grumbled as his cardinal hovered nearby. “It’s supposed to be here!”

The cardinal tweeted in his ear.

“No, I will not just go home,” Hunter said as they continued to walk. “I can't fail my mission, and it isn't complete until I find-”

Suddenly, he walked straight into someone's back. The pair of them let out a grunt as each, separately, stumbled and fell to the ground.

Hunter quickly forgot about his annoyance as he scrambled to his feet. “Sorry, are you okay?”

The person he had bumped into was another girl. She waved off his concern as she adjusted her glasses and dusted the dirt off her clothes.

“Don’t worry,” she said with a small smile. “A little dirt never hurt anyone.”

A bee palisman carrying a small basket hovered nearby and the girl gave it a pat on the head. “I’m okay, Clover - oh dear.”

Hunter looked down and saw what she had noticed. The items from his basket had fallen out when he had crashed into her.

“Great,” Hunter grumbled as he knelt down and started picking them up. “Just what I needed.”

He started gathering up and inspecting the items for damage, engrossed in his task until a jar of toad jam was suddenly thrust in his face. He hadn’t realized the girl was kneeling next to him and was helping to gather everything

Hunter blushed. “Uh, thanks,” he replied. Why didn’t I see that?

“You're welcome,” the girl replied, still smiling. “Do you need help with anything else?”

Hunter sighed. “Actually, yes,” he said as he rose. “Can you tell me where I can get some formian crystal?”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Formian crystal? Here?”

“Yes. The vendor that’s supposed to be stationed in this area.”

The girl frowned. “Um..last time I checked, no one in this part of the market has ever sold anything like that. This is the area for fertilizers, cloth dyes, and any of the really pungent produce.”

“What?!” Hunter cried. “But that Boscha girl said there was a stall here for it.”

The girl’s eyes widened, then narrowed as she held a tight frown. “Wait, Boscha? Three eyed girl with pink hair? She told you to come here?”

Hunter didn’t like where this was going. “Uh, yes. I’ve been searching for over an hour.”

The girl sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Boscha, honestly…” She shook her head. “I kind of hate to tell you this, but she lied.”

“What?” Hunter growled. “Why would she do that?”

Was it all a trap? Was she working with the Emperor’s Coven-

“Because she’s a mega jerk and probably thought sending you to the 'smelly' end of the market would be funny,” the girl replied firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. “She has a twisted sense of humor.” She pointed to herself. “Personal experience.”

“Oh,” Hunter mumbled. “That kind of makes sense.”

He glanced over the list. Maybe he should just head back now. He had wasted enough time as is and there would be...concerns if he wasn’t back soon.

The girl gave a small smile and pointed. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”

Hunter blinked. “Um..take me where?”

“To where you can get some formian crystal.”

Hunter frowned and tilted his head. “You will? But... why?”

“Because I want to,” the girl replied. “Besides, I was heading in that direction anyway.”

Hunter paused. Should he trust her? What if this was another trick? But without her intelligence, he had no way to avoid failing his objective.

“Are you coming?” the girl asked with a concerned frown.

Hunter shook his head. “Yes, sorry. I was just lost in thought.”

The girl smiled back. “I’m Willow by the way.”

“Hunter,” he replied, frowning to himself. Willow? That name sounds familiar. Wonder why?

He tossed the thought aside and quickly caught up with her.

True to Willow’s word, she took her directly to a stall selling assorted magical crystals, including what he was looking for. She even helped him bargain to get it a few snails cheaper.

Hunter tucked the small bag carefully in the basket.

“Thanks,” he said.

“No problem,” Willow replied with a smile. “I know what it’s like dealing with a bully far too well.”

So, do I, but on a different scale, Hunter thought as his mind drifted back to the Emperor’s Coven.

His cardinal tweeted and Hunter patted his head. “I have to get home, but thanks again for the help.”

“Sure thing,” Willow said as she began to walk in the other direction, the bee buzzing busily beside her. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Hunter said with a wave.

As he walked home. The girl’s name bugged him. Willow...Willow...I know I've heard that name somewhere, but where?

Hunter got his answer exactly two days later.

Luz had invited two of her friends over for a 'study session'. Amity had apparently been dragged off into ‘bonding sibling time’ with her brother and sister, which was admittedly a bit of a relief for Hunter. She was still suspicious of him over that whole Eclipse Lake business.

Gus was the first to arrive. He seemed wary of Hunter, but was mostly friendly.

“If Luz says you’re okay, then I’m willing to trust her opinion,” Gus said. “She’s a pretty good judge of character. Besides, it's hard to pull the wool over an illusionist's eyes!”

Hunter couldn’t help but agree with him. Or at least his opinion of Luz.

They chatted for a bit before Luz’s other friend arrived. Hearing a new, and yet somewhat familiar voice, Hunter raised his head and froze.

It was the same girl who had helped him at the market. It was only then his brain connected the dots.

Willow, as in Luz’s friend Willow who she talks about all the time, Hunter thought with a gulp. Cursing his poor memory, he stood up.

“And this is Hunter,” Luz said as she pointed to Hunter. “Also formerly known as - wait for it - the Golden Guard.”

Willow gave a shaky smile, but it vanished as she spotted Hunter. The basket slipped from her fingers, kept up only by her bee palisman's efforts.

Hunter coughed as he gave a sheepish wave. “Um...hi?”

He could feel everyone’s eyes on them as the silence between the two of them continued.

She’s probably just as surprised as I am, Hunter thought.

Luz got in between them and frowned. “Something wrong?”

Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh...we've met before. Actually."

Luz tilted her head as Gus grasped his chin in thought, muttering under his breath.

“You have? When?” Luz asked.

“Uhh…” Hunter stammered as he struggled to find an explanation that wouldn’t have Luz fretting over him.

“In my dads’ shop,” Willow chimed in quickly, fending off King's attempt to climb her and peer into her basket.

Hunter blinked. “The shop?”

Willow gave him a look and suddenly he understood.

“Rrriigghhhttt,” Hunter said slowly and gave a shaky smile. “I was just curious so I popped in for a quick look.”

“Yeah, and we had a nice little chat,” Willow added.

“Oh,” Luz said as she placed an arm around Hunter’s shoulder. “Man, the Boiling Isles. Small world, am I right?”

“Suspiciously small,” Gus commented, tapping the spine of a book.

“Who cares,” King said as he pointed at Willow. “The important thing is that I’m smelling tasty yum-yums that should be in my tum-tum, but they're still in that basket. You have brought tribute to your monarch, and it must be delivered!”

Willow smiled. “You're right!” she glanced at Luz. “It’s snaggle bread but my dads left out the fairy wings so Luz can enjoy it.”

“Aw, that was nice of them,” Luz said as she moved to take the basket. “How about I get some plates?”

“I can do it, I know where they are,” Willow offered as she headed into the kitchen.

“Okay,” Luz said. “There should be some toad jam in the cupboard too! Fresh from the market!”

Hunter glanced behind as his cardinal landed on his shoulder.

“Um..I’ll go make us some tea,” Hunter offered as he pointed. “Be right back.”

He ignored their baffled expressions as he ventured into the kitchen. Willow didn’t turn around. Hunter hesitated, considering talking to her, but finally just moved towards the kettle in silence, turning on the tap.

More silence followed until Hunter turned off the tap and placed the full kettle onto the stove.

The clearing of a throat caused Hunter to look up. Willow had finished arranging slices of bread on a plate with the jar of jam, and was rifling through the butter knives.

“Ssssooo,” Willow began as her bee fetched teacups from the pantry, “I’m assuming you didn’t want Luz to hear how we actually met?”

Hunter covered his face with one hand. “Yes, please,” he groaned. “If she found out how my first shopping trip went, she would never let me live it down.”

Willow’s face softened. “Luz isn’t like that,” she admonished as her bee palisman landed on her shoulder. “But I get how being tricked by Boscha can be kind of embarrassing, so I’ll respect your pride.”

Hunter sighed. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

Willow crossed her arms. “However, there is something else I want to make clear.” Her eyes narrowed. “Amity and I do talk about things, after all."

Hunter sighed. He’d been expecting this. “All right, let me have...it?”

Suddenly, Willow was holding one of the knives and was stomping forward. Hunter barely had time to react before he found himself pinned against the wall. His cardinal gave a concerned tweet, but the bee was buzzing angrily nearby and it stayed where it was on the counter.

Hunter could theoretically get out of this. Probably. Maybe. Willow was shorter than him and he had more training, but she had a weapon and he didn't - not to mention the sheer determination shining in her eyes.

“Luz is a very dear friend to me, and I care a lot about King, Eda and Hooty,” Willow stated firmly as she held the butter knife unwaveringly. “Now. I do believe in second chances. That's why Amity and I are friends again.”

“Under...stood,” Hunter said slowly, wondering how a simple butter knife could be more threatening than Kikimora's clawed monsters.

“I do, however, wish to inform you that Luz is friends with a plant witch. Plant witches know about plants. Including which ones are very toxic,” Willow pulled his shirt collar close until both of their noses were touching. “If you betray Luz, or Gus, or Amity or anyone in this house you'll get first-hand knowledge of dragon fly blossoms.”

“The... burning, stinging kind?” Hunter guessed.

“The same,” Willow said as her bee gave another buzz. “Do we have an understanding?”

“Clear as formian crystal,” Hunter replied as he held up his hands.

Willow’s smile returned. She slipped the butter knife up her sleeve and her bee suddenly became much calmer.

“Good,” she said and took a deep breath as she steadied herself. “Oh boy, that took a lot out of me.”

Hunter wasn’t sure how to reply, but was thankfully saved by King’s voice.

“Where are those snacks?!” he cried. “Your tiny tyrant is getting hungry here!”

“Be right there,” Willow called as she gathered up the plates. “Coming?”

“In a minute. I, um. Need to wait for the water to boil to make tea,” Hunter added quickly.

Willow smiled, nodded and left the kitchen.

Hunter took deep breaths until he heard the kettle boil, removed it from the stove and started pouring it over the teabags. As he was putting the lid on the teapot Hooty extended his head into the kitchen window.

“Wooow, that was intense,” Hooty commented.

“No kidding,” Hunter commented as his cardinal landed on his shoulder and then paused. “Wait, you saw the whole thing?”

“I see everything in this house,” Hooty replied cheerfully. "Eeeeeverythiiiiing."

“And you didn’t do anything? Say anything?!” Hunter asked.

“Willow wouldn’t have hurt you unless she had to,” Hooty replied as he smiled. “She’s a lovely lady who's as sweet as a dragon fly blossom.”

Hunter kind of understood. Helping out during his first shopping trip proved what kind of person she was. And yet, there was that look in her eyes. Willow, for all her sweetness, was clearly also a person who was willing to protect those around her. Whatever the cost.

Even A Rose Has Thorns, Hunter thought.

It was a line from one of Belos’s old books. Hunter never quite understood the significance. Of course roses had thorns. It was just how they were.

He looked to where Willow had stood. Now he felt like he understood the full significance.

“She’s very admirable,” Hunter muttered, andis cardinal tweeted in agreement.

He glanced at Hooty and saw the house demon was smirking at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You liiiiike her,” Hooty sang as he wiggled about.

Hunter blushed. “What? Well...Yes, I mean I hope to be her friend.”

“Oh, old Hooty has been around all the blocks! This is clearly the beginning of a slow-burning subconscious unrequited crush,” Hooty replied in a sly tone. "That is, for noooooow~"

Hunter waved his hands in the air. “What makes you think that?!”

“Oh, I don't knooooow," Hooty smirked. "Why are you blushing?”

The words died in Hunter’s mouth as he fumbled with the kettle, putting it aside and sweeping the teapot onto a tray.

“I’m leaving now,” he declared.

“Feel free to ask me for advice,” Hooty called to his retreating back. “I’m knowledgeable in all the glorious and sinister ways of the heart! Just look at how I helped Lumity set sail! Literally!”

Hunter vowed he would never ask as he left the kitchen. And did his best to ignore the tweeting of the cardinal on his shoulder.

#huntlow #winter #the owl house #willow park #hunter the golden guard #my writing #toh

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shipping-is-the-shit · 3 years

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My Loud House Sin kids AU

(Sin Kids meaning- a fandom term for fictional sibling x sibling ship kids or fictional adult/minor ship kids)

So I’ve been getting into the loud house fandom lately and i found out the “sin kids” concept/AU where Lincoln has kids with his sisters and stuff, so yeah you know how that is, anyway i decided to create my own sin kids but between Bobby x Lincoln. The ship was first inspired by @samsuchan and by then i hadn’t really thought of the idea of bobby x lincoln but when I actually thought about it it sounded cute so decided to draw their sin kids

(yes i am aware that bobby looks different here, i just don’t really like his headshape plus this is easier to draw)

So this is how my AU goes, It all started normally till after the episode where Lincoln and Bobby hang out,Lincoln finds out that he unfortunately has a crush on Bobby and tries to surpress the feelings because of the age gap and cause he’s dating Lori so later on they find out they have feelings for each other and then start having their secret relationship, it’s all fine and good till one day Bobby drinks Lisa’s potion and then one day unknowingly has a kid, he had no idea about it cause his stomach didn’t even swell and he wasn’t even showing the usual pregnancy symptoms, he just went to take a dump one day and found a fucking baby that looked identical to him and Lincoln, Bobby asks to move out and tries to keep the birth of the kid a secret from everyone except Lincoln, they keep unknowingly having more kids, thinking the effects of the potion would’ve worn off but it didn’t till their seventh kid, when Lincoln turned eighteen he moved out to go live with bobby and the kids but it didn’t take long for everyone to find out what was going on and be surprised and furious, well furious mostly referring to Mr and Mrs Loud, Lori,Ronnie Anne and the Casagrandes of course. They currently have seven kids though i’m still struggling with whether or not this takes place in the original sin kids AU of the loud house especially since Bobby is supposed to be dead in that AU, Well anyways time to introduce the kids!

LUISA LOUD, 16 years old

She is sixteen years old but mature for her age. She has a studious, serious and formal personality. She dislikes her buck teeth because she thinks less people might take her seriously because of it. She does smile but it doesn’t happen much. She loves reading adventure/mystery novels and is neat and organized like her father Bobby. She is responsible so she gets easily annoyed with her other sisters’s irresponsibility and she always does her best to please people and abide by rules.

LILIANA LOUD, 15 years old

A total comic book enthusiast,she does play video games but spends most of her time drawing comics and manga and watching anime. She has anxiety and stutters with her words. She can be kind and sweet but likes saying humorous depressed and suicidal lines from time to time which can most times annoy or creep out her sisters and parents. She is an anti-social shut in with no friends and just like her dad Bobby she is very clingy to people she’s close to. She can’t even imagine a single day without her dads and is very clearly not independent on her own. Her favorite comic book series is Ace Savvy which she likes to read with her dad Lincoln plus she also has a hobby of drawing hentai which she tries to hide from everyone.

LUPE LOUD, 14 years old

Lupe is extremely irresponsible, feared by almost all of her sisters and sometimes even her parents!, she is considered to be “that one sibling you just don’t want to fuck with” in the house of the Loud and sees herself as a badass and regularly makes snarky comments . She likes to be on her own with her own private space but is not as anti-social as Lilianna . She gets annoyed easily and regularly yells at her siblings (tho its mostly the younger ones). She is not as petty as to do random shit just to piss people off but she’ll do it if she hates you. She also finds it fun to regularly tease people(not in a sexual way) and also likes to play videogames. Her favorite band is also “SMOOCH” though she can’t play any musical instruments so she just listens to music.She can sometimes be close with her sisters Liliana and Luz.She also regularly swears in spanish.

LUPITA LOUD, 13 years old

She is as cool as a cucumber and is very level headed and chill like her father and doesn’t really care or get bothered by most things though unlike Bobby she is extremely lazy and mostly spends her time lazing around the house much to Bobby’s disappointment. She sees herself as cool and is also obsessed with being cool . She gets unhappy when she has to do work even if it’s for her own good. Her favorite past time is sleeping, she doesn’t really have any skills and even if she does it’s probably something stupid like being able to make a fart sound with your armpit or being able to get your toe to touch your nose, she also uses the word “dude” in almost every sentence. Her laziness can also annoy her siblings from time to time.

LUZ LOUD, 12 years old

(yes she’s inspired from the owl house)

Luz is the main character of my Lincoln x Bobby AU, she is a very happy go lucky girl and is always optimistic. She is trustworthy of everyone around her which can make her a victim of her sisters’s plans as she is gullible, despite being dimwitted she is very good at making plans to get out of sticky or difficult situations. She also dreams to be an astronaut when she grows up and likes designing spaceship ideas. Her favorite past time is playing video games with her dad Lincoln though other times she considers Lupa as her gaming partner. Lupa and Luz constantly argue but they have their moments. Luz also reads comics from time to time though only if they have something to do with space.

LORENA LOUD, 11 years old

Lorena is a very mischeivious girl who is always looking for new ways to piss people off all in the name of getting a reaction, she does this to everybody though her favorite victim is Lupa. She likes to be an annoying asshole to almost everyone and rarely abides by the rules. Her favorite past time is pulling ghost pranks and making fun of people,she finds joy in laughing at others misfortunes,she also makes ghost jokes. She likes reading comics about ghosts and has a big interest for paranormal stuff. She is a big fan of ghostbusters and dreams of being an excorcist when she grows up.She also has a bit of a gothish personality. Just think of her entire personality as that annoying and buggy little sister,yeah thats her.

LUCIANA LOUD, 10 years old

Despite her age, her street smarts is on a whole other level. She has a huge interest in business or commerce topics or subjects. She has a calm personality but is most times obnoxious, she also really likes money, especially gaining it. She is known to be a trickster both in the house of the louds and even out in the streets. She helps her dad Bobby to run his store and one day hopes to be a successful businesswoman in the future. Her partner in crime and the one she hangs out the most with is Lorena.

Hope you guys like my idea and the characters!

Content about the characters or my AU will always be appreciated!

The original sin kids AU was inspired by (or atleast i think it was) @liosdoodles , @trillhouse-lh , @patanu102 , @sadistcshy

This is hands down the most cursed thing i have ever drawn lol.

#sin kids #loud sin kids #problematic art #problematic shipping #problematic ship #problematic family #tw age gap #tw age difference #tw problematic ship #bobbincoln

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rohad93 · 4 years

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Moonlit Masquerade: Mother of the Bride

Part 13 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series

Amity sat quietly at the kitchen table, having her customary morning cup of tea with Lilith before the sun came up. She had become a master at slipping out of bed without disturbing Luz even a little, depending on how wrapped around her the human was, usually it was just an arm, but sometimes she was snaked around her like a python.

Even Hooty was still asleep, so it was quite still in the house. Usually, they chatted but it was quiet this morning, Amity lost in her thoughts and Lilith content to let her think in the quiet, lost in her own idle thoughts.

She had something to do today, something she had been putting off for almost two weeks now, but there was nothing left to do but rip the bandage off and be done with it. She sighed quietly into her cup of black tea, making Lilith look up at her.

“Something on your mind, Amity?” she finally asked

“I’m going to see my parents today, tell them that Luz and I are getting married,” she says.

“I see, I was under the impression that you didn’t speak to your parents anymore,” Lilith hummed.

“To my mother, no. She prefers to try and send passive-aggressive messages through my siblings though from time to time. I do keep in occasional contact with my father though, I don’t want to lump him in with her, he was never the warmest man, but I don’t think he was ever aware of the kinds of things that went on when I was a kid…” Amity frowned into her cup.

“If you’d like my opinion…,” Lilith trailed off and Amity nodded, she valued the opinion of her once mentor, now friend, and still occasional mentor. They didn’t always agree, but they had both changed a lot in six years. Amity was older and wiser, able to more easily see things from Lilith’s point of view, while Lilith had done much growing of her own, looking to find more gray areas in life other than the stark black and white she had believed in for so long “His complacency is no less at fault then your mother’s manipulative maliciousness.”

Amity frowned, in ways, she knew Lilith was right, if her father hadn’t been so buried in work all the time and a little more attentive to his children, the three of them wouldn’t have suffered as they had under their mother’s thumb.

The waters were muddied though. For all his shortcomings, Amity loved her father and found difficulty condemning him to the same degree as her mother. He had been the one to teach her abomination magic and encouraged her curiosity for everything, kindled her voracious appetite for reading and learning as a child.

Whereas her mother...

Everything about Odalia Blight brought out the worst in Amity, and she had been all too happy to help foster what Amity viewed now, as some of her less desirable personality traits. Her at times, baneful pride and self-destructive need to overachieve to please people, for example.

To be honest, she wasn’t sure where she would be right now if a certain human hadn’t barreled into her life with all the force of a B-5 gorenado.

She surely would never have had the courage to start standing up to her and have the screaming match just after her eighteenth birthday that led to her moving out. Over her hair no less, though as Luz had once said, if it was just about hair, she wouldn’t be so upset. It was never ‘just’ about her hair. It was so much more than that.

It was hard to believe that was three years ago

An eighteen-year-old Amity ran through the woods, panting and tears still dripping down her cheeks as she made a beeline for the owl house through the darkness of night and the thick trees, her breath coming out in clouds in the cool night air of early fall.

She felt relief flood her when the eclectic demon house came into view.

She didn’t even bother knocking, the owl house had become her second home and Eda told her to just come in when she came over. Hooty also saw her coming and, perhaps seeing her tears and frantic face, for once, simply opened for her.

Luz was sitting on the couch doing homework when the door swung open and she flew into the living room, stopping only long enough to look around and for her eyes to land on Luz.

“Amity?” Luz sat up in surprise, even more so when Amity quickly crossed the room and threw herself into her girlfriend’s open arms, burying her face in her neck.

“What’s wrong?” Luz asked, the panic clear in her voice as Amity curled up in her lap and wept into her shoulder.

Luz held her till what was left of her tears had fallen and dried. At one point both Clawthorne sisters had stuck their heads out of the kitchen to check on them and Luz waved them away as she comfortingly rubbed her back.

When she finally calmed, Luz asked her again what was wrong.

“I had a fight with my mom. A big, screaming, fight,” she finally admitted, Luz’s eyes were the size of saucers at that.

“About what? Me again?” she grimaced and Amity shook her head from her place, nose buried in Luz’s neck.

“No, my hair,” she mumbled.

“Oh, yeah, I noticed your roots are starting to get long again…,” Luz hummed, reaching up to run her fingers through said hair. Amity leaned into the comforting touch. “So, what happened?” she asked quietly.

“I told her I wasn’t going to dye it anymore. I wasn’t a child and could make my own choices, and I wanted it to be natural again. She said I was being childish, that we should match… then said that it was your fault, that you influenced all my ‘bad decisions’,” Amity growled, scowling to herself. “So yeah… we spent fifteen minutes screaming at each other till she said that as long as I lived under her roof I’d do as she says, so I just ran out of the house…”

“I’m sorry, Amor,” Luz hummed.

“It’s not your fault,” she sighed, leaning back to look at her. “Titan… I just wish I had somewhere else to go, anywhere…”

“Well, you’re eighteen, why don’t you move out?” Luz suggested.

“Where would I go? If I moved out I’d have to drop out of school and work so I could afford a place to live, and this is our final year….” Amity frowned. “What coven would take a drop out? I think I’m just going to have to suck it up till spring…”

“That’s almost a year from now, and it seems it's only getting worse at home, Amity,” Luz said worriedly. Things had been escalating in the last year between Amity and her mother, but especially in the last three weeks since her eighteenth birthday.

“I know… but what choice do I have? I have to finish school,” she sighed, going limp against her warm girlfriend, who held her comfortingly.

“Could live here.”

They both jolted, turning to look at Eda, leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, arms folded.

“W-what?” Amity blinked at her, and Luz was looking at her just as bewildered. Eda sighed, walking fully into the living room, Lilith poking her head out of the kitchen behind her.

“You can live here, Kid,” she said again.

“I couldn’t… I don’t… I couldn’t be an imposition to you like that, Eda,” Amity finally said frowning.

“Imposition? You’re the quietest person who ever comes over here, and look at all these free-loaders!” She gestured to Lilith, Luz, and King, laying curled up asleep in the chair across from them, snoring.

“Hey!” Luz yelped and Lilith frowned.

“What’s one more? Besides, it’s one more pair of hands to do chores and stuff.” She shrugged.

“I… I don’t…” Her eyes were starting to burn again and Eda noticed, giving her an easy smile.

“Look, you’re a good kid, Amity, you just ended up with crap parents, with skewed priorities, and you’ve always been good to Luz, hell, you been good to us.” she gestured to herself and Lilith, who nodded as she walked into the room to stand next to her sister. “It’s not like you’re not here all the time anyway,” she snorted with a grin.

“What do you, think, babe?”

She turned to look at Luz who was looking back at her with barely restrained glee.

“I… Okay…,” she finally said, a small smile pulling at her lips.

“Whoo!” Luz jumped up, Amity held aloft bridal style in her arms.

“Luz!” Amity yelped at the sudden movement. Eda chuckled and Lilith smiled at the two.

“We’re living together!” Luz grinned and Amity blushed at the declaration as it really sank in.

She was now living with her girlfriend…

“Oh, right… we need to have a quick talk.” Eda crossed her arms and both girls' faces paled.

“Ay dios mio, not another talk!” Luz looked at her fearfully.

“No! Not that talk… not exactly,” Eda grumbled, scratching the back of her head. “There are no other rooms, and obviously you’re not gonna live on the couch, so you and Luz are gonna be sharing a room, so it’s time for a change of rules,” she sighed. “You’re eighteen…” she pointed at Amity. “And you will be here soon,” she pointed at Luz. “And I’m not stupid enough to think I can stop it, so from now on, doors closed, always.” Eda declared as the two turned red as fresh apple blood and Lilith snickered behind her closed hand. “And I swear to the Titan, the first time I get woken up in the middle of the night, you’re living on the couch!” she pointed at Luz who guffawed at that.

“Why me!?” she shouted. Eda leaned down so her face was only a few inches from Luz’s.

“Because you’re the one I always hear,” she hissed with a frown, and Luz’s face was practically glowing at that. Lilith was choking on her , not so restrained, laughter.

