#WAIT IS LUZ NOT CENTERED??????

[lyss-butterscotch]

We interrupt this RW program to bring you a message:

*Deep inhale* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

<- watched the owl house finale

[ilovechuuyakjk]

Hi I've come to make a request if that's ok but I was wondering if you could do head canons or a fic about hunter x reader and the reader avoids drama due to like trauma and freaks out whenever someone raises their voice.

I'm going to do a headcanon and a mini fic

I also hate loud noises and people who raise their voices with me, I get scared

HUNTER X READER

I can feel that

He would probably try to get you to stay away from these people

When he saw some drama around him and you were around too, he would run away as quickly as possible and comfort you.

he has trauma too, and he knows it's not easy to talk about it

He wouldn't force you to tell him, but he gets really worried and sometimes he tries to get you to talk but he'll stop right away if you say you don't feel comfortable talking about it

The first time he saw you like that he didn't know what to do, he tried to hug you but he soon gave up on the idea because he thought you weren't comfortable with it at that moment

But then when you noticed that he was there, you gave him a hug, he returned the hug by grabbing you and saying that everything was going to be fine

When you finally talk about your trauma he is happy and angry, not with you but with the person who gave you that trauma

he always tries to find out about your interests, he thinks it's adorable when you're talking about your interests

And you find him adorable when he talks about the books he read in the human world

and his ears

They are very cute

Especially when they turn red

(This part I took inspiration from that amphibia ep that Anne made them go to the mall to learn more about the human world, I love that ep)

Luz forced you to go to the mall to show more of the human world, you stayed close to hunter, afraid of getting lost there because this place is big

Hunter was talking to Willow and Gus while you stayed behind just listening, Amity and Vee were in the other part that Luz told them to go

You were bored when something piqued your curiosity, It was a mini art museum

You decided to go there, you weren't doing anything here, so why not?

Hunter pov

I was with willow, gus and y/n, we were at one of the stores that Luz recommended for us to go to, it was a pet store, The animals here were so cute!!

I was talking to Willow about a puppy, gus was looking at a kitten and y/n..... Wait where is them

" Willow where is y/n?? " " They was not with you?" Willow said getting Gus's attention "the last time I saw them was when we were coming over here"

I panicked, where could they be???? " I LOST MY PARTNER!! "

Y/n pov

I was going down the escalator, this place is huge

When I noticed I was in the food center, I was still near the stairs, a man came running, he looked nervous, he had the phone on his ear which means he's probably on a call, he was walking so fast that he accidentally bumped into me making me almost fall down the stairs, his phone fell down the stairs when I looked at him he had an expression of anger and despair. He looked like he wanted to kill me.

He grabbed the collar of my shirt and yelled

" I WAS ON AN IMPORTANT CALL YOU LITTLE SHIT IT'S YOUR FAULT I LOST MY PHONE NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR IT "

I was in a panic, I had tears in my eyes, I couldn't form a word without it sounding like I was crying and stuttering " p-please can can we talk a-about this i- " I couldn't finish it I felt a huge pain in my left eye and in my butt when I fell, He had punched me, I was paralyzed, I couldn't move, I hate people screaming, I could only put my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes shut, I couldn't hear anything, I could feel him screaming and coming at me but I couldn't do anything

Hunter pov

I couldn't find them, where did they go?? Willow tugged on my shoulder and pointed to the two people upstairs on the escalator, one of whom was y/n " They are there! And y/n seems to be in trouble, let's hurry!! "

They seem to be hurt, what did that guy do to them?!

I went there as quickly as possible, I told gus to go get Camila, Luz, amity and Vee

Willow went to talk to the guy trying to calm him down, I was trying to calm y/n down but they didn't seem to hear me I hugged them, saying everything was going to be ok, they finally noticed I was there and they tried to speak but I couldn't understand from so many tears " Shhhh be quiet everything will be fine shhh " After a few minutes they calmed down, Willow couldn't calm him down but luckily a policeman appeared Meanwhile came Camila, Luz, amity and Vee, y/n couldn't speak but there were witnesses who spoke for them

Camila managed to take care of the matter and we went home, I put ice on y/n's left eye, they were quiet. Willow and Amity were helping Camila cook dinner, Vee and Gus were reading a book and Luz was studying for a test she had next week

" Does your eye hurt less? " I asked giving them a kiss on the forehead " Yea.... "

" You weren't just crying about the situation, were you? I could feel that you were crying for something else " I said looking at their right eye " Yes, you're right.... It's just bad memories... " They said looking away, "Do you want to talk about it?" "Not yet" they said, I put my arms around them

" It's understandable, when you're ready to talk let me know, I'll always be here my love " We stayed like that until dinner.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

I hope you like it!!!

