#also side note she and willow have a lot to talk about in terms of burying emotions ahaha....ha
Text
I'm just thinkin' about how Eda pushed Raine away because of the curse.
She was afraid to let them in. She was afraid to ask them for help, or share how she was feeling...she was scared to show the side of herself that was messy and dangerous and painful and (in her mind) unlovable.
But when she finally let Raine see who she actually was...
...this was their reaction.
...they love all of her. Including those messy and dangerous and painful parts.
#it's loving raeda hours in this chilis tonight#raeda#the owl house#also side note she and willow have a lot to talk about in terms of burying emotions ahaha....ha#for the future spoilers
29K notes
·
View notes
Text
Buffy s3 quick thoughts
Alright I simply must write out Buffy s3 thoughts before we go any further. Up to 3x08 right now.
The double Slayer of it all
This is something I for sure wanna do another post about and who knows how my feelings for about Faith evolve but I just wanna note that the double Slayer thing is super interesting and thus far they're not doing enough with the concept. Sure, Kendra and Faith are both foils to Buffy and they form a spectrum where Kendra was more reserved and organized but also more mechanical and less her own person than Buffy. And Faith is wilder, a loner, troubled kid who's overall more willing to dive in head first and embrace darker aspects which is dangerous no matter how cool she looks doing it. Compared to just one of them, Buffy might seem inadequate from certain aspects but compared to both she's balanced. And the show certainly does still treat her as the one true Slayer which is where my problems come in.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say we'll see a LOT more of the Buffy and Faith parallels and comparisons so I'm not going to lament the lack of that just yet. I do however feel like the existence of another Slayer should be treated more seriously in-universe. Not only should another Slayer be a constant reminder that Buffy died and came back but it should reshuffle her whole identity, hitherto shaped by being the Chosen One. She's now part of the Chosen Two and on the second second Slayer at that and it barely registers as an existential crisis? Couldn't be me. I'll elaborate on this later (if you'd like?) but yeah I just wish the show tapped into the enormous potential of this more. Also the Council?? And the Watchers?? Should not be as chill about this. But maybe there are upcoming things that prove they aren't.
And then there's how quickly Kendra as a Black woman was discarded and not really mourned at all beyond being a footnote in Buffy's really bad no good terrible day. She was a plot device to get the shitty day to be even shittier and replaced with Faith, a Slayer with a much larger role very quickly. And I just think that's not a great look for the show in terms of race. And the 1998 and "different time" card doesn't really fly. It is what it is.
The Scooby Gang and friendships/relationships
Okay first of all I think there's only been a Scooby reference once so far so I hope the fandom didn't stick with this term for two decades because of that one-off line. Second, and I don't even know why I'm getting started on this when I know I won't elaborate properly but they way people are way too quick to be harsh on Buffy bothers me. There are instances when I think she should get what the hell hero moments but my good 3x02 was painful to watch. I'm cutting Willow some slack because generally she's the best friend you could have and handles things way more maturely than the others do, all the while being adorable. But s3 is when I stop resisting being pissed off by Xander. Overall the series does seem aware when he's being an ass but not enough for my tastes and the vibe of 3x02 was way too "both sides were wrong" for my taste when really Buffy was way more justified in her hurt than any other character. I did appreciate Cordy standing up for her, but I also often feel like Cordy deserves better friends - certainly a better boyfriend - and frankly a show that threats her better. God only knows if that show will be Angel or not.
And not only friendships but the romance drama. Sure, it's expected but I can hardly believe anyone actually liked the Willow and Xander thing. Oz is alright but he's also kinda flat as a character and even being a werewolf doesn't give him much colour. Like I said, Cordy has always deserved better than Xander and though I feel like they'll inevitably get back together, I wish they wouldn't. Swear I had more thoughts on romances but they're largely frustrating so I'll leave it at that.
3x07 is always cursed
Actually I'm not done talking about Faith because I really need to talk about the lackluster writing of 3x07. I'm not mad that conflict is arising between Buffy and Faith, I'm mad that it's done poorly. Like I said it's such a rich potential for a juicy juicy dynamic and not only are they not utilizing it, they half-assed their big break of trust moment. Mrs. Post was way underdeveloped, along with Faith's ch actually. Because if only we spent more effort on establishing Faith as someone who's hard to trust and has issues and easily retreats into hurt and isolation I'd be a'ight it hurts to see but I get that she'd be sus of Buffy from now on. But we didn't. There were no real Faith focused moments between her introductory ep and 3x07. She gets offended when the Gang holds the Angel intervention without her but the baddie Watcher barely has to do anything to get Faith to act all stupid about it. The whole Xander scene and then immediately wanting to attack Angel, it just came out of nowhere and honestly made me feel like I missed a scene. It's not completely unreasonable for a Slayer to want to kill a vampire as notorious as Angel. After all, Kendra also left Angel for dead and that was before he went back to being Angelus. But this was just so... convoluted when it really didn't have to be.
This could have been the start of a really compelling arc that hurts me, personally, as someone who's ready to be baited by Fuffy - and for all I know, it might turn out to be delicious. But the initial conflict was so poorly executed and half-assed, and after the Angelus twist of season 2 I'm expecting better. If you can deliver that much of a gut punch with Buffy's bf you can do it with her gf, too. I dare BTVS to break my heart over Fuffy but ONLY if they do it right. Do it, you cowards, write me a tragedy.
And that was Buffy corner with tuiyla! Stay tuned for when we jump back in time and catch up on seasons 1 and 2.
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
If the Spit Hits the Fan (Glee) Part XV
Follows pt I, pt II, pt III, pt IV, pt V, part VI, pt VII, part VIII, part IX, part X, part XI, part XII, part XIII and part XIV.
Being Sebastian's boyfriend really isn't that much different from being his friend. They do a lot of the same things, and talk about the same stuff, only now there's hand-holding and kissing and cuddling with it. Apart from the touching though? Nothing really changes much.
Which kind of makes it sound like how it was with Blaine.
It's not though.
Sebastian will hold his hand in the hallway without worrying about being seen. And yes, Dalton is different from McKinley – so, so much different, and safer – but Blaine even hesitated to hold Kurt's hand in the choir room, surrounded by friends.
Sebastian kisses him in a way that never leaves Kurt doubting there's attraction, and has to stop his hands from wandering too far on a regular basis – yet never making Kurt worry he won't stop.
Sebastian makes Kurt have to stop himself, both from allowing it and from doing his own wandering. They're still too new to go there, no matter how much Kurt's hormones sit up and beg every time Sebastian touches him. (They'll get there, Kurt's sure, just... Step by step, and not yet.)
Sebastian reaches out for Kurt without looking – sometimes seemingly without thinking – to pull him close, and always makes a space for him.
And when Sebastian sings, it's with Kurt, or for him, not at him.
It's a far cry from scheduled make-outs and avoiding even PG13 levels of PDA and being made to feel like his boyfriend is more interested in his own hand than in Kurt.
It's amazing.
There's a rainbow rose hanging on Kurt's door on Valentine's day. He and Sebastian have been dating for two days – a day and a half, if he was to be picky – and Kurt knows from last year's insanity that there's not a flower shop within two hours of Vesterville that carries rainbow roses. They have to be ordered special, and with a lot more warning than two days.
Kurt's not the least bit ashamed about how he squeals, or how he turns on his heel and kisses his boyfriend (!) for long enough to be a little dizzy afterwards.
This isn't to say that Sebastian is a perfect boyfriend. He's not. Then again, neither is Kurt. He's working from romantic movies and the examples from the New directions, and of course from his time with Blaine. Neither is a good road map. Romantic movies have so many flaws Kurt don't really want to examine, and a lot of his favorites are set too far back in time to be useful as guidelines. The loves lives of his old glee mates are...well. They're flawed too, when seen without rose-colored glasses and envy.
As for his relationship with Blaine... Even if he's not counting how it ended that relationship was so very less than perfect, and honestly it was both their faults. Kurt's not without blame, he knows that and can admit it without somehow pretending what Blaine did wrong never happened.
So he's trying to learn from his mistakes, and other people's mistakes, and he does his best to communicate with Sebastian – who does the same in return.
Also, no one can say that they don't argue. They definitely do. They have from the beginning, and they're both opinionated passionate people, so why should they stop now? Their relationship has changed – they themselves haven't.
It's just that they manage to argue in a way that works. That doesn't makes Kurt pull out his claws to eviscerate Sebastian, that doesn't scare Kurt, or make him give in to “preserve the peace”. That, right there, was one of the things that had sent his relationship with Blaine down the wrong turn. When he'd first told his dad that he'd begun dating Blaine Burt Hummel had told him never to go to bed angry with his partner. He'd meant to sort out arguments and disagreements, but Kurt had interpreted it as needing to back down and push down his anger or hurt. With Sebastian he doesn't.
They argue, because that's who – and how – they are, but they do it in as mature and healthy way as they are able to, being teenagers. And they apologize if they step over the line. Not Kurt apologizes, regardless, with Sebastian pouting until he does, but both of them.
If Kurt had to, he'd call it damned near perfect. Instead he'll just say it's good, and he's happy.
That's never something to look down on.
The week of Regionals is weird. Kurt's never felt as prepared or as calm with a competition approaching, which is rather telling. The rest of the Warblers are a different story though. Kurt has made it clear that his primary goal is to beat the Troubletones, and his friends are feeling the pressure. They even ask if Kurt and Sebastian won't reconsider singing 'Human Nature'.
“Look, guys, I'm honored, really, that you would trust me, us like that. But I want to win more than I want that solo. And even if we ignore the fact that Ohio doesn't seem ready for a gay duet, I really do think the setlist we have is stronger as is. The Troubletones have a great presence, and both Mercedes and Santana are awesomely talented. However, everything about the Troubletones are built around them. The rest of the girls are background and dancing. If we go on with a number that's the same they are going to win, for no other reason than that most people find girls prettier and nicer to look at.
“But if we go on as an actual choir, for a show choir competition? We'll win. I'm sure of it. We've worked so hard with our songs, and I wouldn't change a thing about our setlist.”
And it's true. They have an amazing setlist, and everything flows in a way that makes Kurt feel practically professional, and he's not giving that – and its chance to win – up to stare longingly at Sebastian while singing a song that exposes them to the core.
No. Kurt's going to have quite a lot more time in the spotlight than he'd expected when turning down a proper solo. He's going to sing with his friends, and his boyfriend, and he's going to show McKinley what it means to be a team onstage.
The Troubletones are just as amazing onstage as Kurt thought. They've done a good job picking their songs, and Mercedes still has the best voice he's ever heard live. Santana's not quite as talented, but give her the right song – which these are – and she'll blow your mind. Their choreography showcases the girls poached from the Cheerios without making Mercedes look too far behind, and their clothes look good.
Kurt would vote for them any day, even with Rachel being given a place in the background, except this one. This is going to be his day. He meets Sebastians eyes as they line up and nods.
Showtime.
'I want You Back' does exactly what it's meant to, namely getting the audience in a party mood. As the last notes flows into the first from 'Man in the Mirror' the mood shifts and Kurt feels his own shift with it. His solo feels a little raw, because in no way can he sing those lines without being reminded of all the crap he's gone through over the past 6 months.
“...a willow deeply scared, somebody's broken heart and a washed out dream...”
Well. His heart might have been broken, and his dreams about Blaine did wash out. But he's got new dreams, and his hearts healed, and no matter the scars he's whole where it matters. And even if he wasn't? He's looking in the mirror, and he's changing.
They bring the party back with their last song, giving their all transforming the sounds of 'Beat It' to sounds that can be reproduced by the human throat. The dancing is the most demanding Kurt's ever done onstage, and he knows he will definitely be beat after. But they look and sound awesome, and that's all that matters.
Or maybe not, he ruefully thinks as he sees Finn on his feet, jumping up and down and whooping as the Warblers are proclaimed the winners and Rachel looks like she's been pelted with eggs again.
“You stole our songs!”
Of course. All Kurt wants to do is get on the bus, go back to Dalton and celebrate. Okay, shower, then celebrate. So naturally Rachel is waiting to ambush him. Well, that's not going to go the way she's probably thinking.
“Really? Really Rachel, you're going there? You know very well that we didn't steal anything. Oh, I know that there was a suggestion that the New Directions do Michael for Sectionals, but I also know that you were the one who refused to accept it.
“You really blew it there. Michael is a great choice for Sectionals or Regionals, what with the Ohio mindset, and I'm pretty sure you would have won with the setlist the guys suggested. I'm not surprised you put a stop to it though.”
Rachel draws back, looking first shocked, then insulted, then finally like an angry goose, complete with hissing sound. He's not letting it touch him though, lets it run over him, one might say, like water over a goose.
“There are no songs in Michael Jacksons discography that's a given for you, no certainty that you'll be featured. And in the end, that's what mattered, wasn't it? Not that the New Directions won, but that you won. You wanted to beat the Troubletones, didn't you? Wanted to show that you were better than Mercedes, wanted to prove that her beating you when auditioning for Maria was just a fluke. Wanted to prove what everyone knows, that's she's every bit as good as you, and sometimes better, is wrong.
“Well, congratulations. You got what you wanted in terms of the setlist and the spotlight, but you fucked up everything else. And not just for you, but for everyone.”
An expression of pain flies across Rachel's face, and he pushes the knife in a little bit further.
“We weren't as blind though. The minute Finn told me about the Michael setlist I knew it was a winner. As did the other Warblers. I asked Finn first, and Sam and Puck. They didn't think we needed their permission, as you didn't use the songs, but they gave it any way.”
Kurt looks at Rachel, looks at the way she's still fuming, still refusing to see any other side than her own. It won't matter what he says – she'll keep ignoring any and all arguments against her. Once he might have tried harder to make her understand, but as things are he just wants to leave. His boyfriend's waiting and that makes Kurt out of time to spend on his former friend.
“Your loss, our gain.”
He starts to leave, but thinks better of it. He's got one more jab in him.
“Oh, and Rachel? Don't worry. Going to Nationals is a privilege, and we won't waste it. We've already gotten started on a setlist.”
It's petty, but. So's she.
That evening the Warblers celebrate as thoroughly as a bunch of uniformed boys in a well-staffed boarding school can. This means that it's late when Kurt drags Sebastian to his room (unlike him Sebastian's in a single), but neither of them is under the influence of anything but happiness.
That's important to Kurt as they tumble into Sebastian's bed while kissing, because he doesn't want there to be any doubt in Sebastian's mind that when Kurt pulls off his shirt and then goes for his fly it's because he wants to.
Having Sebastian stop him is frustrating, to say the very least.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
It's only the fact that it's Sebastian, and that he's shown himself trustworthy in so many ways over the past months that stops Kurt from storming out.
“I thought we... You know?”
It's so hard to say, to open himself up like this, years of being told he's a predator, or ugly, or plain wrong getting just as much in his way as the fact that he's never done this, and the only time he's been even close wasn't even about him.
Apparently he's going to have to use his words regardless, because Sebastian's not taking the opening.
“I thought we could have sex.” There. Words. Consent. Door wide open.
And yet Sebastian's still not taking the opening.
“What's the hurry?”
Kurt pulls back a little, hurt blooming.
“No, no, don't. Talk to me, okay? I'm a bit surprised I guess. We haven't even been dating for two months yet, and I know this is new for you.”
“So? It's not like I'm waiting for marriage.”