Despite her own bright face, Amity snorted, biting her lip, Luz looked at her with a face that spoke loudly of the betrayal she felt.

“So, let’s go get your stuff!” Eda leaned back and clapped her hands.

“Right now?” Amity blanched.

“No time like the present!” Eda held out her hand and her staff flew into the room. Lilith finally recovered and nodded, summing her own staff.

“Yeah!” Luz was grinning at her again and Amity giggled.

“Luz, you can set me down now.” she grinned at her.

“Oh, right,” she chuckled.

She pulled out her scroll and quickly called her sister and told her and Edric to throw all her clothes in a box.

“What, why?” Emira’s confused voice said in her ear.

“Because I’m moving,” she said simply as they left the owl house on the two older witch’s staves. There was a long pause on the other end of the scroll.

‘WHAT!?” Both twins were suddenly screaming in her ear.

When they showed up, she and Luz hurried inside, luckily avoiding her mother and father. The twins were standing in her room with her clothes all packed. They quickly explained the situation as they collected all of Amity’s personal belongings, she knew how big Luz’s room was so she had to make some sacrifices in her books and some other things, but Amity was now caught up in a giddy euphoria of leaving this place that had, for years, felt like a prison. She grabbed only what was most important to her. Her special box of keepsakes, her clothes, her diary, and a couple of little things. In hindsight, it was a little sad how unattached she was to most of the things in the room and how all the important things in her life fit into two decent sized boxes. They were the few things she had chosen for herself.

She could examine that later, for now, she just wanted out.

The twins offered to help carry them, but despite the fact they were both twenty, they still lived here, and Amity didn’t want to make things harder for her siblings if they ran into their parents.

“I can’t believe you’re really leaving,” Emira sniffled a little as they followed Amity and Luz down the stairs.

“Honestly, this is pretty hardcore and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of you, Mittens,” Edric said and Emira nodded.

“We’re gonna miss you,” her sister added.

Amity rolled her eyes even as she smiled.

“I’m moving into the owl house, I’m not leaving the demon realm.”

“But still!” Edric threw up his hands.

“You guys are always welcome at the house,” Luz supplied helpfully as they walked toward the front door.

“What is going on here?” A voice stopped them all cold at the door.

Coming out of his study was Alador and Odalia Blight.

“Oh, uh, good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Blight…,” Luz said cautiously. Alador nodded at Luz, but his gold gaze quickly shifted to his youngest daughter.

“Finally come home I see, Amity.” Odalia frowned at her youngest, completely ignoring Luz, which only made Amity angrier and she frowned, glaring at her mother.

“What is this?” Alador questioned, holding a hand at the two of them and the boxes.

“Mother informed me earlier tonight that so long as I live here I can’t make my own choices, despite being an adult, so… I’m not going to live here anymore.” Amity declared, standing up straight, even as she held her box of things in front of her like a makeshift barrier between herself and her parents. Luz shifted nervously from foot to foot while the twins glanced cautiously at each other.

Both older Blights' faces showed their shock at the declaration.

“What?” Odalia’s face is the picture of shocked outrage while Alador’s is sheer disbelief.

“Eda was kind enough to allow me to live at the owl house while I finish school,” Amity said.

“Amity…,” Alador started, and for the first time since Amity can remember, looking completely shocked.

“Do you see what allowing her to associate with this human has done, Alador?!” Odalia turned to her husband, scowling, as he turned his shocked gaze to her. Anger flared up in Amity, scorching hot.

“This isn’t about Luz! This is about you!” Amity practically screamed at her mother, making everyone jump and stare at her with wide eyes. “This is about you, controlling and manipulating me my entire life, telling me how to behave and dress. Who I could be friends with and what color my damn hair should be!” She unloaded on the older witch, voice cracking. “I’m tired of pretending I’m perfect, I’m not, I’m never going to be and you can’t make me by trying to change me! I’m tired of it and I don’t have to take it anymore… so I’m leaving, and you won’t have to worry about it or me embarrassing you or just me in general anymore!” Amity is breathing heavily as she finishes her tirade, fueled by years of neglect and overbearing controllingness.

Everyone is looking at her with wide eyes. Luz’s chest aches for her girlfriend and the twins are standing there with their jaw hanging open.

“What? Your hair?… Amity…,” Alador doesn’t understand what’s going on and tries to speak, but his wife is quicker.

“You ungrateful girl, after everything we’ve done for you, and you would throw it all away, for that?” She holds her hand out at Luz and Amity is seeing red, not just because of the insult to her girlfriend, but that she’s standing here, screaming at her and her mother still doesn’t hear anything she says to her.

“I told you, this isn’t about Luz! But yes, yes I would, for her and for the chance to finally just be me, and not just your dress up figurine!” she snarls, but then clutches the box tightly, sighing heavily. “I’m wasting my breath…” She turned on heel and started toward the door.

“Amity!” Alador stepped forward, calling his daughter, but before he could say anything else Odalia was calling at her back.

“If you step out that door, don’t ever think of coming back!”

The twins gasp, looking at their mother, not shocked, but horrified at the declaration.

“Odalia!” Alador whips around to face his wife, no longer is his tone shocked, but now a deep rumbling anger fills his voice.

Amity stops mid-step, staring out the front door at Eda and Lilith who are standing on the porch, watching, both their faces set in deep frowns, no doubt they heard everything.

Amity closes her eyes as she’s struck by how final this all is, but what shocks her is how much it hurts, that this was how it has to be between her and her mother, because so long as Amity allowed it, Odalia would never release her talons on her, let her live her own life.

So this was how it had to be.

She turns to look over her shoulder and Odalia is looking down her nose at her in that imperious way that has been the centerfold of Amity’s nightmares all her life. Her hard, olive gaze is expectant, expecting Amity to turn around and grovel for forgiveness, but not this time; never again.

Her jaw clenched, and her grip on the box tightens and she turns to her father, who for the first time in her life that she can remember, looks lost.

“Bye, Dad,” she says quietly and turns to stride out the door, never once looking back. Eda and Lilith step out of her way as she walks across the yard to the gate. Luz followed her silently.

The ride back to the owl house is quiet and it’s only then, flying through the dark, quiet sky that Amity lets the tears fall. She leans her face into Lilith’s back and cries. The older Clawthorne silently reached back and patted her leg comfortingly.

She cries all the way home.

Eda and Lilith don’t say anything as they watch the two teens go up the stairs

The second they set her things down on the floor of Luz’s… their room, she crawls into the bed, shoes and all, and curls into a ball. Luz hasn’t said a word since they left Blight Manor, and she doesn’t still as she crawls into bed behind Amity and holds her close, it’s all she can do.

She knows Amity is hurting and hates that there's nothing she can do about it, so she settles for holding her, a silent reminder that she’s here if she needs her.

Amity sighed, coming out of her memories to see Lilith looking at her concerned. Amity smiled at her.

“I’m fine, just…. thinking,” she answers the unasked question, and Lilith nods.

It’s then that they hear the tell-tale sound of feet on the stairs and Luz walks into the kitchen, dressed, and her staff in hand.

“Morning Lily.” She smiles at Lilith, who echoes the greeting. She leaned down to kiss Amity. “Morning, sneaky.” she grins and Amity chuckles.

“You sleep like a hibernating bear-cobra, I hardly have to be that sneaky.” she smiled at Luz over the rim of her teacup as she took a sip. Luz walked over to the counter and with a spin of her staff, all her potions gathered themselves from the counter and bundled themselves together in a convenient sack, hanging from the staff.

“I know for a fact you’re abnormally quiet and light-footed.” Luz grinned at her, hefting her wares over her shoulder as she grabbed a bottle of apple blood out of the fridge.

Amity just smirks at her.

“Welp, I’m off to cure the boils, rashes, and insomnia of the wonderful people of the Boiling Isles,” she declared like she was leaving for battle.

“What would the people do without you and your glorious, self-sacrificing ways, my dear?” Amity giggled as she stood from the table and set her cup in the sink.

“We pray that they never have to find out, mi amor.” Luz winked with a grin. Lilith rolled her eyes at the two, even as she smiled to herself.

“I need to get going myself, I’ll walk you out,” Amity followed her out.

“Have a good day,” Lilith called after them and they called back goodbyes.

“You got big plans for the day?” Luz asked as they closed the front door behind them.

“Just some errands to run…,” she said, not a lie, she did have some errands to run, but she carefully didn’t mention her trip to Blight Manor, it would only worry her. Luz nodded and she mounted her staff. “Don’t work too hard, querida,” Amity mumbled against her lips as she kissed her goodbye. Luz smiled at her.

“You forget who my mom is, I learned from the best how not to work hard,” she laughed and Amity rolled her eyes, both at Luz and that statement. There are few people who work harder than Luz, but she lets her jest.

“Have a good day!” Luz blows her a kiss as she flies off toward town.

Amity watches her go before summoning her own staff and taking off in the opposite direction, toward Blight Manor.

It’s a short ride and all too soon the large, opulent house comes into view.

Amity frowned to herself as she slid from her staff, standing outside the gates to her childhood home, and looked up at it's dark, imposing walls.

Once this place had been her worst nightmare, the fear of being constantly trapped within its walls, forced to dance along with her mother’s every pull of the string. She’d known since she was a child that her mother had been a conniving manipulator, but she had been a child, helpless to fight against it. Her and her siblings, though the twins did everything they could to help shield her from the worst of it, something she sometimes felt she did not voice enough thanks for, though, even when she did the two would hear none of it, they had all had each other’s backs.

Speaking of…

Edric and Emira were standing on the porch, waving at her as she walks through the gate and she smiles at them, even as she rolls her eyes when she sees that Edric still has that ridiculous mustache he insisted on growing.

“Well, well, if it isn’t one of the great heroes of the rebellion! To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?” Edric asks with a bow. Emira rolls her eyes and elbows him before jumping on Amity in a tight hug.

“We haven’t seen you in weeks!” Emira whined as Amity laughed into her shoulder.

“Except for the picture of that pretty rock you sent us, let’s see it!’ Edric grinned and Amity rolled her eyes as Emira released her and nodded.

“Yeah, let’s just see what our future sister-in-law was able to pull together,” she smiled, grabbing Amity’s left hand to hold up for both twins to examine her ring.

“Very nice,” Edric whistled.

“It’s beautiful, Amity,” Emira agreed. “We’re so happy for the two of you,” she said and Edric nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, we’ve already decided on a date. The thirty-first of October,” she says and Edric laughs.

“Halloween? That’s very ‘Luz’ actually.” He grinned.

“Actually, it was my idea. that‘s the date of the next blue moon.” She smiled fondly at the memories the mention of the lunar event brings.

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Emira coos, she’s partially teasing, partially sincere, it is a romantic idea.

“You two are still ‘that’ couple…” Edric rolled his eyes, even as he’s grinning. “Ridiculous,”

“What’s ridiculous is that mustache,” Amity claps back, hand on her hip, making Emira snort and Edric frown.

“I think it’s distinguishing,” he huffed.

“Distinguishing from what? Good looking facial hair?” Amity cocks a brow, smirking, and Emira barks a laugh.

“I told you, it’s terrible,” his twin laughs.

“Please shave it before the wedding, or you can’t be in any photos,” Amity tells him, half-seriously. He crossed his arms and huffs.

“Fine…”

“So… are they here?” Amity asks and the jovial mood dissipates.

“Yeah, they’re in dad’s study.” Emira frowns and Amity nods as she walks past them into the house.

The memories that hit her when she steps inside are not good and she pushes them away as she walks down the hall with her siblings.

Edric knocks and their father’s voice sounds back through the door.

“Yes?”

“You have a visitor,” he says.

“Come in.”

He opens the door and the twins walk in ahead of her before stepping to either side of the doorway.

Their parents' faces turn surprised before Odalia’s turns sour again.

“Amity!” Alador quickly stands from his desk and walks around it toward her.

To say Amity is surprised when her father wraps his arms around her in a tight hug is an understatement, but it fades quickly and she smiles and hugs him back.

“Hi, Dad.” She squeezed him before stepping back to look at him. There are a few more lines in his face and grays weaving their way through his auburn hair and beard than the last time she saw him in person, but he otherwise looked unchanged.

“You look wonderful.” he smiled, brushing his fingers through her own long, auburn hair, gold eyes burning with a warmth that shocks her.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

“To what do we owe this, unannounced, visit after three years?” her mother finally speaks up, drawing her gaze and Amity frowns. The message is clear, she is not welcome here, and that is fine by her.

“Worry not, I won’t be taking up much of your time,” she bit out.

“Nonsense, come sit.” Alador offered, but Amity shook her head.

“I have things I need to take care of for the council, I can’t stay long.” she smiled sadly at him, ignoring the look her mother was giving her at the mention of the council and wanted to smirk.

The Blight family had of course sided with the emperor, or at least her parents and extended family had, until the tides of the war had changed and it became clear that the rebellion was winning, then they had switched sides. After the rebellion was over the Blight family was one of the upper-class families that had been forced to pay reparations for their part in the initial battles against them and were now viewed less favorably by the people of the Isles, the loss of status was something that Amity knew from her siblings, left Odalia quite bitter. No doubt she blames Amity and of course, Luz, for their parts in the leadership of the rebellion.

“I wanted to come and share some news with you,” she told her father, who looked at her expectantly. “Luz and I are getting married at the end of October,” she tells him and both her parents are surprised by this. She takes a sick satisfaction in her mother’s scandalized face.

“That’s wonderful, Amity,” He smiles at her as he gently takes her hand to look at the ring adorning her finger and Amity smiles. Odalia makes a disgruntled, disgusted noise, making her father frown.

“I can’t believe you intend to drag this family name through the mud further than you already have, first by taking part in that… ill-conceived, rebellion, but now by giving it to a human.” Odalia blight almost spits the word.

“The ‘family name’...” Amity spat back. “...has never done anything except make me miserable and I want to be done with it.” Alador’s brows shot up and Odalia scowled. “That’s why when Luz and I get married I’m changing my name to Noceda,” she informed them with finality. “I came here today as a courtesy, one you don’t deserve,” she said to her mother. “And to ask you if you’d come, Dad.” Amity turned away from her mother to look at her father, who is still looking at her, face full of surprise. “I’d very much like you to be there.” she looks at him pleadingly. “You don’t need to answer now though, I just wanted to let you know.” She smiled at him and turned to go, but not before her mother landed one last parting shot.

“Even before the human, you were a disgrace to this family, Amity.”

“Odalia, that’s enough!” Alador roared, whipping around to glare at his wife, magic energy crackles in the air around him that makes the hair on the back of all three Blight children’s necks stand on end.

The venom that drips from her mother’s statement does not surprise Amity, and despite how much she has grown to hate and resent her mother for the years of manipulation and verbal abuse thinly disguised as concern, deep in her core, the words still burn her. She hates the green-haired woman standing behind her, yet she’s her mother, the only one she has, unlike Luz, and the fact that the two despise each other claws at a tender place in her heart that had been an open, raw wound since she was a child, a place inside her that had always longed for the kind of relationship her friends had with their parents, no matter how impossible that is, and she knows it.

So instead she straightens her spine and pulls back her shoulders, steeling herself and trying not to look at her siblings as they stand by the door to their father’s office, a mix of anger and sadness on their near-identical faces.

“Then it really shouldn’t matter to you who I marry, or what my name is, should it?” Are her parting words as she strides out of the office and down the hall, the twins follow a second behind her, but neither say anything till they are on the front porch.

“You okay, sis?” Edric asks her finally.

“No,” she answers them honestly. “But I didn’t expect anything different…” She summons her staff and mounts it; she can’t be gone from here quick enough.

“Let us know if you need anything, okay?” Emira asks, frowning.

Amity looks at the twins, their concern clear as day on their faces and Amity dismounts her staff to wrap her arms around them both and they squeeze her back tightly.

“We love you,” They both say, and Amity knows fewer things are truer than that, for which she could never be more grateful.

“I love you both, too.” She prys herself from her clinging siblings with a huff of a laugh.

She quickly jumps on her staff and flies away from Blight Manor, for the last time.

Tears are starting to burn and blur her vision and as much as she’d like to play it off as the wind whipping past her face, she knows it isn’t. The confrontation left her feeling raw, despite its brevity, she knows for certain that this is the last time she will return to her childhood home. There is nothing left to say to her mother and Amity knows she will never change.

Her grip on her staff is tight.

She needed Luz.

She finds her in her usual space in the market, hocking potions to the people of the Isles, though that makes it sound like it’s a scam, her business is far more reputable than Eda’s ever was, much to the older witch’s chagrin. Luz’s potions, from their school days onwards, are some of the finest quality in all the Boiling Isles and people come from all over to get their hands on them, something Luz is extremely proud of, she was the top student in potions all their years in school after all.

She has a small crowd, so Amity stands back, waiting because she knows the second Luz sees her she’ll insist on closing her shop for the day, and she doesn't want her to do that.

When the customers finally dissipate and Luz is left counting snails with Mochuelo standing on her shoulder, hooting quietly at her, does Amity finally approach.

“Look, I don’t judge them, if the guy needs seven bottles of rash potion, who am I to say no?” she tells her palisman, gesturing with a hand.

“That sounds like quite the rash,” Amity says as she stands to the side of the stand, making Luz jump.

“Amity, what are you doing here?” Luz’s face lights up like the sun peeking over the mountains until she gets a good look at her fiancée. She’s leaning heavily on her staff, and her eyes hold a hint of red that indicates she’d been crying and Luz’s smile drops, brows drawing between her eyes.

“I just... needed to see you.” Her voice is tight.

Mochuelo jumps off Luz’s shoulder as she sets her bag of snails under the counter and walks over, reaching up to cup her face and wipe the remnants of tears away with her thumbs. They are mostly dry but she can clearly see the track marks left behind on her cheeks and the puffiness around her eyes.

“What’s wrong, did something happen, amor?” she asks her gently.

Amity just lays her staff against the stand, Calliban slithering off it, and wraps herself around Luz, desperately seeking her comforting embrace, which the human would never deny and squeezes her back, rubbing her hand up and down Amity’s back. She’s learned over the years that Amity will tell her what’s wrong when she’s ready, so she waits.

She whistles at the two palisman, and the two flip-down her closed sign.

“Come on.” Luz lifts her with a frown and carries her back behind the stalls curtains where she keeps her stock, it’s dim and she carefully slides them to the ground, Amity in her lap.

Luz contents herself with running her hand through Amity’s long, soft, auburn hair until she sighs heavily against her and leans back so she can look at those concerned, deep, brown eyes.

“I’m sorry, I should have gone home instead of coming here and bothering you while you’re busy...”

“You’re never a bother to me, Amity,” Luz said, wiping at her face with the back of her fingers. The corner of the witch’s lips curled upward ever so slightly at that but quickly fell again as she spoke.

“I went to see my parents today,” she finally said and watched as Luz’s brows shot into her hairline.

“Why?” the tone isn’t angry or judging, just curious and concerned.

“I wanted to invite my father to the wedding… we might not have the best relationship, but I do love him. I’d like him to be there, and I…” she trailed off, biting her lip. Luz waited, squeezing her gently. “I guess I just hoped that maybe, just maybe, my mother had changed in the last three years, but I should have known better, she’s never going to change,” Amity sighed.

“I’m sorry, mi amor.” Luz frowned, resting her forehead against Amity’s. “I wish she wasn’t like this either.”

“It’s fine…”

“No it isn’t,” Luz cut her off. Amity always downplayed her feelings when it came to her mother, but Luz knew better. “It’s not fine, but, you know, it is okay for you, not to be fine, right?” she asked her quietly. Gold eyes stared back at her for a long moment.

“Right…,” Amity sighed, closing her eyes and leaning into Luz. “I wish I had a mom like yours…,” she sighed

“Which one?” Luz asked with a small grin and Amity couldn’t help but smirk at the question.

“Either,” she mumbled. “I should head back to the house and let you work.” she moved to pull away but Luz only held on tighter.

“It’s lunchtime, I wouldn’t be working right now anyway, so just stay a while, we can get lunch at Redstone…” Luz wheedled making Amity smile. She still felt so wounded, but Luz was always a balm on the pains in her heart.

“Okay.”

As they walked down the street Luz was already trying considering her next plan of action, and she thinks she needs to make another visit to her mother.

#Lumity #moonlit masquerade #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Eda Clawthorne #Lilith Clawthorne #Alador Blight #Odalia Blight #Edric Blight #Emira Blight #gay #fic #the owl house #TOH

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k7l4d4 · 3 years

Text

Midnight Striga: Owl House/Fairy Tail Crossover First Episode Part 1

Hello All, today, I am transcribing the Owl House/Fairy Tail story I created over hear, for your reading pleasure!! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!!

“Phew! Looks like I lost them!” With an exhausted sigh, Luz Noceda crashed to the ground. “Just once, I wish I could go into town without a disguise and NOT get chased by Rune Knights. Is that REALLY too much to ask?”

With a sigh, Luz hauled the satchel she carried across her shoulder off, riffling through the numerous papers and books stored within. ‘Sometimes, I wished that I was better at thinking things through… but then I remember how boring that is!’ She mused to herself, before laughing aloud in response.

“Still, that was a close call.” Stretching herself out, Luz slipped a picture out of her pocket, gazing fondly at the photo of her and her mother, laughing together. It was one of the few mementos Luz had managed to keep of that time. “I better prepare, never know who could show up.”

One campfire, properly covered to conceal any smoke or light it may give off, and give away her position, and one emergency shelter later, Luz laid into a hearty soup she managed to make. So what you will about her social skills, but Luz definitely knew how to survive off the land… with a little help from the odds and ends she “Found” in town today.

With her belly full, Luz decided it would be a good point to get ready for bed, at least after she got some reading done. “Challenges of Space-Time and the Continuum? Nah, already read that, dull as dirt. Masterworks of Weaponry: A Guide to Gear both Standard and Exotic, cool but more technical than I’m in the mood for…”

As Luz narrowed her choices, she eventually reached the SECOND big memento of her Mother among her things: The Good Witch Azura, a fantasy novel series that had been the guiding beacon to her life of adventure and intrigue up until now. A complicated look appeared on Luz’s face. Ordinarily, she’d stash this book away, content with her memories of happier times that it brought to the surface, but today, she felt like maybe she should give it a proper read. As the words danced across her vision, Luz sunk deeper and deeper into her memories, heedless of the tears pricking at her eyes. All she could see was the wonderful, maddening book that had given her so much joy and heartache. The last thing her Mother had given her before she set out on her journey. Before she could fully lose herself in her thoughts, Luz’s attention was grabbed by the sound of an Owl hooting. Specifically, an Owl hooting from just a few short feet away.

As Luz turned her head, she caught sight of the dumbfounding image of a tiny brown owl, something she would normally coo over in delight at the sight of, were said adorable owl not currently lifting into the air, her satchel of works stored within a burlap sack it was carrying. “TINY BAG THIEF!!”

With a roar of outrage, Luz launched herself after the owl, internally marveling at its ability to support all that weight with its little body, but more than anything furious at being robbed. Luz DESPISED the idea of being stolen from. With an accompanying burst of wind at her steps, Luz effortlessly dodged the trees and boulders the little owl weaved around in an effort to shake her. As Luz closed in, her hand just inches away from snatching the owl’s burden… she tumbled through the rather obvious door-shaped portal that had been floating in the air.

With a cough, Luz pulled herself to her feet, finding herself in a canvas tent, the familiar rumbling of a market just outside. Whatever resulted in her coming here, it didn’t seem malevolent… for now. As Luz looked around the interior, she noticed how odd so many of the items stored within were. “Wow, and I thought I’d seen some weird stuff.” Luz walks over to a shrunken head. “But this? This is impressive.”

“Okay Owlbert, let’s see what you’ve got for Mama today!”

“Who the what now?” Confused, and intrigued, Luz moved closer to the tent flap. As she looked out, she let out a soft gasp of awe. Before her was one of the most fascinating sights she had ever seen, beings of all forms and figures trading and haggling in an old-fashioned bazarre. The tent she found herself in seemed to connect to a stand, one staffed by a surprisingly foxy older woman, grey hair held tight behind a bandanna, wearing a stylishly torn red dress. “Okay, let’s see where this goes…”

As the woman pulled out multiple valuable objects, including an Archive Terminal that Luz legitimately cried at seeing tossed like trash, discarding each without a moment’s hesitation, only to settle on some novelty glasses as being the thing to “Make her rich.” Yeah, Luz wasn’t too sure about that. But when she pulled Luz’s precious satchel and held the treasures over a fire? Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

“NOPE!” With a lunge, Luz leapt into the air, grabbing her satchel and the book Eda had been holding over a flame, and smoothly landed on her feet, not five feet away. “Yeah, sorry lady, but this is mine.”

With that said, Luz took off running, ducking back into the tent and heading for the portal, only to come up short as it folded up into… was that a briefcase? “You’re not going anywhere.” Okay, so the probably crazy lady could do a decent threatening voice. Well then…

Luz lunged towards the woman, aiming a sharp right hook for her torso. The lady’s eyes widened, before she shifted to the side, avoiding what would’ve been a stinging blow by the skin of her teeth. Growling, Luz crouched to the ground and spun, hoping to sweep the woman’s feet out from under her, only for her to once again dodge, smoothly leaping over the attack, now sporting a teasing grin. “That the best ya got kid?”

“Not even close.” Luz snorted. Alright, no more Ms. Nice Girl. Deciding she needed to end this quickly, Luz brought her fist to her open palm, a bright light building at the point of connection. “ Light-Make:”

The woman’s eyes widened. “What the-!?”

“Surging Spear!!” With a fierce grin, Luz released her spell, laughing inside at the dumbfounded look on the woman’s face as a bevy of ornate spears, all crafted from solid light, drove themselves into her gut, launching her into the street.

With a huff, Luz followed after, squaring off from across the lady (who she really needed to learn the name of).

As she pulled herself to her feet, the woman groaned out. “How in the Titan’s name did you do that?”

Luz blinked. “Magic.”

“Yeah, I know that, duh! I meant how can YOU use magic at all?” The woman snorted, a look of fascination in her eyes.

“I learned how.” Luz grunted, an annoyed glare fixed upon her face. “Want me to show you what else I’ve learned?”

The woman grinned. “Absolutely.”