[branmuffins22]

THE TIME IS UPON US ONCE AGAIN FOR A MUFFINTOP FIC REC!!!

This fic has been a big favorite of mine ever since it started coming out a few months ago, it scratches an itch I've felt for a long long time in this fandom (and does it maybe a little too well, I get antsy and end up doing a lot of re-reading between updates).

It's got long, juicy chapters; unsettlingly and appropriately dry tone and delivery (I'm pretty sure there's only like 20 exclamation points in the whole fic (as it currently exists), and they're all in the dialogue, not the plain prose); a wonderful amount of time spent with characters who were thrown completely under the bus by canon (while still remaining (feasibly) canon-compliant, btw); some of the most fun original scenarios and characters a fic of its kind could possibly have (just wait 'till you meet the swizzler); and it's centered around everyone's favorite basilisk, Vee!

Honestly, the Ao3 summary doesn't really do it justice:

This is a sister story (pun intended) to The Owl House that follows Vee's adventures in the human realm.

Like, that's it. Simple, straightforward, and succinct, but gosh golly fuck, it sure doesn't sell it, or at least not to anyone but the most wildly obsessed (like me).

As such, I propose my own reader's summary:

Vee has had a hard life. She grew up in a cage. Coerced, studied, tortured, broken, and put back together again for as long as she can remember. As if her life in the cells weren't traumatic enough, her escape was just as much so, and nowhere near as certain. Alone on the run, she seized the first opportunity she found for a permanent solution, but that too proved to have flaws. Vee is not Luz, but she will do anything to secure her freedom, even if she has to be someone else to do it. She'll just have to survive summer camp, conspiracy theorists, and an ongoing barrage of crises, both external and internal. Anything and everything to be safe and free. This is a sister story (pun intended) to The Owl House that follow's Vee's adventures in the human realm.

[the-au-thor]

Hi, I saw you are accepting requests, and I read A la Velocidad de la Luz, it was amazing! I was thinking about they as parents, maybe reader's dream about having those 6 Nuggets with Steve and traveling to California being real would be great? I mean I'd like to see all the story but with this idea i'll be super happy, only if you like it, of course!

This is a very cute idea! I kinda wanted to add some babysitting munson but I'm still not sure lol, I kept it simple tho. Hope you like this one!

Remember to read this content warning before reading.

First part here and second part here

A la Velocidad de la Luz (at the Speed of light) | Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

"Robin called, said she'll be in Malibu by the time we get there," you said, trying to fix your hair while the trailer was in motion.

"Yeah, did you tell her she'll be the official nanny for the next week?" Steve asked, flipping through radio stations.

You chuckled while starting to braid Alice's long brown hair.

"She's aware. She and Vicki can't wait to babysit and do auntie duties," you expertly finished your daughter's hairdo, and she happily went to her seat behind the trailer to start playing with her twin, Jo.

You and Steve started having babies more than a decade ago. It wasn't exactly planned; you just got tired of the pills. One day, after a year and a half of marriage, you woke up and broke the news to Steve.

"Babe?"

"Mmhm," he murmured while sipping coffee from his mug.

Your sexy police officer husband was standing there with his hip against the counter and the paper in his hand.

" I stopped taking the pills, remember? You said whenever I feel ready, I just had to tell you? Well, I'm ready."

He took his eyes away from whatever he was reading and slowly moved to meet yours as he carefully studied you. In silence, he left his mug and newspaper on the counter and took his radio from the center table of your kitchen. He pressed a button without breaking eye contact.

"Central, this is Sergeant Harrington, do you copy? Over."

"Hey, Sarge Stevie, this is Jane Hopper helping out today in Central. Is everything okay? Over."

Steve smiled, and you copied his gesture. Jane started working at the central station during her summers when she graduated high school a couple of years ago. A way for Hopper to teach her the sense of responsibility and set healthy boundaries between her and Mike. It was a pretty good idea, to be honest.

"Hey El, do me a favor, could ya'? Tell your dad I'll be out of duties this morning for personal reasons. Imma explain to him later, over."

"Is everything okay? Over."

Steve combed his hair back and smiled.

"Yeah, honey, just a little thing here I need to take care of. Just tell your dad that, copy."

"Okay, just remember, friends don't lie. I'll tell my father, but he won't be happy, Mom's got him on a new diet, and it's driving him nuts, copy."

Steve laughed.

"I can imagine that. Thanks for the favor. See you soon, copy."

"10-4, have a great morning. Tell your pretty girl I love her. Out."

Then the line was dead, and as soon as the conversation ended, Steve quickly turned off the radio and took a couple of steps to get closer to you. You embraced his neck, standing on your tiptoes while smiling playfully.

"So, I'm guessing I'm the little thing you need to take care of?"

He caressed your back until his hands were on your butt and smiled back.