Kurt knows he sounds a bit snippy, and he has sort of been waiting – not for marriage, but for something, some feeling of more. He's got that feeling with Sebastian, so what's the point of waiting any longer? Everyone else his age (or so it feels) is having sex so why can't he?
Some of it must bleed through because Sebastian gets that “aha” look, and nods a bit.
“Look, regardless of what I might have said or implied when chasing Blaine, I'm actually not the whore of Babylon. I have, however, rounded a few bases and enjoyed them. I think you'd enjoy them too, and I would love to find out first hand. But that doesn't have to mean we go straight to fucking.” Kurt blushes, because he might be ready to do it, but those words...
“So. I'm not going to push, and I'm not going to rush. I am more than interested though, I'm just happy to take it a bit slow. To build up to every step. As far as I'm concerned you've earned that.”
Sebastian's looking so earnest it kills Kurt annoyance, and then lightning-quick it's replaced by a vicked look than makes him shiver all over.
“I wouldn't mind showing you the first of many, many bases now though. How about it, babe?”
Kurt doesn't mind either, neither then nor the next day.
42 notes
·
View notes
Text
FULL REVIEWS: “Hooty’s Moving Hassle”
I’ve only seen Howl’s Moving Castle once and I thought it was just okay. The animation was amazing. The story and characters were just...okay. But we’re not here to talk about that today.
A Hooty centric episode? Count me in, hoot hoot. The hype train just keeps on going and I was so glad that I found my new favorite show. AND my niece loved it too, so that’s a huge plus. The only thing that I was sure about this episode going in way back when was that Gus and Willow were going to be in it. Let’s check it out and see if it’s still as good as I remember it, hoot hoot.
“Cards! The paper rectangles that old people think are fun.”
Hot damn, Luz. The episode just started and she’s already out firing shots. But to be fair, she did grow up with smartphones and game consoles being a thing so I doubt she sees the appeal. Do kids even still play with toys anymore? Or do they all just play on tablets now? Probably why Toys R’ Us closed.
Speaking of things that can only happen in this generation, callbacks and continuity! Eda’s curse is rearing its feathery head and like the irresponsible adult that she is, she’s out of elixir, hoot hoot.
It’s not our full introduction to Owlbert, but at least he gets some screen time where he actually moves and stuff. I totally get where Luz and King are coming from. When a friend discovers they’re really good at a game and they want to play it all they time because they like winning but it’s super annoying and you always lose because it’s not a game you would ever play on your own, hoot hoot. Yeah. Eda is that friend.
People watching in a fantasy world would actually be a fun little way to do some worldbuilding, but I’m afraid some people would call it lazy. We get a bunch of set-up for the third act and then the spice of life returns, hoot hoot.
“Who hurt my babies?”
Hyper fangirl Luz spots her babies wearing frowny faces thanks to Amity and her little group. Apparently Amity’s forced friend brigade is going to have a moonlight conjuring which is basically just a slumber party. It’s literally exactly like a slumber party. I have proof. Just check out this video and see that slumber parties are just modern witch gatherings.
Thanks to Luz though, Willow has enough friends to have a moonlight conjuring of her own. Wow, typing out that sentences actually made me feel really sad. Willow is a sweeties and she deserves the world. Okay I feel better, hoot hoot.
Also Penstagram? Really? Like freaking really? I hate Instagram. The feed is never in chronological order, I don’t know what “link in the bio” means and I never have enough pictures to just be on there. I mean, who freaking takes pictures for everything all the time? It’s a madhouse, I tell you. A madhouse, hoot hoot.
Like Owlbert, this is our kinda introduction to Boscha and her crew. It’s not a full introduction, but it’s not like we’re not going to see more of her later. There’s Skara again and Cat. Thank you, Owl House wikia.
Eda’s dealer suggests going to the Night Market to pick up what she needs and shoots down Luz’s moonlight conjuring idea. But Luz isn’t going to let something small like a parent’s permission stop her from helping her friends, hoot hoot. So Luz pulls the laziest plot device in all of fiction and lies.
Sleeping King in a baby sling and Willow saying “I’m a sneaky sneakster” hoot hoot? This episode is all kinds of cute.
Eda heads to the night market and Luz has her little slumber party. A sad thought just occurred. What if this is also Luz’s first slumber party too? Her mom did say that she didn’t have any friends. I made myself sad again, hoot hoot.
Luz, ever the good host, tries to accommodate her friends and they get to work on the moonlight conjuring. Luz chanting that she doesn’t know the words made me laugh. Especially because I’d do the same thing.
Side note, but Gus insisting that Beefy Bob is a figurine is just kinda funny. All I kept thinking about was the difference between action figures, dolls, and figurines. Dolls don’t move but you play with them. Action figures do stuff and you play with them. Figurines don’t move and you don’t play with them, hoot hoot. “A real man never takes accountability” is hilarious and unfortunately true.
“Light as a feather; stiff as a board. Light as a feather; stiff as a board.”
“Something ridiculous this way comes, hoot hoot.”
And just like that, our heroes conjure the whole house. How? Why? Never mind that shit, here comes Bosha! And the set up from early in the episode, hoot hoot.
Meanwhile at the night market, Eda meets the recurring villain of the series. I like to call these guys jobber villains.
For those who don’t know, a “jobber” is a pro wrestling term. It’s a guy who is hired to just lose to the big name guys. I use the term “jobber villain” to describe any antagonist who isn’t the main villain who is used frequently to lose to the heroes. Think Team Rocket in Pokémon, Dr Light in Teen Titans, Ludo in Star vs the Forces of Evil, etc, you get the idea.
Tibbles hustles Eda over the Hexes Hold ‘em game and we get a bunch of funny ass jokes that I dare not ruin for you. The two plots cross for just long enough for Luz and co to get busted.
I have concerns, hoot hoot.
Meanwhile, back in the other failed moonlight conjuring, the moonlight conjuring has failed. The girls do what every young girl would do in that situation and complain on social media. Amity gets a really cool shot that I don’t have and the episode ends with a hint that someone on our main trio is more powerful then they are letting on.
FINAL SCORE: 5 - Loved it.
This episode is funny as hell. That’s the main highlight for me here. There are so many good jokes especially since it’s my type of dialogue humor.
Lots of character work. The reveal that Willow and Amity used to be friends adds depth to both characters, making the relationship a bit more complex than just bully-victim scenario.
I love it whenever Luz speaks Spanish. As a Hispanic guy myself, I’m really happy about this kind of representation. This plus Marco Diaz.
We kinda get introductions to several characters who play bigger parts in later episodes. Bosch and Owlbert get soft intros while Tibbles takes the center stage as the episode’s main villain.
I’ve never been to a slumber party but I doubt they’re as fun as this.
.
.
.
I forgot what the next episode is so I don’t have a lead up line for it...hoot.
83 notes
·
View notes
Text
Flipside (Final Rose AU)
Note: This is set in the same AU as Mirror Mirror.
Note #2: This occurs in the Serah x Snow x Willow side, which is also the Summer x Lightning x Fang x Tifa side.
X X X
“You’re my best friend,” Serah hissed. “So I’m going to give you three seconds to explain before I kill you.”
Vanille took one look at Serah’s face and used those three seconds to scramble behind Lumina. The other woman met Serah’s gaze evenly, but there was no mistaking the meaning of the Aura constructs that formed around them. Naturally, Serah wasn’t having any of it, and her Aura began to leak into their surroundings. The clock on Vanille’s wall stuttered back and forth.
“Serah.” Snow put one hand on Serah’s shoulder. “This isn’t helping.”
Serah rounded on him with a growl, but her expression softened when Willow mirrored Snow’s gesture.
“Serah, please.” Willow nodded at the chairs. “Why don’t we all sit down, so Vanille can explain?”
Serah took a deep, calming breath and sat down. She glared at Vanille. “Start talking.”
X X X
“What you need to understand is that the multiverse exists. There are not only vastly different universes out there but also universes that are highly similar to our own. The research I’m currently conducting is designed to let us peer into other universes.”
“For what purpose?” Willow asked.
Vanille shrugged. “The original idea was to see if there was anything out there we could use. Even if we can’t reach in and take technology, if we can observe it being used or constructed, we can reverse engineer it on our end. Likewise, if we stumble across a universe that has found a better way to deal with Grimm, we can steal their idea.”
“Sounds reasonable enough,” Snow said. “What’s the catch?”
“If you imagine the multiverse as a three dimensional space, then the universes that are closest to ours are the ones that are most similar. The device we use to look into other universes is limited in how far it can see. As a result, we can only really look at what are essentially alternate versions of our own world. At least, for now.”
“Alternate Remnants?” Serah frowned. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“Precisely.” Vanille glanced at Lumina, and Aura constructs began to appear to provide images of what she was talking about. “The closest versions of our world are actually extremely similar, so we can’t really glean too much from them in terms of technology. However, I did find out that an alternate version of me is working on similar research. We ended up making contact.”
“Good grief,” Serah muttered. “There are more of you out there?”
“Lots more. Anyway, this other Vanille was able to show mathematically that her world is the closest to a ‘standard timeline’. In other words, we’re technically the alternate version of her world and not the other way around.”
“How does that even work?” Snow asked.
“The math is stupidly complicated, even for me, but I’ve checked it multiple times. She’s right. Anyway, we were discussing ideas for how to permit travel between our worlds.” Vanille lips twitched. “Can you imagine having access to two Lightnings? What about two Fangs? And two Averias and two Dianas?”
Serah’s eyes widened. “That could just end the battle agains the Grimm.”
“Exactly. We’d borrow all of their powerful hunters, wipe out the Grimm here, and then return the favour or vice versa. Either way, both our worlds would benefit. Of course, making a portal was never going to be easy. We were going to ask our respective Lightnings to help, but we wanted to try an experiment. Or rather, I had an idea.” Vanille paused. “I needed Weiss’s help with it because there are some things her Glyphs are much better at than current technology. Unfortunately, it went awry.”
“Awry?” Willow sighed. “I think that’s understating it immensely, Vanille.”
“On the upside,” Vanille said. “Both versions of me are working on a solution. It shouldn’t be too much longer before we get her back, and I know they’ll take care of her on their end.”
Serah dragged in a deep breath. “Out of morbid curiosity, what makes their world different from ours?”
“Oh, boy,” Vanille said. “It’s a good thing you’re sitting down for this. Basically, you, Willow, and Snow aren’t married. Only you and Snow are. Lightning doesn’t have a harem.”
“Wait...” Willow blinked. “If I’m not with Serah and Snow, then...”
“Yeah. Snow isn’t Weiss’s father in that world.”
X X X
Author’s Notes
Alternate Vanille is lucky she’s still with Lumina. That said, she’s got her work cut out for her. It might just be time to bring in the Lightnings and have them work their magic.
If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.
I also write original fiction, which you can find on Amazon here or on Audible here.
8 notes
·
View notes
Note
I’ve been binge reading all your amazingly thoughtful analyses and I was wondering, if you could give the Blight Twins their own episode, (like separate one for Edric and one for Emira because I’ve seen how twins don’t want to bunch together all the time and be their own person) what would you want it to be about?
OH-HO, this is SUCH a flattering ask and I really must thank you for it! It means a lot…
With Emira, I hate to be obvious, predictable, main-stream, and pick a low-hanging fruit… But I want her to meet Viney. Emira is someone who is concerned the most of the two about having an actual identity on her own, and this likely includes making friends… So why not go get to know the Detention Kids, who are already rebellious in their own way, but while still managing to flex their individuality?
Just imagine an episode of Emira getting to know Viney, maybe wanting to be close… But Viney, well. She’s someone who’s defensive because she’s been hurt in the past, and after what she’s heard of the Blights and Emira’s penchant for illusions, she is rightfully going to be suspicious. So we’ll have Emira possibly wanting to abuse the Secret Room of Shortcuts for pranks, but then Viney wants to preserve it mostly as an educational tool, and Emira doesn’t CARE for education…
And this could lead to Em perhaps being too dismissive and even harsh towards Viney, because she seems like someone who while she tries to self-reflect, she sometimes doesn’t fully realize when she’s just parroting her parents’ abuse. And so we have Emira learning to be more mature and straight-forward, to cease the pranks and mind Viney’s feelings and uncertainty… Being truthful and tender to lower her guard, and Emira actually having to openherself to another person that isn’t Edric.
Perhaps Em admits WHY she’s like this to Viney, who also introduces her side of the story… And they get to be actual friends! Emira learns to respect who Viney is as well as her interests, Viney gives Em a chance and lets her in figuratively AND literally… Maybe Emira even discovers an actual enjoyment of certain classes beyond Illusions! Or she doesn’t, but either way she may not be too much like Viney, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends! And not being like someone she’s close to is… HONESTLY what Emira was aiming for, only now she can still respect these differences too!
As for Edric…
Edric is a dude who prioritizes companionship over all-else. But he’s also kind of a goofy kid sometimes, and that’s worth noting. Depending on how Lilith’s character development goes, and how she ALSO was someone who was clingy towards her own sister and didn’t respect Eda’s autonomy as an individual to be her own person, insisting that being together mattered most… I’d LOVE to see Lilith perhaps give Edric a few pointers on this, maybe here them talk about their feelings of crippling loneliness! Let Ed get to be a dumb kid sometimes while Lilith isn’t sure what to make of his antics while Luz just enables him. It’d be amazing to see Lilith and Edric talk about their respective relationship towards Amity…
Ed knowing this is the lady Amity looked up to, having had reservations because she was a bootlicker; But then Lilith threw it all away –albeit not entirely willingly- for Eda and Luz! So, maybe she IS good for something after all…! Meanwhile, Lilith possibly knows of Amity’s occasional issues with her twin siblings…
And she thinks of her own time with Eda. So, she decides to impart some wisdom to Edric, about how you should always love your sibling and never go too far, while still letting them be a person… And somewhere along the way, Edric realizes this wouldn’t just apply to him and Amity, but him and Emira too.
Then Lilith and Edric form a found-family bond, maybe Ed accidentally calls her Mom as well… Maybe even Lilith lets him have fun with King and Owlbert, because the kid wanted pets as a child but never got them because of his strict parents! Not sure how King would feel about Edric though, but I could also imagine them getting into some WEIRD antics alongside Luz! And come to think of it…
Maybe a pet WOULD help Edric’s issues, though unfortunately I can’t really see Lilith being able to help by getting in a good word with the Blight Parents given her, um, employment status. And if Edric could just get away with hiding a pet through illusions, he’d have probably done it by now, so. On another note, Lilith and Edric both wear glasses (or at least Lilith used to), so I’d LOVE to see the two become more comfortable about doing that around each other.
For either twin, maybe both, I’d also like to explore their thoughts on Willow… They knew she was Amity’s best friend, but did they know WHY Amity cut ties? They seemed legit concerned in Lost in Language over the way ‘Amity treats people’, so I think the twins had worries about Amity pushing away her best friend like that, potentially because of their parents (though to what degree they had no idea)! Not to mention, how do the Twins feel about Boscha…?
Boscha is ALSO a trouble-maker, and a bit of a bully herself; Though I don’t think to the same extent as Ed and Em were, and arguably without as much of a reason for it. This was someone Amity hung around with for years, do they know it was against her will? Surely the Twins realized how little Amity smiled around Boscha and her posse, did they have concerns that Amity was being too cold to them, not realizing Amity was forced to hang out with them to begin with?