Teeth bared in an answering grin, Luz leapt forward. As she closed in on her opponent, she focused on the energy flowing within her, and shouted, “Water Dance: Percussive Rhythm!!”

In response to her spell, water blossomed around her, circling her wrists and ankles. As she finally entered melee range, she lashed out with a trio of kicks, blunt whips of water following each. The woman dodged the kicks, blocking the water strikes using her staff, before retaliating with an overhead blow. Spinning away from the blow, Luz used the momentum to throw a punch, grinning in satisfaction as it and the accompanying water strike connected, as well as the following grunt of pain.

The grey-haired lady snorted, twirled her hand and produced a glowing ring in response. Luz may not have been familiar with spells of whatever type she was about to use, but better safe than sorry. She jumped back, and just in time, as a slithering tube of stone burst from the ground, the leading part shaped into the face of an Owl. Backflipping away from the spell, countered with her own. “Clinging Flames!”

Her spell lashed out in the form of numerous small sparks, which, while not very powerful, had the ability to cling to something without being overtly damaging, weighing it down. As the spell of the woman met her own, the flames lived up to their name, clinging to the Owl Tube and pinning it to the ground. Capitalizing on the distraction, Luz rushed in, launching an overhead kick to the woman’s face, only to be blocked by her staff.

“You’ve got some moves!” The woman grinned, the fierce joy of a challenge burning in her gaze. “What’s your name anyway?”

Luz returned her grin. “Luz Noceda! You?”

The woman barked a laugh. “Ha! I’ll make sure to remember that. The name’s-”

“EDA THE OWL LADY!!”

With the sudden shout, the crowd that had been watching their brawl scattered, cowering in fright behind the stands and trees. Coming towards them were a menacing trio of masked thugs, local guards or law enforcement by Luz’s estimate. Still, at least she had a name.

The lead guard stomped forward with a growl. “You are wanted for Crimes against the Empire, Misuse of Magic, and Demonic Misdemeanors!”

The now-named Eda groaned. “Will you bozos just leave me alone all ready? I haven’t done anything!”

“And you!” The guard turned his finger to Luz, ignoring Eda. “Are coming too!”

“WHAT!?” Luz shouted. “What did I do!?”

The guard snorted dismissively. “Disturbing the peace and destruction of private property.” He gestured, bringing Luz’s attention to the numerous signs of her’s and Eda’s duel, wreckage scattered about. The guard turned back to them, what little of his eyes could be seen behind his mask glinting in dark delight. “The both of you will be coming with us to the Conformatorium! And please, feel free to resist.”

Luz felt rage, white hot and murderous, burn in her chest. This bastard was more or less saying that, because she was defending herself, something that she was now starting to think may have just been her overreacting again but still, she was going to be arrested, tossed in prison, and left to rot. Turning her gaze to an equally enraged Eda, she asked, “Truce.”

Eda blinked, before grinning ferally. “Truce.”

With a roar, the two rushed the guards. Luz dropped down, sliding under the legs of the lead guard, a ball of wind building in her hand. “Sparrow Swarm!”

Her spell lashed out in a burst of wind bullets in all directions, each individual hit resembling a small bird strangely enough, and took out the guard before he could react. With a twirl, she spun towards the next guard, Eda having already brought down the one closest to her, and they both launched a quick strike to the remaining guard, sending him onto his back. Luz was honestly surprised at how quick they went down, but then again, they didn’t actually seem all that competent. As she climbed to her feet, she spotted Eda magically collapse the stand they had been fighting near just moments before into a bundle she could carry over her shoulder. As the crowd from before came out, roaring in delight at the spectacle, Luz chuckled, rubbing her head in satisfaction at the outcome. Before she could start enjoying the cheers, however, Eda grabbed her by the arm, hoisting her onto her staff, which was flying and COULD FLY apparently, a cheeky grin on her face.

“Up you go, kid!” Eda smirked. “You owe me some answers, and I’d hate for Wrath’s goons to get their hands on you.”

Luz rolled her eyes. “Fine, but you owe me some answers yourself. Deal?”

Eda laughed. “Deal!”

And with that, they took off for the sky.

#the owl house #owl house au #fairy tail #fairy tail au #owl house crossover #fairy tail crossover #luz noceda #eda clawthorne #magic

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coraxaviary · 4 years

Text

War in the Time of Death (I)

NOSFERATU

Summary: I like TWD and it’s spooky season so why not create an AU???

Word Count: 4.3k

Author’s Note: Maybe a series??? I had a lot of fun with this!

Warnings: Zombie gross-ness :)

The first time it happened, they were lucky. He came back slowly.

Roe had moved into the back to check on the men who were draped over the tables, walls, and each other – most of them smeared with red, leaving small streaks on the furniture and floors. Thankfully there wasn’t an obscene amount of pained screams or moans – morphine took care of that, and the men who needed severe pain relief were sedated out of their minds, most of them lying still and breathing with labored breaths.

Roe didn’t want to think about the fact that morphine took heart rates dangerously low sometimes – that the empty dreamlike state of hibernation was almost like death, and that was sometimes the point of the opioid anyway. He sighed through his nose, emptying his lungs of blood-scented air, and drawing in another fresh breath of the stuff.

Roe was winding another loosened ribbon of bandages into a tight roll, making his rounds, trying not to reveal just how worried he really was at the state of some of the men. Winters was fine, even though Roe wished he hadn’t elected to stand in that certain place at the exact moment that a sniper got a shot off. He could have been shot somewhere critical.

He didn’t, Roe tells himself as he pads past the now-empty corner that was previously inhabited by Blithe, trying not to think about Tipper, who’d been carted away by now and deposited in the back of a truck or an ambulance or something. Tipper, he’d been almost completely demolished and he was lucky that he–

Roe bites off the thought, fingers tightening around the roll of bandage. It did no good to think about the what-ifs. The men that were safe were safe, and that was all that mattered. The men that were in critical condition –

“Doc?”

Roe swings around abruptly, searching for whoever needed him. “Yeah, what is it?” he calls into the space.

It is Lipton, propped up on the floor in what looked to be a mildly uncomfortable position. His back is against the floor and his neck is bent at a strange angle as he tries to crane his head up from where it has been resting against a drawer. Roe almost winces until he remembers the far worse injury Lipton is actually there for, and he automatically starts to crouch, hands going for Lipton’s uniform.

“Uh, no… Thank you,” says Lipton in a rush, pushing at Roe’s hands awkwardly, away from the fly of his pants. He clears his throat. Roe looks at the blood darkening the area where Lipton has been wounded.

“Ya need a new uniform? I’ll try to see what I can do,” says Roe, already going to stand up and pursue a supply truck. “ ‘Course, there’s–”

“Doc,” Lipton says again from the floor.

“Oh, does it hurt–”

“I think, um…” trails off Lipton. Roe looks at him confusedly. “I dunno. Check on... the guys maybe?” It’s not a response to Roe’s question, but Lipton looks as if he’s at a loss for words, and he just points helplessly down a small hallway.

Roe follows his line of sight. Lipton is pointing at a series of shrouded bodies: ultimate casualties from the day’s fight. The cost of a town? A few acres of stone and glass? Roe doesn’t know if it’s worth it but his job is to deal with non-ideal circumstances so he doesn’t ever comment.

The bodies have been put there because there’s nowhere else to put them. It’s not the best setting for an impromptu morgue but at the moment there is a limited amount of space and the bodies are lined up in the narrow hallway. It’s hardly a respectable send-off, but then again nothing is and they are already dead, so it doesn’t really matter now that their bodies are uninhabited.

Roe tells himself this to remind himself that they aren’t really causing discomfort to the dead men, or tarnishing their memories, despite the sentiment that a final resting place in a hasty grave hardly seems commemorative of their service. He’s getting ready to tell Lipton that, because he seems awfully concerned about the bodies. Roe does not fault him, nor any of the men for being caring for the dead. It is more than they are afforded in life, sometimes.

“Wait, wait. Look,” says Lipton, pointing down the hall again. “You see that?”

“See what?” asks Roe, squinting into the rather dimly illuminated hallway. A cloud passes over the sun, further blocking out the light, and the room is momentarily bathed in passing shadow. The wooden bars in the windows between panes and the spots of grime in the glass grow like projections on the opposite wall after the clouds fade away, sweeping the room like a faded watercolor imitation of the effects of an illumination flare.

“Look.” Lipton is pointing again, and Roe wants to tell him not to strain himself when he sees something moving in his periphery. He turns more fully to face the bodies, not wanting to really ponder their state of death but having to anyway since Lipton seems awfully concerned. It’s not a foreign tone for Lipton, but his loss for words is.

But then the white of the sheet moves again, and Roe tells himself that it’s the wind blowing through the house. He turns around quickly to check that all the windows are, in fact, closed. They are, at least in the relative vicinity. It’s probably the fabric billowing out in the movement of the air.

Just to placate Lipton, who was dealt a blow close to a critical area that day and was probably owed at least this comfort, Roe moves into the hallway where the stink of decay remains at bay. The latest body has been deposited here only thirty minutes ago. And the first one was about four hours prior. They haven’t started smelling yet, and for this Roe is grateful.

He leans over the three shrouded bodies, watching them for a few seconds. Nothing happens, and Roe tells himself he’s getting carried away with old wive’s tales; maybe a substantial dose of Indian mythology.

“What were you saying–” Roe says, turning around to face Lipton, but Lipton is scrambling around to get up, and a feeling of alarm comes over Roe. “Okay, okay, calm down,” he murmurs, walking back out of the hallway, trying to make Lipton relax a little. “You don’t wanna–”

“Look,” Lipton almost yells, pointing. “I swear, I’m not messing with you.”

The rest of the makeshift ward is starting to look in Lipton’s direction, because it’s so uncharacteristic for Lipton to be so riled up about anything. Roe sighs and puts a hand on Lipton’s shoulder, forcing him back down to the floor with as much gentleness that he can put into the touch. “I can move you to a different part of…”

“Hey, Doc,” says someone over Roe’s shoulder. He whips around to find Luz standing behind him as if he just walked into the room, and he’s clutching a box of something, which he sets carefully onto the floor behind him. His eyes aren’t on Roe or Lipton, though: he’s staring down the hallway. Roe watches Luz carefully, trying to understand the strange phenomenon. What are they seeing that he doesn’t?

“What’s going on with Hartley?”

“Hartley?” says Roe. He swallows and thinks of the IV he was struggling to get into Hartley earlier that day. He’d found a vessel and got the needle in right as Hartley drew his last breath. Roe had managed not to drop the glass IV bottle when he handed it off to someone else as he moved to give compressions. Of course, his windpipe was damaged and his jugular had been blown wide open. There wasn’t much of anything Roe could do anyway.

He pushes that all out of mind in favor of refocusing on the present. There was a question being asked. “He, uh… he passed.”

Luz is peering down the hallway, blocking Roe’s view, but Lipton’s eyes grow even larger.

“What?” says Luz, starting to march down the hall. “I dunno who determined that…” he trails off, and Lipton tugs at Roe’s pant leg wildly.

“I told you–”

“Hey, Luz,” Roe says tiredly. “Get out of there. You don’t wanna be checking out–”

“Hartley,” says Luz, voice carrying down the hallway. Roe leans out to check on what, exactly, Luz is doing. Grief causes men to do strange things, but this is almost inappropriate with the death of Hartley being so near. Luz is never explicitly offensive in his mischief, but he’s crossing the line. Just because he deals with loss with humor doesn’t mean the other men will be at peace with it.

Luz is cast in shadow in the hallway, crouched down over the nearest corpse. He’s reaching out to touch it – move the shroud, maybe, and Roe breathes a huff of exhausted disappointment through his nose before following Luz into the hall to gently move him away somewhere less traumatizing. Hartley sustained a gaping neck wound and an even worse compound fracture to his leg and Luz doesn’t need to see that.

“Hey, Luz,” Roe says gently, stopping behind him. “Maybe–”

Roe stops talking. Luz has moved the shroud down to Hartley’s neck, and Roe almost has a heart attack right then and there because Hartley is alive.

“Ohh, boy,” whispers Luz almost reverently in shock, and both he and Roe watch Hartley – pale and bloodless, bled dry from his wound and sallow as death – breathe in what seems like almost silent rattling moans, eyes defocused but moving.

“Hartley,” says Roe once. Hartley doesn’t respond except for a slight opening of his mouth, and Roe nudges Luz out of the way, who moves readily, eyes never leaving Hartley’s miraculously living face. “Hey.”

He does turn his head, very slowly, and he seems to face Roe.

Roe is holding his breath, and he finds it hard to blink. He is at a loss for words, and his hands shake with something like elation mixed with the feeling of failure. It is impossible. Hartley had bled out in front of him; under his hands. Roe still has the remnants of his dried blood packed under his fingernails, and he was under the impression that the small dribbles pumping out his neck in the last moments were the last of life.

“Hartley,” repeats Roe, waving a hand in front of his face. “Luz, gimme a light.” Hartley doesn't respond, but Roe dives into medic mode anyway, tearing the rest of the sheet away and hovering over the gaping, dry neck wound. He can still see the ligaments through the gash, straining as Hartley tenses, and what he thought were emptied, severed blood vessels. An artery so far gone it had shrunk inches-deep into the wound cavity.

Roe takes a risk and prods at Hartley’s neck. There is no dampness, or at least fresh, bright bleeding. The body has been sitting for hours. No blood springs up at his touch, and even more curiously, Hartley does not react. Luz nudges him on the shoulder with a lighter and Roe flicks it on, moving it in front of Hartley’s face.

No reaction. His pupils don’t respond. Roe touches the neck wound again.

“What the hell?” mutters Luz. Hartley gives a small groan, and it makes the exposed bodily wiring in his neck tremble. Roe doesn’t know much about surgical medicine, but he does know this ain’t right.

Against his better judgement, Roe finds Hartley’s wrist and feels for a pulse. Of course he’s alive if he’s conscious, but there’s something wrong with the way he reanimated. The feeling of guilt leaches from Roe as he pokes and prods for a vein, but they’re all out of blood anyway and there is no drumbeat of life beneath the skin, even though the muscles jump for a second. Roe produces a knife and holds it up to Hartley’s mouth, waiting for the vapor of breath to touch the clear silver blade. It remains spotless.

Luz shifts uncomfortably behind Roe, and he wants to tell him to give him space, but Hartley stirs and then inexplicably starts to strain as if to sit up without saying anything and Roe puts down the knife and opens the buttons on Hartley’s blood-stiffened uniform, exposing his chest – which is room-temperature – and putting his ear to the man’s heart. He stays there.

Sometimes heartbeats are hard to miss. Roe keeps listening, as if staying there will produce one if he stays long enough. Luz gasps quietly and a moment later Roe feels Hartley shift.

Roe looks at Luz helplessly. Luz looks back and shrugs with an expression of utter confusion.

“No pulse?”

“Nah,” says Roe. “Maybe…” he trails off, grasping at explanations. “Rigor mortis, just a weird–”

“Doc,” Luz then says suddenly, pulling him back by the uniform towards the entrance of the hall, as if there is something to fear. Hartley has sat up. He opens his mouth and closes it again with a snap of teeth louder than any bite Roe has ever heard. Roe feels something wrong in his bones, but the guilt comes back and he stares at Hartley instead of administering medical care, as he should, because he failed to save this man. Roe knew for sure when his heart stopped and the blood stopped draining because there was none.

“He’s dead,” murmurs Roe to himself, standing with Luz at the junction of the hall and the room. “He’s medically dead.”

“Yeah, no shit,” says Luz, watching Hartley shakily stand in a unique spindly way, and the rest of the sheet falls away to reveal the truly crippling injury he’d also sustained to his leg.

Hartley should not be walking. There is bone exposed, and it’s jutting out of the skin. Luz makes a disgusted and terrified noise, and Roe watches Hartley stagger to life with growing horror.

“You seeing this?” says Roe quietly. When Luz doesn’t answer, he takes a fistful of Luz’s uniform and gives him a good shake. “You seeing this?” he repeats.

Luz nods numbly. Hartley moans.

“Guys?” says Lipton from the makeshift ward. “Everything alright?”

“Dunno,” yells Roe back with uncertainty, because it’s really the only thing he can say as he watches Hartley lurch about. When his fibula bone in his calf starts to rip through more skin as the bone crumples further with added weight, Roe shakes himself out of the shocked stupor and forces himself to go to Hartley – who is acting like those deer, the ones with parasites in their brains, and Roe can’t stop thinking about them – and he takes ahold of the front of his shirt.

“Easy, Hart,” mutters Roe. “Gonna make your leg worse.”

Hartley lunges forwards with all his bodily weight and Roe can hear the snap of teeth.

Luz rushes forwards and tears Hartley off Roe, and Roe watches with horror as Hartley turns to try and take a bite out of Luz. His teeth clack and his eyes are unfocused.

“Hartley,” Roe says, trying to wrestle him off Luz this time. “Stop. We’re trying to help–” He feels teeth fixing around a fold of his uniform, and there is a small pinch. “Hartley, stop.” Roe is almost yelling now.

Hartley thrashes. Luz loses control and so does Roe, and Roe hits the ground on his back with Hartley, white as a sheet, climbing on top, yellowed teeth snapping, jaw working wildly, and Roe smells the cold flood of air from inside Hartley’s gullet, and it smells of death and decay. Roe lets out a yell of alarm, and he can hear Luz calling for assistance and Lipton asking what is going on, and Roe gets an arm against Hartley’s neck, and he’s simultaneously apologizing for pressing on the wound and trying to reel back in terror.

Hartley is lifted off him, but he swings around and sinks his teeth into whoever got behind Luz, and it’s chaos now – men shouting in the small echoey hallway, grappling for control of the deranged corpse-man and Lux tugs Roe up by the shirt as some of the other men manage to pin Hartley down. Someone is sitting on his chest, and Roe almost protests that you can’t do that to a morally wounded patient but he realizes the irony and falls silent in a stunned pause.

There is still the sound of teeth snapping, and terrible deathlike moans coming from Hartley’s throat.

“You gotta be shittin’ me,” says Roe at last, watching what used to be Hartley convulse against the men holding him down. “I saw him die.” He swallows hard. “I watched him die.”

“I know,” says Luz. “You probably did.”

“Then…” says Roe, feeling useless and at a loss, just watching Hartley. “Then what–”

“You don’t know,” says Luz, rubbing Roe’s shoulder briefly. “And that’s okay, ‘cause this ain’t… natural.”

“I watched him die,” says Roe to himself in a whisper, and Hartley still snaps his teeth. Roe watches him bite his tongue so hard it almost amputates at the root with a single snap, and then the tongue is gone in a few more moments, slipping down his own throat. The ligaments in his exposed esophagus move. He’s swallowing, Roe realizes.

There is a chorus of disgusted, horrified groans. Someone gags.

“I’m gonna throw up,” says Luz. Roe nudges him towards the outer rooms, still watching Hartley. The parasite-infected deer still sticks in his mind as he sees Hartley’s body move, but there is no life behind his eyes. Whoever is at the wheel is not Hartley, Roe decides. If it’s even biology, he doesn’t know.

After a while, Hartley begins to try and eat the other men in earnest, like that one man who got bit. He’s lunging and snapping and growling with increased ferocity, resembling a starving, bony wolf more at this point than a person. But wolves at least are kind of beautiful, in a feral way, Roe thinks. Hartley is… a revenant or something. It’s more than uncanny – most of the men do not believe what Roe tells them when they address the pulse question.

“Nosferatu,” says Welsh, watching Hartley snap and bite and shuffle about with an inhuman gait. The men decided to put him in a pit that a German artillery piece made a few hours ago since he doesn’t seem to be in full control of his fine motor skills. Or his coordinated faculties, for that matter.

“What?” Roe says. He’s fiddling with some rations but he decides he can’t really eat while watching Hartley’s body contort in that sick tortured-looking manner, alive but not really alive.

“You know, the vampire,” says Welsh. “Remember that film?”

Roe pauses, thinks. Looks down into the pit, and Hartley is clawing at the edge, trying to get at him and Welsh. Roe kicks his legs up from where they dangle dangerously near to Hartley’s clawing grasp.

“No, I didn’t really see motion pictures,” says Roe. The theater was kind of a luxury, other than the times that the neighborhood kids would sneak into the back row and watch until the owner always came to root out the brats who hadn’t paid. “Vampire, you think?”

Welsh shrugs. “What else could it be?”

Roe peers down into the hole. Hartley is growling and gargling something awful, and a gush of blood comes back up his throat, trickling out of the throat wound and sputtering out of his mouth. It’s not fresh blood. It’s dark, almost black, and thick and congealed. Another sign of death and immobility, and Roe struggles to define a line that marks Hartley as alive or not. Vampires were lucid, weren’t they?

Besides, vampires didn’t exist anyway. Maybe wendigos. Was he a wendigo? Roe hadn’t revisited those old mythological teachings in a long time. He’d eliminated the possibility of demon possession a while ago when Hartley’s body had no special reaction to the chaplain, quietly crossing the possibility off his list and internally embarrassed that he’d even considered such a thing.

“Do you think he’s suffering?” Roe asks.

Welsh sighs. “Hard to tell. What can we even do about it if he is?”

Roe looks down the hole again. Hartley’s fibula has separated so far from the rest of his leg that it’s jutting out almost at a right angle, and the gaping gash in his calf keeps growing with every step the man takes. It’s hard to watch, but simultaneously eerily different from watching a normal living man suffer to death.

“Doc,” comes a panicked yell from paces away. Roe shoves the ration back into his pocket, and tells himself that uncertainty and confusion are not things he can feel right now. He’s thankful for the distraction from Hartley so he can think about something other than a torturous forced limbo between life and death – maybe even a state of living brought on by the rarest of circumstances that has manifested in this man. A new medical discovery. Maybe Hartley can be saved, just like how Roe can sometimes bargain with death successfully. Maybe he’s just another deal that Roe has to make.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Roe hollers, and he sees Hartley react to the voice as if he’s blind and being led by sounds. Roe knows it isn’t true – his eyes don’t focus but he seems to use them anyway – and he jogs over to wherever someone has been injured.

“Doc,” says Liebgott. He’s at a loss, and he tries to get words out before just clutching at his head and then stuttering incoherently. “He– it–”

Roe feels an indescribable dread descending on him all over again from the sky. “What is it?” he says, fearing what the men will say. Talbert skids around a corner, too, and leans against the wall to catch his breath. “You– I– uh, Shifty and I, we were–”

“Calm down, Sergeant,” says Roe, partially to quell the flow of words. He does not want to hear what Talbert has to say with that wide-eyed look of chaotic helpless fear on his face – a look Roe, nor probably anyone in the entire company, has seen on Talbert.

“There’s…” he starts, then cuts himself off. He grabs Roe’s arm and pulls, hard. “You gotta see it.”

It’s almost an entire company’s worth, Roe realizes with an immobilizing, disbelieving amount of pure terror. The stink of dead bodies carries on the wind, and he wants to throw up his rations over the side of the rooftop. All across the field, there are Americans and Germans alike in various states of decomposition. All are inexplicably mobile. And they are all coming towards Carentan.

They must be the remnants of the first time the Germans took Carentan from the company that was here before. Both sides just left their dead lying in the field, apparently, if they were still around.

Roe does not know what they want, or if they can even think to want anything. All he knows is that Hartley bit out his own tongue without so much of a reaction, and he’d wanted to bite any of the others around him.

A circle of ravens wheels overhead, lazily, as if awaiting the results of what seems to be a horde of revenants descending on a town full of American paratroopers. Roe realizes, with horror, that one bird is perched on the shoulder of a German rifleman, picking with its beak at the man’s ear and pulling stringy bits of dead matter off his skull. White bone shows through on many of the men. Many are missing limbs. Intestines are dangling darkly from the ruptured abdomen of an American paratrooper, and they knock against his knee with every step.

“What do we do?” says Liebgott, who breaks the silence when no one else had the courage to.

The men-things are slow, but they are going to reach the town quickly at their undeterred pace. What they will do when they get there is a mystery.

“I don’t know,” says Roe when the others turn to him, as if he has answers.

He’s only a battlefield medic. He has no idea.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

#band of brothers #band of brother au #zombie au #band of brothers fanfic #twd au #??? is that even a tag #writing #war in the time of death

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robbyrobinson · 3 years

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OWL HOUSE X CTHULHU MYTHOS: GODS AWAKEN (Pt. XV

The next day, Hexside opened its doors to begin the school day. Willow was once again at her locker and was withdrawing some of her class books. Gus walked down the hallway and casually glared at the other students. Seeing Willow, he galloped over to her.

“Morning, Willow,” he said.

Willow smiled. “Good morning.”

Before he could say anything further, Gus glanced around as if looking for something. “Hey, where’s Luz?” He looked over at the popular clique of girls. “Come to think of it, where’s Amity?”

“I think it was Eda who got into contact with me about some kind of experiment the two were doing. She said that they would be gone for at least a day or two at worse.”

Gus’ eyebrow raised in curiosity. “The two of them doing an experiment together?”

Given how he knew about Amity having feelings for the human girl, one side of him couldn’t help but wonder if she was perhaps experimenting around with chemicals to create the ultimate love potion to give to Luz. He quickly shook that idea from his mind. Sure, one could not deny that Amity was head over heels for Luz, but she wasn’t the type of witch who would play with someone’s free will in that fashion. Even if it pained her for Luz to be seemingly ignorant of her feelings, it would equally pain her to force her to love her.

Skara and the popular girls caught sight of the two and walked over to them. Typically, seeing the popular kids approaching the “misfits” of the school’s social system would otherwise be a bad omen (befitting the Social Darwinism of the world), but Willow and Gus greeted them with little anxiety.

“Hey, guys,” Skara said, “you guys doing good?”

“Yes, we are,” Willow said, “we saw your performance on Penstagram last night, it was really good.”

“Aw, thanks!” Skara proclaimed. “The girls and I were going to go camping out and we thought if you’d like to come?”

Willow scratched her chin in deep thought. “I could use the occasion to better my talents.”