"Of course, mama, we need to fix this not-being-pregnant-yet situation," he finally said, taking you in his arms while you let out a giggle, and he started walking upstairs.

Nine months later, on March 12th, 1992, your first girl, Emma Chrissy Harrington, came into the world to be the protagonist of her father's worries and cares. She was now sitting in the back of the trailer with her headphones on, reading your old books while moving his feet covered in the combat boots her godfather gave her on her birthday. After one year of having her, you and Steve welcomed your first son James, who was born with his father's beautiful eyes and your hair. Steve often says he's gonna be a charmer, but you think he already is. You and Steve struggled a little to adjust to having two totally different babies in the house, and Steve got promoted to Captain, which was a big responsibility, so you decided to hold off on baby-making for a while. You enjoyed being a mother of two for that time; they were so different, with Emma being chaotic and creative, learning to play the drums before even being potty-trained, courtesy of his uncle Eddie, and James being the calmest and most advanced baby, talking, teething, and walking at a very early stage. He's now into photography and loves his uncle Johnny. When Emma was 4 and James 3, you and Steve welcomed Elizabeth. She was born prematurely and was a very delicate baby until doctors told you she was born with diabetes, so she has to follow a strict treatment. Other than that, she is a smart and strong 7-year-old girl who likes dresses and her piano lessons. By that time, you were a family of 5, and frankly, everything felt easier than with the first two babies. That made you both think that where's five, why can't be six, right? Just that in your next pregnancy, you discovered you were expecting your twins; Alice and Jo-Anne. They're just 5, so they are into bugs, drawing, and dogs.

They were very wild years, with Steve being promoted from Chief Assistant to Chief, with Hopper handing Steve the torch as he always wanted, and you with a little tour on the East Coast to promote your new novel and signing meetings. You couldn't take the vacation of your dreams until this year, once Steve got used to his new job and you just finished your last book so you could be focused more on the family time, he finally bought the camper you both always dreamed about and traveled through the country during the summer.

Uncle Eddie was waiting for you in his big-ass mansion that he was preparing to receive the whole crowd.

"Is he moving?" Steve asked while he moved his hand and placed it over your bump.

You smiled.

"Yep, he will be just like his dad; unstoppable."

He then smiled back.

"Babe?"

"Uh?" you hummed starting to open a new book your editor recommended to you.

"Just… you look amazing."

"I'm bigger, Harrington. Bigger and swollen," you reminded him.

He moved his hand, caressing your bump.

"You get prettier with every pregnancy."

You rolled your eyes.

"And you get more delusional," you joked, looking for the right page to start your reading while your other hand took his.

You kept in silence while you could hear the kids playing in the back of the camper.

"Babe?" Steve repeated and let out a relieved laugh.

"Huh?" you replied with the same sound.

"We made it, babe," he said with pride coming through his voice. "The whole plan. You and me, The six nuggets. The camper. We are freaking parents of happy and cool kids. We won."

Yep, you did.

[tf2rocks12]

do you know other belos fics?? theyre so hard to find 😭

oh for sure, theres actually not a lot out there lol

Reclamation by AQuietStream is great, belos is brought back and under the care of hexsquad, plus an A+ in emotional caleb flashbacks

Little firefly by Sprinkledgalaxies, luz gets stuck in the deadwardian era with philip and has to survive with him plus the collector, most recent chapter is amazing, i love arakate

mm i was reading A Witch (and) Hunter by CyanideCrystal but they havent updated in a month, if you dont mind the wait its a very good fic, not too much of belos at first, but leaves off on a very good cliffhanger (also a solid warning, Jacob Hopkins is pretty prevalent, if thats not your cup of tea)

Reasoning with Crazy by YogurtHoops Belos receives a wrong number on his crow phone and it ends up being luz, amazing play in to how much belos and luz probably would have gotten along pretty well if he wasnt so hellbent on his beliefs

And everyone you love, can drift away (Human Guide AU) by flowerpetal1600, luz actually follows through on her deal to become belos's guide in the human realm, Camilla again being an amazing person and mother and belos having a panic attack in a store before shoplifting a pair of crocs, amazing

Those are pretty much all of the fics that i check frequently for updates, there are some other belos centered fics, but a lot of them either are straight up NSFW or just proshipping

[pageofheartdj]

Aaaand another small thing XD

***

The days after the near end of the world were hectic. There was so much to do, so much to fix. Luz was a constant presence helping in all the ways she could. Everyone was doing their fair share.

But there was no need in lil’ ol’ King. Not that that bothered him. Nope, not at all.

Baby titans need their rest, Eda said, patting their head. Scoff, he was no baby! He was a big boy now!

So what if everything is so different and the owl house still feels wrong and he doesn't want to sleep without Eda.

He was still capable! He was not a baby!