How do they feel about Boscha and Amity being on bad terms, about the former breaking the latter’s leg… And what was Boscha’s perspective on the two, and how Amity disliked them? Maybe Ed and Em are harsh towards Boscha for the Grudgby incident, but then they also seem pretty open-minded when it comes to people outside of their family… So maybe they consider Boscha’s side of the story and how Amity WAS cold to her and the others. And maybe the twins learn about what their parents ordered, and tell Boscha to give some peace of mind for her, to give closure…
Sure it hurts for Boscha to hear Amity never DID like her, but in this case, it really IS for her own good. Maybe it’ll be like Understanding Willow, only instead of Luz it’s Ed and Em, and instead of Willow it’s Boscha; Perhaps we learn more of Boscha’s background, and we get to see her and Amity reconcile, perhaps with Boscha finally learning to respect Willow and Luz on Amity’s behalf… Or they at least acknowledge that both were put into a messed-up situation, a false and thus unhealthy friendship, and decide to leave without any grudges. Who knows?
I’d honestly love to see Ed and Em perhaps act as like… surrogate older siblings to Boscha, because now they get to make more friends outside of the family (and at least their parents can’t disapprove of Boscha), and they talk about their own mutual concerns and thoughts of Amity, with the twins vouching for Amity while at the same time considering what Boscha has to say and relaying that… Maybe the twins, who are willing to be self-aware, even if they’re not the best at it, tell Boscha to cut out the bullying, that she doesn’t need to be on top or be beholden to what anyone else says!
I think it’d be sweet, honestly, and I’d love to see more of Boscha’s friends for that matter! Because we know that while Amity was never close to any of them, she’s still an inherently good person and thus felt bad about injuring them in Grudgby; Especially since to Amity’s perspective, she’s no doubt been ‘lying’ to Boscha about their friendship, even if it wasn’t her fault!
But, yeah… Sorry for getting a little off-topic, but given how much this show stresses relationships and found family, and blood-family being obligated to RESPECT the found family of their relatives… I just think it’d be fascinating to see, on top of Emira and Edric having their own personal journeys of self-discovery! Because as we see with Luz, being your own individual doesn’t mean cutting ties from everyone else, and arguably…
Making new connections can HELP one make an identity! Because you still choose to make connections not out of obligation, need, and situation… But because it’s what you want and it’s all YOU as a result, because desires are a reflection of a person! And maybe then, Emira and Edric can go back to being Twins and closest friends, now closer than ever in a healthy sense, because now they’re still their own individuals and respect one another as such, and are fine with letting each other be people!
That they know who they are, and so the Twins don’t need to worry about losing sight of that identity whenever they hang around, because in the end… While MAYBE some of their closeness came as a result of having no one else and needing companionship against their parents, I really do believe that Emira and Edric, despite potential fears suggesting otherwise, DO love and enjoy one another’s company and always will, perhaps more than they do others’! And as long as they’re their own people, that wouldn’t even be a bad thing, honestly…
Just, the idea of Emira and Edric trying to figure out who they are separate from one another, and in learning so, their bond with each other becomes even stronger and healthier! That they become more comfortable, and more close, because they can afford to be truly honest without worrying about losing the other and having nobody else!
Once the confusion of who they are is cleared, the Blight Twins can go back to enjoying one another unconditionally, neither worrying about being different nor the same! Just natural sibling love…! No more concern about losing oneself amidst the other, because Emira and Edric are truly their own people now, and thus they aren’t dependent upon one another and can be fully healthy to each other!
Maybe by the end of their respective journeys, Emira and Edric learn to respect the wishes of one another, while still staying the same… With Edric realizing that he can’t hold onto Emira possessively, and Emira recognizing Edric’s genuine love and concern for her, that she doesn’t need to ‘cut ties’ to be her own person!
…Look, I just have FEELINGS about these twins, because they’re the children of the Blight Parents and that alone implies issues, but we already SEE a few concerning things, and I just want them to reconcile after Grom and heal from the pain of rejection! Them being stood up is the last we see of Emira and Edric both in terms of official content and chronology, I demand CLOSURE and emotional reparations for these kids!
#the owl house#owl house#the owl house emira#emira blight#the owl house edric#edric blight#the owl house viney#vinira#the owl house boscha#the owl house lilith#lilith clawthorne#the owl house willow#ask
147 notes
·
View notes
Text
Help? Remus Lupin x Ravenclaw!Reader
A/N: James, Peter and Sirius want to become anamagi to help Remus on full moon’s but they need Y/n’s help to do so
Warning: Mentions of self harm, suicide and sexual assault, light cursing
__________________________________________
The bell had just rung and it was the end of classes for. She waved goodbye to Professor McGonagall before walking out of class and making her way down to the corridor across from the Womping Willow. She sat her bag down and grabbed a sketchbook before sitting in the windowsill so her eyes could see the beauty of Hogwarts grounds before her in a clear distance view.
The girl closed her eyes and let the pencil in her hand move freely liek the wind on a summer day.
Her peaceful anti-depression session was interrupted by the pounding of oncoming footsteps from afar. She opened her eyes and came to see the three figures of James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black before her.
“ And what might your reasons be for interrupting my peacful rest boys?”
The boys came to a stop and moved to sit next her on the windowsill, leaning in as if to whisper. Sirius, the one closet her, leaned in and said,
“ Y/n I know you're an animagus, saw you transform one day during the summer. We need your help to become anamagi. For reasons."
The girl leaned back in shock. How the bloody white did he figure out? Was Sirius Black a stalker? She quickly placed the abandoned pencil behind her ear and leaned in as well.
" First of all, how the bloody hell do you know where I live?! And second thing, don’t attempt to make up some lie to me about your reasons behind doing this because I already know why. You want to help Remus, he’s my best friend why wouldn’t I know?”
Sirius moved back in surprise.
“ I live two houses down from you. But either way, will you help us or not?”
" Of course I will dip shit.”
Y/n pulled away from the group huddle and moved to the floor to scour through her bag for a journal. While doing so the sock on her ankle rolled down slightly to reveal blood-stained bandages wrapping around it.
The girl quickly opened the journal and looked up as James sat next her on the floor and took the book from her, showing it to his other two mates.
This is how she found herself standing in an open section of the Forbidden Forest around a newly found Black Shaggy dog, field rat, A proud Stag and a rain soaked Remus Lupin during a lightning storm.
It was pouring down rain, flashing lightning and her and Remus had just witnessed James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew turn into animagi and back. By then you could see right through their clothing.
Remus was attempting to tell the group something but the pounding rain had been coming down too heavy for them to hear so instead he opted to use his arms and point out what he was saying. The four of them started to run back off to the castle in their anamagi forms as Remus struggled to keep up from behind.
Remus made the four of them change back to human form after they’d reached the castle and Y/n had to wrap her arms around her chest in an attempt to cover her chest. The shirt she’d been wearing was now see-through, as were the others’s. James silently jumped into the air with a fist-pump before Sirius pointed out that they needed to move back to the dorm room before Filch caught them.
Peter suddenly spoke up, causing the rest of them to turn their attention to the boy. “ We should celebrate.”
__________________________________________
Y/n walked over to the spare bed in the Mauraders dorm-room and grabbed a handful of random articles of clothing to wear before swiftly moving over to the bathroom to change. She exited the bathroom and went back to the dorm at Remus words.
" Who wants to be tribute and tell the house elves to bring food and drink up here with the cloak?" Everyone but James called out ‘dibs-not’ at the question.
The girl was grabbing one of Remus’ books when Sirius showed up and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her body off the ground and he walked over to where Remus stood, ignoring her continus attempts to get him to stop. Then, he threw her, thankfully into Remus’ arms where he caught and held her to his chest where she stayed and tried to calm herself down from the panic attack eating away at her insides.
Luckily for Sirius, James showed up the very next second, taking away Remus’s opportunity to tell off at Sirius for what he’d just done to the girl. James moved over and threw his cloak on the bed, motioning to where a small cart of snacks and water lay in the middle of the circle of pillows they’d made. Remus slowly pulled Y/n and himself down to the ground where she sat, chest heaving slightly, next him while he kept an arm wrapped around her waist protectively.
“ Okay lads, we’ll be playing a muggle game Remus talked about before. I forgot what it was called but I have a feeling it was called three truths and a lie or something.”
Once the circle went around to Y/n she began to panic, I have no clue what to say. Remus noticed this and took her hand in his before brushing away the hair from her collarbone and peppering light kisses to her shoulder to calm her nerves. Which did work in a way.
She took a moment to compose her wondering thoughts before stating, " I've been to more than four states, my favorite color is blue and I can speak fluent French."
They stared around at each other before Remus confidently said, " Your favorite color is blue, you've been to more than four states and you don't speak fluent French?"
She nodded and exhaled in relief, panic washing away.
Peter looked around the group and grabbed a candy before saying, " We've known you for about four years but we still don't know much about you. I mean we know a lot but I have a feeling there's more to you y'know. I mean, from what you've told us I never would've guessed that you'd even been out of state to begin with."
" Well, we play the other game, twenty questions, next so you'll probably get most answered then.”
The girl leaned back into Remus as the rest of them grasped different food as such and started to much down. Once they’d all finished their foods James decided it was time to start.
“ Y/n, my first question is, do you sing? Like even just lullaby’s?”
The girl nodded slightly and nudged Remus’ side with a cheeky grin.
“ Yep. I used to lul Rem to sleep when we were kids and I stayed over at his house.”
“ shut up...”
"Do you have any friends from other houses?" She sighed in defeat, " The people in Ravenclaw aren't the best friend material so I have a few friends from other houses. You guys, Frank Longbottom and one of my Hufflepuff friends, Nathan Stricklen, that's about it. I only ever talk to other people if I'm in a project together with them.”
Peter continued from where James left off. " Do you have any siblings?"
Remus saw as her body went tense and rigid.
" Yeah, an older sister and brother." Remus noted that Sirius noticed the tension and how he had decided to ask another question.
" First question, how many questions are we at? Second question, why'd you tense up? I really don’t mean to pry I’m just concerned." Y/n sighed and pillow flopped backwards before Remus pulled her back up, gently prodding her up, his hand in the small of her back.
“ Six questions. I have two siblings and I only tensed up because my brother and I don’t see on the same terms and I never see my sister.”
Remus looked at Peter with some weird expression and Peter looked back, shrugging.
Remus sighed before turning to Y/n with a guilty expression. " Peter is too shy and wants to know why exactly you don't see eye to eye with your brother and he also wants to know why you never see your sister. Don't get upset at me if you don't wanna answer either cause it's not my question."
" Okay. My brother has certain, views, on my life of which I don't like. For example, he says I should be shipped off and sold to some random dude halfway across the world who wants me for his wife and I don't want that to happen, he things I have a perfect life with perfect friends and family and grades and crap like that when he basically knows nothing about me, he prohibits me from dating or loving people because he says dad would get better profits from just arranging me a marriage with some 35 year old pervert in Spain, he doesn't care about me at all. I don’t see my sister because she died in her second year. That's your eighth question so hurry up and ask me another one."
Sirius came up and tentatively asked, " You don't have to answer if it's too personal but, how come you hate going home and you never talk about your home life?"
Remus turned to the boy with a glare so sharp it could cut glass.
" My dad became an alcoholic, lost his job, is almost never at home when my brother is. When my brother isn't at home, which happens a lot, mind you, he becomes an abusive, rapist, alcoholic psychopathic maniac and my brother doesn't know about it at all. He's almost always over at a friends house for the whole summer at a time so he's pretty much turned blind to what our "home" has turned into.
" My sister committed suicide two years after my mother died. If she didn't she would be in seventh year by now."
The boys stared in shock while Remus looked anywhere other than my gaze.
" She was in her second year at Hogwarts, age twelve, twelve. I was nine, she was twelve and I was nine, my brother was ten. He never figured out why she did it he just thinks she was mourning mum and it became too much.
Remus looked back at Y/n and bit his lip, slipping his hand into hers and threading their fingers through. Sirius stared at the girl, eyes full of knowing, while Peter hugged his teddy bear and James gaped at her.
" How, how old were you when the abuse and rape started?" James asked. She took a moment to think and Remus laid his hand on her shoulder, whispering.
" Thee abuse started when I was eight 1/2, he was raping my older sister at that time and, I hated it, when she died, he started raping me
" and I was nine at the time. I don't see eye to eye with my brother because he has no idea that this is going on and thinks dad is wrapped around my finger."
Sirius looked at the ground, avoiding the girls gaze while Peter did the same. James kept his head down, gaze on her as Remus started to pull her into his lap, arms wrapping around her waist, hugging her to his chest and chin finding it’s way to her shoulder.
" Guys, it’s really late, we should just crash and go to bed." James and Sirius nodded while Peter hopped up and made a beeline for his bed. James said goodnight before getting up and walking to bed, Sirius turned on Remus's lamp before turning off the big light and getting in bed.
Remus still made no move for his bed.
" Do you want me to move so you can get in bed or?"
The boy shook his head, nuzzling his nose into her neck.
Remus turned the girl around in his lap to where their faces were nearly touching and he closed the space between the two in a loving kiss of which she returned. After they broke apart he pressed gentle kisses to her Cupid’s bow and forehead in an attempt to soothe her beating heart. Remus wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s thighs and lifted her up, wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved over to his bed and pulled the curtains around it.
Y/n pulled off her shirt and bra as Remus looked away and pulled off his shirt. He handed it to her with his eyes the other way. Sure, she was his girlfriend but that didn’t mean he would look at her while she was in the nude without her permission.
Remus soon climbed into the bed and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body to his chest as well as pulling the duvet covers of the bed up, after she’d climbed in before him. He nuzzled his head into her neck, placing a soft kiss to her sensitive skin, and right as the girl was about to fall asleep she heard Remus quietly reach out to her and say, “ goodnight kitten...”
__________________________________________
Drink some water, eat some food, take a screen break and never forget you are loved.
^ - ^
#remuslupin#remuslupinxreader#the mauraders#harry potter#james potter#sirius black#sirius x lupin#remus lupin smut#hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry#peter pettigrew#moony wormtail padfoot and prongs#Hogwarts
101 notes
·
View notes
Text
Fandom: Tangled
Word Count: 1054
Gen Week Day One: Celebration
Summary: Willow arrives a week late after the ceremony presenting her young niece to the people of Corona. She doesn’t find the celebration she expected.
Note: I’m probably gonna stick to short stories for gen week, so I’m gonna wait until the end of the week to post it all in the same work on ao3! (okay i’m also being lazy because i don’t wanna find multiple titles ghdjhfjd). Anyway, gen fics are great and this week is a really cool idea, thanks @purplespacefairy for organising it!!
Willow was used to being late. Arianna always got angry at her for never showing up on time, but she was simply not made to keep a schedule - mostly because she got distracted easily on her travels. To be fair, this time, she had a good reason. Yes, she had missed the ceremony presenting her niece to the people of Corona, and yes, she knew her sister would be mad at her, but it was because she had found the coolest toy ever in a -somewhat shady- shop, and she knew the kid would love it. Rapunzel was going to be the coolest baby ever too, and Willow was fully ready to supply her with all she might want to achieve that. (Though, at three months old, she wasn't exactly sure what a baby could do. Would she walk? Talk? Willow didn't know a whole lot about babies. Eh, the gift could wait a few years in storage if needed.)