It was a bizarre sight. At best, the popular clique of girls would voluntarily grace the two with quick glances, but now, they were having civil conversations with them. It started shortly after the Banshees won against Luz and her friends, but they were graceful enough to compliment Luz and Willow for their teamwork. They would have loved having them on their team too, but Boscha, as the team leader, quickly shut that down. But with the three-eyed girl having been missing for roughly a few weeks, that created enough of a schism that they ingratiated themselves with Luz and the others. With Boscha out of the picture, the girls revealed themselves as not sharing the same malice. One could say that they would be total sweethearts to the trio of misfits if Boscha did not exist.

“So, you will come?” Skara asked.

“I will keep it mind,” Willow replied, “but I appreciate the offer.”

Principal Bump sat at his desk troubled. He tapped his bony fingers on his desk in an effort of figuring out what he could do. He had broken out in a cold sweat with the hairs on his arms and legs sticking up. Starting a few weeks ago, Bump could sense something amiss in the Boiling Isles. An indescribable, inhumane calamity was about to happen, but he was uncertain when it would come. He found himself gawking at the clock on the wall in a daze.

“Calm down, old man,” he said to himself, “maybe in the few hundred years I may’ve misinterpreted the signs.”

He picked himself out of his chair and opened the door to his office. Goggling around, things continued to appear to be of order at the school. Relieved, Principal Bump stepped out of the door and trudged down the hall. He ended up seeing the Abomination Teacher talking with another teacher.

“Aw, Principal Bump! What is the occasion?”

“Oh, nothing,” Principal Bump answered, “I was actually on my way to the library.”

Principal Bump turned to leave. “You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

Principal Bump chuckled and placed his hand behind the back of his head. “Oh, it’s just about this year’s curriculum is all.”

The Abomination Teacher glared at him. “What about it?”

Principal Bump staggered for answers. “Uh...something about the...lunch choices?” He picked up the pace without staring at the teacher again. “I’ll announce it later.”

The Abomination Teacher shrugged and head his way down the opposite side of the hall. Principal Bump arrived in the library already seeing that a few students were there to study or conduct research. He advanced towards the chief librarian’s desk. The librarian was an aged turtle with glasses and chains to keep them from falling down.

“Ah, Principal Bump,” she said, “what brings you here?”

He had a stern look on his face. “I am sure that you know why I am here.”

As she was a turtle, the reptile took longer time to digest the brevity of the situation and slowly pushed herself out of her chair. “Follow me.”

Principal Bump groaned to himself, but he decided to follow the ancient beast anyway. The librarian wobbled on her short, stubby legs and clutched her cane to keep herself from falling on the ground. One instance, she fell on her back and remained in that defenseless state for a whole day. “Is your week going good?”

“Oh, it is,” Principal Bump lied, “just that I feel that some horrible force of evil is going to arrive at any minute as we speak.”

“Right, I completely understand,” the turtle replied, “steamed roots gives me gas.”

The turtle neared a book case and paused for a moment. Her heavy beak opened and closed. The loose skin on her arm vibrated when she reached for one of the books. Her claws withdrew a book, and she slid it out between two other books.

“Oh, would you look at that?” she asked “it’s the story of Otabin. Have you ever read it?”

Principal Bump face palmed. “Yes, I have; 65 years ago.” He stomped his foot impatiently. “Please, just hurry.”

“I’m going as far as I can,” she interjected.

Once the book was removed from its shelf, the ground shook. The middle of the case descended to reveal a secret door behind it. The turtle librarian lifted her finger in the air and swirled it. Fire formed above her finger to which she cast it into the entrance. The fire was that of a living creature with a mind of its own. It danced in the darkness of the secret room and jumped onto a series of torches. It gracefully plopped itself over the tops of the torches and lit them.

“Oh, I remember that it was lunch time,” the turtle librarian announced, “I’m going to head back; if you need anything, call me.”

“I will, thank you kindly,” Principal Bump replied. “Having steamed cabbage again?”

The librarian chuckled. “It either eats me or I eat it.”

She turned around to reveal the faded colors on the back of her shell. Much like Bump, she was an old soul in the Boiling Isles. So old enough, in fact, the library was built over her. The library was her home; she was familiar with every scrap of information native to the demon realm but ironically was unfamiliar with what happened outside of her sanctuary.

Principal Bump followed the lit torches down the hidden room. Cobwebs lined the wall and floors of the ancient halls. Taking a left, Principal Bump came upon a room containing ancient objects and artifacts. Spears and clubs. Torture devices such as ones designed to rip off fingernails or iron maidens. Even the bones of prehistoric anomalies alongside cases of animals forever asleep in jars filled with an entombing substance. Claws and teeth on shelves and basilisks and bowls meant to collect the contaminated blood of the victims of the basilisk’s deadly bite.

“I see that the turtle didn’t tidy this place up in years,” Principal Bump noted.

He skewered the room for the item of his inquiry. In the right side of the room was a desk made out of a petrified wood. Curious, he walked over and sat down on the chair. The splinters were poking into Principal Bump’s rear. He bit his tongue to keep from hissing. He sat there for a few seconds to allow the pain to fizzle out. Opening a drawer, Principal Bump allowed a slight smirk. He reached his hand into the drawer to obtain the object.

It was a book of indescribable size. The cover of the book possessed a bumpy, leather texture of some unknown material. Principal Bump held it with both of his hands and took a deep breath. “The Necronomicon; I never thought in my lifetime that I would face this book again.”

The Necronomicon; an ancient, dreaded piece of literature detailing information that no one – not mankind, or witch kind – should know. Information of the gods of old and where they once trekked and where they will once more. Spells of how to raise the dead and of essential salts. This book, baptized in a dark, malevolent evil, was one of a few copies of the original iteration of the book that was made thousands of years ago by the savior of the Boiling Isles when she sensed that Nyarlathotep could likely return to the Isles to bring it back to its days of chaos.

He slipped the book into his cloak’s pocket and turned to leave the macabre room. He had feared the worst: the very idea that someone or something managed to find his copy of the Necronomicon and intend on using it for their own nefarious purposes unsettled him greatly. As far as he was concerned, he could have sworn that other copies of the decrepit texts were purged during the time of the Savage Ages. The hooded figure had appointed several disciples with taking copies of the Necronomicon and distributing them to the furthest regions of the Boiling Isles. Generation after generation, witches passed down the task of protecting a copy of the book and taught the next generation of the dark magic.

As Principal Bump traversed down the hall, the school day was about to begin. Once more, everything seemed to be running smoothly, but something about it was growing unsettling. Everything was going too perfectly. Principal Bump’s trudging ceased to a stop.

Voom. Voom...voom..

A tremor shook the foundations of the school threatening to collapse. Cracks formed on the ceiling. Powdery balls sprinkled down accompanied by larger chunks of the ceiling caving in. Debris fell from the ceiling in the direction of some of the students.

“Look out!” Principal Bump yelled.

He swirled his finger and a green aura came out of his fingertip. Before the debris could fall on a group of students, he caught it with a shield made of the same aura. “Get out from under it before I lose grip of it!”

The students obeyed and fled. With them gone, Principal Bump dropped the piece of the ceiling, shattering it on the floor. At first relieved, from the corner of his eye, series of cracks formed on the ceiling. He repeated the magical spell, temporarily using it as a glue to hold the ceiling for as long as his elderly body could muster.

“Where did that quake come from?” Gus yelled.

“I have no idea,” Willow replied, “we may have to evacuate the school to avoid being buried alive.”

A blast of magic blew the entrance of the school off its hinges. The figure was initially unrecognizable from the thick smoke, but some students could vaguely make out who it was.”

“Hello, all! Your star has arrived!”

That voice. That bossy, demanding, condescending voice. The type of voice that would pierce your brain and throw you through the wringer. The smoke clearing away only made it more evident who it was.

“Boscha?” Skara announced. “Girl, where have you been?”

Boscha staggered herself into the school with her crutches. “Yeah, it’s me.”

She locked her three eyes on Willow. “Hello again, half-a-witch.”

Unnerved by the deathly coldness of her words, Willow spoke up. “Now Boscha, I want you to know that I had no intention of breaking your leg.”

Boscha held one of her crutches up and pointed it at her. “I don’t need any explanation from the likes of you.”

Willow noticed someone standing beside Boscha, a man she did not recognize. A tall man, roughly around six feet, and short black hair and a finely groomed mustache. He wore a classy uniform comprised of a dark black color. He had a vastness to him, most assuredly originating from his eyes. He struck Willow as a man who was always inquisitive and knowledgeable. He held out his hand to the three-eyed girl.

“Wait, dear protégé, remember what I told you.”

Boscha glared at him. “But you promised me that you’d help me get revenge on Willow.”

“There will come a time for that, I assure you, but may I remind you that we are here for one thing in particular?”

Boscha sighed. “Fine.”

Principal Bump took out a whistle and blew it. Within minutes, the guards arrived to detain the two. Principal Bump then ran in the opposite direction to avoid confrontation. The tall man chuckled in his monotonous tone and walked forward. He moved around gracefully like a swan his feet barely touching the ground. He hummed a tune to himself when the first guard made a grab at him. The man lifted his finger to the ceiling and without the guard having time to respond, he levitated the man and held him in the air for a few seconds.

“I apologize for the abruptness of my arrival, but I have an important date with your principal, so...”

He snapped his fingers and pitched the guard towards the lockers. The lockers shifted and contorted by the time the guard hit them. Instead of a hard metal, they were replaced with a clay-like substance. He sank deeper into the wet, squishy goo until only his chest and face stuck out. The man snapped his fingers again and returned the texture of the lockers to their metallic selves. The guard grunted and pulled but he was deeply wedged in the lockers.

He continued his uninterrupted waltz down the halls casually lifting the guards into the air and smashing them together to make them unconscious. The tall man continued to chuckle in the likeness of a hyena whilst carelessly pummeling legions of guards and tossing them into a pile. Making his way down the hall, he turned to look at his apprentice.

“Make sure that no one leaves until I have received what I wanted.” He could see that Principal Bump boarded himself in his office. “This could take a while.”

Boscha nodded and held her crutch out to direct the students. She forces them to huddle in the halls and demands them to sit. “I have been gone for a long time, you know.”

She eyed her classmates to see if they would respond. “I cannot even begin to think this is the same school; I have been away for a long time, but with my mentor’s help, I can bring the school back to its glory days.”

She noticed her rival and walked over to her to get down on her level. “Don’t think that the moment he allows me to enact my revenge that I will go easy on you.”

“What is it that you are suggesting, Boscha?” Willow asked. The half-witch spoke in a tone of utter defiance mixed in with annoyance. In some ways, she practically celebrated when she first heard that Boscha was missing. In fact, rumors had spread claiming that she was eaten by some monster. She knew it was too good to be true, but at the least she was having a field day of believing that she was free from her harassment.

“Much like how Amity did a duel with round eyes at that convention, I want to challenge you to a witches duel,” Boscha explained, “the loser becomes the punching bag for the rest of their lives.”

Willow rolled her eyes clearly not wanting to humor Boscha’s challenge. “If I win, will you not only leave me and my friends alone, but be forced to accept defeat?”

Boscha snickered in her typical superior way. “It’s not like you’d win, but if you want to die slower, it is a fair idea.”

Willow extended her hand so they could finalize the deal, but Boscha pulled out her purple scroll and browsed it. “My teacher always complained that I am rotting by brain by looking at my account, but his old butt doesn’t know a thing about how the Isles changed.”

She looked through the posts. “How is Amity?”

“She is with Luz now,” Willow mentioned passively, “they are doing...some odd experiment.”

“What does that human trash have that I don’t?” Boscha asked. She did not really anticipate an answer as it was more of a rhetorical rambling on her part. “Amity had gotten soft because of hanging out with you losers.”

Willow shrugged. “I don’t know...maybe because Luz is nice to her?”

Boscha ignored her response and paused on a picture. She brought the scroll down to Willow’s eye level. It was a picture of Skara and the others attending Cat’s birthday party. Willow, Luz, and Gus were there. “How in Titan’s name did you lame-os get invited anyway?”

“Skara invited us,” Gus said.

The three-eyed girls looked at Skara with scorn. “You’re friends with these losers now?”

Skara shook her head. “They’re not losers, they’re pretty cool.”

Skara took her bag and slipped out a flower that had a face similar to hers. “Willow made this for me.”

Boscha grabbed the flower and set it on fire. “You are sacrificing your social life for this nonsense!?” She face palmed and took a deep breath. “What else happened while I was away?”

Principal Bump cowered behind his desk but he also had a vase in his hand. He held it firmly between his hands. “I order you to leave the school at once!”

The man chuckled from outside the door. “So you are expelling me, old man?”

“I am warning you, if you don’t leave, I’ll...I’ll...”

The tall, lanky man was already standing in the room.

“Now, enough tomfoolery and let’s get to business.”

He sat in a chair paralleled with Principal Bump’s desk and held his hands up in a dipping motion. He intertwined his fingers before placing his chin on top. He stared at Principal Bump in a mockingly affectionate expression. “It’s been...how many years now, Mr. Bump?”

Mr. Bump did not say anything at first due to the dread causing his stomach to churn loudly. “What do you want, Nyarlathotep?”

Nyarlathotep chuckled in his deep voice. “My dear man, you of all people should have known already that I would be back.”

“If it is the Necronomicon you are seeking,” Principal Bump started, “I will have you know that the one page detailing the incantation to release your powers – page 217 – had been removed from every copy of the Necronomicon including the one that I was assigned with protecting.”

Nyarlathotep leaned back in his chair, gripping his chest. “You wound me immeasurably, old boy. But I must be the bearer of bad news.” He seized Principal Bump’s mug and drank the hot contents inside of it before speaking again. “I am well aware that you are hiding a secret from me.”

Principal Bump leaned forward. “Oh? Pray tell me what it is.”

“Since my return, I have been studying up on a few archives of the Isles,” Nyarlathotep explained, “and I discovered a lovely little monster.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Principal Bump stated.

Nyarlathotep grinned. “Precisely; I am sure you are familiar with Grometheus the Fear Bringer?”

Principal Bump tensed up. That terrible, blob abomination that every year they had to elect a Grom Queen to fight against it. An entity that could masquerade as the worst fears of its victims with the threat of its release spelling devastation for the denizens of the Boiling Isles. Months back, Grometheus was already bested. For Nyarlathotep to threaten to unleash this unholy beast, Bump shook his head.

“You can’t be serious?”

Nyarlathotep kept his grin pasted on his face. “I am afraid, old boy, that I am not bluffing.”

Principal Bump stammered. “But that beast could probably kill everyone on the Isles if you do such a thing.”

He clasped his hands together in a praying motion. “Please, Crawling Chaos, do not; please do not harm any of the students.”

Nyarlathotep gasped. “Oh, you worry your silly little head there, good sir; not one hair on their precious little heads will be disheveled.”

Principal Bump sighed in relief.

“As I am sure you can see, I am a fairly busy man,” Nyarlathotep explained, “we are both men in this scenario; I have been around making deals, biding time and drinking apple blood, the usual rendezvous.”

He leaned in again to stare at Principal Bump. “We are both reasonable; let me cut to the chase: I know that you have some ally on the Earth realm, and I would hope that you’d enlighten me on their whereabouts?”

“But I have made an oath years ago to protect the Necronomicon.”

Nyarlathotep raised an eyebrow. “I will present you with two events: either Grometheus is free to stretch his legs again and ravage and sow endless nightmares on you and your students; or subsequently, there lies a world where I receive the information I desire and you and your students will be safe and they will further their education unharmed.”

Principal Bump scratched his chin. “And I can trust you at your word?”

Nyarlathotep nodded. “Of course; shall we shake on it?”

Wary, Principal Bump extended his right hand and shook Nyarlathotep’s. Unbeknownst to him, Nyarlathotep had crossed the fingers of his other hand.

Boscha waited impatiently for her master’s return. He walked out with his smile even wider than before. She trudged towards him with her crutches. “What is the plan?”

“Once Miss Blight arrives with the Necronomicon containing the incantation for my powers, everything will change on the Isles.”

Boscha smiled. “So you’re going to rule the Isles again?”

Boscha’s smile dropped when she heard what her mentor said next.

“No; this world had grown ungrateful of the sacrifices I had given for them in order for them to perform magic. This world will be wiped clean and from there shall come a blank slate. From there, I will create a group of people who will have no inclination of resistance for they will not know about the insolence of the old generation. They shall become my people and I will become their god.”

Boscha almost fell backward. “But what about me?”

Nyarlathotep pet her shoulder. “You will be by my side as my acolyte. We shall watch together as this world dies and is blown away like dust in the wind.”

Boscha looked down to think. “But you promised me that I could get my revenge.”

Nyarlathotep held his hand up. “You can still have it; this world’s destruction will be imminent, but I do love a good duel.”

As they existed through the gaping hole that used to be the entrance, Nyarlathotep turned to face his protégé. “Did you keep the debris from falling?”

“Well, thanks to some of the power you gave me, sure,” Boscha replied, “but would it be better to just have it fall?”

“Boscha, Boscha, that would be wasting time that you could have preparing for your fight. But, please, do create a mirror field around the school. We wouldn’t want to have anyone potentially foiling our plans.”

The three-eyed girl nodded and held her hands out. Glass began to form around the outer portion of Hexside. Before long, the glass completely encased the school. One of the students ran towards the entrance only to bounce off the glass. “We’re stuck!”

Nyarlathotep chuckled. “That is how it felt to be trapped in glass for thousands of years; it gives you such displeasure.”

Boscha looked at the school. “Why this?”

“Much like observing a mouse in a vivarium to study, the students and faculty will be trapped, desperately searching for a way out of their maze, but all points lead to a dead end.”

With that, the two made a leave for Belos’ empire.

#owl house #the owl house #nyarlathotep #crossover #fanfiction #owl house fanfiction #the owl house fanfiction #cthulhu #cthulhu mythos

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sepublic · 4 years

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If the characters of The Owl House had JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stands, who would have which Stand? (Note: It can be from any part in the series, not just Part 3)

First off, I just want to say- THANK YOU, because The Owl House and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, two of my favorite things ever, in one ask? And I get to ANALYZE the two? This is a dream come true…!

I love Stands, not only for their unique designs and crazy abilities that can get weirdly specific, but also because they’re essentially a reflection of one’s soul, so they’re a great glimpse into a character’s personality! As someone who loves the characters from The Owl House, this is naturally a fun way to explore their psyche by assigning a Stand most compatible with them, White Snake-style!

I should preface that for this ask, I’m going to be using Stands from Parts 1-6. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet read Steel Ball Run, nor Jojolion; I plan to, and maybe on another day I’ll revisit this ask with updated information- Assuming that any of the new Stands I encounter and know about fit the characters more than the ones already assigned to them.

But with that out of the way… Here’s a list of characters and the Stands I’ve assigned to them- For fun, I’ve even gone over some minor named characters (although Bellows and Kikimora were left out due to there being too little to work with)! Some characters will have multiple Stands, if only because I couldn’t decide between some, or I felt like there were others worth considering. Lengthy explanations for my reasoning will be underneath the cut, as well as alternate Stand possibilities, even for those who I’ve already made a decision on!

(I’m going for best fits, not perfect ones)

Luz- The Cure

Eda- Sticky Fingers

King- Wheel of Fortune/Bad Company/Harvest/Little Feet/Weather Report

Hooty- Horus

Owlbert- Anubis/Stray Cat/Sex Pistols/Aerosmith

Willow- Strength

Gus- Hierophant Green/Emperor

Amity- Spice Girl

Lilith- Magician’s Red

Emira- Joy Division

Edric- Khnum

Boscha- Goo Goo Dolls

Mattholomule- The Lock

Bump- The Grateful Dead

Wrath- Bastet

Adegast- Judgement

Tibbles- Marilyn Manson

Bat Queen- Atom Heart Father

Starting off is Luz, the main character and personal favorite of mine! She was REALLY difficult to figure out… I considered multiple options for her, such as Crazy Diamond, Gold Experience, Heaven’s Door, Bohemian Rhapsody, etc. Ultimately however, I decided to go for a rather obscure Stand, one from the light novel Golden Heart, Golden Ring- The Cure. To put it simply, The Cure, well… Cures people by absorbing wounds and injuries, becoming bigger before eventually dissipating the accumulated hurt. I feel like this reflects greatly Luz’s very kind, almost healing nature- She helps provide Eda with a greater sense of found family, she helps ‘fix’ Willow’s situation and self-esteem, as well as Amity’s own insecurity and loneliness, etc. Not only that, but Luz also has a lot of thematic similarities with The Cure’s user, Coniglio- Coniglio is heavily associated with Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

The character of Alice is led into a new, magical world by a small creature she later befriends, and gets into trouble with the local law- Just like Luz. Coniglio herself was ostracized when she was younger, being called a Witch, which fits Luz’s initial loneliness, and of course her eventual aspirations. Coniglio is an inexperienced Stand User when we meet her, just as Luz is still learning magic. Finally, Coniglio learns to control and tame her stand, which takes the form of a rabbit- Luz is associated with small animal sidekicks, such as King or Owlbert. However, The Cure can also turn into a more monstrous form and become berserk, which in its own way mirrors Luz’s relationship with Eda, and how she has to calm her mentor and revert her back the way Coniglio did.

For a more canon option, there’s also The Sun. We don’t really know anything about is user, Arabia Fats- The most we can glean is that he’s clever, but he can also rely on dumb ideas. Likewise, his Stand is incredibly powerful, but provides almost nothing to defend him. If one goes by the Tarot meaning, however, The Sun is associated with good times, with fun and optimism, all that stuff! It’s about someone who still maintains childlike wonder… and that sounds like Luz! She’s kind, bright, and in a lot of ways a ‘light’ to others’ lives, which is also supported by her name’s literal translation!

Continuing on Tarot meanings, we can also go for The Fool- It’s about being adventurous, of starting a new journey. There’s some freedom, but also a bit of carelessness, which reflects how Luz didn’t quite fully think through her actions in the beginning of Episode 1, or her plan in Episode 3. The Fool is a bit of an outsider compared to the rest of the Arcana, which fits Luz’s outsider status as a human who somehow goes Magic anyway. And like The Fool, Luz can be somewhat unpredictable and unusual, at least to those who know her- She’s kind of a cryptid to them, what with having confetti in her pockets at all times(?) and casually revealing that she knows the infamous Bat Queen.

For Eda, I chose Sticky Fingers- Someone else on Twitter mentioned it, I don’t remember who… But they analyzed a few of the Stands of Part 5, and during their analysis they discussed how Sticky Fingers is symbolic of Bruno’s ability to connect with others, making his own path to them, zipping them together, etc. Bruno Bucciarati is a mom with a found family, which I feel suits Eda’s personality. Likewise, they’re both criminals, who willingly left a prestigious organization despite their talent and the powerful role they could’ve had in the group, as a result of moral disagreements with its ideals and leader. Plus, Sticky Fingers is a term that refers to people who like to steal, and we know from Covention that Eda is a notorious pickpocket!

On the other hand, Weather Report is also neat. It’s associated with a character dealing with memory loss, which fits Eda’s schtick and character a whole lot, what with not remembering who cursed her. Likewise, Weather Report (the user) has a brother, Enrico Pucci; The two used to have a more complex antagonism, although by Stone Ocean it’s a lot more straightforward. Still, this kind of complex sibling relationship also works with Eda and Lilith, and with Weather Report being a ridiculously powerful Stand (just as Eda is the strongest Witch), I feel it also works for her character, personality, and motifs.

King is the most interesting and diverse scenario for me. I’ve considered Wheel of Fortune for him; Both rely on an outside force, a pre-existing thing, in order to function. Likewise, Wheel of Fortune’s power is proportional to the user’s confidence, which fits with how King talks big about himself. Its user, ZZ, also made a big deal of talking himself up, being a lot of bark in order to build up his confidence… However, the moment things begin to fall apart, his confidence wanes and he basically runs away. His powers diminish, and he becomes all bark and no bite. This kind of sounds like King- Obviously there’s more courage to him than with ZZ, but generally speaking, the concept of a character who’s in over their head and operates a lot on building up their self-confidence, only for it to collapse as soon as things go wrong, fits with King.

On another hand, Harvest and Bad Company fit King’s whole desire to lead massive armies, and his claims of having been a King of Demons. Having a Colony Stand that acts as his personal army of loyal followers and soldiers fits almost perfectly; Bad Company is more militarized, representing King’s grandiose aspirations for power, and him becoming a Drill Sergeant in Episode 11 definitely helps this. It’s also associated with a lost childhood, which… King is kid-coded and he doesn’t seem to be necessarily missing out on anything, but the idea is still there. However, Harvest is less deadly, having a more animalistic appearance, being cuter, and having an inclination towards theft that King himself also does. Plus, King seems like the kind of person who’d use Harvest to carry himself across the sidewalk, let’s be real here!

Finally, I’m considering Weather Report as an option, if only because of the fan theory going around (which I’ve dabbled in) about King having once been the Boiling Isles Titan, or at least an ACTUAL King of Demons… Part of the theory speculates that he lost his memories, which fits into Weather Report’s arc. It’s about a hidden potential, that when rediscovered, can be outright terrifying. Little Feet also works with King’s Napoleon Complex.

King is an interesting character to assign a Stand to, in part because there’s a lot we actually don’t know about him, and the mystery surrounding him as a result. I feel like we once we learn more about King’s backstory and who he is, we may get a better idea of what Stand most fits him.

Horus was assigned to Hooty, not only because of his bird motif, but also because the Egyptian God Horus is seen as a protector, just like the Stand’s user Pet Shop, who acts as Dio’s main guard for his mansion; Likewise, Hooty is the Owl House’s primary security system, and ‘state-of-the-art’ no less. Not only that, but… To get into some heavy theorizing here, @fermented-writers-block has speculated that Hooty may or may not have connections to a hypothetical ‘Owl Deity’, of which we see a mural of in Episode 1. To put it as simply as possible, Hooty is either a manifestation of this Owl Deity’s power, OR the Owl Deity itself; And if so, then assigning Hooty a stand named after a major Egyptian God seems all the more appropriate. Additionally, Pet Shop himself has a helmet typically used to restrain birds of prey, and Hooty himself usually needs to be ‘restrained’; Either told to stop his cryptic riddles and just give straight-forward answers, or kept from tearing apart a canvas.