Frustration had built up once again, the unwelcome tears threatening to burst through. Without a second thought King reached to the side, searching for a familiar soft fluff. Instead he grabbed an empty air. Oh, right. He gave away Francois to the Collector.

The thoughts about the star child entered his mind, as they inevitably always did.

He felt conflicted about them. He didn’t hate him, he couldn't, not after everything. He even liked him. True, their friendship wasn’t real at that time, but he still grew to care about them and he hoped their friendship became real in the end. But he still felt bitter over how every little thing he knew and was used to was shaken, a weird parody of his life took its place instead.

Should he be angry at the Collector? Technically Belos was the one who ruined everything to begin with. In fact, if not for Collector everyone would have been… dead. But Collector was the one who gave that freaky spell to Belos.

… Collector didn’t understand mortality at that time. But Belos did.

Yeah, Belos sucked, no question!

King gave a tired sigh.

He missed Francois and the comfort his soft plush body gave him. He didn’t regret giving him away though. King was a big kid now, he could take care of himself…Collector could take care of himself too, couldn’t he? But then King remembered how sad and lost they looked.

No, the Collector needed Francois more.

At least the thought that Francoise was with them gave him some comfort. He will look after the Collector. Wherever they are.

As usual when it came to the star child, King was lost in his head, replaying their conversations, imagining where they could be right now and what they were doing. He could spend hours undisturbed like this.

And then the room bursted with light.

“WEH!”

Falling on his knees King shielded his eyes from sharp brightness, confused and scared from such a sudden outburst. What happened?! Where did this light come from?!

After the light died down, King shakingly opened his eyes, blinking the black spots away. At first glance nothing was different, but the room somehow still looked brighter. Except now it was soft and gave away a warm and fuzzy glow. Closely looking around the room again, King raised his head. And there!

In the center of the room, frozen in the air, there was a sparkling blue star. King immediately knew whose star it was.

Scrambling to his feet he ran towards the star that slowly dropped right into King’s waiting hands. Then it exploded in star-like glitter and colorful ribbons, leaving a scroll in its place. With a star seal on it.

What is this?

King carefully opened it.

It was… a letter? A letter from the Collector!

He could recognise Collector’s handwriting anywhere, even though he never saw Collector actually write, aside from rare initials of their names! The letters were all rounded and big, with little stars or smiley faces in every one of them. They even had a rainbow glow to them.

Collector wrote to him. King felt his tail starting wagging.

Calming his heart from jumping out of his throat King gulped and started reading:

KING

This is Collector! And this is the letter from me! For you!

The witch with pretty pink hair said I could write those when I am not visiting. So we can talk!

If you want to?

She said I can write whatever I want about whatever I do. So I did!

I didn’t get far away from the demon realm, I can still see the purple blip from where I am sitting. I am on SPACE ROCK! I forgot how nice it is in space. There is so much SPACE!

Francois says hi! He seems to like it here! I am taking GOOD care of him don’t you worry!

I want to know everything that happens with you too so please write about anything you want!

I don’t know how letters work so I hope I did okay.

If When you are done you can just put that star seal on it and it will send it to me! Hope you will write back!

BYE!

King reread the letter a few times, again and again.

It was a clumsy one, not that King knew better, he never wrote one himself either. But he saw Hooty’s and Lilith’s letters, so he could claim to have more expertise in this!

He still carefully grasped the shimmering paper, already thinking of a place where he could hide it and keep protected. He doubted he could actually damage it that easily, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Wow. King had never received a letter. He had all his loved ones by his side, who would write to him? But now he had a friend out there who wrote to him. An actual letter.

The answer! He needed to write a reply!

He stood up.

“EDA, WHERE IS A PAPER AND A PEN?”

“Wow, what's the emergency??” Eda's voice was heard from the living room.

“IT IS ‘I WILLl BLOW UP’ EMERGENCY!”

“Okay-okay, everything is in the top drawer in my room”, Eda cackled in response.

“The one that bites?”

“Nah, the other one.”

King ran straight to it, gathered the paper and Luz’s glowing pen and stopped. He didn’t know what to write, his brain couldn’t grasp on anything worth the attention. There was nothing interesting going on while the Collector was in SPACE. King didn’t know how interesting it was there, but the Collector seemed to be really excited about it. But they also said they wanted to know everything.

Screw this, they can do whatever and write whatever! No one can tell two gods what to do!

Feeling nervous excitement building up, King started remembering all the cool things he saw lately, wondering what to start with.

But he knew the one thing to write for sure:

Dear Collector.

[catgirl-catboy]

wait can you elaborate more on the lumity thing? i don't know anything about that show or fandom, i'm just nosy lol

Please do ask me this shit, I love to bitch! So Lumity is the canon ship between Luz Noceda and Amity Blight.