Anyway, that pit stop meant that Willow was, uh... some days late. A week, some would say. Nothing big, of course, but she could already hear Arianna complaining about it, because Arianna was always complaining about something. Willow's only hope was to try and distract her with baby thoughts, because moms loved talking about their babies. Wow, it was still weird to think of Arianna as a mom. Would that strategy even work on her? It was worth a try.
Willow had expected to find Corona’s celebrations for the princess still in full swing, the citizens always happy to have a party. What she hadn't expected, had been to find Corona with guards literally everywhere for as far as she could see, and not one sign of Coronans laughing and dancing like they usually did. She hesitated, before deciding to sneak her way to the castle - she was on good terms with most of the guards, sure, but she didn't especially want to be escorted to the castle's doors, and that was what would happen if they spotted her. She liked to be free of her mouvements, thank you. She tried to understand what was going on, some kind of worry starting to grow in her mind, but the few sentences she was picking up on didn't help, and she decided that asking Arianna and Frederic outright would be easier.
The castle felt somber, when she entered. Where the guards had been loudly making themselves noticed everywhere in the streets, the castle's staff was nowhere to be seen. Everything was so… quiet. Willow was officially worried now, and didn't lose any time going to Arianna's bedroom, knowing that this was the place her sister was most likely to be in.
She was about to knock, when she heard muffled sobs coming from the other side of the door. No matter what, she had always been able to recognise Arianna.
"Ari?" she said softly as she entered, making her sister startle from where she was kneeling, and look up at her with red rimmed eyes. "I- Ari, what happened?"
She didn't wait for an answer to rush to her sister's side, kneeling next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. Arianna was a lot of things, but she was not a crier. Once, on a dare, Arianna had badly broken her wrist, to the point where the bone had been sticking out, and yet, her sister had never cried, not even when they reset it. So... So Willow knew that this was not a good sign. When Arianna did cry, Willow knew that things were serious, because she barely ever allowed her tears to fall.
Looking over her trembling form, Willow noticed that she was holding little baby clothes in her hands, and her heart sank.
"Is- Is Rapunzel-" she choked, unable to even voice the thought.
She saw how Arianna tried to compose herself, tried to look like a queen despite the cracks running through her facade.
"Someone took her," Arianna croaked out, tears pouring into her eyes again at the words. "We were sleeping, and she- a woman took her, and we couldn't catch her, we... Willow, they- they can't find her-"
A sob broke through her rushed sentences, and suddenly, Willow was holding her sister as she cried in her arms, trembling with the force of it. Arianna's chest was heaving, and Willow could do nothing but to hold her, feeling the tears soaking through her clothes. She- Rapunzel was- Willow couldn't wrap her mind around that, or around the pure grief she could feel in Arianna. She held her sister tighter, helpless to comfort her. They hadn't seen eyes to eyes very often in their lives, but to see her so... small, and defeated, made Willow's eyes sting too. Arianna wasn't supposed to be like that. Willow wasn't supposed to be the one comforting, she...
She hadn't even met her niece. She had thought she had all the time in the world, and what was a little celebration missed when there would be so many others later? She had expected to come into the castle, met by the warm smiles of the people which had missed her, and the less warm but still loving gaze of her sister, ready to show her her daughter. She had thought about jokes she could make, thought about Frederic's disapproving look if she dared create chaos again in his castle, thought about this little kid, Rapunzel, who she would have held high in the air just to make her smile.
Instead, she held Arianna.
She held Arianna, like Arianna had never let herself be held before, and whispered empty words of comfort in her ears, telling her to breathe when it felt like she couldn't. She held Arianna, and for once, didn't let the force of her emotions sweep her into action. This was unfair, she knew it was unfair, and she was so, so angry at the world she felt she could explode but… But Arianna needed her. Arianna needed her, and Willow couldn't let her down, not about this, so she held her, and hoped it was enough.
Between them, were the baby clothes Arianna hadn't been able to let go of - the baby clothes Willow never had the chance to see worn.
She had been late, today. She wouldn't be again.
23 notes
·
View notes
Text
There’s something about Anya...
[So I’m sorry I haven’t updated much. I told myself I would do more posts and watch more around the holidays, but then we got a free trial of HBO Max and I binged a lot of stuff on that instead.]
Basically, this episode is when Anya’s situation as a vengeance demon comes to a head. After deciding that she’s got to step up her game, in no small part because her loneliness after being dumped at the altar and her friend Halfrek pressuring her, she unleashes a spider demon on a fraternity house after a slighted college student wishes their hearts got ripped out. After killing the spider demon, and upon being told its source, Buffy resolves that she has to kill Anya.
Uh-oh.
She goes and fights Anya. It goes on for a while, all while Xander is trying to bring a stop to it. During this duel, Willow summons Anya’s boss D’Hoffryn, and asks him to fix this. He goes and interrupts Buffy and Anya’s fight, and Anya begs him to undo the slaughter she unleashed. He does, and lets her go, in exchange for the life and soul of a vengeance demon. Anya assumes he means her, and agrees knowing she’ll die. Except he doesn’t--he takes her friend Halfrek.
Anya now feels like she has no one and nothing, and we end on another sad note.
Whoopie.
-Buffy does actually stab Anya with a sword, though it doesn’t kill her because vengeance demons don’t die that way. Which is fine, okay, but plenty of demons in the series get killed by fairly mundane means, and that always bugged me. I guess I shouldn’t complain that things are going the way I want, it’s just that it feels contradictory to what we’ve seen before.
-There’s a flashback where we see how Anya became a vengeance demon--she cursed her cheating husband into becoming a troll, and D’Hoffryn took notice and gave her a job. It’s unclear if he was actually cheating, or if Anya (or Aud, back then) just thought that he was, but D’Hoffryn doesn’t seem to care.
-Also how DO you just turn a human into a troll? Seems like big magic to me.
-The subtitles on Hulu claim that they’re speaking old Norse in that scene; I wonder if that’s actually true? Hang on…
Okay so TV Tropes claims that it’s actually really badly pronounced Swedish. The actors were told that their voices would be dubbed over with actual native-speakers, but that didn’t happen so it’s apparently nigh-incomprehensible to native Swedes.
-After seeing Anya’s origin story, it’s not really surprising that D’Hoffryn also took notice of Willow and seems willing to hire her if she ever strays too close to that side of herself again. Then again, Willow seemed a lot more powerful than the usual vengeance demon, at least in raw offensive power, so I imagine that would blow up in his face if it ever went through.
-“Never go for the kill when you can go for the pain,” D’Hoffryn says when he kills Halfrek, which sounds like a good demon motto, but we do see that he seems just fine with letting his vengeance demons go and kill a bunch of people instead of, y’know, going for the pain.
-Also the fact that he’s willing to casually throw away his employees’ lives makes me think that one day his employees would be happy to turn on him if he lets his guard down.
-Really the whole ‘vengeance demon’ racket feels like a stupid thing in the long term. Yeah, it seems like it’s a great way for women to show agency and gain power for themselves, but no matter how polite their boss is to them on the surface, they’re still under his thumb. Anya left, okay, but by going through a lot of pain and humiliation, and he punished her coworker for something she didn’t do. It’s a harsh patriarchy, just dressed up in ‘vengeance demon’ paint to make it appealing in order to trap women who are upset about legitimate grievances.
Anyway.
-There were only twelve guys in this fraternity? Is that all? Did the rest flee? That’s a pretty small fraternity. Then again, maybe Sunnydale’s college is just pretty small.
-I like that we’re not letting Xander off the hook for dumping Anya at the altar. Because we shouldn’t! That was a terrible thing to do! But I do like that he still very much cares what happens to her, and doesn’t want her to die.
-But as Buffy points out, she did have to kill Angel. And it worked out but it very easily couldn’t have. For all she knew, he was permanently dead when she killed him that one time. But she knew that she had to do it.
-But as Xander points out, trying to talk Anya out of this is apparently not an option? I’m not saying that it isn’t understandable that killing Anya is on the table, it seems that Buffy jumps to it very quickly. Then again, unlike with Willow, it’s not as if Anya’s killing people who have murdered and kidnapped and attempted rape. Anya’s killing a group of fraternity boys for humiliating someone, but basically because someone asked. And not even that! That’s not really what the girl wanted! And Anya had twelve of them killed!
But she’s not thrilled with it, and if Buffy sat and talked with her maybe she would have realized that.
-Anya has a musical number, that’s fantasizing about how great it’ll be to be married to Xander. Which is… very sad, considering how that all turned out. Darn you, Joss, for making me feel things.
-“From beneath you, it devours.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, MAN?! TELL US ALREADY!!
[I’m kidding, I don’t mind this build-up.]
-In all seriousness though, it seems the reason he doesn’t kill Anya is because he thinks she’d die anyway in whatever is going to happen soon. Which isn’t encouraging.
-Are all the major demons connected? Do they talk at the water cooler about what’s going on in the demon dimensions?
-Apparently Anya’s has ALWAYS been like this. It isn’t a demon thing.
-Buffy finds out that Xander lied about what Willow told him before the fight with Angel, and this goes… nowhere. Hm.
-TV Tropes also claims that Sarah Michelle Gellar was getting married to Freddie Prinze Jr. around when this episode was filmed, so she didn’t have that many days to film for the episode. They’re still married as of this blog post, if you’re curious.
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
@kainan asked — willow + violet + goldenrod + hibiscus + hollyhock. last but not least [insertflowername]: do it [redacted] ?
willow : how does your muse handle sadness & depression ?
once upon a time i wrote a headcanon about how shimizu handles stress , and i think a lot of the same coping mechanisms she uses to handle moments of overwhelming pressure apply regardless of if that pressure is stress / sadness / depression. i note that shimizu is the type of person who likes having some semblance of control around her surroundings , because she thrives in routine / order / security. that means for abstract stressors or emotional pressures , it’s harder for her to find something to lock into securely. usually , to cope , she finds something tangible that she can anchor herself to. in japan , the idea of ‘ seiso ’ ( 5s system ) is taught to young children as a way of keeping their surroundings clean and functional. it’s the reason why schoolchildren are made to clean their own classrooms at the end of the day , and is used to justify productivity as a direct result of a clean workspace. shimizu tends to follow seiso in times of stress by cleaning her room / cleaning her house to transfer her thoughts from abstract emotional focuses to more tangible , physical focuses.
i also noted in that headcanon that if she’s stressed , she’s unlikely to share it with others. shimizu is deft at side-stepping or brushing away other’s concerns , or even down-playing them ( in the way she does in a hq extra when takeda finds her sick and tells her to go home , but she assures him she’s fine and can continue helping the team ). she’s highly reluctant to talk about her feelings even if prompted to by a close friend , so working through stress / sadness / depression is much like an inner battle than one she’s likely to work through with a friend.
she probably broods and is much quieter than usual , and excuses herself from spaces earlier than the majority so she has time to herself. she doesn’t cry very often , but if the cause of her sadness / depression was powerful enough then she might as a cathartic release. but mostly , i think her focusing on cleaning / doing tangible tasks is what helps her redirect her focus into something productive and grounding.
violet : how does your muse respond to betrayal ?
it really depends. at first , i want to say that she doesn’t respond to it well. much like semi , one of her major character flaws is that she’s quick to judge people and to form opinions of them immediately. but she’s also more lenient than him when it comes to adapting her opinions of people. for example , she disliked tsukishima and kageyama at first— tsukishima because he really seemed to disregard everyone else’s efforts on the team and was very unsportsmanlike , and kageyama because he too was unsportsmanlike at first and treated others poorly. however , the longer they were on the team , the better shimizu began to think of them. they became teammates rather than new , troublesome first years , and she started to overlook their rocky start. so while she’s quick to judge , under the right circumstances she can learn to rewrite those judgments.
when it comes to betrayal , she’s probably much the same way , but a bit more critical. despite how cold she can come across as , she has more empathy with close friends than one might assume , and if the betrayal is due to that friend being in a hard spot , then she might understand. of course , it would take her a long time to work through her own thoughts and come to an acceptance of any apology , but it’s not as if she’d never get there. more than anything— and as unfair as it is— because shimizu is quite judgmental at first , the betrayal would sting immediately and the empathy would take forever to work through. it would probably fall upon the ‘ traitor ’ to come forth to shimizu with an explanation and apology. she can’t read minds and won’t know what the person was thinking , and she’s not confident enough in her own ability to understand others , so it really needs to come straight from the mouth of the other person for her to begin her process of acceptance.
goldenrod : does your muse believe in luck or fortune ? why or why not ? where do they believe these things come from ?
not really , no. her family follows a mix of shintō and buddhist traditions , because while her maternal family is shintōist her father is buddhist. but they’re not necessarily a religious family , and shimizu isn’t pressed to say that she believes in the gods. in fact , when the third years go to the shrine for new years and they pray to the gods for success , shimizu cuts them down by saying the gods won’t help them win. in this little headcanon here i talked a lot about how shimizu addressed her surroundings at face value , and that her success in track and field wasn’t really tied to anything otherworldly. rather , she only focused on the things she could see / touch / hear. to me , this means that she’s more of a realist than an optimist who looks towards luck or fortune. you can’t count on those types of things to consistently help you , which means that they probably don’t really exist. instead , we have to take in the things around us that we can see and feel and rely on those. and overall , shimizu’s concerns are not with luck and fortune but on seeing challenges and tackling them with as much effort as possible , not about winning or losing.
hibiscus : how does your muse view the gentler , daintier things in life ? as things worth preserving & caring for , or things only bound to wither & disappear ?
she’s not a romantic and she’s not a pessimist , either , so shimizu probably ranks somewhere between these things. there are simple things she really appreciates in life , and in many of my threads i focus on those things because shimizu doesn’t talk / express her thoughts outwardly , but her appreciation for small insignificant details is a persisting feeling. she’s not pressed to want to protect them or to feel disappointed when they disappear ; there’s always a balance , and when one disappears she probably finds something else to appreciate. for example , she likes her family’s garden outside their teahouse because it’s beautiful and peaceful , but when she moves out into a home of her own she probably finds things that she likes about that space , too.
in japanese there’s a difficult-to-describe term called wabi-sabi , which is essentially like finding beauty in small , imperfect , fleeting things. it’s why tea house flower displays are asymmetrical and the style of japanese pottery that highlights cracks with gold glaze is so popular. shimizu appreciates wabi-sabi in life but doesn’t put too much emphasis onto it. but things like an ugly cat or mismatched socks are peaceful sometimes , and shimizu has no problem ( in all her silence ) pausing to give them a brief thought and a feeling of pleasant satisfaction.
hollyhock : how strong is your muse’s sense of ambition ? what’s something they strive for in life ?
compared to her team , who she watches grow in ambition , shimizu is not very ambitious. she’s the type of person who goes with the flow and accepts where life takes her , even if it’s not somewhere particularly glamorous. during track and field , she thinks about how it would be nice to succeed , but she knows her own limits and doesn’t feel ambitious to be the best despite her lack of innate talent.
at her core , i think shimizu is just looking for a comfortable life where she’s able to find things that bring her joy. she doesn’t care so much about money or fame , but maybe being able to settle down with someone and to pass the days feeling comfortable and loved would be nice.
that being said , she has a great respect for people who are ambitious and work towards their goals. that’s insanely attractive to her and she finds that those types of people , if humble and hard-working , make the best / most outstanding types of citizens.
insertflowername : do it [redacted] ?
yes. under the right circumstances it does.
botanical headcanons ,
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ah, memories
Disclaimer: I went past the character limit. This one might be hard to read due to formatting.