Also, if that one MSN article mentioning a labyrinth below the Owl House is true, then Hooty could also have Tenore Sax; It’s a Stand that manipulates the environment, and was used to make Dio’s Mansion look like a maze. It’s about control of one’s environment, which makes sense given how Hooty controls the Owl House itself. Hooty could also have Mr. President, as it’s a Stand wielded by an animal that provides a safe environment for others to live in- Befitting of Hooty’s role as the Owl House.

Owlbert is a bit weird, in that he’s already wielded by others; Still, he’s a part of the family, so I feel obligated to include him. Off the top of my head are a couple of considerations- There’s Anubis, which exists as a sword that can be wielded physically by the user and even others, outliving its user- That fits Owlbert’s capabilities and role as a Palisman to a staff! Stray Cat is also an option, because like Owlbert it’s an animal that’s born of plant-matter and associated with the air, albeit through air bubbles.

Sex Pistols is a Stand that needs care and attention, just like Owlbert, and also has its own personality. Likewise, the Sex Pistols support and enhance the ability of another, pre-existing tool, just as Owlbert enhances Eda’s magic and helps her focus it through her staff. Finally, we have Aerosmith- They’re both free-flying, but also very powerful and capable, and not to be underestimated. Like King, there are plenty of options for him that all fit in their own ways.

Willow was a fun topic, and ultimately for her, I’m gonna go with Strength. Ignoring its user, Strength is a stand that recognizes and unlocks the hidden potential of just about anything it finds, no matter how innocuous; Willow is a character who is meek and shy, but contains a hidden power and talent that is legitimately powerful. Strength is an incredibly powerful stand, upgrading a regular boat into an entire shipping freighter; Willow is able to turn a seed into an entire garden of powerful, thorny vines. They involve nurturing power and helping it grow. Plus, most depictions of the Strength Tarot Card involve a woman taming a lion- And I think that kind of works with how Willow may seem all gentle, but she controls and tames powerful plant-monsters. Also, a recent drawing by Dana seems to confirm that Willow is canonically buff, so that works too, alongside the Tarot’s additional meaning of controlling oneself, as Willow does with her anger!

There is also the minor consideration of Purple Haze, given that Willow has genuine frustration in her that can manifest as real, powerful rage. However, Purple Haze also explicitly hurts and shoves others away, which Willow doesn’t do- She’s kind and open and is already good friends with Gus by the time Luz appears. Gold Experience is also a very viable option, given its power of creating life and facilitating growth- However, I decided to go with Strength, not only because of the additional symbolism of hidden potential (which matches Willow’s initial, unrecognized talent), but also because of the symbolism of the tarot card. And also, Gold Experience is a main character Stand and already a pretty obvious option, so trying something a bit more unique seemed interesting.

Gus is another VERY hard one for me, like with King- It’s not that I don’t get his personality, it’s just that there are plenty of Stands that I feel could match him. For example, we’ve got Hierophant Green- Its user, Kakyoin, was lonely and is also an excellent student. He desired friends, which he got through the Stardust Crusaders- Similarly, Gus himself is talented but also expresses loneliness over being younger than everyone else, with part of his motivation for forming the H.A.S. to make friends and also provide support for others who’ve gone through the same experience. Likewise, Gus may not have the raw power that his other friends have, but he’s still plenty clever himself, like Kakyoin.

There’s also Emperor; The tarot meaning discusses a person who takes a leadership role, and its reverse is losing control of that leadership, as well as poor decision-making. This relates well to Gus’ conflict in Episode 9; Likewise, Emperor’s user is Hol Horse, who prefers to be Number Two and is aware of his own flaws, not desiring the spotlight. Gus himself states in Episode 6 that he knows what he’s about, not at all concerned that Luz doesn’t consider him as strong as Eda or Willow- He doesn’t particularly seek attention or glory. Gus is happy and content with being a ‘Dweebus’ and embraces it alongside his supporting role, like Hol Horse. Also, the kid wears a crown when he’s in charge of the H.A.S., and that’s something I really want to incorporate with his Stand’s symbolism!

On a lesser note, there’s also Kiss- It’s a Stand that makes doubles of things, and Gus has an affinity for Illusion spells that can create copies of him, tangible or otherwise. Dolly Dagger from Purple Haze Feedback is wielded by Vittorio, who is the child of his group, and represents him not being ready to handle a lot of the responsibility placed upon him; Just as Gus struggles with control over the H.A.S., as well as the isolation that comes from being a talented student who’s younger than the rest and not taken seriously.

King, Owlbert, and Gus are definitely a dilemma to me… There’s plenty you could assign to either of them, and I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of Gus’ potential Stands. The dude has range and potential, so it’s hard for me to decide given how my options are ultimately limited and usually specific.

For Amity, I went with Spice Girl. Spice Girl is a manifestation of Trish’s psyche, and her whole character involves putting up a hardened, mean, stoic façade in order to hide how scared and vulnerable she feels; A lot like Amity, who tends to push people away because of her loneliness- She mentions not wanting to show ‘weakness’. Like Amity, Trish learns to be strong in her own way, in a way that can still be soft, while incredibly strong and resilient; A form of kindness and personal growth that manifests literally through Spice Girl’s ability to make things soft yet virtually indestructible. Amity hasn’t quite completed her character arc, but she’s made major steps towards it by opening up to Luz and learning to be nicer. So, Spice Girl it is!

There’s also Purple Haze- Fugo and Amity are both high-performing students with a lot of pressure on them, who deal with genuine frustration over their situation. Purple Haze’s ability forces others away lest they get hurt, representing Fugo’s paranoia over his childhood trauma, and how he ends up ‘pushing’ the others away when he chooses not to go on the boat. However, Purle Haze doesn’t fit as well the way Spice Girl does, because Purple Haze represents a genuine rage and anger boiling within Fugo… Whereas Amity, while she IS frustrated, doesn’t seem to have particular fury, being more inclined towards insecurity and loneliness.

Lilith was assigned Magician’s Red. I looked into the meaning of the Magician Tarot card, and to sum it up simply, it’s about having talent and seeking out success. Our first appearance of Lilith has her making a demonstration to a bunch of young, impressionable Witches, flaunting her own talent and success, and appealing those traits to her audience, explaining that Witches who join the Emperor’s Coven are the most powerful and highest-ranking of them all. Likewise, she also has an eye for talent, nurturing the skills and abilities of Witches such as Amity. Plus, there’s also the symbolic relevance of her having a Stand with magic in its name, as well as one with a bird-like appearance; Fitting given her White Raven symbolism, and association with the Emperor’s Coven and its bird motifs. And like the user Avdol, Lilith also has a bit of a flair for flashiness.

Like Luz, Emira was tricky in that I couldn’t quite find a Stand that suited her, so I’ve gone with my next-best option; Joy Division, another very obscure Stand, from the same light novel as Luz’s assigned Stand. Joy Division switches objects around, which mirrors what Emira did to the librarian and Gary in her debut. It’s a Stand that’s perfect and ideal for her kind of mischief and clever tricks. Likewise, its user, Sogliola, has wealth, prestige, and status as a Capo in Passione- Emira herself is a member of the presumably wealthy and high-status Blight family.

As I mentioned earlier, Edric is also tricky in that I didn’t find a Stand that quite suited what personality we’ve seen from him. Ultimately, I settled on one good for mischief, Khnum- It’s a Stand that allows one to change their appearance, which fits Edric’s Illusion spells and that one spell he used to make himself look a lot more extravagant. Khnum’s user, Oingo, is also not exactly the brightest, and he’s associated with a close sibling that he’s always beside, who also has a Stand- Which can match Edric’s relationship with Emira.

I’m also considering Jail House Lock; It’s great for tricking and mentally messing with people by making them forget things and become confused, befitting Edric’s mischievous nature. Also, it making people forgetful can sort of connect to Edric being dumb in his own way, I guess- I dunno. I feel like Emira and Edric’s Stands don’t have a particularly deep connection to them individually, in part because there’s not much we’ve learned yet to differentiate the two, and the issue of finding Stands that fit, while trying to avoid repeating them for characters unless as a potential possibility. It is worth noting that Jail House Lock’s user, Miu Miu, has power and status- Another thing one can associate with the Blights.

Boscha got Goo Goo Dolls. The Stand is a reflection of the user’s possessive personality over their ‘friends’, treating them more like toys or pets to be bossed around with and told what to do. Boscha has a bossy nature, as seen with how she treats one of her friends in Episode 8, and likewise she is somewhat possessive of them- When King gets their attention, Boscha is clearly focused on getting back her control of the situation. Nothing is saying she can’t get along with King and he didn’t explicitly exclude her from the fun, but Boscha nevertheless chose to heighten the conflict. And of course, she initially meets King and wants to buy him as a pet, befitting Gwess’ desire for ‘pets’.

I’ve also considered Bad Company for her, for a few mostly speculative reasons. To sum it up shortly, I suspect that Boscha may have a bad situation at home, where an incompetent mother is relying on Boscha for emotional support, forcing her to essentially ‘grow up’ and be the responsible one in charge. Bad Company represents a childhood that is missed out on due to an inadequate parent that the user ends up having to look after, and likewise, it involves telling others what to do; Also something Boscha likes. However, because this is mostly speculative, I’m just going to have to go for Goo Goo Dolls for now.

Mattholomule has The Lock. Initially I considered Surface, but ultimately I went with The Lock because unlike Hazamada, Mattholomule doesn’t seem to have any particular envy towards Gus nor does he want to be him, insteading having a general desire for power and drama. The Lock reflects how he tries to garner sympathy from the other members of the HAS when his plan begins to backfire on him; It’s a Stand that’s entirely reliant on others’ perception and pity/guilt for the user.

Similarly, it’s otherwise pretty powerless, which goes along with Mattholomule’s general incompetence and failure in most facets of life. The Lock is either relinquished by the user’s command, if the victim no longer feels guilty, and/or if they’re given ‘reparations’ for the ‘damage’ they received- Mattholomule is all about getting status and whatnot. Also, The Lock functions as a Lie Detector, which can make sense with how Mattholomule lies for his own personal gain.

Principal Bump has The Grateful Dead. The stand’s user, Prosciutto, is someone who takes an older and more experienced mentor role, just like Bump. Likewise, Prosciutto is willing to do harsh things to someone underneath his tutelage, but ultimately he still takes his leadership role very seriously, wants to get the job done, and genuinely has it in his best interest to see the person he apprentices unlock their hidden potential. Bump may have extreme methods such as his Trouble Detectors and even brainwashing kids in detention, but ultimately he’s genuinely invested in the future success of his students, and will even break the law for their sake and that of a human, a total stranger.

It’d seem obvious to give Wrath a stand like Jail House Lock (given its user, Miu Miu, is also a warden), but in terms of personality, I ultimately went with Bastet. Bastet is defined by creating attractions, and is associated with electromagnetism- Which itself doesn’t just pull things together, but repelsthem as well. Bastet’s user, Mariah, is attracted to Dio because of how powerful he is, among other traits. Wrath is attracted to Eda, letting his attraction override his own duties as a Warden because he thinks the two of them will make a Power Couple; Both him and Mariah want to go big, or go home! Bastet lures targets in through their curiosity, Wrath lures in Eda by having King’s Burger Queen crown… Finally, while this is never expressed by Bastet itself, the theme of magnetism also relates to repellingforces. And Wrath is clearly repelled by the abnormal, seeking to contain the deviants of society, and is easily disgusted by something as simple as a raspberry because of the potential germs it could spread.

As an alternative option, there IS Planet Waves- Its user, Viviano Westwood, is a guard at a prison. He’s a cruel, brute-force jerk whose Stand allows him to physically overpower and smash through most obstacles and foes, and he deliberately looks down on prisoners as the ‘scum’ of society, taking delight in abusing his position to torment them. These all sound a lot like Wrath, so if one feels like Bastet doesn’t adequately capture his personality, there’s always Planet Waves as an alternative.

Adegast was given Judgement, for obvious reasons- It’s a Stand that toys with a victim’s heart and plays on their desires. That’s literally what Adegast does- Plays on Luz’s desires to be deemed special, to live out her fantasy, only to cruelly tear it away at the last second and mock her for it. Both his illusions and Judgement’s clay constructs dissolve into dust. And while Judgement is physically powerful, contrasting with Adegast’s incredibly frail body, the cowardice of Cameo pairs well with Adegast’s nature.

For Tibbles, I briefly entertained Osiris and Atum, especially Osiris given its association with card games (and Tibbles is good at Hexes Hold ‘em), and the idea of gambles in general. Ultimately however, I stuck with Marilyn Manson, which operates on a similar basis of the user winning a game and utterly defeating the loser as a result. Marilyn Manson is special in that it prioritizes material wealth, aiming to reap money or anything else of similar value; Which fits into Tibbles being a greedy capitalist who acts like he owns King and takes him without either his nor Eda’s consent, just as Marilyn Manson can be used to steal a Stand Disc that was never disclosed as part of the arrangement.

Finally, the Bat Queen was given Atom Heart Father. She was another difficult person to assign a Stand to, but ultimately I decided on Yoshihiro Kira’s stand. I get that there’s irony of Atom Heart Father having a paternal name, compared to the Bat Queen’s maternal status, but just bear with me for a moment. Like the Bat Queen, Yoshihiro is a parent, but he’s one who has concern for the person he’s looking after, to the point where his attempts to protect that person can be overall detrimental to that actual person’s growth; In this case, his son Yoshikage.

The Bat Queen has taken it upon herself to look after a LOT of discarded, rejected Palismans, among them Owlbert. However, in her concern for their plight and any pain they might go through, the Bat Queen has unfortunately projected some of her views on Witches a bit; When Owlbert wants to reunite with Luz, she interferes on his behalf, believing she knows best. The Bat Queen wants to do what’s best, what’s ‘safest’ for Owlbert, but in reality she’s only hurting him in the long run. Thankfully, Owlbert is able to stand up for himself, and the Bat Queen listens to reason.

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endless-vall · 4 years

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Old friends - Thomas x Isobel (MC) fanfic

Summary: Isobel and Thomas used to be childhood best friends, but lost touch after she moved at the age of fourteen. Now, moving back to Goldcliffe, Isobel wasn’t expecting to see Thomas again. But sometimes surprises turn to be the best things in your life.

Author’s note: I know the ‘childhood best friends’ trope is so cliche’, But I’ve never actually got the chance to write one. So here’s one ~

This is going to be a series (not exactly a story with chapters, but it is reccomended to read all parts for a better understanding of the story). This is the first one, hope you’ll enjoy it!

Isobel strolled through the department store isles, furrowing her eyebrows when she couldn’t find the school supplies she had to get for Zoey.

“Let’s see,” She scanned the shelves in front of her for something, anything to cross off her list.

Finally - a five section binder appeared before her eyes like the savior she needed. At least this trip to the store wasn’t a complete waste of time.

And she was in luck, it was the very last binder on that shelf.

With a victory smile Isobel strode off towards the shelf and rose to her tiptoes, grabbing the binder just as another hand grabbed at it from the other side.

“Hey, I was going to--” She starts to argue, turning towards the man who grabbed her binder a second before she could call it hers, but stopped in her tracks when she realized the figure standing in front of her looked familiar. Too familiar to be a coincidence.

In mere moments, her eyes scanned the charming man standing in front of her, his eyes having a familiar glint she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Wait--” Her eyes widened with realization. “Tom?!”

There he was, her childhood best friend, Thomas Mendez, standing in front of her.

He certainly was much more handsom than she remembered him, but he was still her adorable nerdy Tom.

“Izzy?!” Realization hit him too, and before they could completely process the situation, they both wrapped their arms around each other and colided into a tight hug.

After what felt like forever, not that Isobel was complaining, they finally broke apart.

She needed that hug, if she was being honest, and it seemed Thomas needed it too.

“I can’t believe it. It’s been what... Fifteen years?” Thomas asked, shaking his head and looking her over again, as if he was trying to check she was real.

“Almost sixteen, yeah,” She was barely able to believe it herself.

She knew that Thomas lived somewhere around this area, but she haven’t really given it thought with work, the move, and Zoey on her mind 24/7. She certainly wasn’t expecting to just run into him like that.

“Time sure flys.” Thomas nodded, trying to find the balance between once being best friends, and now barely knowing each other. They were now completely different people than they were when she last seen him - at the age of fourteen.

“It does. And still, it feels like just yesterday we were playing under that pine tree, or sneaking off to aunt Hilda’s house after hours, just to eat some freshly baked cookies and listen to her stories.” Isobel reminisced.

Thomas laughed warmly. “Oh god, you’re right. I haven’t had cookies that good in YEARS.” Now they were laughing together.

“Well, you can definitely keep the binder,” Thomas finally let go of it, and Isobel tossed it into her shopping bag.

“What are you doing here in Goldcliffe anyway?” Thomas asks her, as they started walking together with him showing her around all the good places for school supplies.

“I... Just moved here, actually.” She admits, suddenly catching herself blushing a little.

Why was she blushing at him?

It was just Thomas. they were friends since day one at the first grade.

“You moved back here?” Thomas didn’t hide the smile forming on his face.

“Yeah, my daughter, Zoey, got accepted to Bernhardt, and since it’s such a good school, I decided it was worth to move back. Although being back here does bring back all kinds of memories.” Isobel got lost in thought for a moment.

“Good memories, I hope?” Thomas peeked at her and caught her off guard. He was almost blushing himself, as if he was asking some unspoken question.

“Oh, definitely good, of course. But also some sad ones like having to move, and say goodbye to all my friends and start over someplace else.” Isobel explained.

When she was fourteen, her father got a job offer in a different town, far away from Goldcliffe, and the entire family moved. She haven’t really been to Goldcliffe since, but when she met Guy at College they hit it off by striking a conversation about Goldcliffe, and how they never met back there.

Thinking about it now, Isobel was glad she never ran into Guy while she lived at Goldcliffe, and that couldn’t ruin her memories of this place.

“Well, it looks like you did a wonderful job. You say you have a daughter, Zoey? Right? I bet she’s as brilliant as you are.” Thomas throws another thing from Isobel’s shopping list into her bag, and ticks some off his list as well.

“She’s much more briliant than I ever was. She’s honestly the best thing in my life.” Isobel beams whenever she talks about Zoey, and this time is no different.

“I noticed you have a school supply list too.” She motions to his own list, her tone asking...

“Her name is Luz. She’s the light of my life, as well. I guess we still have things in common, even after all this time.” Thomas answers, still smiling although his eyes tell a little different story, but Isobel isn’t sure if she should pry.

“So you moved here with your...” But here came the question, and Isobel wasn’t able to catch herself before she sighed.

For some reason it was too easy to be herself around Thomas, even if she haven’t seen him for more than a decade.

“Her father is out of the picture... It’s just me and her. Been that way for a while now... Four years, actually.” Isobel explains, her shoulders shrugging.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m a single father too, actually.” He puts a hand over her shoulder. Somehow comforting, even though she should probably be the one comforting him.

“But Soledad-” Isobel starts to protest. Guy was a horrible person, but Soledad seemed to be an incredible woman. Isobel was actually present at Thomas and Soledad’s wedding, although she never really got to talk to him past congratulating him.

“Passed away... Two years ago. Well, passed away is putting it mildly. Killed is more appropriate.” Thomas’s expression turns angry, angrier than Isobel had ever seen him.

“Killed??” Her mouth hangs open.

“It was a car accident on paper. Unofficially? Her brakes failed. Manufacturer defect.” He explains.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry, Thomas.” She reaches for him. Now it her turn to assure him.

A few moments pass, they’re standing in silence, as Thomas draws comfort from her.

“How’s Luz taking it?” Isobel dares to ask, finally, barely audibly.

“Honestly? Not great. With my job Solded was usually the alpha-parent. Now I’m struggling to find the right words and Luz acts out in school.

We’re holding it together, but it’s not easy. But I’m sorry to dump this all on you on your first day back.” Thomas shakes his head, and tries to plaster back his smile and change the subject.

“No... No, it’s okay. I can’t imagine how hard it is to lose a spouse. Although I definitely know a lot about struggling.” Isobel resume their walking, her hand still intertwined somehow with Thomas’s.

“Thank you...” Thomas nods, and suddenly it sounds as if he can breath more easily.

“It’s good to have you back, you know?” He tells her, as they finally find the last of their supplies, and head towards the counter.

“It’s good to have a friend here, too.” Isobel smiles at him warmly.

At least she won’t feel all alone in Goldcliffe, and putting on a brave face for Zoey won’t be as hard anymore.

After finally ringing up all their supplies, Isobel turns to look for Zoey in the fantasy books isle.

Thomas is still walking alongside her, excited to meet the little one.

“You know, since we’re both single parents now... We could definitely help each other,” Thomas suggests, as they approach the isle and Zoey comes into view.

“Oh, I’m counting on that. Besides catching up and helping me find ultra-fine pens you’re definitely going to help me with this Berthardt’s crowd and stuff,” Isobel orders, and Thomas chuckles lightly.

“I’m not sure if I can really help with that, I don’t exactly fit in either, but it would definitely be a life-saving experience to hang out with you during those boring parent-meetings.”

Isobel laughs. “We’ll just have to find something else you could help me with,” She winks at him.

“And you could teach me how to braid Luz’s hair, since I can’t do that for the life of me.” Thomas answers, as Zoey finally raises her eyes and notices her mom getting closer.

“Mom!” Zoey calls excitedly and runs over.

“Was this your plan from the beggining? Did you approach me just so I could teach you how to braid your daughter’s hair?” Isobel was teasing Thomas now, raising an eyebrow coyly at him while Zoey zoomed in.

“Mayyyyyyybe” He teases back, and she punches his shoulder lightly. He laughs in return, and then they both turn to Zoey - who’s looking between them questioningly.

“Did you make a new friend?” Zoey finally asks, turning to her mother with sparks in her eyes.

It was obvious to anyone who looked at them from the side to see that that kid adored her mother just as Isobel adored her.

“It’s an old friend, actually. Zoey - I want you to meet Thomas Mendez. He was my best friend, actually, back when I lived here.” Isobel introduces them.

“Hi Zoey.” Thomas offers his hand.

Zoey shakes his hand lightly before taking a step closer to her mom. “Hi Thomas.” She says politely.

God, he wished Luz would be so polite when meeting new people. Luz would’ve offered Isobel to sword-fight her by now, or something along those lines.

“How do you like Goldcliffe so far?” He asks Zoey.

Zoey’s eyes sparkle before she starts blabbering. “Well, I have’t seen much of it, yet, but it’s huge! And my mom used to live here so it has to be awesome. Also, my new room rocks! I can’t wait to find cool things to decorate it with. Ooooh, and also-”

Isobel sends a questioning look at Thomas, but instead of looking bored or regretting he asked - Thomas listens contently and carefully. He nods and smiles along to Zoey’s story and Isobel heart warms.

She was happy to reconnect with Thomas, but she was even more happy that him and her daughter were getting along.

She had a feelings this move was going to be good for them. For all of them.

#playchoices #mother of the year #moty #thomas mendez x mc #thomas mendez #zoey day #isobel day #luz mendez #fanfic #my writing

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keagan-ashleigh · 7 years

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Appointment in Samarra

“Appointment in Samarra”. I never heard of that story before but as one does I wanted to learn more about it - especially because I wanted to know if the last quote Sherlock tells is part of this story or if he invented it. This is of course the title of an old Mesopotamian tale, as Sherlock explains, but also the title of a novel by John O’Hara, published in 1934. The latter is a reference to the tale retold by W. Somerset Maughan. Here is the story:

A merchant in Baghdad sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Soon afterward, the servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in the marketplace he was jostled by a woman, whom he recognized as Death, and she made a threatening gesture. Borrowing the merchant's horse, he flees at great speed to Samarra, a distance of about 75 miles (125 km), where he believes Death will not find him. The merchant then goes to the marketplace and finds Death, and asks why she made the threatening gesture. She replies, "That was not a threatening gesture, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra. (x)

There’s an interesting detail that jumped at me: in the story Death is explicitly a woman. I can be wrong but I don’t remember Sherlock ever told that detail. And in this telling of the story, it’s not the merchant whom Death had to meet in Samarra but his servant. We can put that on the fact the tale can have variations, as many oral tales have - this tale can have countless versions. This is anyway, I guess, the version we know the best in Occident. Here is other versions:

“There were once two Cushites who attended on Solomon, and these were Elihoreph and Ahyah, the sons of Shisha, scribes, of Solomon. One day Solomon observed that the Angel of Death was sad. ‘Why’, he said to him, ‘art thou sad?’ — ‘Because’, he answered him, ‘they have demanded from me the two Cushites who sit here’. [Solomon thereupon] gave them [the Cushites] in charge of the spirits [over whom he had dominion] and sent them to the district of Luz. When, however, they reached the district of Luz they died. On the following day he observed that the Angel of Death was in cheerful spirits. ‘Why’, he said to him, ‘art thou cheerful?’ — ‘To the place’, the other replied, ‘where they expected them from me, thither didst thou send them!’ Solomon thereupon uttered the saying, ‘A man's feet are responsible for him; they lead him to the place where he is wanted’.” From the Babylonian Talmud, Isidore Epstein (Editor), Soncino Press. ... Fudail Ibn Ayad (When Death came to Baghdad) The disciple of a Sufi of Baghdad was sitting in the corner of an inn one day when he heard two figures talking. From what they said he realized that one of them was the Angel of Death.“I have several calls to make in this city during the next three weeks,” the Angel was saying to his companion.Terrified, the disciple concealed himself until the two had left. Then applying his intelligence to the problem of how to cheat a possible call from death, he decided that if he kept away from Baghdad he should not be touched. From this reasoning it was but a short step to hiring the fastest horse available and spurring it night and day towards the distant town of Samarkand. Meanwhile Death met the Sufi teacher and they talked about various people. “And where is your disciple so-and-so?” asked Death.“He should be somewhere in this city, spending his time in contemplation, perhaps in a caravanserai,” said the teacher.“surprising,” said the Angel; “because he is on my list. Yes, here it is: I have to collect him in four weeks’ time at Samarkand, of all places.”