Luz (right) is canonically bisexual, and has expressed attraction to both men and women in the show. Amity is a canon lesbian.

I actually really enjoyed the ship, until it became canon. Then, it felt like Amity was reduced to a Luz Simp with no plot relevance, when she was one of my favorite characters beforehand. Since she basically became the deuteragonist of the show once they got together, it was really noticeable that the writers didn't really do anything with her?

I'll give the show the benefit of the doubt here. I imagine it'd be hard to write Amity plotlines if you didn't know you could get the ship made canon ahead of time, and plotlines centered around her could have been scrapped. But I dislike that she was in so many episodes, but very few episodes had her NEED to be there for the plot to work. In other words, she fails the Sexy Lamp test a lot of the time.

That being said, it doesn't excuse how fucking annoying the fandom got around the ship.

After Lumity's first kiss, but before they got together, the episode Hunting Palisman aired. In it, Luz spends prolonged time with an antagonist character, Hunter. The two of them were onscreen together before, but it lasted only a couple of minutes.

(I don't care what antis say, this counts as a canon ship tease in my book.)

The two of them had a fantastic, back-and-forth dynamic, that basically made Hunter a fan-favorite character after this episode.

However, diehard Lumity shippers were quick to declare the two siblings, despite the two of them meeting twice, and actually talking once. They share no parental figures at this point.

Many of them say its "Lesbophobic" to ship anything other than Lumity. Despite, you know. Luz being canon Bi. and expressing attraction to men in show.

Then, the Season 3 episode Thanks to them airs.

And we get Luz's mother making an offhand, comedic remark about having six kids.

Antis used this line to claim Lunter were "canon siblings" at this point, but... SIX KIDS MEANS THAT ONE OF THE KIDS IS AMITY. If that line makes Lunter incest, it also makes Lumity incest. I don't make the rules. Shippers will nitpick evidence to harass the 'rival' ship, expect it isn't a rival ship at all since 99% of the fandom is obsessed with Lumity and Lumity is canon. What are the 5 people that prefer Lunter going to do? Honestly.

Then, a voice actor does this.

Which I felt was really in bad taste, because it caused fandom harassment. Word of God from authors is annoying enough, but now fucking voice actors decide what is "canon" and therefore okay to harass others over? Zeno has no control over the writing of the show, his opinion does not reflect the intent of the creator.

It felt like a massive overstep of fandom-author boundaries.

The show ended with Hunter not moving in with Luz's mother, or Luz's adopted mother, but another character.

Canon siblings my ASS.

(that being said, HC what you like!)

[phoenix-pheces]

Another fic based on the Huntlow Mythology AU created by @turquoisespace35 . This takes place after the group arrives back in the kingdom, as Willow and Amity go to confront the king. If you enjoy my work here, I also repost all of my fics on AO3 as Phoenix_Pheces. I intend to eventually post different content on each page, so please consider checking out that page as well. Any support means so much to me, and inspires me to keep writing.

—————————————

Bleeding Hearts - Part 1/3

Willow’s braid had been pulled and twisted nearly out of its holding as she continued to try and soothe her nerves. She and Amity had been waiting quite a while for their audience with the king. It was hard to guess how long it had been exactly, but their surroundings were noticeably less lit than when they had taken their seats. Amity, thankfully, had stayed close for their journey. They both knew the guards weren’t escorting them out of concern for their safety. She had left a few moments ago, however, to ensure they would be seen before sunset. The silence in the hall once she had left was deafening.

It took every ounce of willpower Willow had to not spiral into a panic worrying about Hunter. She was confident that Luz and Gus could keep him safe, but she would never feel relieved until he was back in her sight again. More than anything else, she needed him to be safe. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to keep him in hiding much longer.

Soft footsteps echoed through the hall; Amity’s footsteps. She approached and put a comforting hand on Willow’s shoulder.

“Are you ready to see him?” Her question felt heavy in the air between them, weighed down by an unspoken dread they both needed to leave unspoken. Willow took a deep breath that still felt uncertain.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

Amity offered her arm, and Willow gratefully took it. She wasn’t sure who needed it more. The two were promptly ushered into the king’s throne room before they had the chance to offer any last minute encouragement.

The throne room was much brighter than the long stone hall had been. Not because of any direct sunlight, but because of a looming golden fire pit in the center of the room. Gus had described it to Willow the first time they entered the throne room. The massive bowl which held the flame was relatively plain, but it was held by a golden statue of a man. A man who, morbidly enough, looked as though the weight of it would soon overcome him. It has unnerved Willow before, but now it left her truly shaken. Would that be her fate? Overcome by a massive load even she couldn’t carry?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of marching. Amity pressed her shoulder into Willow’s, and the door on the opposite end of the throne room was thrust open. The King entered accompanied by, according to Amity, twelve guards.