Previous. Next
[Human realm, three weeks BBI]
Luz crouched close to her task. Eda's lesson really came in handy. Picking a door lock, she never thought she'd be so grateful for an unmodern store. Standing by her side, only perceivable to her, the empress stood watching her progress.
Empress Luz: "I know you want to say it, just say it. What do you want?"
Since they came back, Luz's glyphs hadn't worked once. At first, she thought magic didn't exist here. But if that's the case, why was her angry counterpart still stuck to her.
Luz: "How come you're still here? I mean, my dream of being a witch is dead on this side, right?"
Empress Luz: "Ok, let me put this in terms you can understand. Congratulations, chica, you're an astronaut. Let's think of the Boiling Isles as earth and magic is the air we breathe. This side is the moon. On the Boiling Isles, magic is everywhere. Here, looks like we're S.O.L."
Luz: "So, you're what?"
Empress: "Holding my breath for you... to finish the job."
The tumblers finally obeyed the thief working on the outside. Luz didn't have much aside from some old clothes from home and the Empress' outerwear. The store inside should have some cash and new stuff to try on. She needed to avoid being recognized. Also, she kept getting glares when she entered stores during the day.
Luz: "Does that mean, if I wait long enough, you'll die?"
An note of optimism was detected.
Empress Luz: " You should be so lucky. No, I don't think so. I'm the only magic you brought over. So, WE'RE holding our breath."
The cash register was the first task they needed done. Emptying the register, they now browsed their options.
The place didn't look like anything exceptional. But one jacket caught Luz's eye. She put it on and felt... something.
Luz: "What do you think?"
Empress: "A little big, don't you think? And do you really like the color green that much?"
They both realized what this jacket was to her. For whatever reason, this jacket made Luz miss the others less. Almost like a sort of comfort cloth.
Man: "Who's there?!"
A flashlight broke through the dark and nearly blinded Luz. She dove for any cover that would keep her out of sight, bumping into something.
Empress Luz: " What are doing?! Let me tak..."
Almost like hitting the mute button, something landed on Luz's head. In that instant, she noticed her partner disappeared. She raced out the door and as far away as she could get. Once she was clear, she examined the hat on her head.
Empress Luz: "Stop ignoring me!"
The instant she took off the beanie, her partner reappeared in front of her.
Now there was some magic.
It would be another three weeks before she'd make it back to Bonesborough. But they were clearly on the right track.
[Present day, Blight manor]
Amity stirred awake in her old bed. She felt like she'd dreamed about something important.
The first thing she noticed was her old room, not remembering how she got there.
Luz: "No, wait, you can't!"
Her girlfriend's voice echoed from somewhere in the manor. She bolted out of bed and ran out to find the source.
Willow: "It's only fair. After all you put us through, this is the least you can do."
Gus: "I wouldn't call myself a 'vengeful guy'. But I do want to see this."
Amity practically jumped the stairway to see what was going on. Luz sat, tied up by vines, while her friends stood around her. Willow had a pair of memory tweezers while Gus held a memory print.
Amity: "What're you doing?"
Willow: "Luz wants to make amends. This is it."
Gus: "But you should be here, too. Take a look at this."
Snickering, he handed Amity the prize in his hand.
Luz: "No, come on, give me a break."
Willow: "If we wanted to settle things, once and for all, we could go fishing in her memories. That's what she said."
Gus: "We didn't find anything nefarious. But we did snag these nice beauties."
Scratch that, he handed her the prizes in his hand.
A few memories of Nevareth Bladestrife, teen Prince of Angstmore. Amity didn't say a word as she examined the recollections in her hand.
Luz: "Ames? You ok, linda?"
Amity: "So, who's this?"
Luz( visibly nervous): "No one, really. He's not even real."
Amity: "You sure? It looks like you think about him a lot. You had an imaginary boyfriend?"
Luz: "He's just... not even worth mentioning. I mean, he's got nothing on you, Ami."
Unfortunately, Amity flipped the print to reveal a small note written in ( what looked like) Luz's handwriting.
Goodbye, flawless pecs
Amity stared Luz down with one of the most menacing glares she'd ever seen.
Amity: " Well, if you say so, then it's fine. If he's not worth mentioning, he's not worth remembering, right?"
She lit a small fire in her other hand and dangled the pictures over it.
Luz: "Wait! You don't want to do that."
Amity: "Why not? You want to make amends, right?"
Luz: "Right! Let me out of this chair and I'll tell you all the truth."
Willow and Gus stopped snickering amongst themselves. Luz's proposal seemed like something worth seeing. Her friend undid the vines and let Noceda take a step forward.
Luz: "The truth is..."
In a swift moment, she surprised Amity with a kiss. Stunning her girlfriend, she swiped the memories back and placed one arm around her.
Luz: " We're official! Amity and I are dating. There's no reason to bother with these. So, I'll just take them back and we don't have to talk about him ever again. Agreed?"
Luz would later understand the wrath of a Blight, later. For now, she pocketed the memories.
Gus: "Wait, when did you figure it out?"
Luz: "Well, last night...wait, what do you mean by that?"
Her two best friends looked at each other, awkwardly.
Willow: "It just seems like... you were the last to know."
Luz: "...."
Gus: "You kind of already acted like a couple. I mean, when did you find out she liked you?"
Luz: "Right after..."
Her pause might have made anime fans proud.
Luz: "Point is, we're both where we want to be. Right, Ami?"
Amity: "When did you start calling me that?"
Luz: "Last niiiiiiiiiight."
Last night? Last night was a blur. She remembered grudgby and dancing but that was it. She didn't even recall how she got back last night.
Gus: "Um, speaking of last night, are you just getting out of bed? It's past noon."
Looking down at herself, she was wearing an orange and white striped pajama top with purple pants.
Amity shot a death glare at the last person she remembered being with.
Luz: "I swear, I didn't do anything weird! You were really tuckered out. I carried you home and that's it, I swear!"
She redirected her wrath to the others.
Amity: "Don't you all have somewhere to be?"
Gus: "Not really."
Luz: "You told me to quit my job."
Willow: "My boss didn't come in this morning."
Amity: "Get out!"
Just as they were leaving, Luz sheepishly tried to be cute.
Luz: "So.....stripes?"
And with that, Willow had to pry her boss off while Gus pulled Luz to safety.
[Last night, Hexside's gymnasium]
Luz: "I think I want to tell you where the staff is."
Taking a step back, Amity knew she was being sincere.
Amity: "Where is it?"
Luz: "With you, carino."
Not realizing what she meant, Luz poked her forehead.
Luz: "In here, with the witch I trust the most."
Amity had mixed feelings about this.
Amity: "No, you need someone to cast that spell on you. Who pulled you out? When did you even do that?"
Luz: "I'm kind of two for one package deal now. Not to mention, a quick study. Remember when you caught me in your room and I sent you a snoozing? It was after that."
Amity: "You knocked me out and went into my head?!"
Luz: " I'm getting the impression you're angry."
After taking one deep breath, she grabbed Luz by her face and pulled her close.
Amity: "Just, please, give it to me and we can go from there."
She was being pretty bold tonight.
Luz: "I can't say 'no' to that face. Especially like this, keeper of the staff."
Knowing full well that was a bad joke, she proceeded with Amity's request.
Amity(thinking to herself): "Please don't do anything weird. Please don't do anything weird. Please don't do anything weird. Please don't do anything weird."
Luz(echoing in Amity's head): "You know, I can hear you, in here. It's really a lot like what I've been living with on a day to day.."
Amity: "LUZ!"
Luz: "Right, right, we can talk about that later."
Popping out, Luz stood in front handing out the staff.
Luz: "One sure fire proof of my trust of you.. for you."
Her most trusted companion took the gift in her hand.
Amity: "It's the real thing. You actually meant it."
There was no mistaking the smug look on the latina's face as she placed her hands behind her head.
Luz: "Yep, we can be honest with each other."
Amity cut her off by raising her arm up. Now, the room had a serious tone shift.
Luz: "What're you doing?"
Amity: "You'd never lie to me, right? With or without this thing?"
Luz: "Bebe, this isn't funny."
Fear, once again, gripped a member of the Blight family.
Amity: "I order you to tell me the truth, what are you doing here?"
Luz: "I'm on a date with you."
Luz couldn't stop herself from answering, but she tried tweaking her answers.
Amity: "Why did you come back to Bonesborough?"
Luz: "I wanted to be with you all again."
Amity: "Are you planning something behind my back?"
Things were getting worse as it became apparent that Noceda didn't want to answer.
Luz: "Our second date, maybe. Now, can you give me that back, please?"
Amity: "One last thing, the empress is still in you, right? Neither of you are going to hurt anyone, right?"
This time, Luz covered her mouth, muffling her response.
Amity: "Take your hands off and tell me the truth!"
This feeling of once again not being in control of her own body; brought tears to her eyes.
Luz: "I don't want to hurt anyone. But I can't say the same for her."
Empress Luz: "GET THE STAFF!"
Amity found herself gripped from behind by a giant abomination hand. She looked back to see the Otabin mutant was still there.
Amity: "Wait, how are you doing that?"
The empress simply took back her staff and looked disgusted at what just happened.
Empress Luz: "I think I'm done answering questions."
Luz: "I pulled out all the stops for you, carino. It's my own 'little' mix of abomination, plant, illusion, and potion. Something that can keep on going, even if my finger stops spinning."
She just gazed at the object in her hands.
Luz: "I gave this to you because I trusted you."
The goo around Amity hardened; preventing her from moving a finger.
Luz(sadly): "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"
She reached into the almost solid goo and searched Amity's pocket. Pulling out the tweezers just before the muck became rock hard.
Luz: "Thanks for the date, bonita. I'll be sure to remember it."
She held Amity's head still as she pulled out her memories of the date. Contrary to her pleas, Luz burned the ones that held the night's closing events. Her girlfriend felt the effects and passed out.
Empress Luz: "We'll have to clean this up."
Luz: "Hold on, I don't want to leave her like this. This could seriously damage her mind."
Luz used the tweezers on herself and pulled a couple memories. She done this before, unbeknownst to anyone else. When Willow's memories were burnt, her personality changed. Luz discovered that she could sort of keep that from happening by putting place holders.
After she had done the deed, she picked up the sleeping green haired witch in her arms, princess style.
Empress Luz: "Even after all that?!"
Luz: " You feel the same way, right?"
The two had gotten unbelievably good at switching control between them.
Empress: "What about the staff?"
Luz: "It can wait. I want to take her home and just forget this ever happened."
To her dismay, she knew her partner wouldn't simply "forgive and forget".
Empress: "Before we go, I think we should check her memories. I mean, it's only fair after what she just pulled."
Complying with her internal partner, they discovered the two other conspirators. She took the staff and hid it. She also took Amity home, but not before she made sure the coast was clear.
Willow and Gus would have no memory of their findings. They would be left to believe their investigations had come to a dead end. Reporting to Amity only that Luz Noceda had nothing to hide.
Author's note:
I just want to make two things clear.
1.) In "Understanding Willow", Willow's brain appeared to be faulty after her memories were burnt. I figured Amity might unknowingly experience something similar AFTER Luz left her in her room. No funny business. Amity was half asleep and disoriented when she changed into her new attire.
2.) I've wondered, how Amity might react to Nevareth or Luz's other crushes? I just wanted to throw that idea into the hat.
#Broken! Luz AU#Lumity#the owl house#luz noceda#Luz Noceda#amity blight#toh#willow park#agustus porter#angst#story i pieced together#luz x amity
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Closed Book Chapter 2
Chapter 1
A week passed since the library incident with only some pranks being pulled. Emira was trapped in the house except for going to school and when Mittens needed to be escorted somewhere. Sure, she and Ed would find things to do between school and getting home, but it wasn’t nearly as much as they were doing before. They tried to sneak out one night too, but as expected that only led to their father catching them red handed and threatening to extend their sentence.
As for escorting Mittens, well, her sister wasn’t keen on the idea. The first time Emira asked if she could go with her, just a couple days after the punishment started, Mittens had snapped back that she didn’t need to be escorted and would be fine on her own. With Ed’s help, Emira was able to get that no turned into a very reluctant yes.
It was a short-term win, they got to go to the market that day and re-arrange the lettering on some signs, but a long-term loss. Mittens stopped telling them when and where she was going somewhere, which was definitely to avoid the two tagging along.
This meant that Emira was again stuck in the house. Maybe she deserved it, no she for sure deserved it, but that didn’t make the punishment any easier to bear.
Today, she was sitting downstairs in one of the side rooms of the house. Normally she would be in her or Ed’s room, but this afternoon was different.
Mittens had come home from school with a couple of friends. These were two girls she’d known for many years, or at least Emira could recall seeing them at least once that long ago. This wasn’t the first time they’d been by. Mittens had brought home friends before, but Emira could count those instances on one hand.
She used to have another friend too, though Emira couldn’t remember her name or the last time she’d seen her. That was before Mittens started at Hexside, so it was quite a long time ago.
The younger teens were in another side room, which of course just happened to be next to where Emira lurked. What a delightful coincidence, she chuckled silently as she moved a chair into exactly the right position. Ed hadn’t wanted to participate in this, claiming it was boring and pointless. Emira would prove how wrong he was.
While sitting against the correct wall and with the right spell, Emira could easily listen in on the conversation between Mittens and her friends.
This was a great chance to pick up some gossip about underclassmen and Mittens herself. Also, Emira had unfortunately made zero progress in getting to know Mittens better. She had asked a couple of easy questions, but was rejected or ignored every time. Mittens still seemed to be mad at her for what happened at the library. Maybe eavesdropping would provide better results. If was definitely easier and way more fun.
With a spin of her finger, Emira cast the spell so she could listen in.
“And I thought, no way her test score is higher than mine.” That voice belonged to uh, the one with pink hair and three eyes. What was her name again? Bash or something like that? “But when I took it, it really was!” Bash’s voice rose as if to convey her absolute disbelief.
“What did you do?” This was the other friend, was it Scare? That sounded close enough.
“You know I couldn’t just leave it.” Bash responded smugly. “She’ll get a swelled head. I left a note on her locker, so she can remember her place.” From the tone alone, Emira could tell that the note was not a kind one. Were they talking about bullying another student? It sure sounded like it. “Amity helped get it just right.”
“I barely did anything.” Finally Mittens spoke, surprisingly surly considering she was speaking with her friends. “That was all you.”
“Whatever, Willow is so gonna freak when she sees it tomorrow.” Bash cackled, drawing a chuckle from Scare as well. “She won’t challenge me again.”
“As it should be.” Scare sounded satisfied.
They were kind of mean, weren’t they? Emira thought as she listened to the exchange. Not exactly the witchlings she would want to befriend. Sure, she and Ed played pranks at school, but they didn’t bully anybody.
The conversation continued, shifting away from their classmates to homework. Most of the talking was done by Bash and Scare, with Mittens only contributing when asked something directly.
It was strange to listen to. Not like Mittens was much of a talker in the first place, but Emira thought she would open up more with friends. She wasn’t getting any good material here, not on underclassmen or on Mittens.
Emira stuck with it only because there was nothing else to do. Well that was a lie; there was her homework, but even this was better than that.