(here’s an interesting link)

And Maugham’s version is the version that inspired O’Hara, whose book is ranked 22nd in the list of the 100 best English books of the 20th century by the Modern Library - so, popular amongst connoisseurs, and probably popular among readers. The tale is cited as an epigraph in the book, so those who’ve read this book know the tale - this version of the tale.

O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra is about self-destruction and suicide of the character, Julian English. The tale and the title refer to the inevitability of Julian’s suicide. I’ll quote you part of the plot summary from wikipedia, see here to read the whole thing.

The novel describes how, over the course of three days, Julian English destroys himself with a series of impulsive acts, culminating in suicide. O'Hara never gives any obvious cause or explanation for his behavior, which is apparently predestined by his character. Facts about Julian gradually emerge throughout the novel. He is about thirty years old. He is college-educated, owns a well-established Cadillac dealership, and within the Gibbsville community belongs to the prestigious "Lantenengo Street crowd."

(...)

During the first of two suicidal reveries, we learn that his greatest fear is that he will eventually lose his wife to another man. Yet within three days, he sexually propositions two women, succeeding once, with an ease and confidence that suggest that this is well-practiced behavior.

On successive days, he commits three impulsive acts, which are serious enough to damage his reputation, his business, and his relationship with his wife. (...) His second suicidal reverie is after a failed attempt to seduce a woman, the local society reporter. He believes that as a result of his behavior, and the community's sympathy for Caroline, "no girl in Gibbsville—worth having—would risk the loss of reputation which would be her punishment for getting herself identified with him". He believes that even if he divorces Caroline he is destined to spend the rest of his life hearing: “No, let's not have him, he's one of the older guys. Wish Julian English would act his age.... No thanks, Julian, I'd rather walk. No thanks, Mr. English, I haven't much farther to go. Julian, I wish you wouldn't call me so much. My father gets furious. You better leave me at the corner becuss if my old man. Listen, you, leave my sister alone.“ (...) Although Julian had many difficulties, some external and many self-inflicted, it seems clear that these difficulties, though serious, were not insurmountable.

What the novel points out - according to the context in which it was written - how excessive Julian’s actions and suicide are. But what interests me in it is mainly the fact that Julian feared to loose his wife and was unfaithful himself, and globally, he provoked the things that he feared, placing himself as a victim while he’s responsible for what is happening to him. This makes me think about Mary, not only her death was inevitable but she was possessive with John while unfaithful to him, and she is responsible for what happened to her - her death is the result of her own actions, and if she faked it, she obviously made all of this happen, while she is at this point seen as a martyr. And there’s this little detail that the character’s name is English, while Mary is “the English woman”, as Ajay believes (which was probably correct). I can see a few way to link that story to Sherlock, though I don’t think we can take it as a whole and parallel it with only one character. In the plot summary I see parallels with Sherlock, with John and with Mary. What links them three may be the inevitability of death, just as the Mesopotamian tale is suggesting. What it’s suggesting as well is that each of them is in some extent responsible of their fate. There is the theme of infidelity, which comes in Sherlock through John cheating on Mary. There is the fact that Sherlock’s actions led him to loose his reputation, his job, and John, in the events that led to the fall, then during HLV, to finally loose all of this in the person of John, because John is turning his back on him.

Now to come back to the tale, we can assume that in this story, the person who meets death, tries to escape it but can’t, is Mary, since this is exactly what she does. But she can be Death as well, if Sherlock is the merchant (in Sherlock’s version) / the servant (in Maugham’s version) - as it’s suggested he is by the way Sherlock change the story and makes him a pirate. Then it would say that even if he tries, Sherlock can’t escape the fate Mary has been planning for him. In a way, the tale can also be paralleled with Sherrinford: a little Sherlock who just lost his brother would hate this story and create one where the pirate/ his brother lives, hidden in a city called Sumatra (a reference to the Big Rat of Sumatra - a story used in the show to refer to people working in shadows, the underground network, from which Moran is part of). We assume Sherlock is the pirate because he loves them, and that’s why we assume the flashback he has of his childhood shows himself and Mycroft, but this little boy we saw dressed as a pirate, and the pirate of Sherlock’s story, can be his brother, the third one. Which is very much alive if Sherrinford is actually his name, since Mycroft asked to talk to him on the phone.

Appointment in Samarra is also a song, by Paul Thomas Saunders, here are the lyrics, let me quote you some excerpts:

You have scars on your face from where he left you your blue eyes still aren't dry your hands have run through your blonde hair a thousand times you say you're going to Samarra won't be back tomorrow you left a letter on the floor bread winners won't be baking anymore (...) there is blood on the clothes that you'd once wear for him was it worth the lace facade (...) I've been wondering for awhile how records from your past make the brief encounters that last the blood is on your hands the bodies on the ground around us make no future plans sever every bound that binds us

It’s interesting that it seems to talk about Mary, who said she was leaving on her own to face the consequences of her past - in Samarra - and who left a letter to John to say she won’t be “coming back tomorrow”. The second quote makes me think about how she died. But, that reference may be a bit too “coincidental” so I won’t take it as a probable reference, though let’s admit that it falls on point.

Now I’ll finish on the reason that made me write this post:

“When does the path we walk on lock around our feet? When does the road become a river with only one destination? Death waits for us all in Samarra. But can Samarra be avoided?“

This part is not from Maugham’s version of the tale, not from any other versions I found, that’s for sure. So where does it comes from? I searched but didn’t found any source of it, it’s like it didn’t exist prior to Sherlock. Which leads me to think it’s not part of the tale, that Sherlock made it up. What’s interesting if Sherlock created those lines is that it must be part of the story he created as a child in which the merchant escapes Death and lives. There would be a link between the pirate and the evoking of river / water - and then to sea as a river can only run to the sea. Hence why he uses the river as a symbol for a road that only leads to one destination. In this little text, we have the path and the road that are symbolizing the same thing: the way one takes to go somewhere, or in some cases to run from a place. Sherlock insists on the fact the one that walks this path is first stopped and moved away against his will, meaning that he’s can’t move away, he can’t decide for his own fate. The road he chooses to walk isn’t the one he can take. That’s pretty telling of Sherlock’s personality, he believes he has the obligation to follow a certain path someone else chose for him. No matter how hard he wants, he can’t take the path he chose. In other words: Sherlock wants to connect with people, to feel, to be happy, but he feels like he can’t, because he can’t decide what road to take, life and possibly Mycroft took the decision for him. He probably lost his brother in a way that involves feelings and caring - that can have taught Sherlock these things only lead to despair and Death. At the time he quotes those lines, that’s after Mary died and he lost John - so this idea that he can’t ever “be involved” comes back to his mind. It’s because he got involved, because he cared, that he made his vow, the vow John told him he broke. At this point he is feeling like the loss of Mary and John are his fault, and the fact that’s what John told him may have been a great part of that thought. Also, what’s interesting is that he questions “when”. The time when all of this happens seems to be important. At what point in life do we realise we can’t chose our way, nor that we can escape the inevitable? The obvious answer to me is: when it’s too late. We realise we can’t avoid fate only when we’re facing it - in Sherlock’s case: when he lost his brother, and later when he had to jump off the rooftop, and then when Mary died, despite all his efforts to keep her safe. That’s when he realises the course of events where inevitable and that he couldn’t decide the road he would walk. He is stating the fact that he can’t decide the path he takes, that Death comes to us all in Samarra. The destination we reach is never the one we want, and it’s pointless to try to avoid it. Sherlock thought he could have a happy life, connect with others, with John, but Death found him back and reminded him he couldn’t have it. That’s what he initially figured out when Redbeard/The Other One died when he was younger, he couldn’t have it. Now note that he says “death finds us all in Samarra”. All of us, in no other place than Samarra. It can be nothing but that line is incorrect, Samarra is not the place were we find Death, but the place one particular person had to meet Death. Said like that it makes Samarra the realm of Death, it makes it a mythological place - which is really not. It also implies that Sherlock believes the same fate waits for us all, he doesn’t consider that one’s fate is not his own. What happens to Redbeard/The Other One and later to Mary, the circumstances of it, makes him believe this is what is always meant to happen: we care: we’re doomed. In this case “caring” is Samarra. But that’s not true, he has to understand that, we don’t all die in Samarra, and neither will he.

But there’s a hopeful end, even if it first looks like a rhetorical question: can Samarra be avoided? The rhetoric says it’s not possible, but the question being open enough, it somehow implies it can, there’s a way, it has to. Those lines may have been the introduction to his story where the pirates avoids Samarra and lives, and in present time, it can mean that there is a way to make things right and to reach happiness in having feelings and care for others, for John. He is so obviously hurt by John’s reaction, but something in him tells him things can find a good ending. On another level, this implication that we can avoid Samarra can be a subtext that says it’s possible that Mary faked her death just as Moriarty supposedly did - or that if death can’t be avoided, at least we can chose the terms and place, and that we can still outlive it through posthumous actions - which echoed the beginning of the show, when Sherlock cites the tale either as a prologue for Mary’s story as a prologue for Moriarty’s, since he’s convinced Moriarty died but still is acting.

So in the end, as we can say the story is paralleling Mary’s story, let’s not forget it’s also Sherlock’s story. The tale is hugely paralleling Sherrinford as well, and beyond this the fact Sherlock is convinced he can’t choose to be who he wants to be - all of this coming from the events of his childhood, one of his brother disappearing, the other teaching him to distance himself from any emotion and from people. And on top of that, the tale that speaks about trying to escape death, can also be taken in another way: we cannot escape death, but we can defy it and make our doings survive it. There is a thought that says that our actions make us immortal, our bodies can’t escape death, but our actions, our ideas, our own existence, the impact we have, and the memories we leave behind, are immortal. (That also makes me somehow think about how Vincent Starrett tells Sherlock and John are immortal because they were never born, and also more subtly because their story will never stop to be told.) In Sherlock, that means Moriarty and Mary couldn’t escape death, but that their actions will go on, they still exist beyond death. There is also this hopeful ending Sherlock quotes, that gives another level of reading, it can refer to how Sherlock somehow tricked death before, three times, no less, and so that Moriarty could do it as well. I told it here, the fact Sherlock faked his death was also there to familiarize us with the fact it’s a possible thing to do. And so that one can avoid Samarra, somehow.

That’s it for today, but if you ever find out Sherlock’s lines are actually a quote of something that exists, please let me know. ^^

#appointment in samarra #tst meta #my meta #tst #intertextuality #tjlc #mary's death #redbeard / the other one #moriarty #my posts

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rohad93 · 4 years

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Moonlit Masquerade: High in the Mountains Pt 1

Part 9 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series

"What if we went camping?" Willow suggests as they all sit around in the living room of the owl house.

"Camping?" Luz asks, tilting her head as she looks at her two friends sitting across from her and Amity.

It's Friday after school, marking the beginning of fall break, a whole week off from school.

"Yeah, we can go out and enjoy the weather for a couple of days, hang out, no school or stuff." Willow grins, any outdoor activity is one she can get behind.

"And you two can be as gross as you want!" Gus smiles, directing his comment at Luz and Amity.

"We are not gross!" The green-haired girl barks and Luz agrees.

Willow and Gus look at them, Amity is sitting on one side of the couch with Luz laying across the rest, her head in her lap while Amity mindlessly runs her hand through dark brown hair. Willow cocks a brow at them.

"This proves nothing…," Luz grunts, crossing her arms but makes no move to extract herself from Amity, who rolls her eyes.

"You kind of are… but in a good way!" Willow quickly amends. "What we mean is, you won't have to worry about hiding while we're camping."

"I do love camping." Luz hums "Seems like it wouldn't be as much fun if we do it with magic though," she says.

"Oh, what if we do it the human way? Everything by hand…. That is how humans do it right?" Gus looks at her.

"Yup, setting up tents and making the fire and all that fun stuff." Luz grins.

"Sounds good to me. We could leave tomorrow morning and come back Monday?" Willow asks. Gus and Luz nod and then they all turn to Amity.

"I'll have to see if I can go somehow first, but I'm good to go otherwise.

"Hey, if you can't it's no big deal, we can figure out something else to do," Willow assures her, and Gus nods.

She looks down at Luz who just smiles up at her and Amity nods, smiling softly. It's been months since she started hanging out with all of them as part of the group, but sometimes it still feels strange after the years of being 'friends' with Boscha and the other girls in that clique. Having friends like Willow again, who actually listen and care, care about you and not what you can do for them.

"We still all have to get permission too," Gus reminds.

"Oh, right. Hey, mom!" Luz leans her head back and shouts making the others wince at her volume. She barely flinches when she realizes what's come out of her mouth, and she knows her friends have noticed the slip but they have the good grace not to say anything about it, they’ve talked about it.

Every day it becomes more common, and she pushes aside any guilt that comes with it. For all intents and purposes, Eda is her mom, she’s coming to accept that, and she's realized by watching that she actually seems to like it when she calls her that, though she tries to hide it. Something she kept forgetting to talk to Lilith about.

Barely half a second goes by before Eda is yelling back from the kitchen.

"What?"

"Can I go camping with everyone tomorrow morning?"

Eda sticks her head out of the kitchen to look at them.

"Where and for how long?"

Luz's lips twitch up at that. Used to, she could just leave the house and not come back for hours, and Eda wasn't bothered. For the most part, she still could, but with every week that goes by she starts to ask Luz where she's going and when she thinks she'll be back; like a parent.

"We haven't decided yet, and we'll be back Monday."

"You gonna be there?" She turns to Willow who blinks at her.

"Yes?"

"Fine then." She nods.

"What does Willow being there have to do with it?" Gus asks, brow furrowed between his eyes.

"Someone with some sense has to be in charge." Eda crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I have sense!" Amity frowns.

"Me too!" Luz sits up enough to roll into her stomach to look at her.

"Luz, you let yourself get carried away too easily, and you…" her eyes turn to Amity. "Will go along with just about anything Luz asks you too." She grins wickedly at them and both turn bright red at the declaration. Willow and Gus both snort and snicker at them.

"So yeah, if flowers is going, you can go, and dinner's gonna be ready soon." With that, Eda turned and walked back into the kitchen, leaving two embarrassed teens and two barely holding it together.

"I'm working on the getting carried away thing…," Luz mumbles. Dropping back down, her chin smacking against Amity's thigh with a grunt and she pats her head.

Amity has no words for her own defense. She certainly doesn't let Luz do anything… too stupid, but she can't deny, no matter how embarrassed it makes her, that Luz has a way of getting her to agree to things. She's just too cute to say no too sometimes.

They discussed the plan a little bit more until Eda is calling them all for dinner.

Dinner at the owl house is a loud, messy affair of constant talking and laughing with plenty of food with King standing on the table and laying claim to anything in sight while sometimes the sisters argue. Other times she talks to Lilith. Their interactions ease more every day.

It's loud, bright, warm, and homey.

Which makes going home to Blight manor all the more depressing. It's so quiet most of the time.

Amity closes her front door softly, based on the oppressive quiet, she knows her parents aren't home. The twins are probably in their rooms. Her feet make quiet taps on the wooden stairs, echoing off the cavernous halls.

She's sure she's not going to be able to get permission to go but didn't want to say as much in front of everyone else and bring down the mood.

She waited till Gus and Willow had left when she and Luz had been laying on her bed, door open, of course, to say as much.

“It’s okay, mi amor, we all get it. It’s not like we can’t figure out something else to do if you can’t go. We can all be together anywhere,” she had assured her, running her fingers through mint hair, but Amity still feels bad.

She sits at her desk and pulls out her scroll, sending Luz a quick message that she was home safe and sound. She smiled to herself as a message immediately came back.

'Good, Gus and Willow said they can go. What about you, mi Amor?'

'Let me ask…'

She swipes away her girlfriend's message and opens the contacts, scrolling down to her mother's.

She looks at it a long time, finger hovering over her mother’s contact. She has to at least try, she could tell how much Luz wants to go, but she knows that there's no way she can cover her tracks for two days, even if the twins helped, she doesn’t want to ask that much of them anyway. They would be in just as much trouble as her if they’re caught. She’s managed to cover a few things over the last few months by telling them of her rekindled relationship with Willow.

Though maybe revealed, would be a more appropriate word, because she didn’t tell them, so much as her mother found out from Boscha’s parents after the grudgby match. Surprisingly, they hadn’t been upset at all.

Willow had proven herself to be plenty powerful and capable since switching into the plant track, in fact, she was the head of the track now. Her mother was actually thrilled by the turn of events.

She rolls her eyes at that, bitterness welling up in the pit of her stomach. Willow had been her best friend, her only real friend for so long, and then her mother had made her get rid of her and now she was glad they were friends again!

Her fist clenched atop the desk, nails digging into the flesh of her palm as she stared darkly at the contact still sitting open on the screen.

She had thought that wound had long been scarred over, but here it was, bleeding again.

She's so lost in thought she doesn't hear her bedroom door open or the soft footsteps approaching.

"Hey, Mittens."

Amity shrieks, nearly jumping out of her skin as her sister grins at her.

"What!?" she snaps, snarling, lip curled and fangs poking out and Emira blinks, gold eyes glancing at the scroll and seeing the contact pulled up and understanding flashes behind her eyes.

"You okay?" she asks. Amity stares back at her for a second before turning back to the scroll and she's tense for a few long seconds before she sighs, deflating.

"I'm fine…," she finally mumbles sourly.

"Mhmm" Emira hums and struts across the room, and uninvited, as she did most things, sits on Amity's bed and leans back on her hands to regard her sister from across the room. "Want to try that again, but less morose?" She cocks her head.

Amity gives her a tired and annoyed look.

"Come on, just tell me." Her sister smiles. Amity sighs again.

"My friends want to go camping tomorrow, and they're all really excited about it, especially Luz, but I don't think there's any way I'm going to be able to get permission to go…" she frowns down at her knees.

"Yeah, that is a problem…," Emira hums, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully and Amity grunts in response. They're quiet for a long couple of minutes before Emira smiles to herself and looks back down at her sister.

"What if we told her something else?" she says slyly.

"Like?" Amity arches a brow at the devious look on her older sister's face, one she's intimately familiar with.

"Like, what if we asked if we could go camping with my buddies from the illusion track?" She says and Amity frowns, brows furrowing between her eyes.

"How does that help?" Amity asks.

"Because, oops, my friends couldn't make it, but we ended up running into some classmates from school and camped with them instead, and since we got all the way out there, we decided to just stay." She grins and slowly Amity's doubtful face morphs into something hopeful.

"That… could work," she says, sitting up.

"So?" Emira asks, grinning.

The twins have been more than helpful ever since she and Luz started dating, though especially since her and her girlfriend's little encounter with the two upperclassmen from the illusion track, but something about Emira's smile, for the first time in a while tells Amity that her sister wants something out of this. Maybe she's just being paranoid and hates to look a gift horse in the mouth by calling out her sister's intentions, but rather than just covering for her, Emira would have to spend the next two days camping with them, and that is suspicious.

"What's in it for you?" she asks finally, and Emira gasps in mock offense, resting a hand on her chest, and Amity immediately knows what she's hit the nail on the head.

"I can't just do something nice for my baby sister?" She bats her eyes at her. Amity glares.

"You can, but offering to spend the next two days camping with my friends and girlfriend seems a little bit of a stretch for you…"

Emira laughs.

"Quid pro quo, Mittens." Emira holds up a finger. "I don't see why we can't both get what we want," she starts. "If Viney happened to be one of the classmates we ran into, what would it hurt?"

"That's it? You want your girlfriend to come with us?" Amity blinks, wondering why she didn't think of that, of course, that's what her sister wanted.

"That's it." She nods.

"Let me ask the others," Amity says, turning back to her scroll and typing out a quick message in their group chat.

All three agreements come in within five minutes. She expected Luz's answer, Viney was a friend of hers after all.

"They said yes." She turns back to Emira who brightens up and draws a spell circle, her own scroll appearing and she hits a button before holding it up to her ear.

"Hello, Mother…," she starts and Amity turns back to her own scroll, half-listening to the conversation between her mom and sister, it's fairly quick and within a minute she hears. "Yes, thank you." She's grinning and then it's over and she sets it on the bed. "We're good to go," she says and smiles brighter at the way Amity's face lights up with a joy that has been far too infrequent until she started dating Luz.

Amity turns back to her scroll and announces she can go to cheering messages from her friends and Luz.

The exchange a few more messages in the group chat, finalizing plans before it goes silent, but then her personal chat with Luz pings.

'See you tomorrow. Love you, G'night!'

She quickly types back the sentiment and spells her scroll away before turning to her sister.

"We're going to meet at the owl house at seven," she tells her, and Emira nods before making a call. This one's so vastly different in tone from the one with their mother that it almost causes whiplash.

"Hey, honey," Emira says into her scroll and Amity snorts, making her sister glare at her and she just grins

Turnabout is fair play, she thinks, and Emira seems to come to this conclusion as well aa she huffs silently and carries on her conversation with her girlfriend.

She's smiling stupidly into the distance by the time she hangs up.

"We're all set," she says, standing and making her way to the door.

"Thank you," Amity says to her back and Emira pauses in the doorway only long enough to smile over her shoulder.

"Don't mention it." Then she's gone, shutting the door behind her.

They are outside the owl house at seven sharp, backpacks packed and ready.

Amity and Emira are the first to arrive, the first wide awake and buzzing with excited energy and the second a walking zombie.

Lilith lets them in with the warning that Eda is still asleep, and they set their bags on the couch before Amity heads quietly up the stairs to Luz's room.

The door is hanging open when she peeks around the corner. Luz is facing away from her, shoving things into her bag and humming happily to herself. Amity smiles to herself as she sneaks quietly, even in hiking boots, across the room and wraps her arms around Luz's waist, making her jump.

"Morning, querida," she mumbles, pressing her face in between sharp shoulder blades.

"Hey! You scared me," Luz chuckled, resting her hands over the ones wrapped around her.

"Sorry," is her muffled response. Luz spins in her hold to throw her arms over her shoulders and Amity meets her halfway in a good morning kiss. They might as well get it out now, as much as they know their friends don't really mind their sometimes, overly affectionate nature, much as they like to tease, and are all for them being themselves when they're with them, they don't want to subject them to it all weekend. That, and Emira was here, and the last thing Amity needs is her sister's constant teasing in the background for the whole trip, though it's probably going to happen anyway.

"All ready to go?" Luz asks, resting her forehead against Amity's.

"Yeah," she smiles and Luz grins.

"This is gonna be so much fun." She bounced on her toes, vibrating with energy, it's infectious.

"You're going to jinx us," she warms with a grin.

"Naw, sides, you heard Eda. Willow is there to 'keep us out of trouble'," she says mockingly and sticks out her tongue. Amity snickers.

"No one can keep you out of trouble," she says, and Luz grins, shrugging.

"Maybe, but you all do your best," she says and kisses the tip of her nose, making Amity go cross-eyed even as she giggles before she untangles herself from the witch and grabs her bag.

Amity steps back and finally, actually looks at her.

Luz is wearing jeans and boots like hers, but a weird button up purple shirt with black and white stripes making square patterns across it over a tank top.

She reaches out and pinches the sleeve between her thumb and finger. It's soft and slightly fuzzy.

"What is this?" She tilts her head.

"Oh, it's a flannel. I accidentally packed it when I left for 'camp', but it's finally cold enough to wear it." Luz smiled, watching Amity rub the material between her fingers. "Flannel is actually supposed to be the material, but in the human world, any shirt with this pattern is usually called a flannel." She shrugged. She really wants to make a joke about lesbians and flannel given how interested Amity is in it, but she knows it would go over her head since they don't really define sexuality in the Boiling Isles.

Damn it.

"Willow and Gus should be here soon," she reminds and Amity nods before they make their way back downstairs.

Emira looks up when they come back and lifts a hand in greeting.

"Hey, cutie." She smiles. Amity makes a face at her but doesn't say anything. Maybe early on when she first caught feelings for Luz, she had been worried about her liking her siblings more than her, but now the thought is so ridiculous to her she almost snorts. Besides that, Em has her own girlfriend and Ed has never shown any serious interest in anything but practical jokes and pastries.

"Hey, Em." Luz greets as she sets her bag on the floor before walking into the kitchen.

"Morning Lilith," Luz greets the elder Clawthorne sister as she grabs a bag off the counter and digs through the fridge for the foods she was taking with them, tossing it in the bag. She'll throw some ice in there and take some ice glyphs to keep it cold over the weekend, but that's about the extent of the magic they're going to be using since they don't have coolers on the Isles.

"Good morning, Luz. Are you all ready to go?" Lilith asks as she flips through a book and sips on her morning tea.

"Just about, we're just waiting for Gus and Willow," she says that she throws the rest of the food into the bag and picks it up.

"Well, have fun," Lilith says.

"We will." Luz grins and darts back out to the living room.

Just as she walks back into the room, a knock on the door makes her grin and she rushes over to open it, not wanting to subject her friends to Hooty any longer than necessary.

"Hey guys!" she greets.

"Hey!"

"Morning"

Willow looks ready to go, pack slung over her shoulders, and wearing a hat that reminded Luz of something she'd seen in movies of people on Safari, and Gus has a backpack nearly twice his size towering over him. He wobbles a little under its weight.

"You look… prepared?" Luz says and he beams at her.

"I wasn't sure what all we would need to camp like humans so I packed for any possibility," he says like it should be obvious. Luz chuckles to herself.

"Well, I guess we're just waiting for Viney then." Luz steps aside to let them in.

"She's going to meet us at the ribs," Emira says and stands from the couch.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Gus bounced excitedly, though it appears more like a twitch under that weight of his bag.

"Let's go then!" Luz declares, pointing toward the door and everyone shoulders their bags and files out.

Eda chooses that moment to shuffle down the stairs, mid-yawn with King following behind her dragging a stuffed animal, eyes still closed.

"You kids ain't left yet?" she mumbles.

"Leaving now," Luz says, trotting over to hug the older witch.

"Stay outta trouble," she grumbles.

"No promises!" Luz grins up at her. Eda snorts at that.

"That's my girl." Eda smirks, reaching up to ruffle her hair before Luz leans down and kisses the top of King's head.

"Bye, ya little cutie," she says before turning and running out of the house. "Love you, bye!" she calls over her shoulder.