This was not for protection. This was a display of power, and perhaps even a threat. Amity and Willow were escorted to the foot of the king’s throne, and separated to bow deeply at his feet. The gesture made Willow bristle with anger. She could only hope it wouldn’t appear too plainly on her face.

“Rise, my chosen ones.” Willow and Amity did as they were instructed. The king rose to his feet, but did not approach them. He snapped his head to the nearest guard.

“Leave us, all of you. I wish to converse with these two in private. For their own benefit.” Willow nearly scoffed at the idea. The king would love to have witnesses: if he had nothing to hide. The guards promptly left the throne room, but Willow knew they wouldn’t stray far. They would be right back at their stations with as little as a shout from their king. After the last guard closed the doors behind him, the king descended the throne’s stairs until he was just a few feet away from Amity and Willow.

“So, who would care to regale me with the tale of how both of you miraculously survived the most bloodthirsty monster our kingdom has ever known?”

“He is no monster.” Willow had planned to hold her tongue as best she could. Amity was far more diplomatic than she was. However, though Willow knew better, her heart could not be so easily silenced. The king scoffed.

“I assure you, it is nothing but a vile creature. I have half a mind to send you out to sea for speaking out of turn every time we meet. Your fathers have raised a miserable, insolent child.”

Willow clenched her fists and forced a smile.

“They raised me to oppose injustice, Your Majesty. It would be irresponsible of me to stand by while innocent people are being targeted by those in power. I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on that the last time I was here.”

“How dare you!” You will speak-“

“I will speak when I please. You have hurt this kingdom from the moment you assumed the throne. I’ve seen your cruelty firsthand, and it truly knows no mercy. You sent me, and countless others, to die just to protect your reputation. At the hands of an unwilling, traumatized boy. Hunter didn’t deserve this. We didn’t deserve this. If there is any monster plaguing this kingdom, it is you.”

The king was silent. He descended the rest of the stairs and came close enough that Willow could see his face. His expression was difficult to read, but it didn’t look like the anger Willow had expected. The king looked almost fascinated.

“Tell me, child, who is Hunter?”

Willow’s heart dropped. She hadn’t realized her mistake until he asked the question. What had she done?

“I-“

“You named the thing, didn’t you? You care for it.” The king let out a small gasp. “And you wouldn’t have left it behind.”

“No!” Willow lunged forward, but the king easily evaded her, and she crashed into the floor. Pain shot through her arm and ribs.

“Guards! Quickly!”

The guards rushed into the room as Amity dove to help Willow to her feet. The pain in Willow’s side caused her to stumble, and they were quickly surrounded. Amity clung to her.

“If any of you so much as touch her, I will end you,” Amity threatened, brandishing her spear as best she could with one hand. None of the guards moved. They were more concerned with keeping the two of them contained than separating them.

“Assemble everyone else in the main hall!” The king’s voice rang through the throne room, dripping its malice. Willow heard countless footsteps running in all directions. She had no idea what was happening outside the circle of guards, who had now all turned their spears inward. She began to shake as she heard the king shout again.

“Let’s move, we have a beast to kill!”

[sergeantsporks]

Spork I am begging on my hands and knees I know your the Hunter content blog but you also make the best Vee content I need my crops watered please

Because you asked nicely :)

Five bounced on the balls of her feet, watching all of the other campers stream onto the bus. She glanced back at her cabin, marked VII.

I should go.

I should run.

Camp had taught her enough about passing as a regular human that she could probably change her form to a more adult appearing one and get a job. Or she could just live on her own in the wilderness, they’d gone through a few survival skills, too.

But there had been nothing in any of the lessons about how to be Luz Noceda. And Luz Noceda was the girl expected back home. Besides, there was a portal. Luz could come back any time, would come back any time. She could already be back already, and Five didn’t have a way to tell.

A gentle hand touched her shoulder. Claire, the cooking class teacher. “Luz? Sweetheart, you’re the only one left, everyone’s ready to go.”

Too late.

“Can I stay here?” Five blurted, “Could I just stay and not go back home?”

Claire heaved a sigh. “Afraid not, snapdragon.”

“I could help with maintenance!”

Claire turned Five to face her. “I know it’s going to be hard to go back, Luz. Bullies are always going to find something to make fun of, and teachers sometimes won’t let go of the past. But do you remember what we talked about?”

“Don’t use explosives in your book report, ‘cuz that’ll get you expelled?”

“And someone could get hurt. But no, the other thing.”

“Don’t take live snakes to school, because it’s not fair to the snakes to get suddenly put in a new, scary place?”

Claire laughed. “Not that one either. About the bullies.”

Five sighed. “Find my safe people.”

“That’s right. The people who care about you matter much more than the people who want to hurt you, and they will always stand by you. And what was the other thing?”