Exactly on the hour, which was about thirty minutes after Emira started listening in and basically one hour after they had arrived, Mittens friends got up to go. They both bid her a brief farewell and left the room together. Emira could hear their footsteps as the walked past the room she was in, headed towards the front door.
Mittens hadn’t gone with them. At least, the sound of her footsteps hadn’t.
Emira cut off the listening spell and stood from her chair with a stretch. She opened the door to the hallway and poked her head out to see if Mittens was just sneaking by, but it was empty.
It was tempting to just go up to her room, or to Ed’s to fill him in on how boring the experience had been, but not today. That was what the old Emira would’ve done, pre library Emira. The new Emira, who was trying to learn about her sister, would take this opportunity to have some one on one time with her.
Giving herself a little pep talk of, “you can do it!” Emira approached the room Mittens remained in. She didn’t bother knocking, just pushed the door open and entered.
As expected, Mittens was there alone. She sat in one of the chairs with her school bag next to her and was writing on a piece of paper, likely the homework she started while her friends were there.
“Oh, your friends are gone?” Emira played it as if she hadn’t been listening to their conversation for the last half hour. “Bash and Scare right?” Might as well get their real names, since Emira was pretty sure she had them wrong.
“Boscha and Skara.” Reliable Mittens corrected her, not even looking up from her homework.
“Ah right that’s it.” Emira had been closer than she thought. “Too bad. I wanted to get to know them, since they’re your friends and all.”
This brought Mittens eyes up, and not in a friendly way. Her gold eyes were narrowed with suspicion. “Why?” If a word could bite, that would’ve stung.
“Is there something wrong with wanting to know my sister’s friends?” Even though she really wasn’t trying to start trouble, Emira still felt the need to act innocent and smooth things over.
“Yes.” Was the flat response she got in return.
Emira resisted a sigh; this was exactly how Mittens had been responding to her efforts all week. She knew it would be difficult to build trust after the library incident, but hadn’t been prepared for what exactly that meant. In retrospect, the 14 years of teasing and pranks probably didn’t help either.
“Really, I’m just curious. How long have you known them anyway?” Emira sat down in an abandoned chair near Mittens, where one of the other teens probably sat before. This was an easy question, not too probing, so hopefully she would answer.
Mittens’ expression softened minutely, which was a good sign. “I’m not sure, 5 or 6 years probably.” That was about what Emira thought too.
“What do you usually do with them? They don’t come over to the house much.” Might as well keep asking questions, since Mittens had answered the last one.
“Nothing really, shopping I guess.” Mittens looked like she had to think hard about that answer. “And homework.” She nodded. Of course, Mittens was ever the studious child.
“Do you do anything fun with them?” Emira pressed again, still looking for a hobby or something new. She already knew Mittens liked to do homework and sometimes went to the market.
Mitten’s shook her head. “I don’t spend that much time with them. They can be…” Her voice trailed off, as if already regretting the words she wanted to say.
Emira took a slow breath, giving Mittens a chance to finish the sentence. When her sister didn’t continue, she took the plunge.
“They’re kind of mean aren’t they?”
Mittens golden eyes widened in surprise, looking right into Emira’s. After a moment’s pause her expression softened into what could almost be considered a smile. “Yeah, they are.” She quickly shifted back to a frown and sighed, a big sigh for a 14 year old kid. “Nothing I can do about it.” She muttered and looked down, as if just talking to herself. Mittens looked so concerned over this, Emira couldn’t help but try to help.
“Why don’t you hang out with someone else? I thought you had another friend before, I can’t remember what her name was though.” Emira looked into the distance and brought one hand to her chin, trying to remember that kid’s name. It was no use; she didn’t know it.
When she looked back over at Mittens, her expression had changed. It was like a cloud had slammed down over her face, replacing any softness with clenched teeth and a sharp frown. “I can’t.” Mitten’s spoke tersely, bringing palpable tension to the room.
Emira was surprised, but she could adapt to the conversation. “They say there are plenty of other fish in the sea. I’m sure lots of other witchlings will want to be your friend.” She offered with a smile, hoping to be encouraging. Mittens was the top of her class, and despite all the teasing Emira did think highly of her magic and her ability to make friends.
This did not seem to be what her sister wanted to hear.
Mittens stuffed her paper into her bag and stood abruptly, taking a few terse steps towards the door. She didn’t even look back as she spoke in a low biting tone. “You wouldn’t understand.” She left before Emira could muster her thoughts to call after her, all but slamming the door behind her.
Well, Emira thought as she sat stunned with one hand extended towards the closed door, that could’ve gone better.
Chapter 3
#the owl house#the owl house fanfiction#fanfiction#flip writes#emira blight#amity blight#emira#amity
29 notes
·
View notes
Note
Lilith for the character ask?
Oh boy, a controversial character! Gotta say, I stan James Charles /J
How do I feel about this character?:
On a real note, I do like Lilith as a character. When we first meet her, she's pompous and proud. Oozing with entitlement, she's easy to route against and you like to see her get worked up and "brought down" to Eda's level as the wild which so eloquently put it. Later on, but not too much later that it feels disingenuous, we really get to see her show that she cares for her sister. One might believe it is *Eda* being ridiculous, as far as the audience is aware, Lilith's offer holds little downsides. Eda would be cured and be afforded the luxuries of the upper class AND keep her magic. All she had to do was be the Emperor's soldier.
As to not get off track by talking about Eda, (im sure Lilith herself would loathe that lol) Lilith's reveal to have cursed her sister over a spot in the emperor's coven was...controversial to say the least. I don't think it's unpopular to voice that, yeah. It could've been communicated better to the audience since I saw plenty of commentators and regular fans themselves either thought Lilith cursing her sister was *needlessly* petty and not at all thought out (which yeah it kinda was).
From where I stand on that issue is, yeah, Lilith's whole reason to curse her sister could've been avoided by just talking to her sister and asking her to let her have this. BUT, I think a lot of people forget that the Emperor's coven would want to limit the number of powerful witches in their coven. Sure, Belos would want to be protected by a bunch of loyal soldiers, but he wouldn't want too much of the population to ever have a much power as him. So limiting the number of members in not just his coven but possible in the other major covens, would aid in controlling that population.
This might be pure hogwash but like, there are a ton of other "lesser" covens. So in my mind, it's more likely that the general population of witches gets sorted into one of the various miscellaneous. If you think limiting yourself to only practicing Illusion magic sucks, imagine only practicing whatever the fuck the "swag coven" does.
Lol gonna add a page break this shit is getting too long
Romantic Ships for this character?:
Hm, it's only s1 and we haven't seen her interact w/ many characters outside of her fam/Belos/actual children. I kinda jokingly ship here with Steve lol. Kikimora and her also have a funny dynamic but in all actuality, I don't ship her w/ anyone rn.
Non-Romantic Ships for this character?:
Her and Hooty lol. I mean Eda is an obvious answer but like, Hooty fucking with Lilith is too funny to not want to see. Her and King would be great too, probably get some good B plots out of it. It would be a good contrast since they both can be petty but in different ways and I think that would help flesh out their characters a bit more and maybe cause some introspection (at least on Lilith’s end lol)
Unpopular opinion about this character?:
Lol. I feel like she is such a divisive character in general that most opinions about her aren’t too out of the main stream. I guess a more meta take is that when she’s portrayed in fanworks, usually fanfic but not exclusively, very...one note lol. She’s usually a pretty flat, boring character in an attempt to highlight the contrast between her and Eda. She’s the straight-laced, “responsible” sibling who has a chip on her shoulder. In fanon, that equates to her characterization to either be like, completely and utterly apologetic to the point where it becomes unbelievable for any person to do. Her apologizing or making amends is usually quickly forgiven by Luz/and or Eda. Sure, Luz is very forgiving person naturally but like?? She’s wasn’t mad in canon too much about THEIR well being (almost getting impaled), she was specifically pissed about Lilith betraying Eda.
So, if Lilith is a big part of your story (and it’s working in the realm of canon), then this should be a problem which doesn’t get resolved by just ONE big action. I also feel like her being on better terms with Eda would come BEFORE Luz since Eda’s main gripe with her would be about her being annoyed by Lilith’s controlling nature and the fact that she didn’t trust her enough to talk about her feelings back when she was first cursed (also her using Luz against her but I feel like that would probably be a hurdle that wouldn’t really be over come until Lilith in turn would be willing to sacrifice herself for Luz while also making an effort to care for Luz as a person not just see her as a “pet”). Hhhh this section is so long and its kinda bleeding over in the next question so-
Something I wish will happen or would have wanted to happen in canon?:
yall if you are still reading I am so sorry sksk
I want Lilith in general, not to be forgiven by either Luz or Eda. Eda probably early on stating about how she is unsure if she could EVER forgive her sister for what she has done. BUT, critically, Eda would see that Lilith is trying and she is willing to work with her (with a unhelpful dose of teasing) because at the end of the day she still loves her sister. For the relationship they had before everything with south, for knowing her side of the story even though she believes it doesn’t justify her actions. She understands and sympathizes, she’s grown a bit softer thanks to Luz, which is very funny since I want Luz to be the one who is the hardest to convince Lilith actually had a change of heart but more on that later.
Before I move on to what I want her path towards forgiveness with Luz looks like, I want to bring up a parallel that I haven’t seen many people make. Fans always talk about the parallel between the Clawthornes and Luz/Amity, and rightly so because there is a lot to extrapolate there, but I think another interesting dynamic that might be interesting to see in s2 would be an episode that focuses on lost friendship/sisterhood with the Clawthornes and Amity and Willow. It’s kinda funny that Amity and Willow’s friendship was ruined because Willow was too “weak” while Eda was too “powerful”. In a potential episode, it can show the progression both Eda/Lilith and Willow/Amity are making in rekindling their relationship with each other. For Eda and Lilith this would be a lot more rough around the edges since it both be either the first or one of the first attempts at doing so while Willow/Amity would maybe be further along yet still have some major/minor hang ups with one another. With Willow/Amity, their relationship would either be rounding the bend of fully moving past the “idk how to feel about you stage” or it is stated outright that Willow forgives Amity, (and by forgive, I mean in the “we both know what you did, you’ve actually changed. we won’t have the same relationship that we once had but I’m okay with trying again”). In contrast, Lilith and Eda would reach a understanding and come up with some ground rules on how to handle each other (Eda’s main take away from this “episode” would be what I previously stated in the last question), ones that will be more like guidelines cuz its Eda lol. Also what separates the Clawthornes conflict from the Willow/Amity one (besides the obvious) is that the Clawthornes both know how the other works. Which buttons to push and all that so both of them are going to have to learn to resist doing that, at least a bit, in order to actually progress.
ANYWAYS, I also want Luz to be the one to regard Lilith the coldest. Luz refusing to let Lilith teach her anything despite probably having more practical/book smarts knowledge on magic theory than Eda because she doesn’t trust her. If they are gonna use that masked dude as a spy, I want Luz to assume Lilith is somehow a coconspirator. This plot thread doesn’t have to be going at 100% the whole time, (in fact I would want it to be a temp thing maybe lasting a couple eps at most or like, just something that is hinted at but not dived deeply until the second half of the season). Really, Lilith has a hard time because Luz straight up doesn’t give her the opportunity to really express her regret/remorse. Lilith probably won’t at first give her a ton of reasons to forgive her as she usually attempts at coming back at Luz’s snide remarks with her own quippy comebacks. Sksk a really angsty end to an attempt could include Lilith saying something to Luz after going on a small talk with her (where yeah Lilith has improved but still needs noticeable work) that she “reminds her a lot of Eda” and Luz bites back with something like “Oh yeah? You going to curse me too? You want another person you can force to do what YOU want?”.
Hell maybe “parental problems” could have Lilith poke at, either on purpose or accidentally, Luz’s feelings about going back to the human world and Camila. Lilith reminding her, maybe unknowingly, reminds her a lot of her mom and that causes her to blow up on her. Luz would hate that comparison, thinking about how similar her mom and Lilith are to one another. That because she still has such a strong dislike of Lilith, it bleeds over into how Luz views Camila and vice versa. In that, both Camila and Lilith value respect, an adherence to the rules, have a great sense of wisdom (arguably for Lilith lol /hj), and (eventually for Lilith once she gets to know Luz better) a genuine want for Luz to succeed and belief in her even though they are critical of her actions at times. Sure Eda reminds her of that more, motherly protective kind of love, in which she would do anything for her to be happy and healthy. Lilith can be the other side of that, the worry and slight doubt. That familiar way they each go about trying to understand and get close to Luz yet not quite getting it yet would still do whatever she’d ask for her sake. Luz at first would take Lilith being disappointed in her actions as an accomplishment. As they grow closer and the more Lilith reminds her of her mom, it becomes scary. The disappointment hurts and in an effort not to feel like that again and to not want to think about the comparison between Lilith and her mother she will snap back at her. Eventually Lilith would then have to change again and reassure her that she cares and by extent, her mother cares to. It is here Lilith is willing to let go of being so constantly controlling and learns to encourage first (or do some form of the compliment sandwich) and Luz comes to peace with her feelings about her mother and understands her position better. To be able to love herself even if she knows that she will always try to do her best.
oh my fucking god you made it im so sorry i guess i had a lot of thoughts. fffffff
#TOH#lilith clawthorne#the owl house#character ask meme#luz noceda#edalyn clawthorne#yall im so sorry#this is very fanficy an long rip#if you read all this you are a champ but also no i cant cover your insurance lol
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
“Radio”
Spike x Summers!Reader
Warnings: S5 spoilers + cursing + violence
Description: You didn’t mean to become friends with a creature of the night. It just happened. But when a demon drives you off the road, the two of you have to develop more than a tentative friendship. You have to trust each other with your lives.
I’m trying to make these all linked, but also as fics that can be read alone? Kind of just can’t commit to doing it as a chaptered series oops
Sometimes, late at night, you and Spike go driving. You make sure to leave a note in case Buffy comes back from slaying early or Dawn wakes up, but you never mention who you’re with. Dawn and Spike get along okay, but Buffy is wary of him even though he’s helped out enough times to proved he’s changed. At least, he’s changed enough so that he’s not an immediate threat. And with all that’s happened, you find yourself so lonely that you almost don’t care that he’s a bloodsucking demon.
It started after your mom died. On the nights when you didn’t work, you would slip out of the house for some solitude and cruise around Sunnydale. Normally, that wouldn’t be the safest idea, especially with Glory around, but your car was stocked with slaying supplies and Willow had given you a charm that you hung from your front mirror, right next to your pair of lucky dice. It wouldn’t protect you from everything, but you figured that anything that wanted to hurt you could just as easily find you at home.
You had driven past the cemetery almost a month ago without any specific purpose in mind. Spike was sitting on top of one of the mausoleums that faced out to the gate, so you pulled into the parking lot. The two of you had been on good terms lately, though it was difficult to gauge how meaningful that really was. You had let him sleep at the house once while you were in class, but only last week he had tolerated the pain from his chip in order to knock the shit out of Xander. You guessed you preferred to live life on the edge.
He hopped down when he saw you coming through the front entrance, tossing the blood he had been drinking out into the bushes. A dribble streaked down his chin, spotting his shirt. Maybe that was why he always wore dark colors.
“To what do I owe the pleasant surprise?”
You couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. You tucked your hands in your pockets to keep yourself from fidgeting.