Everyone is waiting in the yard for her and Hooty is beside himself with all the people to talk to. He's stretched out between them, unable to decide who he needs to talk to first, and gets uncomfortably close to Emira who is making a face at the house demon.

He stays clear of Amity.

"Sorry, Hooty, we gotta go," she tells him and he slumps.

"Aww… well okay!" He slithers back into the door and they shiver before hurrying away from the house.

Luz hurries to match stride with Amity and laces their fingers together. They smile at each other as they all trek through the woods.

They meet Viney at the base of the mountain they've planned to climb, she's leaning against a tree, bag at her feet.

"Sup guys." She waves.

Amity watches the change in her sister with fascination as she lights up and jumps into the shorter girl's arms, who grins and lifts her off the ground, making Emira giggle before she leans down to kiss her.

“There’s more of them…” Gus leans in to whisper horrifyingly to Willow, who chokes on a laugh, holding a fist to her mouth to stifle the noise.

"Caramba," Luz mumbles, drawing her gaze. “Is that what we’re like?” she says quietly to her and Amity laughs under her breath.

“Yes…” Gus and Willow answer.

“Probably…” She smiles and Luz makes a face.

“Aww man… we are gross,” she grumbles and Amity laughs quietly behind her hand.

“Maybe, but you’re cuter than Viney,” she whispers, making Luz grin.

“So, we going or what?” Viney asks once she’s set the oldest Blight daughter down.

"Onward!" Luz shouts, pointing to the faded, partly overgrown, dirt trail that leads up the mountain.

"To adventure!" Gus throws up a fist before the weight of his bag makes him teeter back and fall flat into the dirt. He kicks his legs helplessly. "Uh, little help?"

They haul him up before making their way up the path.

Half the trees have grown bare in the last month, but some still stubbornly cling to their leaves even in mid-fall.

They create a chorus of crunches under the teenagers' feet as they walk up the trail and climb over rocks. The air is cool even in the bright sunlight.

Gus struggles at times with his oversized bag.

"How long are we going to be camping for again?" Viney asks, looking at the giant blue backpack.

"Just till Monday," Luz assures her.

"Then what's with him?" She jerks a thumb at Gus.

"I packed for any situation, we're camping like humans after all!" He pants.

"Well, I know backpackers try and pack as little as possible so they can hike for longer, like, weeks. That's a little rougher than I think we want," Luz tells him. "You still might have packed a little much though…"

He just grunts and after a while, Willow trades him bags and carries on at the same place as before.

By afternoon they reach the top and find the clearing on the cliffside where they plan to set up camp and drop their bags.

There's an empty stone circle in the middle, an abandoned fire pit, but not much else.

"This is perfect," Luz says, dropping her bag and running over to the edge on the far side of the clearing. They can see most of the Isles from here and she takes a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. She grins, the wind whipping at her face and tousling her hair.

She never did get that haircut from Eda. It's getting long, reaching down the back of her neck and laying over atop her head. She kinda likes it, Amity seems too also, so she's just letting it grow, though she has had Eda trim the ends when they get a little ragged.

She enjoys the way the cold air feels in it right now.

"Luz, come help us get set up!" Willow calls and she turns with a grin.

"I'm coming!" She walks back over to where everyone is digging through their bags.

Willow, Gus, and Viney have started setting up their tents while the Blight sisters watch, realizing that the two of them have forgotten one essential piece of camping equipment.

"You two gonna set up your tents?" Luz asks, looking at them. Both turn slightly pink.

"Say, we don't… have… tents… what would we do?" Emira asks, and across the clearing Viney snickers.

"You can sleep in mine, babe," she calls.

"Oh, nevermind, good luck, Mittens." Emira grins before hurrying over to her girlfriend to help her set up the dark green tent.

"Hey!" Amity shouts at her back, face red. Luz laughs.

"It's okay, mi amor, you can sleep with me," Luz says with a grin, and Amity nods, carefully avoiding the look she knows Willow is sending them as she sets up her own tent.

Luz pulls out the poles and tarp and they get to work putting it together.

"Does it go here?" Luz mumbles, shoving a pole into a slot.

"No, I think it goes over here." She points, looking at the directions with a furrowed brow. They squabble lightly about the placement before getting things in the right place.

It takes them nearly half an hour to put the thing together, but they eventually manage.

"Perfect." Luz smiles, standing back to eye their work.

"Perfect is a strong word… I think we're missing a pole…," Amity mumbles, still looking at the paper.

"Eh, it's fine." Luz waved a hand and Amity hummed.

"So long as you two aren't too rough in there it'll be fine." Emira is suddenly standing behind them, making them jump. They both turn red at the implication.

"Don't you have something better to do than bother us?" Amity snaps at her grinning sister.

"Not at the moment, no," she says.

Amity growls at her.

"Hey, Luz!" Gus calls. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Uhh…" she gestures to the woods.

"Okay, I know we're supposed to be camping like humans, but no." Emira huffs and spins a finger and an outhouse appears at the edge of the clearing.

"Thank you!" Gus calls before running over to it.

"Fair" Luz shrugs. That was always her least favorite part of camping anyway. "Well, I'm on to my next order of business!" she declares and digs through her bag, pulling out an axe.

"Where did you get an axe?" Amity questions.

"Eda" is the simple answer. They can hear Willow sigh across the camp.

"Of course…," Amity mumbles. "And what are you going to do with an axe?" She holds her hand out to the tool.

"I am going to chop down a tree!" She slings it over her shoulder and puffs out her chest.

"Why?" Amity stresses and Luz shrugs.

"Well, we need something to sit on right? I've also kinda always wanted to…" she grins. She looked around the clearing before finding one, maybe sixteen feet tall, barren, and about two feet wide, autumn had stripped it of all its leaves already, just beyond the tree line. "That one!" She says, pointing the axe at it.

Amity crosses her arms and looks at her.

"Don't worry, mi amor, I'll be careful," she promises and somehow that doesn't make Amity feel any better, but she just sighs and she knows this is exactly what Eda was talking about last night.

"Luz…," Willow says.

"It's fine, you all worry too much!" She turns and heads for the tree in question.

"Hold up, killer!" Viney chased after her. "Let me show you how to start it so it doesn't fall onto camp."

"You know how to chop down trees?" Luz asks.

"My family owns a beast raising farm, sometimes it's easier to clear a few by hand then by magic since the spells are for large areas." She shrugs and turns to the tree and explains to Luz how to cut an angle at the bottom of the trunk so they can control where it falls.

The Blight sisters watch as Viney hacks a notch into the wood before handing it over to Luz and giving her tips on grip and stance before leaving her to it.

"Let's get started on lunch." Emira nudges her sister and she hesitates, afraid the second she turns away her girlfriend is going to lop off one of her limbs but eventually nods and they start digging through the bag of food Luz brought, the echoing of the axe hitting the tree sounding at regular intervals across camp.

Willow and Gus wander off to collect wood for the fire pit while they do.

The sisters and Viney finish unpacking before starting on lunch.

The mountain is quiet, except for Luz's chopping, and Amity relaxes in the calming atmosphere as they put together sandwiches for everyone.

She decides to take one to Luz when they are all finished and walks over, sandwich in hand, she rounds a tree to where Luz is and freezes, dropping the sandwich into the dirt at her feet.

Luz is still working at the tree with long swings of the axe.

She must have gotten hot, because she's taken off the flannel and has it tied around her waist, leaving her in her tank top as she works to chop the tree down.

Sweat is dripping down her brow, making her hair stick to her face.

Amity's whole body heats up, watching her girlfriend swing the axe with a grunt. Has Luz always had those muscles she can see flex just beneath the dark, flushed skin of her arms and shoulders?

Luz stops with a sigh and mumbles something to herself as she wipes the back of her arm across her forehead before going back to it.

"I'm going to go see what's taking Amity," Emira says as she stands and walks over to where she knows Luz is, still working on the tree by the sound of it. She peeks around a tree and sees Luz still working and Amity standing a few feet away, watching, face red, and seemingly frozen.

Emira watches for a second before she realizes what's happening and grins before walking up quietly behind her sister and leans down to whisper in her ear.

"See something you like?"

Birds fly out of the trees, startled by the scream that echoes through the woods.

Amity sits in front of the fire pit, arms crossed and scowling at the dirt.

Emira is still snickering to herself fifteen minutes later, it's a lot better than the gut-wrenching laughter from earlier.

Viney is smirking and shaking her head, choosing much like Luz to not interject herself between the stuff that goes on between the Blight siblings.

Willow and Gus have returned and they wonder what happened, but based on the dark look Amity is sending Emira they choose not too.

They eat their sandwiches and are almost through when they hear the sounds of loud splintering and cracking followed by Luz shouting.

"Timber!"

Then the ground shakes and shudders with a loud crash and snapping noises. They all jump up and run to check on their friend, but before they can get there they hear her loud whoops of joy, which eases their worry.

When they round the trees they're treated to the sight of Luz, standing with one booted foot on the felled tree, axe slung over her shoulder and her other hand fisted against her hip. She looks sweaty and exhausted but is grinning brightly.

"I did it!" she declares triumphantly.

"Nice!" Viney grins at her.

"Good job Luz!" Gus cheers. Willow is smiling but shaking her head.

Emira holds up her scroll and takes a quick photo, tapping a few buttons.

Amity feels her scroll vibrate and ignores it for now.

"Good job, now come eat," she says, hand on her hip.

"Yes, dear!" Luz grins to herself and Amity pinks at her teasing.

They make their way back to the clearing, but Amity lags behind and spells her scroll out and opens the message from her sister.

A photo of Luz comes up, standing triumphantly over the fallen tree, sweaty hair pushed back from her forehead, and axe slung over her shoulder, the rays of sunlight filtering through the foliage are lighting her from the front, she looks almost heroic. No doubt copying something she saw somewhere.

She rolls her eyes but smiles.

She's so cute…

She taps it and saves it to her album.

I have 3 not including this one planned out, and one of them is VERY important, but I’m not gonna say which one....

#Lumity #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Willow Park #Gus Porter #Emira Blight #Viney #Eda Clawthorne #Lilith clawthorne #fic #the owl house #toh #moonlit masquerade

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rohad93 · 3 years

Text

Moonlit Masquerade: White & Red Pt 1

Part 14 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series

It was the loud sounds of sawing and crashing trees that woke Eda up early in the morning in late August

"What the hell…," she grumbled, dragging herself up and out of her nest and trudging to the window.

Down below several burley witches in construction hats were clearing away a chunk of the forest just forty yards from the house.

"What. The. Hell?" She narrowed her eyes till she spotted Luz standing nearby looking over a large sheet of paper. "Hmm…" Eda hummed to herself.

She scratched her head tiredly and walked down the stairs, grabbing a mug of apple blood before meandering into the yard where the kid was.

"What are you doing?" Eda grouched, making Luz look after her.

"Oh, hey, mom." Luz smiled at her, but it lacked its usual perk, making Eda frown. “Overseeing the clearing away of the forest where the house is going to go."

"This early?" Eda scowled, squinting against the harsh rays of the morning sun. “They woke me up…,” she grumbled. “You’re getting your own place and you’re still waking me up…” she mumbled, taking a long drink from her mug.

"It's going to be hot later, we have to do it in the morning. They’re gonna get started on it next week… and it’s 10 am...” Luz sighed. Eda just shrugged as she drank from her mug.

“You’re supposed to be up anyway, you’re going with Amity and Mami dress shopping today aren’t you?” she asked.

“Oh yeah… that’s later though, right?” Luz nodded, looking back down at the paper in her hands. “Whatcha lookin’ at?” Eda peered over at the detailed lines on the paper.

“Their plans for the house the construction coven gave us. We had a meeting with them last week about what we wanted. See, here’s the top and bottom floor and these are the two bathrooms, and these are the rooms.” She pointed to the different boxes on the paper, showing both stories.

“You need five bedrooms for the two of you?” Eda cocked a brow.

“No, but Amity wants a study and I want a kind of workshop/office for my projects, and the other two rooms we’ll just use as guest rooms or storage until… we need them.” She shrugged.

Eda caught on quickly.

“Ahh, already planning on a couple of little witchlings, eh?” she grinned and Luz’s face tinted ever so slightly.

“We’re not even considering talking about it right now, no,” she said with finality. “We both do want kids, someday, so we’re just going to build the rooms now. Mami is the only one talking about babies right now.” Luz rolled her eyes.

“Smart, kid. You can barely keep up with yourself right now,” Eda cackled before taking another drink from her cup and Luz pouted.

“Keep it up and Mami and Lily are gonna be the only grandma’s my future kids have.” Luz stuck out her tongue.

That gave Eda pause, she hadn’t even considered that she would be considered a grandmother to Luz and Amity’s future children. It made a warmth spread in her chest that definitely wasn’t the fermented apple blood in her mug.

When she was quiet for a long moment Luz looked back up at her.

“Mom?” she called making Eda blink before she grinned.

“Pfft, who would teach them how to pickpocket then? You two are pretty good with arson and dismantling governments but you still have fumbling hands, Kid,” Eda chuckled, making Luz roll her eyes even though a grin was pulling at her face.

“Don’t tell Amity that,” she snorted.

“Don’t tell Amity, what?” They both looked up as the woman herself came walking around the house.

“Nothing,” They both said quickly.

“Yeah, that’s not concerning…” Amity smirked as she stopped next to them. “How’s it coming?”

“They’re almost done, they just need to level off the ground, and then we’re gonna call it a day, I gotta head to the market after.” She handed the blueprints to Amity, who looked them over.

“You’re not coming to buy clothes with the rest of us?” Eda turned to her.

“Naw, it’s bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding and all that.” Luz shrugged.

“You do remember that you are, also, one of the brides, right?” Eda smirked.

“Yeah, but dresses aren’t my style, I’m gonna wear a suit, so Gus and Edric are going with me tomorrow so we can all get our clothes. It’s just easier to treat me like the groom for the planning bits. Lily is gonna come with us though.”

“What, why Lily?” Eda planted a hand on her hip, frowning.

“Cause the three of us need a ‘voice of reason’ to keep us out of trouble.” Luz air quoted, looking at Amity, who smirked but didn’t look up from the blueprints.

“I’m a voice of… yeah, ok, no, good call,” Eda grumbled, taking another drink from her mug.

“I still think it would be fine…” Luz grumbled and that did make Amity lookup.

“The last time the three of you did something alone together you burned down three blocks in Bonesburough.

“It WAS a war…” Luz crossed her arms, pouting. A tree crashed, making Luz jump, her shoulders tense, the other two witches don’t seem to notice.

"Behave tomorrow and we'll see," Amity teased with a coy smile, handing back the blueprints.

"I'm not a child!" Luz snapped, snatching them back. Eda and Amity blinked at her in surprise. Eda's face turned concerned, but it was Amity’s that morphed into unconcealed hurt, and Luz frowned, hunching and turning to look anywhere but her fiancée's hurt face.

“Sorry, I’m sorry… it’s just…” her hands clenched on the paper and her eyes turned back to all the cacophonous noise the construction witches were making that sounded so much louder in Luz’s ears than it would most days. Today, every crash made her flinch and a quiet anxiety she couldn’t explain buzzed under her skin. “I think I’m just having one of… those days…,” she finally admitted, looking at the ground.

Understanding flashed on Amity and Eda’s faces.

Ever since the war, they both had days like this, days where things were just hard. Noises and lights were brighter and louder, made them jump and tense without reason as if waiting for something to jump out at them from around every corner.

She wasn’t sure if it was better or worse than the night terrors that sometimes made her sit up in bed screaming, drenched in a cold sweat, and heart hammering against her ribs hard enough that she was afraid it was going to break loose and waking the whole house as memories of bloody and flaming battlefields flashed in her mind.

Amity stepped closer, wrapping an arm around her back and Luz sighed, leaning her head on her shoulder, sinking into the warm, comforting touch.

“It’s okay, Luz,” she murmured into her ear and rubbed her back.

She sighed to herself, these days were becoming farther between the more weeks that stretched between them and the end of what was becoming known as the 'War of Reclamation', but that only made the days that did rear their ugly heads that much harder, made her feel like she was failing, she would be having a perfectly good time out in the market or laying in bed when memory would flash through her mind's eye and make her tense. She would be doing so good, and then one of these days would just smack her out of the blue.

She could tell easily when Amity was feeling it, she would clam up, stay in her own head for hours at a time, despondent. Luz had learned the hard way early on when she was like that that she didn't want to be cheered up, she just wanted to be left to the quiet, she would still want Luz nearby, though. She had figured she just wanted to be alone, so the second first time it had happened she went to the living room, leaving Amity in their bedroom, but Amity had followed shortly after and sat silently next to her on the couch, leaning against her. So when she had her days they just sat quietly next to each other on the couch or laying in bed while Luz read or watched dumb soap operas on the crystal ball, her hand in hers and occasionally squeezing reassuringly.

Luz was different, she would get worked up into a tight ball of anxiety and stress, and when it was bad enough, she needed to be comforted, and held tightly, reminded that it was all really over.

"It's not, I can't take it out on you when I'm… feeling off," she grunted. This was far from having a full-on episode, she knew how those went, she was just tense today.

"I understand though, Luz, you know I do, sometimes it happens..." She kissed her temple and Luz made an agreeing noise. "Maybe you shouldn't go to the market today…," Amity trailed off, running a hand through her hair. Some of the worst fighting in the final days of the war had taken place in the market and if Luz was feeling antsy today that could be a recipe for disaster.

“No, I have a huge batch of orders people are coming to pick up today, I have to be there,” she sighed, standing up straight.

“I can take your stuff, kid,” Eda offered.

“No, you’re going dress shopping with the others, it’s alright, I’ll be fine…” she smiled at them, but they both still looked unsure.

“Are you sure?” Amity frowned, looking down at her, worried.

“Yeah, it’s not bad today, just…” another tree smashed to the ground and Luz visibly flinched and Amity’s grip on her tightened. “... that.”

Amity bit her lip. She wanted to argue, but the fact of the matter was that living day to day with their ghosts from the war was something they just had to do. Letting the horrors of the past suck all the life and joy from their present was never an option, even when it was hard some days, but Luz had developed a habit of throwing herself into activities when she was having one of these days to try and ignore it. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it had disastrous results by only upping her anxiousness by adding nervous wood to the fire.

She let go of Luz and summoned her staff, Calliban came to life, crawling off the staff and Amity rubbed his head before he flew onto Luz’s shoulders and nuzzled his snout against her cheek, making her grin.

“At least take Calliban with you today? That way I can be with you in a way,” she asks and Luz smiled at her, that soft, loving smile that made warmth spread through her chest whenever it was on her.

“Yeah, I’ll take him with me. He and Mochuelo can keep me company,” she hums, pulling Amity back in close to press a soft kiss to her mouth. “I love you.” Amity wrapped her arms around her shoulders and mumbled the words back to her.

Eda can’t even find it in herself to roll her eyes at the two this morning, only watching them as Calliban curled himself around Luz’s neck.

The fact that the two’s palisman’s were just as attached to the other as their owners never failed to amuse her. Amity had essentially become one of Eda’s pupils over the years, even if she couldn’t really do magic the way she had once been able to, so when the two had graduated, Amity had chosen the same route as Luz had in following in Eda’s footsteps and carving their own staffs rather then accepting ones from the school upon graduation.

She could still remember the long nights they had sat on the living room floor working on them, constantly knicking themselves, in the days leading up to graduation.

“Is it supposed to look like this?” Luz frowned looking at the misshapen blob of wood that was her palisman so far.

Amity looked over and shrugged, still chipping away at her own hunk of wood with the enchanted chisel.

“I guess?”

Luz hummed, looking up at Eda on the couch questioningly.

“How’s this look?” she held it up for her mom to inspect.

“Not bad.” Eda nodded. “Keep working, you just need to focus,” she said, sipping apple blood out of her favorite mug and Luz sighed.

“I’ve never carved wood in my life, how am I supposed to get a palisman out of this?” she grumbled, laying back on the floor.

“The tools are enchanted, all you need to do is work diligently and focus your will into them, will them to create what you want,” Lilith instructed from her place next to Eda, overseeing the process.

“How will it even have magic when I don’t have any?” Luz frowned, wondering, not for the first time if this was a wasted effort.

“The same way I can still use my staff even though I can’t do spells on my own anymore, Kid. A staff carved by hand from the Isles is its own source of power, this wood is from one of the oldest most magical trees on the Isles, it’s been soaking up natural magic for ages. The ones they give you at school you have to power yourself, they're just conduit’s, but yours will have the wild magic of the Isles embedded into it, you’ll be able to use it, trust me.” Eda assured her with a grin. “Have I ever steered you wrong?” she asked with a confident grin.

“Uhhh…,” Luz hesitates and Amity snickers, while Lilith smirks behind her teacup, and Eda’s face drops.

“Don’t answer that, just trust me. You have a gift for drawing on the magic of the Isles, it’ll work.”

“Okay, okay,” she grumbled, sitting back up and picking up her chisel again and it glowed bright orange in her hand as she carefully resumed chipping and carving away the wood.

“So, what animal did you decide on anyway?” She cocks her head, watching the two.

“It’s a secret.” Luz grinned at her, and winked, Eda just smirked at her.

“What about you, Kid?” She turned to Amity.

“A dragon.”

“Ooh, that’s so cool, Amity.” Luz grinned at her and she smiled back.

“An interesting choice, Amity,” Lilith hummed. “Why a dragon?”

“Dragon’s symbolize power and wisdom, I want to be both.” she looked up at the older Clawthorne, who nodded, smiling.

“Oh, they also bring happiness and good luck.” Luz piped up.

“Are you a dragon now?” Amity mumbled, looking at Luz from beneath her lashes with a small grin, Luz pinked but grinned back.

“I can be your dragon.” she wagged her eyebrows, making Amity giggle but it was drowned out by Eda’s disgusted groan.

“If you two are just gonna flirt, you can work in your room with the door closed where I don’t have to watch,” she told both eighteen-year-olds, with a dead-eyed frown.

“No, no, we’re done,” Luz promised and Eda pretended not to see the wink she threw her girlfriend and rolled her eyes.

These two made her so tired some days with their love that she found both endearing and disgusting in almost equal measure.

The two continued to work on their carvings under the two sisters’ watchful eyes, Amity’s had definitely started to take shape. She shucked off another wood chip when suddenly the wood began to glow and floated above her hands as the wood began to flake away like paper before a perfectly carved dragon with a serpentine body and two stick-like horns dropped into her hand. The wood rippled and turned to flesh, the grain turning to golden scales and a blue mane of fur that ringed it’s head and traveled down it’s back to a tuft of blue hair on the tip of its tail. It’s two long whiskers twitched as it looked up at Amity with bright blue eyes that matched the hair of its mane. Luz squealed in excitement.

“Oh…” Amity stared in awe at the creature sitting wrapped around her palm, his tiny claws poking her skin.

“It’s waiting, Kid,” Eda told her with a grin.

“For what?” she looked up at Eda.

“For you to give ‘em a name.”

Amity turned back to the creature still looking at her, its head tilted as if in question. Amity chewed her lip thoughtfully.

“Calliban,” she finally said and the creature seemed to huff, smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he wrapped himself around her fingers.

“He’s so cute!” Luz squealed, scooting closer to look at the little dragon.

She held her hand up to Luz to better see him. the dragon looked at her before uncurling himself from Amity’s hand and flying over to land on her wrist.

He quickly crawled into Luz’s hand, tail wrapping around her thumb, and Luz bit down on another excited sound as she reached up with her other hand to run her fingers over his scaly body.

“I think he likes me!” She grinned.

“That’s no surprise,” Lilith chuckled from the couch. “A palisman is intrinsically attached to their owner. He can easily pick up on Amity’s... affectionate feelings for you.” she smiled and Luz turned her wide, starry gaze to Amity who just smiled, cheeks pink.

She returned Calliban to Amity’s hand and picked up her own still forming palisman with renewed vigor as the other three watched her chip away at it, tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration.

Within a few minutes, the process was repeated as the wood glowed and bits of extra wood fell away to reveal a dark brown and white spotted owl that sat on her arm and hooted quietly at her.

Eda blinked at the creature with wide eyes and tried her damndest not to get choked up as the creature flapped its wings. She feels Lilith’s hand on her shoulder give a comforting squeeze.

“Ay, que lindo!” Luz bounced excitedly.

“It’s adorable, Luz.” Amity leaned forward, Calliban nestled around her neck, watching the other palisman with slitted, blue eyes.

“I’m gonna call you… Mochuelo!” she declared and the palisman hooted, fluffing himself happily.

“Little owl?” Amity had to think for a second.

“Yeah! My owlet!” Luz nuzzled Mochuelo to her face and he hooted happily. Amity wanted to reach out and pet the owl but knew well enough that palisman’s were special things, almost sacred to their owners, and had a will of their own. She would need to wait until Luz offered or Mochuelo came to her.

Which didn’t take long.

Suddenly the owl’s head spun around on his body and he blinked his large golden-brown eyes at her before flapping his wings and gliding over to land on Amity’s arm. He hooted at her softly, large eyes blinking at her in silent request and she smiled, reaching up to pet his downy soft head, his eyes blinked closed at her touch, chirping. Luz pressed her fists to her cheeks and was grinning so hard it looked painful as she bit down on her happy noises.

“He likes Amity, no surprise there,” Eda snorted, watching the two play with their palisman’s.

What Lily said was true, a palisman could easily read your feelings for someone else, but that didn’t necessarily mean they mirrored them. Your Palisman was linked to you and you alone, she’d go so far as to say to your very soul, but they still had independent wills. The fact that the kids’ palisman’s already seemed just as attached to the other as their owners spoke of something much, much stronger between the two then ‘affectionate feelings’.

She glanced at Lilith who looked back knowingly, but neither said anything. Something to talk about another day.

“I’m going to go pick up your mother. Eda, we’ll meet you when we get back and head to town to meet the other’s.” she turned to her when she and Luz were finally done playing kissy face.

“Sounds good to me,” Eda yawned and turned to go back inside and change.

“Are you sure you’re okay going to the human world by yourself? I can get Mami” Luz looked at her as she spun a finger to make her ears appear rounded.

“I’ll be fine, your mother lives down the street from the portal, I’ll manage, you finish overseeing this.” she nods to the construction coven leveling off the ground for their house.