“Pop them in the nose if they try to physically hurt me?”

“Technically, you didn’t hear that from me. For legal reasons. Bullies are just small people trying to look big, and in the end, they don’t get to say who you will be. Only you get to say that.” Claire turned Five towards the bus. “Your creativity is your strongest asset, but no one will see it if you stay here forever. Don’t get too carried away, but go out there and show them what you’re really made of.”

If Luz has come back, I could always just run then. Doesn’t look like I can get away now anyway.

Five took a deep breath. “Okay. Alright.”

“Atta girl. I’m rooting for you, Luz.”

Five climbed the steps to the bus, and the door hissed shut behind her, sealing her in. Masha gave her a short wave from their seat, patting the window seat next to them. “I gotcha, Luz!”

Find my safe people.

Five sat down next to Masha, watching out the window. Claire waved, getting smaller and smaller as the bus rolled out, leaving the camp behind.

“Finally, out of prison for good behavior,” Masha joked, “Man, I can’t wait to get back to my room. And the internet. I’ve missed the internet.”

Five leaned against the window. “Do you think things will be different? Back in Gravesfield?”

Masha snorted. “No way, they didn’t brainwash me at that camp.”

Five nudged them. “I know you had fun at that local history class.”

“Yeah, because there’s a lot of it in Old Gravesfield. I still can’t believe you’ve never been in the museum, or done rubbings in the graveyard. That was like, the only good part of school.”

“Wasn’t one of those trips the reason you got sent here?”

“You hide in and pop out of one excavated grave to scare your partner…”

The bus rolled from country to suburban, all the way to the center of Gravesfield. Masha stood up. “I see my dad. Are you getting off?”

Five pushed her hands into her hoodie pocket. “One more stop,” she whispered.

“Hey.” Masha grinned. “Not too late to run away.”

Even though they were joking (probably), Five’s stomach clenched.

I could get off and run. Get far, far away, start over.

“No, I’m staying. See you, Masha.”

“Cabin Seven forever. Don’t be a stranger, drop by sometime.”

Masha waved and headed down the steps. There were only a few kids left on the bus, and everyone sat alone. The bus rumbled down the road, finally, finally stopping near Luz’s house.

Full circle, Five.

She got out, grabbing her bag from under the bus.

“Luz!” Camila waved at her from the curb, then swept her up in a hug. “Hey, mija! I’ve missed you so much!”

Luz isn’t back.

For a moment, a worm of worry wiggled through her mind. Was the human okay? Was she stuck in the demon realm?

But then Camila squeezed her even tighter, and Five didn’t care anymore.

“Hi.” Five leaned into Camila, warmth spreading through her chest.

Found my safe people.

Maybe she didn’t know Camila that well—she’d only had the car ride to camp to get to know her. But here, wrapped up in her arms, Five almost felt like nothing could hurt her again. There weren’t any portals, any jailers, any chains. Just she and Camila and the warm sun on her face.

Camila let go. “Ooooo, I’m so glad you’re home, it’s been so quiet.” She picked up the bag, slinging it over her shoulder. “Did you make some new friends? Learn anything new? I want to hear all about camp. I mean, I’ve had your letters and your texts, of course, but I want to hear it from you.”

What if Luz never came back? She’d seemed happy enough in the demon realm, and from what Five had gathered over the last few months, she hadn’t exactly fit in here. Maybe she didn’t want to come back. Although how anyone could just ditch Camila was beyond her.

Maybe Five could just stay like this. Could stay Luz. No one had to know. And she could stay in warm hugs, in sunlight, in freedom.

“Luz?” Camila called from ahead of her, “Are you coming, mija?”

Five smiled, chasing after her. “Yeah. I’m coming.” She slipped her free hand into Camila’s. “Let’s go home.”

[emsprovisions]

A Veesha Drabble

This drabble was inspired by @moringmark's comic found here. I hope you enjoy! I love Veesha 🥰🥰

Title: Drive Me Home

Word count: 495 words

“I guess Luz was already taken, huh?” Masha smirked at Vee. 

Vee’s eyes widened so big she thought they might pop out. “You knew???”

“I have everything from Jacob when I took over. I saw the footage.” They said it like it was nothing, like they were talking about the weather. Not at all like they knew Vee’s insane secret.

“And… you don’t…care?” She was nervous to ask, but she had to know. Considering Masha had apparently already known, and they still chose to be willingly alone with her and drive her home, she hoped they didn’t care. But she still needed their verbal confirmation.

“Why would I?” They flashed a smile at Vee. “I think you’re cute no matter how you look. Besides, I’m the last possible person to judge someone for being unique.”