“I just wanted to say hi.”
Your pasted smile faltered as Spike stepped into your personal bubble.
“Hi.”
You tilted your head back. His face was shadowed, his pupils as wide and dark and gleaming as oilspots. You had the sudden urge to reach out and comb your fingers through his Billy Idol hair. You had always wondered if it was softened by the gel, despite the bleach. Sometimes he tugged on strands of yours teasingly when it was just the two of you, so it seemed fair to return the favor. But something kept your hands glued to your side.
“Hi.”
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way...” He leaned down, his nose almost-but-not-quite brushing yours. “What are you really here for?”
“Do you want to go for a drive?” you blurted. You dangled the keys in front of him. “I’m... bored. By myself. I’d like some company.”
He eyed you like he thought Buffy was going to burst from the shadows and clock him for even considering your offer, but then he shrugged and joined you in the passenger seat of your mud-splattered sedan. Since then, you had been passing by the cemetery more often and he had been throwing rocks at your window. Both of you, it seemed, were restless.
Sometimes you picked up Anya so she and Spike could talk about the good old days when they could kill people. Neither of them would initiate the friendship themselves and you didn’t exactly love the topic, but it was good for them. A kind of support group. Though God forbid that anyone found out that you thought of it like that. Or that Xander discovered how you had facilitated contact between his girlfriend and the person—vampire?—he hated most in the world.
Tonight when you walked outside to your car, Spike was waiting.
“Took you long enough,” he said, sliding into the passenger seat.
It was a cool night, but true to form you rolled your windows down for the ride. You turned the radio on, loud enough so that you could feel the music in your chest but quiet enough that the two of you could have a conversation. Not that you usually did. Sometimes he would ask about Dawn or school and you’d ask about poker and demon hunting, but mostly you drove in comfortable silence.
When Foreigner came on the radio, you turned the volume up absentmindedly, humming along as the breeze tousled your hair. You loosened your hands on the wheel, tapping on the dashboard. Sometimes you sang along, although it made you a little embarrassed to have Spike watch since you were so off-key. This time he surprised you, matching Lou Gramm’s deep, smoky voice with his own.
“I would climb any mountain.” You could barely hear him over the wind, which made you wonder if your mind was playing tricks on you. But his mouth was moving in time with the music, forming around the well-loved words. “Sail across the stormy sea.”
Your eyes flickered to the road and then back to him. He was watching you, his lips pulled back in a wicked grin, less brooding than you had ever seen him. He could have been any boy you’d known all your life, engaging in the time-honored tradition of late night carpool karaoke. It was all you could do to remind yourself how dangerous he could be if he ever got the chip out of his head, how bad of an idea it would be to let yourself get wrapped up in the fantasy. You could hang out with Spike, try to humanize him, but he would never stop craving the kill. When he got tired of these games with you—
“If that’s what it takes me, baby, to show how much you mean to me.”
Your heart stuttered. Focus on the road, you told yourself, but it was hard when Spike’s fingers began creeping across the barren land of cupholders in between you.
“And I guess it’s just the woman in you, that brings out the man in me.”
He unbuckled the seatbelt that you always insisted he wear, despite the deadness, and his hand hovered over yours for a moment before abandoning it in search of another target.
The two of you were usually a little flirty, but this was something else entirely. This crossed a line that you worried couldn’t be redrawn.
“Spike—”
“I know I can’t help myself,” he breathed, brushing a strand of your wind-blown hair behind your ear. He missed a line as he peeled your right hand off the wheel, threading your fingers with his. He placed your clasped hands over his heart almost playfully, leaning close and whispering, knowing you’d shove him off in a second and taking full advantage anyway. If you glanced over, you’d see him smouldering at you in the way only vampires seemed able to perfect. “It feels like the first time.”
“Spike, sit— Oh, god!”
You threw your arm across his chest to keep him from hurtling through the windshield as you swerved to avoid a demon that had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the road. It felt like your arm was going to be jerked out of its socket and he still hit his head hard on the dashboard, but he didn’t black out, which you were taking as a good sign.
Spike slumped against the seat, dazed, as you pressed your foot down hard on the gas in an attempt to outrun whatever it was. The engine purred and you let yourself breathe a sigh of relief, but it cropped up again.
“I hope my insurance covers this,” you muttered, deciding to hit it head-on, but your car stopped mere feet before the creature. Everything except the radio shut down completely.
Well, at least my own personal horror movie has a great soundtrack, you thought. Then it grabbed at you through the window and you could barely hear the music over the sound of your own screaming.
I have waited a lifetime.
The yak-headed demon wrenched you from the car, slicing through your seatbelt and tossing you out onto the side of the road. You rolled, scraping every exposed piece of skin up on the tar. Before you could stand, it lifted you by the back of your shirt with one clawed hand, leaving you hanging helplessly in mid-air. Then it dropped you. You bent to your knees to soften the impact and then straightened. It caught your foot when you kicked out, twisting your ankle harshly. The bone gave a sickening pop! and you screeched into the night. You had spent the past few years training to be strong enough to help Buffy, but the Slayer strength was unfortunately not genetic, and you still weighed considerably less than a demon that was the size of a grizzly bear.
It yanked you off balance, dragging your body toward it by your ruined ankle as a deep, hoarse laughter bubbled from its throat. Its jaw unhinged, dropping to the ground, as it opened wide.
Spent my time so foolishly.
You didn’t see Spike drag himself from the car due to the crippling fear, but he got its attention when he clocked the demon on the side of the head. You scooted yourself backward in a weak imitation of the crab walks your gym teacher made you do in elementary to avoid being flattened.
If you could make it to the car, you could grab Buffy’s tools, but it was all the way on the other side of the road. You’d have to crawl. God knew you couldn’t stand, not right now.
You cursed to yourself as you further scraped your tender skin, leaving it raw and bloody where it touched the ground. The demon almost tripped over you, but Spike hauled it off in another direction, trading blows that you could have sworn made the ground tremor.
“Is that the best you can do, mate?” Spike taunted even as blood dripped down his chin. He flicked his tongue out and licked it up in a motion that could only be described as feral. “Her little sister can hit harder than—”
He was thrown backwards on his ass a second later. When you got out of this, you were going to let him have it for that one.
It feels like the first time.
It hurt like hell to put pressure on your ankle, but you hauled yourself up by gripping the car handle and opened the back door. You kept all of your supplies hidden behind your duffel bag of work clothes in case you got pulled over, in a case that you stashed under the passenger seat. You had a couple stakes, a butcher knife, pepper spray... But nothing big enough to hurt something like this.
“Could use a little help over here, love,” Spike gasped. He clawed against the demon’s grip on his throat, failing to even leave surface level scratches.
You tossed him your tire iron in a panic and he caught it with one hand, but he couldn’t get the strength for a hard blow in his position. As his face reddened, you rushed in from behind to crack the demon on the back on the skull with your industrial strength flashlight.
Most lower level demons had a short attention span, and this one was no exception. You got one more hit in before it sent Spike flying and whirled around to face you. With one swipe, it sent you careening into the car.
Your impact actually left a small dent in the side of the sedan. You could barely see straight, the demon doubling and then tripling in your vision, but now you were pissed. You stumbled to your feet, barely succeeding keeping your dinner from hours earlier down.
“Stay... away... from my baby,” you wheezed.
Spike leapt onto the demon’s back, cutting off its air with the tire iron pressed against its windpipe. “No concern for me? Not very nice, pet.”
The demon wheeled backward and tripped over its own enormous feet. It almost crushed Spike beneath it. His grip loosened for a moment, but then he reapplied pressure and didn’t stop until the demon had been lying stock still for two minutes.
It felt like a lifetime.
“Get this thing off me!” he grunted finally, and you found it in yourself to lumber over. You almost got a mouth full of the pavement because your balance was so shot, but together you eased the beast off him.
You collapsed next to them, the three of you lined up like victims of a very strange and supernaturally diverse massacre. The world was still spinning. You crawled off to be sick in the grass.
A moment later, there was a crunching noise and then he was holding back your hair for you, steadying you so that you wouldn’t fall over into your own sick.
“I think maybe I should drive you to the hospital,” Spike said when you had finished. You shook your head, wiping your mouth on what was left of your sleeve.
“We’ve got a social worker visit this week. I don’t want them seeing the records. Just get me to Willow and Tara.”
“Whatever you say.”
He loaded you into the car, buckling your seatbelt for you. You almost reminded him to clip himself in as well, but then you saw the tattered remnants of the driver’s side and closed your mouth.
He turned the keys in the ignition and the radio came back to life. Spike turned it up, ignoring your complaints that it hurt your head.
“We can’t have you falling asleep before we get you all magicked up,” he said, actually hushing you. There was a surprisingly tender expression on his bruised and bloody face. “I’ll sing again, if you want. If it’ll keep you awake.”
He was only teasing, but you could use something soft right about now.
“Please.”
Mötley Crüe was on. It was hard not to close your eyes to the slower, sweeter beginning. You focused on the sky outside your window instead, dark and deep and inviting. You watched it so you wouldn’t watch Spike’s hands wrapped around the steering wheel or his Adam’s apple bobbing as he sang.
Take me to your heart.
He was willing you to look at him. You could feel it. But if you did, his eyes were going to tell you something you didn’t want to hear.
Feel me in your bones.
It was only after he had pulled into the driveway and you were helping each other up the front steps that you allowed yourself a glance. He caught you in it; of course he did. His arm looped with yours, your fingers pressing against his ribs, tangled up in each other in a messy support system, which was how all of this had started anyway. For a moment, you saw yourself from his perspective. Your hair sticking to the bloody cut on your forehead, your complexion a little washed out, an unhealthy sheen to your skin. You wanted to turn your head to make him stop staring at you, but it came to you in a flash of certainty that he didn’t mind. He had never minded.
Just one more night and I’m comin’ off this long and winding road.
Your body drew closer to his without your own consent. You looked up through your eyelashes at him, breathing shallow but quickening.
You had thrown up not too long ago. You felt like you might throw up again. You couldn’t do this. It was— it was wrong. This went past late night drives. This—
He bent down, unwrapping himself from you for a brief second. You almost sunk down onto the stoop, but then he readjusted his grip.
I’m on my way.
“Summers,” he murmured. “Are you feeling all right?”
It was like having a heat flash. The embarrassment could have killed you.
“I— Let’s get inside.”
“Let’s not be hasty.”
The front porch lights snapped on. Neither of you noticed.
I’m on my way.
“Want me to kiss it better?”
Oh. Oh.
His lips sealed themselves to yours, as the hand that wasn’t keeping you from collapsing traced over the curve of your jaw. You ran your fingers through his hair. It was soft, just like you had thought it would be. When you tugged on it, he sighed into your mouth.
He separated himself from your lips to latch onto your neck. He was careful not to leave a hickey as he ghosted over your shoulder, sucked on your collarbones, bit down gently on your earlobe. He felt so warm and alive and human.
Then the door opened and he dropped you.
“Holy fuck.”
Your breath escaped in a low hiss. Your ankle bent underneath you, shooting with white hot pain. Willow burst from the house.
“(Y/n), is that— Oh, my God, you look terrible! What happened? Spike, what happened? Are you okay?”
Home sweet home.
121 notes
·
View notes
Text
All my thoughts surrounding the Evermore album so far
For the first time in forever, I went into an album refusing to write down any notes or whatever about how I felt upon the first listen and really just let it sink in. Even when ranking the songs, I did it by gut feeling and refused to elaborate. But being over 24 hours and a dozen listens in and basically having the same opinions and thoughts, I felt it was time to put out everything I feel so far.
Basically this post is going to go over not only my thoughts on and relationship to the songs of Evermore, but how I feel about it as an album and specifically a sister album to Folklore. So I hope you enjoy it.
What I think of Evermore as a whole/it’s relationship with Folklore:
Truth be told Evermore is currently quite low on my Taylor album rankings. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it and definitely is not me saying I didn’t like any of the songs. But the environment of an album and ability to get something out of listening to the songs all together and in order that you could not otherwise get is important to me to the point it’s my favourite thing about listening to albums. And right now? Outside of Tis The Damn Season and Dorothea, it’s just not there for me. In many ways, that has made Evermore very similar to Speak Now and Lover vibe wise to me in that it feels like an array of great songs as opposed to a perfect album experience like RED, Reputation and even Fearless feels to me. So while I could absolutely see myself listening to most of the songs on this album for years to come, I’ve already found myself listening to the album itself out of order and focusing on my favourite tracks more.
I would also argue that the only reason Evermore is a ‘sister album’ to Folklore is because it’s by Taylor Swift. And that may sound weird, but hear me out. The fact of the matter is that the only ways in which this album and Folklore are more ‘sisterly’ towards each other than other albums is because they are similar production wise and both are at least partially based on the stories of others. I could name you an array of artists whose albums share these same qualities yet are not seen as sibling albums. And honestly, right now it feels like the only reason these two albums are being seen as sisters is because they have come from someone who has been expected to change sounds, vibes and everything else every ‘era’ because she has admitted in the past that she has a fear of people getting sick of her. In my honest opinion, Reputation and Lover feel more like sister albums to me than Folklore and Evermore. This is not to say that Evermore is a lesser album for not being a sister project to Folklore, it’s just not something a connection I’m feeling right now.
What I’m about to say next may sound like it contradicts with what I just said but as it is a personal connection and not objective, I feel like it doesn’t. For me personally, Folklore was predominately an album that opened up and described my trauma relating to losing my whole family while Evermore feels more like a recovery album. So on a personal level, they are other sides of the same coin and while that makes them sister albums to an extent, to me it was not the extent Taylor meant because obviously these songs were not written with me and my personal issues in mind.
With that in mind, if we’re going to compare Folklore and Evermore like many people have, I feel as if Folklore is the stronger album but Evermore has stronger songs. Basically as a full experience I prefer Folklore, but the songs I like off of Evermore I love more than the ones I like off of Folklore. At this point, I will also say I think I love the production of Evermore more than Folklore, but I can also see that being a mood based thing.
What I think of each individual song:
Willow: I’m going to be honest, I do not see the hype for this song. Like objectively it’s not a bad song, but there’s just not really anything drawing me back to it. While clever, the 90s line also threw me off a bit and feels kinda out of place with the rest of the song giving ancient/mythical vibes to be honest. It seems to be a hot take at the moment, but I also found myself bored with the music video and didn’t seem to love the fact that it is a continuation of Cardigan as much as everyone else. I did however appreciate the love interest being from an Asian background during a time when they are on the receiving end of racial villification. I will say I think the first chorus is the strongest part of the song.
Champagne Problems: I feel like this is going to be the song that is most consistently among my favourites for this album. While most of my other favourites are the deep cuts or bops that I need to be in the right mood for, Champagne Problems feels like a good mix that I can listen to any time. It’s also kinda been a blessing for me because the man I love told me upon listening to it that my fear of marriage and actions around that lately have made him worry that we’re going to end up like that which has really made me reflect today on the fact that my fear of not being good enough to keep him isn’t going to be fixed by holding him at arm’s length, it can only be fixed by working to be the better person I think he deserves. In terms of Taylor, I’ve heard some of you think that Tom proposed while they were together and that the ring in the LWYMMD video is actually reference to him and I’mma be real, if that’s the case, damn right she should have said no because they were together what, 2 or so months??? In saying that, as a general sister piece to Getaway Car in that they’re both about realising you don’t love the person you’re with as much as they love you, it’s a nice comparison and I could see it.