“Alright… just be careful.”

Normally Amity would roll her eyes, but she can see in her eyes how antsy Luz is today, so she only nods and kisses her cheek.

“I’ll be fine, querida, just wait here.”

“Okay.” She nodded. With that, Amity walked over to the portal door and Luz watched her until she disappeared. She didn’t like Amity going to a strange world she’d been to once on her own but she needed to finish this and it really wasn’t far. Amity could take care of herself

She took a deep breath and reached up to run her fingers over Calliban’s smooth scaled body and silky fur. His presence always did have a way of making her feel tethered to Amity even when she wasn’t there.

The construction coven was rolling the last of the trees away, thumping loudly on the ground.

There was a low, quiet, nervous buzzing under her skin, one of the tell-tale signs that she was having one of those days. Calliban growled lowly, pressing his body into her hand and she smiled, scratching his horned head as he tried to comfort her.

“Thanks, buddy.”

It was only twenty minutes, at max, before the portal door opened and Amity came walking back through with her mother as Luz waved at the retreating construction coven witches.

“Hola, Mami.” Luz grinned as she walked up to them and hugged her mother.

“Oh, is that where the house is going?” she asked once she pulled back and looked at the freshly cleared and flattened space of forest a stone's throw away from the owl house.

“Yup, they’re starting next week. Actually, it’s only gonna take a week, they sent us all their best builders.” Luz grinned.

“We still haven’t decided if we should move in early or wait till after the wedding like we told Eda we would,” Amity added.

“We still need to get furniture, a new bed, forks… spoons… well, everything really.” Luz chuckled.

“Well, I know what I need to get you as wedding gifts then.” Camila smiled.

“We don’t need anything from you, Camila.” Amity waved a hand.

“Nonsense, Carino!” Camila waved a hand.

“I mean… we could use some towels… or plates…” Luz said, Amity looked at her and she shrugged. Camila could only laugh at the two as Eda emerged from the house

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” Eda announced as she walked out of the house. “Oh, hey, Cam," Eda greeted.

"Buenos días, Eda."

Amity and Luz shared a confused look at that before Amity just shrugged.

"Since the construction coven left, I guess I'll go ahead and head to the market.

"You're not coming, Mija?"

"No, I'm gonna get my suit tomorrow with the guys," Luz called as she disappeared inside the house and appeared a few minutes later with her staff and a large bundle of potions hanging from it.

"Welp, me and the boys are off!"

"The boys?" Camila asked.

"Yeah, Calliban and Mochuelo!" She held up her staff and the tawny owl palisman came to life, fluttering his wings as he settled himself on Luz’s shoulder. Calliban popped his head up from around her neck. Camila ‘oohed’ at the small creatures.

“Amity and mine’s palisman’s respectively.” she smiled as her mother looked with wide eyes at the two magical creatures.

“What’s a palisman?” Camila asked.

“I’ll explain it to ya on the way to town,” Eda slapped a hand on her shoulder as she held up her own staff and Owlbert came to life, hooting at them.

“Right, I gotta get going.” She held up her staff and Mochuelo returned to the top, turning back to wood before she hopped on, floating off the ground.

“Hold on.” Amity stopped her, hand on her arm. “Promise me you’ll take it easy today,” she mumbled so only Luz could hear her.

“I’ll try…,” she answered honestly and Amity pursed her lips but nodded, at least her answer was honest.

“Don’t worry about me, mi amor.” Luz kissed her cheek. “See ya later, Mami, mom,” Luz called as she flew off towards town before Amity could say she was going to worry about her either way.

The flight to town usually helped Luz relax but today the roaring of the wind in her ears was too much and she almost stopped halfway to walk the rest of the way to the market. She frowned to herself, she hated feeling like this, just being constantly on edge and for no reason, but she couldn’t get her body to relax. Her anxious energy buzzed under her skin, quiet, but constant.

Luz managed to keep the buzzing quiet though as she set up her stand, Mouchelo hopped around on her stand, hooting at every passerby as Calliban sat on her shoulder, his whiskers twitching and occasionally huffing out a puff of smoke from his nostrils, his constant weight around her neck was reassuring, grounding, like Amity's arms wrapped around her neck, as comforting as it was though, she knew it could never quiet it completely, so she contented herself with selling her potions, busying herself with the hustle and bustle that always accompanied the market.

#the owl house #Lumity #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Eda Clawthorne #Lilith Clawthorne #Camila Noceda #gay #fic #toh

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rohad93 · 4 years

Text

Moonlit Masquerade: Sandcastles

Pt 6 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series

It’s Monday after lunch and Luz is trying to coerce her locker into spitting out her books. Beast keeping doesn’t usually require any, it’s more hands on learning, like how to properly feed a baby chimera or how to pull infected or molting scales of a hydra without the other heads eating you. Her afternoon potions class on the other hand requires several, it's arguably one of the more technical and dangerous tracks… in regards to consequences for the user if you mess up anyway. Or in some cases, the whole class. It wasn’t uncommon for the potions hall to be evacuated because someone mixed something with the wrong thing.

“Just give me the book!” She shakes her fists at the creature as it glares down at her, growling. She growls back and the creature only grumbles at her before it finally opens its mouth and she pulls the book out with a yank and gives it the stink eye.

“Give that locker what for!”

“You sure showed it.” A pair of familiar voices laugh and Luz turns to find the Blight twins standing behind her grinning.

“Oh, hey guys, what’s up?” She knows the twins well enough after two months of dating their sister that they are here for a reason. Everything they do has a purpose, even if that purpose is just to get a laugh or mercilessly tease Amity.

“It’s about Amity,” Emira starts.

“We need your help,” Edric finishes, and both twins look so uncharacteristically serious that her mind jumps to the worst possible conclusions.

“What is it, what’s wrong!?” She drops her book, eyes wide as they switch wildly between the two older teens. The twins jerk, realizing that maybe they came off a little too serious, but for once they are serious.

“Whoa, whoa, nothing is wrong.” Emira holds up her hands to calm her.

“Yeah, everything is fine.” Edric sets a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“You looked so serious, you scared me…” Luz holds a hand over her rapidly beating heart. It was too early in the week for this. Usually something terrifying didn’t happen until at least Wednesday…

“Sorry,” Edric chuckles. “This is serious, just not…,” he trails off.

“The life threatening kind of serious you’re used to getting yourself into…,” Emira finishes for him with a laugh.

“Oh, well, what is it?”

“Well, you know this Saturday is Mittens birthday…," Edric starts.

“What!?” Luz is panicked again, but now for a very different reason. “I didn’t know this weekend was her birthday!”

“Really?” the twins ask in unison.

“She’s never said anything…” Luz’s words are muffled as she drags her hands down her cheeks. What kind of girlfriend is she when she doesn’t know when Amity’s birthday is?!

The twins share a glance, before turning back to the internally… and outwardly panicking human.

“This is why we need your help,” Edric says.

“Huh?” Luz looks between them.

The two glance around the hall and finding it’s mostly empty, turn back to her.

“We know that Amity tells you everything, like about…” Emira makes a face, hesitating, but Edric doesn’t.

“Our family, we know she’s talked to you about our messed up family,” he says quietly with a frown.

“Oh…” Luz says. “yeah...” She nods.

“Well, then we shouldn’t need to tell you that our birthdays are used so that our parents…”

“Mom,” Emira coughs into her hand, as though trying to cover up the word.

“... use our birthday parties to show off to their work friends and acquaintances… it’s not really about us…” The older boy crosses his arms and frowns. Emira shares a similar look.

It makes sense to her, of course she knew Amity wasn’t the only one just trying to get by living under her mother’s thumb, but she never expected the twins to even mention it to her.

“So, they usually suck and the guest list is full of people important to them and their work, not us, and isn’t even usually on our birthdays, just close enough to it that works with their schedules…” Emira also crosses her arms and the bitterness in her voice is clear to Luz as Amity’s had been and she feels for all the Blight siblings, she really does.

“The fact that Amity didn’t even tell YOU about her birthday? Yeah, I think that says it all,” Edric says. “We had Amity’s ‘party’...” he finger quotes and rolls his eyes. “...Sunday, but this coming Saturday is her actual birthday…”

“We have a plan to celebrate.” Emira grins at her. “...and we need your help.” she points at Luz with a grin.

“I’m in!” Luz jumps, pumping a fist. She doesn’t even need to know what the twins are planning or what she needs to do, she’ll do it! Anything to make Amity’s birthday special for the first time since she was a kid.

Both twins grin brightly at her. They know the surefire way to ensure their sister has an actually happy birthday is to get her girlfriend involved. The two have been watching carefully over the last two months, and Amity is the happiest they can ever remember her being since their parents made her stop being friends with Willow, and they know it’s because of Luz.

“So what’s the plan?” Luz looks between the two.

“We’ve been extra good and diligent in our studies the last two weeks…,” Edric says, holding his clasped hands to his cheeks and bats his eyes.

“No pranks of anything…” Emira follows his lead.

“So that we could ask our parents’ to let us take Mittens, and use the beach house this weekend while their out of town again on business, and they said yes.” Edric is grinning

“What they don’t know is that we’re going to be throwing Mittens a surprise birthday party there.” Emira grins too.

"There's no school Friday, so it'll be a whole weekend long bash. We'll get there Friday afternoon and leave the same time Sunday," Edric explains their plan.

“That sounds awesome!” Luz grins, bouncing with excitement.

"We're glad you think so, we need your help with some of the planning," Edric says.

"Whatever you need, I am on it!" Luz hooks her thumb into her chest. She is determined to help make this the best birthday Amity has ever had.

"We figured you know who she hangs out with best, so we thought we'd leave who to invite to you." Emira smiles, setting a hand on her hip.

"Well…," Luz trails off thinking. "She only really ever hangs out with me Gus and Willow…," she screws up her mouth thinking.

Amity has all but abandoned Boscha and her crew, which is for the better she thinks.

"Then just invite them." Edric shrugs.

"Yeah, it doesn't have to be a big party, with a bunch of people that are hardly even acquaintances. Mittens had plenty of that Sunday." Emira rolls her eyes.

"Okay, I'll talk to them." Luz nods.

"Great, one more thing. We're putting you in charge of the cake. Me and Ed will take care of feeding everyone for the weekend and all the little things."

"Think you can handle it?" He leans forward with a teasing grin.

"I won't let you or Amity down!" Luz declares and then the bell is screaming.

"Alright, well we better get to class, we’ll message you the details. See ya, Luz." The twins wave as they walk off toward the illusion track hall.

Luz hurries to potions as she pulls out her scroll and sends a message in her Willow and Gus's group chat with the twins plan before switching it over to her and Amity's private one and sends her a quick message that she won't be able to hang out after school. Eda needs her home, which, yeah, is a lie, but it's for a good cause!

It's hard to concentrate on her potions work when her mind is buzzing with thoughts of the coming weekend.

The cake is arguably one of the most important things and the twins put her in charge of it. She already knows what she needs to do.

When the teacher is preoccupied she checks her scroll to find both Willow And Gus have sent back enthusiastic yeses to the invitations. While she's looking at the scroll it makes a quiet 'ping' and a message pops to the top, from Amity.

"Okay, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Luz grins at her phone as she types back a response.

"Oh, texting in class… that's not very 'top student' behavior, Miss Blight."

It only takes a few seconds for a reply to come in.

"Look who's talking."

Luz grins to herself and starts tapping.

Across the school in the abomination track hall Amity has her book held up to cover her scroll, waiting for Luz's reply that she's sure is coming.

"I've never, in any world, claimed to be the top student, maybe the middle."

Amity rolls her eyes but before she can reply another message comes in.

"But I'll happily settle for dating the smartest girl in school. <3"

Amity's face pinks and she hunkers down farther behind her book as the teacher drones on about the proper stance for abomination summoning. Something she's already covered in her personal time.

Luz is quite pleased with herself, knowing by the long pause that somewhere, on the other side of the school, Amity is probably turning a pretty shade of pink.

She's just about to put her scroll away when it pings again, the quiet sound unnoticeable over all the boiling potions in class.

She taps the message and reads, and now it's her turn to turn color.

"Then I guess I'll just have to content myself with dating the sweetest girl in school. See you tomorrow, xoxo"

As her face burns, Luz both loves and regrets teaching Amity human texting lingo. The girl is going to kill her, and right in the middle of class.

When the final bell sounds for the day Luz makes a straight shot for the owl house. She would have gone straight to town to do what she needs to do but she doesn't have any money on her.

She says quick hellos to everyone as she runs by, going straight to her room and changing before taking some snails out of the small savings jars she started. More often than not Eda's potion clients tip her when she brings their deliveries, and she's started to hold onto it. Eda calls it her 'date money jar’ and Luz can't really argue with that. She mostly uses it when she and Amity go on dates, which, since they can't be seen together very often out in town by themselves, lest someone they know from school see them, she rarely dips into it.

This is a special occasion though, and she's spending it on Amity anyway.

Money firmly in her pocket she hurries back down the stairs and shoots out the door with a call that she's going to town and will be back before dinner.

Leaves crunch under her feet as she runs down the path to town.

Luz has learned that Amity actually has quite the sweet tooth, but one thing she likes more than anything is treats made out of thornberries.

She rounds the corner to stop in front of Amity's favorite bakery and freezes, stomach dropping.

It's closed and a sign hangs in the window.

'gone on vacation, back in two weeks.'

The date on the bottom is from yesterday to well after Amity's birthday.

"Now what am I gonna do?" she mumbles to herself. There aren't any other bakeries in Bonesburough that sell Thornberry baked goods.

She goes home, dejected.

Hooty tries to talk to her but she just nods to whatever he's rambling about as she walks into the house.

Luz walks into the kitchen and plops into a chair at the table next to Lilith, who's is flipping through a book and sighs.

"Hey, kid, what's got you lookin like someone died?" Eda looks up at her as she mixes potions on the counter.

She sighs again and explains how the twins had approached her after lunch.

"Bakery's closed, huh? Tough luck," Eda says, pouring some things into the pot and Luz watches her for a minute before she has an idea.

"Maybe I could bake a cake?" She sits up.

"Sure, why not." Eda shrugs. "Kitchens yours to use if you want."

"Can you help me?" she asks and Eda grimaces.

"Eh, you'd probably be better off on your own, I was never much of a baker," she admits.

Lilith snorts, finally looking up from her book.

"That's putting it mildly. When we were girls you almost burned down the kitchen trying to make bramblewheat bread."

"Happens." Eda shrugged, turning back to her pot. "You'd be better off asking Lilly, she was the baker."

Luz turns to the other Clawthorne sister with wide eyes.

"You bake?" she asks, wonder coloring her words.

"I... dabbled a little when I was younger, she admits and Eda snorts from across the room.

"When we were kids she used to enter baking competitions all the time, and won quite a few of them too, cakes were your specialty." She directs the last part at Lilith, whose face colors a little at the words.

"Can you help me?"

Lilith looks at the child who is looking at her with large, pleading eyes and knows she can't refuse. Mostly because she knows that she still has atonements to make to both her sister and Luz for what she did to them, and she has grown fond of Luz, but the look is hard to ignore too. Like a cerberus puppy.

Eda is grinning to herself from the other side of the kitchen, knowing that her sister isn't going to refuse.

"Very well. What kind of cake did you have in mind?"

"Thornberry" Luz answers immediately and Lilith cocks a brow at that.

"An unusual choice…," she hums, tapping her index finger to her chin as she regards Luz.

"Thornberry is Amity's favorite. When we go to the bakery she always gets Thornberry tarts or muffins," she explains and Lilith hums, thinking.

"We can make a thornberry cake… but you won't find them in town. It's not something people commonly use, the Redstone bakery is famous for them for that reason. We would have to go and pick them ourselves," she explains.

"Okay, where do I need to go," she asks and Lilith chuckles..

"I'm afraid this won't be a quick jaunt to a nearby section of the woods. Thornberrys grow only on the knee."

"Oh..."

"If thornberries are what you want we will have to leave first thing in the morning for the knee." Lilith declares.

"I have school tomorrow…," Luz starts, but Eda snorts.

"Pfft, school, schmool. That can wait." Eda waves a hand.

"While I also believe your education is important…," Lilith begins, pointedly looking at Eda out of the corner of her eye. "We will need to prepare the berries which can take a few days, and you only have until Friday morning; it will have to be tomorrow.."

Tomorrow is Tuesday, she has abominations on Tuesday with Amity, but this is for Amity, and there will be other Tuesdays. It doesn't take more than a second for Luz to decide.

"We leave at dawn!" Luz proclaimed, thrusting her fist into the air.

"That's my girl!" Eda points at her with a grin and Lilith rolls her eyes but can't help but smile at the two.

They leave at dawn the next day, much to Luz's chagrin.

She hadn't meant literally… she'd just really always wanted to say that…

The ride on Lilith’s staff is chilly and the knees biting winter like winds bite at her face.

On the way she sends Amity an apologetic text, saying that Eda needed her to go with her to gather ingredients for potions.

She can tell by the short return text that she's disappointed, but it's for a good cause. Luz is going to do whatever she needs to do to make sure her girlfriend has the best birthday possible, come hell or high water.

The knee is even colder than she remembers now that fall has begun to settle over the Isles.

She and Lilith track through the woods in knee deep snow, foraging.

"Thornberries are oblong, dark red with black stems and leaves and covered in thorns; they only grow in this area of the knee," Lilith tells her as they search the woods for the elusive bushes.

"Red berries, black leaves…," Luz repeats to herself as she weeds through the underbrush of the forest, weaving between the trees, leaving no bush or rock unturned.

They search for two hours, but so far they have nothing to show for their efforts other than red ears and noses from being exposed to the cold.

Luz sighs to herself frustrated. She hasn’t seen one single red berry or even a hint of the black plant.

Lilith keeps searching ahead of them While Luz turns to search another section of trees, splitting up to cover more ground seems like the logical thing to do.

She shoves her way through some scraggly, thorny plants, though not the ones she’s looking for, muttering under her breath. Her nose is numb and her cheeks feel raw, buffeted by the cold winds of the knee.

She shoves some tall bushes out of her way and glances around, freezing at the sight in front of her.

About twenty yards away, is a small field full of black plants with shiny red berries.

And sleeping curled up in the snow near them, is a Slitherbeast, snoring loudly.

Stiffly, with eyes wide, Luz backs out of the bushes.

“Lilith… Lilith!” She hisses in a loud whisper over her shoulder, but stops. There is no way Lilith is going to allow them to pick berries so close to a sleeping Slitherbeast.

Luz frowns, fist tightening on the empty burlap sacks in her hand.

She needs those berries…

Luz swallows thickly, mouth suddenly dry as she quietly pushes through the bushes and with the slowest, most careful steps she’s ever taken, makes her way over to the plants. She glances at the Slitherbeast, still snoring peacefully as she crouches down, wincing at the sound of the snow crunching under her boots as she does. She doesn’t think her heartbeat has ever been as loud as it is right now, A heavy staccato rhythm in her ears.

With careful fingers she begins pulling berries off the plant as quickly and quietly as she can. When this one is picked clean she moves to the next and repeats the process, glancing over at the sleeping creature every minute or so. She’s not paying attention for a second and thorns dig into her bare fingertips.

“Ow!” She yelps and immediately slaps her mouth shut, eyes whipping to the Slitherbeast, its snoring hitches for a moment before returning to evenness and Luz breathes a silent sigh of relief before she goes back to collecting berries as fast as she can.

One of her bags is full, a second is nearly full, and she’s picked about half the bushes clean. She has no idea how many they need and if she’s going to put herself in mortal danger for this she may as well go for broke.

“Luz!” Lilith’s voice cuts through the trees and Luz freezes.

The bushes begin to rustle and Luz whips around in time to see Lilith break through the line of underbrush.

She freezes upon seeing the Slitherbeast, still sleeping nearby and looks between it and Luz, eyes wide before an outraged look comes over her face and she silently points down at the ground in front of her.

The message is clear.

'get over here!'

Luz tiptoes with her bags of berries carefully over to Lilith, but a rock, covered in snow is her undoing.

She can't help but call out as she slips and tumbles face forward into the snow and something else if the pain they erupts from her forehead is anything to go by.

A screeching roar makes her jump up much more quickly than normal and grab her bags, hightailing it toward Lilith, who is now flying toward her on her staff.

Luz jumps on, almost over shooting it and flinging herself over the staff, but a hand fisted into the back of her coat steadies her as they fly away from the Slitherbeast that gives up on chasing them after only a few seconds.

"Whew, that was close…," she breathes.

"What were you thinking?!" Lilith is scowling at her over her shoulder. "That creature could have easily killed you."

"I needed the berries!" Luz yelped, holding up the two filled sacs.

"Ugh..." Lilith slapped a hand to her forehead as they flew away from the knee. She turned back to say something else but saw the blood running down Luz's face from her forehead. It seemed like quite a bit of blood.

"Your bleeding…"

"Huh?" Luz reached up and winced as her fingers touched her forehead over her left eye. She winced and pulled her hand away to find her fingertips covered in blood.

"Well that's not good…”

Lilith pushes her staff faster toward home.

Eda is not pleased when they get back and blood has dripped down half of Luz’s face though she doesn’t seem to be suffering or badly hurt.

They clean off her face and it’s a decent cut, but nothing serious. Luz just shrugs and explains that forehead cuts just bleed a lot, at least on humans.

Eda slaps a white gauze bandage on her forehead and calls it good. Luz hurries to the kitchen where Lilith is washing the bags of berries.

“What do we do first?” Luz looks up at Lilith as she finishes washing them.

“First, you dry these,” she instructs, handing Luz the large bowl full of them. "We’re going to cook them down into jam to use between the layers of cake.

"How do you make jam?" Luz asked, looking up from the wet, shiny, red fruit to gaze at Lilith, brown eyes wide with wonder and the elder Clawthorne sister can't help but smile.

"I'll show you."

The rest of the day is spent making and canning jars of thornberry jam and talking about baking and magic.

Eda is her magical mentor, but Lilith knows more, even if Eda was more powerful by Lilith's own admission, she actually finished school and her years in the emperor's coven had given her access to the castle's vast library full of books about all manner of magic.

She can better explain the theory and technicalities of certain magics better than Eda could.

She has a precise and easy way of explaining things that reminds her of Amity, which makes sense, Amity used to study under Lilith; though now they hardly speak.

Amity had to come clean shortly after their month anniversary about having come to speak to Lilith that day in the market one day when Luz suggested they hang out with the elder Clawthorne for some magical tutoring.

She still hasn't forgiven Lilith for what she'd done to her or to Luz. She knew Lilith was trying, but she wasn't ready to forgive.

She wasn't sure how her girlfriend would feel about it, but Luz said as much to Lilith who listens quietly, intently, frowning, and when Luz is done she just nods knowingly.

"Amity is a proud girl, and after you told us about her family life it’s easy to understand why she can't forgive me," she finally says, accepting, and Luz frowns.

"But you're trying!" Luz argues." She respects her girlfriend's feelings, but seeing Amity upset about her old mentor doesn't make sense to Luz when it's so obvious that Lilith wants to make amends and do better. "I forgave you, and you kidnapped and tried to kill me!" She throws up her hands. Both sisters make uncomfortable faces at that.

"You are…" Lilith hesitates.

"You're a freak of nature when it comes to kindness, Kid," Eda says. "Almost no one is as kind as you, and even most people who are would have a hard time forgiving someone who tried to make a shish kabob out of them." Eda adds her two snails from the kitchen table where she's drinking apple blood out of her 'thirty & flirty' mug and Lilith makes a face but doesn't argue. "Your girlfriend has trust issues with adults,” she says, taking a loud slurp from the cup. "Just look at what you're doing, the look-alikes are having to throw her a completely separate and secret birthday party because their parents use theirs for influence-mongering," Eda growls.

She might give them a hard time and tease them, but Luz knows Eda likes Amity, and is becoming just as protective of her girlfriend as she is of Luz.

Lilith nods.

"Amity is accustomed to being betrayed, manipulated and lied to by the people she is supposed to be able to trust. I broke her trust, so earning it back will take time and work on my part." She then smiles at Luz and hesitates a moment before reaching out to pat the girl's head. "I know you have forgiven me, but I do not yet feel I have earned that forgiveness, and until I do, I will work to earn hers and be worthy of yours. Yours, Amity's and…" Her dual colored eyes flicker over Luz's head to where Eda is sitting at the kitchen table, watching silently with the same eyes.

Whatever long talks the sisters have had about this subject, Luz has not been privy to, and for once she knows better than to ask. Sometimes, things are still quite tense between the two and Luz can't tell what is just sibling bickering or… something else.

"...this is something I must do." Lilith picks up where she left off.

"But I…," she starts.

"That's enough, Luz." Eda's unusually serious voice cuts her off and Luz hunkers down.

"Okay…," she mumbles. Lilith smiles and pats her head again.

"If someday, Amity would like to learn from me again I would be glad to teach her. She has incredible potential and is a very apt and studious girl." Lilith shifts the conversation back to a topic that is always a surefire way to perk Luz up and keep her talking; her girlfriend.

"I know… she was upset last week when she got a A- on our abominations test... I'd kill for a C in abominations!" Luz throws up her hands in exasperation.

"Eh, you'll figure it out before you know it, and then those ugly, goopy things will be all over the house," Eda huffs with a wave of her hand.

"I agree." Lilith nods and Luz looks up at her, surprised. "You don't have an inherent affinity for magic, but where you are naturally lacking you make up for in tenacity and ingenuity." She smiles down at her.

"That's what makes you better, Kid. You work for it," Eda agrees with a grin.

Luz can't help but grin too at the praise.

They finish turning all the berries save a few into jam and store them in the fridge. They need to sit for a couple of days.

One thing they do have in the Isles that Luz is familiar with, oddly enough, is vanilla and it far more readily available then thornberries. They decide to make the layers of the cake vanilla with thornberry jam on top and between the layers.

With the cake well on it’s way Luz only has one thing left to do.

She needs to figure out just what exactly she’s going to give Amity for her birthday.

#Moonlit Masquerade #lumity #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Eda Clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #Edric Blight #Emira Blight #fic #toh #the owl house

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