Gold Rush: Taylor girl, please go to therapy about not feeling good enough for your man and insecurities that he’s gonna leave you for someone else. You are absolutely good enough. Honestly, all up I feel like this song is the definition of good. It’s not something I’d seek out to listen to but it’s not something I’d skip if it came on. The production is definitely the highlight of the song for me.
Tis The Damn Season: This song really hits hard for someone still living in her childhood house in her hometown huh? I’ve seen a lot of people relate this song back to The 1, and to be honest, they both remind me of the same platonic relationship I once had and things I wish we had said to each other, so I can see that. Look in all honesty, this is just one of those songs where I cannot pinpoint what makes it so good because it’s everything. The production, the lyrics, the emotion; it all works together to make it an amazing song. When considering the album as a whole, I think Tis The Damn Season and Dorothea are the strongest sign of creating an environment and emotion given that they are songs about the same relationship.
Tolerate It: I get why this is track five, and much like Mirrorball off of Folklore, had it come out in 2018 or beforehand, it would have owned my soul and been my favourite song off of this album forever. But nearly everyone who has ever made me feel this way was purged out of my life no later than 2018 so I feel so far removed from it. While I understand the artistic choice for the second half of the song to be wordy and faster paced to the point of feeling offbeat because that’s how it comes off when you’re thinking of all the ways you can defend yourself and/or leave, I personally prefer the first half of the song far more than the second half due to its flow. Had I enjoyed the second half as much as the first, I think this would have been a tied favourite from the album. I’ve seen Swifties say this is a Tayvin and/or John/Taylor song and yeah to be honest, I feel that. I also love the intepretations surrounding it being a queer person and a queerphobic family member.
No Body No Crime: Upon first listen, this was an automatic tied favourite of mine. But, while I’ll still say it is, listening to it on repeat today made me feel like it’s something I need to listen to sparingly or it’ll get overplayed fast, much like Betty did on Folklore for me personally. This is another song I really don’t have much to say about because I love it all and it’s a bop. As a more general note, I will say that I agree with people that I wish Taylor’s vocal collaborations with women included them actually having a verse rather than feeling like backup singers for Taylor. But for what we got, I think Haim added a lot to this song with their ‘He did it’ sounding like Este’s ghost reassuring Taylor he killed her and Danielle’s ‘she was with me dude’ adding a lot of atmosphere to the song. In my mind, Este’s husband wasn’t planning to leave/kill her or move his mistress in but accidentally killed Este as she tried to leave him. Either way though, it’s a great song and I can definitely see why it’s a fan favourite.
Happiness: This was my other tied favourite upon my first listen. When thinking of Taylor, I tend to agree with people that this song is probably about Scott and recoving from leaving Big Machine. When considering what it means to me... well it’s complicated. Truly, I want to reach a point where this is what I think of my family. I hope someday I can get there. But for now, it is another self love song; as if I am talking to my pre and/or newly traumatised teenaged self at age 25. This probably sounds weird but I also love that it’s my favourite while being the longest track (so far, obviously we don’t know about bonus tracks) of the album because there’s something so special to me about Taylor’s longer tracks.
Dorothea: A cute song. That’s really all I can say. Again, I love it’s connection with Tis The Damn Season and it makes me smile thinking about that platonic relationship these songs remind me of. Really just in general this song makes me happy and is probably the one I could see myself randomly singing around the house the most.
Coney Island: Honestly I like the idea/message behind this song more than I like the song itself. Like the idea of not appreciating something until its too late reasonates with me and again, is something I wish the ex friend Dorothea reminds me of would tell me they feel, but obviously I cannot change that. I’ve seen posts about how the bridge of this song was inspired by John, Jake, Harry and Calvin, but to be honest, in general this song feels very purely Tayvin to me, but like from Calvin’s (or at least what Taylor hopes is his) point of view. All up, I think the production of this song is its strong point and the reason that while it’s still not one of my favourites, it’s somewhat grown on me.
Ivy: Another hot take? This is another song that I just haven’t been able to get into. Like I like the idea that it’s the ‘tough’ parts of Invisible String where you have to take the leaps not knowing where you’ll end up, but yeah, I don’t know, it just wasn’t something that has caught my attention yet.
Cowboy Like Me: This song is a vibe. Like it’s the type of song I could see myself putting on while just wanting to chill or do something else at the same time, but I don’t feel like it’s something I’m going to opt to listen to on its own that much. Basically it’s as middle of the road track for me as they come. I will say however that ‘Now you hang off my lips like the gardens of Babylon’ has lived in my mind rent free all day.
Long Story Short: This song is so fun. I love that barring Folklore, I could see it being on any of Taylor’s albums since Fearless. It also reminds me of another non-Taylor song, but I can’t think of what and that has been bugging me all day. I saw a lot of people saying that they’re over Taylor talking about 2016, and personally while it’s not my favourite topic either, she’s free to write about whatever she wants and honestly? I feel like her more upbeat, funner sounding songs like this one have boded better with me when she first releases them ever since Lover so I’m glad she released it. Anyway, like I said, it’s another cute fun song that I can see myself dancing to in my room for a while yet and that makes me so happy.
Majorie: I’m gonna be honest, I feel like this is a song you have to relate to to love, and I do not relate to it. Like I think had my family shit not gone down, I would have cried to this thinking of my recently deceased grandfather because I felt the closest to him out of any family member as a kid, but yeah, that’s not how things are now and so I don’t have the emotional attachment to this song. I can however see myself getting it when my mother dies to be honest. But for now, it’s a sweet song and I get why people love it.
Closure: Remember how I said Happiness is how I wish I felt about my family? Closure is how I actually feel about them. To be honest, the fact that everyone seems to have this as their least favourite song from the album shocks me because I think it’s one of the most relatable. I’m also surprised so many of you feel like this is about Karlie given the sounds at the beginning and end sound like (Big) Machines and the second verse and bridge scream Scott to me. All up, I genuinely really like this song and feel like it’s the one with the most experimentation that works for the track despite the lyrical simplicity to be honest.
Evermore: Lyrically, this is my favourite track from the album. Production wise? ... well Taylor’s part is amazing. This is another song where artistically I appreciate how jaggered Justin’s voice makes the song because it works contextually at that part, but it’s a bit much for me in terms of wanting to have the song on repeat. Though it wouldn’t have had the same jaggered hence artistic feel, I do wish Justin had used his lower register because I feel like it would have suited the replayability of the song more. Regardless, it is another self recovery/reflection song for me and definitely one of my favourite (and perhaps the most socially relevant given how 2020 was for most people) closers from Taylor... though she always knocks those out of the park.
Final Thoughts:
Though not being my favourite overall album from Taylor, Evermore is a solid album with amazing songs. It is also an album I can see being a grower and/or mood based album. So with two songs still coming, I’m not about to rule it out as being something I won’t love more in the future. This is especially the when I know that even if I don’t get the environment I usually love from it, Evermore has so many amazing songs I can see myself listening to for years to come.
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
You know, I really like Amelia’s design. Also she seems pretty chill.
I love her, I remember specifically pointing this girl out after Hooty’s Moving Hassle aired as a very obvious reference to Saria from Ocarina of Time (which is a game that Dana Terrace herself loves), and that just made her instantly lovable to me! I love her pointy little nose, it reminds me of the beak of a hummingbird, which ties in with the motif of the Plant Track she belongs to!
I’ve got some headcanons and speculation about her in the past… Specifically, it’s worth noting that Amelia seems to have been playing Grudgby with Boscha, longer than anyone else! We see her playing on the team during the flashback, during a VERY important Island Championship… And we see her continue playing, even now! Meanwhile, Skara seems to be a reserve player, and Cat… Well, either she was a reserve player back then, or she joined recently to fill in the space left by Amity’s absence! Probably the latter, we know Skara has been hanging out with Boscha since they were little kids.
And given how much Grudgby means to someone as competitive as Boscha, you KNOW she’d only prioritize having the best of the best on her team! She seems like the kind of person who’d put aside friendships to have the most skilled players with her… Which leads me to believe that there’s lowkey a certain trust between her and Amelia, as both are talented players! Hence, my headcanon as Amelia having been a sports kid who introduced Boscha and Amity to Grudgby.
Even if Boscha and Amelia aren’t exactly close because it’s Boscha we’re talking about here, there’s still a special comradery between the two as veteran Grudgby players who have been around since the very beginning… With Amelia being by Boscha’s side on the field, longer than anyone else! Not to mention, her and Skara were hanging out with Boscha at the Treasure Shack when Cat wasn’t… Which doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything, but considering what little content we have, and the Grom photos- I like to also see Cat as a relative newcomer to the friend group. The way I see it, Boscha met Skara first, then Amity, afterwards Amelia, and finally Cat!
Similarly, I like to think that Amelia was one of the first to reconsider her stance on Willow; Given how Willow moved into her track, Amelia would’ve likely been the first to see just how skilled Willow actually was! Especially after Willow saved her from that carnivorous plant in Episode 9… While it could just be Willow being kind to a bully, I like to think that up until then, Amelia was someone who never directly bullied Willow, or at least quietly went along with it because that’s what Boscha did! Otherwise she had no ill will towards Willow, and Willow recognized this!
Of course, then comes Wing it like Witches… Boscha takes Willow ‘stealing’ her fame as a very personal threat, and so Amelia’s internally remarking “Here we go AGAIN,” as she decides to just shut up and not say anything, and let Boscha do her thing and get it over with. Amelia’s not particularly a fan of this, but Boscha is likely the kind of person who forces friends to ‘prioritize her’, saying that friends should support one another no matter what, especially if the alternative is picking the side of some lowly stranger! Boscha is likely someone who’s made it clear in the past that taking someone else’s side, even if Boscha is in the wrong, is tantamount to betrayal…
Plus, with how threatening Boscha is, I imagine Skara (who we already know can be kind and sweet in her own way), Amelia, and Cat just sort of went with it. Not outright against the bullying, but if left to their own devices, would just let people like Luz and Willow happily exist. On another note, I’m not sure if Amelia is necessarily from an upper-class family or not… Given what I said about Boscha prioritizing victory in Grudgby above all else, she seems like the kind of person who’d ignore class barriers if it meant recruiting a skilled player! Especially since she’s already a troublemaker, doesn’t seem to care much for academics, and is clearly irreverent towards her own mother and is even able to say no to her!
Also, Amelia being VERY obsessive about fictional book series, to the point where she swears on trashing anything that remotely disappoints her, because she’s staking THAT much of an emotional claim onto it… It’s low-key something I can relate to, albeit not to the same extreme extent as Amelia! I like to think that she developed a grudge against King after he failed to deliver on the Ruler’s Reach sequel… So when King showed up to tell jokes during Grom, Amelia was VERY vocal in her booing of him, and had half the mind to get vengeance for her heartbreak. Luckily, her friends convinced her otherwise.
I like to think Amelia and Boscha also went to Grom as each other’s dates! I know people have pointed out Amelia talking to the Mouth-Headed girl, and while that IS cute… Technically speaking, we see the Mouth-Head girl intimately close with some other kid beforehand, and I’m pretty sure we see kids who have dates with other talks to different classmates as well. Plus, I think it makes sense- Amelia is likely Boscha’s second-closest friend, and Skara and Cat already have confirmed dates! Boscha cares about social status, so going to Grom without a date would probably be unthinkable… And when Grometheus escaped, Cat and Skara went outside to follow, but Amelia stayed behind to wait for Boscha, who was late, and who she did NOT want to disappoint!
...Then again, Boscha going with Bo and Selene is also an option, especially since she takes photos with them before Mattholomule interrupts! Either way, it’s fun to speculate on the lives of these various side-characters and students… There’s not a lot to work with, but it coincidentally leaves a LOT of room and space to make stuff up! And what little we DO get, forms a minor, yet cohesive, narrative! I like to think that Amelia plans to become a professional Grudgby athlete like Boscha in the future…
Whether or not Cat will join them, I can’t say for sure! Of course, given my past headcanons… Maybe Amelia is also considering NOT doing that, and just getting to play Grugdby on her own terms, for fun! But she’s not exactly fully-considering this idea, it’s mostly a minor thought in the back of her head that sprung up after Luz’s good sportsmanship helped Amelia reconsider things… But Amelia would STILL be throwing an entire future she had already planned for and worked towards for years, and she may not be willing to dedicate her life to some random job in the Plant Coven.
As far as Amelia is concerned, she’ll probably keep with her original plans to become a professional athlete, and maybe fine time in-between matches and training, somehow, to just have good old-fashioned fun in Grudgby. Like a lot of people in this show, Amelia’s life was lowkey changed when Luz came into play, and like many other students, Amelia has a lot of anxieties and indecision over the final choice she’ll make before graduation. Like I said before, the Coven System is pretty messed-up in how it forces kids to decide the rest of their lives from such a young and formative age!
(Not to shamlesssly self-plug, but I have a fanfic that includes Amelia as a minor character. Basically it serves to implement my headcanons about her into Amelia’s role in Boscha’s life- It was written prior to Agony of a Witch, and later I edited her name from the placeholder Sarya, to the one Dana confirmed!)
Amelia is also present during the field trip to Belos’ castle, and she’s present in the crowd during Eda’s petrification… Her and Skara were vouching for Eda’s freedom alongside the rest as well, and cheered when her, Luz, King, and Lilith got away! Given all of the other stuff I mentioned before, I imagine Amelia might have SOME issues with the Coven System… Especially amidst past speculation on its potential impact on Grudgby as a professional career, not to mention how it’s forcing her into that complicated situation I headcanoned about! I don’t recall seeing Cat in the crowd, but I DID see Bo…
It’d be interesting if Amelia and Skara brought up their stance against Belos later in the future, and how that might affect their friendship with Boscha and Cat respectively. Bo is in the same track as Cat, so maybe Cat would also be convinced to take an anti-Belos stance as well… And Boscha is already pretty anti-authority and ALSO could have thoughts on the Coven System, given my speculation on its relationship with Grudgby. It’d be fascinating to see, but at the same time, I could also see Boscha not wanting to defy the ‘natural order’ and be labelled an outcast and a loser by defying the Coven System.
Kids like Amelia, Skara, and Bo definitely come across as more compassionate, or at least considerate of others, than Boscha… Hence their more vocal opposition to Belos! And hey- If Luz, who was a total rookie to Grudgby, could wound Belos… Then is this guy really so invincible? Obviously Luz and her team beat Amelia and the others (not counting the Rusty Smide), but it was a narrow victory, and ultimately the point is that Emperor Belos isn’t such an invincible witch, after all. Maybe a successful revolution IS possible…!
Regardless, I really hope we get to see more of her, Skara, and Cat in the future! Who knows, maybe like Skara, Amelia and Cat will get a little extra spotlight later on... Although given how Dana mentioned how the names were from the crew and not necessarily set-in-stone, we’d probably have to wait until Season 3 for anything extra or substantial, assuming the crew would even prioritize in that in favor of other more important characters and plot threads!
Also I like to think that Amelia had a close friend named Alrick who died in a horrific dirtbiking accident and now she’s low-key considering necromancy and other morally-questionable means in order to bring him back please watch Infinity Train
#the owl house#owl house#the owl house amelia#the owl house boscha#the owl house skara#the owl house cat#the owl house bo#speculation#headcanons#ask
26 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