Vee sat back in her seat. It made sense, she supposed. She hadn’t been in the Human Realm for long when she learned that humans could be extremely unkind towards each other in regards to their identities and labels. It hadn’t been like that in the Boiling Isles, except for her. Basilisks weren’t that kindly regarded by witches either.

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what?” 

“For giving me a chance–wait! Did you just call me cute???”

Her face blushed bright red as Masha pulled up in front of her house. They leaned over across the center console to kiss Vee’s cheek. 

“Why don’t we go out for coffee sometime and you can tell me more about yourself?” There was a glittery look in their eyes that made Vee’s insides warm up and feel like she was set on fire.

“O-okay.” She nodded, eyes locked with Masha’s. 

“Hand me your phone, I’ll give you my number.” Vee handed her phone over and Masha started a new text, entered their number in, and took a selfie, a classic winky face with their tongue out and a peace sign thrown up in the air, their long nails painted in the nonbinary flag colors on full display. They hit send and their own phone dinged with the text. They held up their phone at Vee and told her to smile while they took her picture for her contact. They handed Vee’s phone back to her and smiled.

“I’ll text you so we can plan our date!”

Vee nodded again, heart pounding, legs numb, she felt so happy. They were so cute, and cool!!! And they really liked her?? This was insane. 

“Yeah!” Vee replied. “I’ll text you! Goodnight, Masha.” 

“Goodnight, Vee.”

There was a new text on her phone by the time she made it up to her room. The house already felt so empty and quiet without the rest of her family here. Maybe Masha would help to curb her loneliness while she waited for Camila and Luz to return back home. Her brain immediately began to short circuit as she read Masha’s text. 

Masha: Goodnight cutie, can’t wait for our date <3 :) 

[absenceisaformofwinter]

Esa tristeza rozándote sin preguntarte

el gris inexplicable

que cae como tormenta sobre tu esperanza.

La vida es el puñal y la herida la generosidad de millones de plaquetas conteniendo ríos de sangre.

La piel sana y nueva bajo una costra.

Un sueño deshecho contra el pavimento... Navaja esperando a la vuelta de la esquina.

La vida es ese beso desangrado en las paredes

y a veces su respuesta purulenta.

Una boca oscura donde debes deslizarte a tientas que nadie te vea hecha una luz por su frontera...

Pero la vida es también la luz y la frontera

el precipicio más allá

el cielo lo visto y lo que nunca será visto ni oído ni tocado La música del cosmos en nuestras vísceras.

Los peces y los cantos de las aguas.

El sol para tu casa.

La frondosidad del árbol de jocote resquebrajando suelos y paredes.

El sí que sólo irrumpe y es y crece.

La vida es la alegría de respirar profundo el olor del segundo que se escapa.

El amor en las calles

que canta sobre sangre y podredumbre.

El dolor la vida

el dolor que te punza

para volver a unirte los pedazos.

Es el dolor llamándote a tu centro

a tu sol de vos misma

a que seas así vida de la vida

el sí que sólo irrumpe y es y crece.

Silvia Elena Regalado. La vida.

■□■□■□■□■

That sadness touching you without asking,

the inexplicable gray

that falls like a storm upon your hope.

Life is the dagger and the wound the generosity of millions of platelets containing rivers of blood.

The healthy and new skin beneath a scab.

A dream shattered against the pavement... Razor waiting around the corner.

Life is that bleeding kiss on the walls

and sometimes its purulent response.

A dark mouth where you must fumble blindly so no one sees you made a light by its border...

But life is also the light and the border,

the abyss beyond,

the sky seen and what will never be seen or heard or touched. The music of the cosmos in our viscera.

The fish and the songs of the waters.

The sun for your home.

The lushness of the jocote tree cracking soils and walls.

The yes that only bursts forth and is and grows.

Life is the joy of breathing deeply the scent of the fleeting second.

Love in the streets

that sings over blood and decay.

The pain is life,

the pain that pricks you

to put you back together again.

It's the pain calling you to your center,

to your own sun,

to be thus life of life,

the yes that only bursts forth and is and grows.

Silvia Elena Regalado. Life.

[avatarmerida]

Playing the Part

Okay, warning this is very cringe. This is one of my favorite tropes and it’s cheesy and like there’s no reason for it I just like making Hunter sweat. I feel like the bit I wrote this around would do better as a comic but I can’t draw so have some Huntlow with no stakes.

———

“I can’t do this Luz, I’m freaking out,” Hunter muttered as he paced frantically, ringing his hands. His suit suddenly felt as though it was suffocating him. “Is it hot in here? Why is it so hot in here?”

“Hunter, you can do this,” Luz confirmed, decked head to toe in black and wearing a headset since she was responsible for coordinating the whole thing. Everyone knew Hunter would be the most challenging part of the evening, which is why no one else had volunteered. “Willow is out there waiting for you, do you really wanna keep her waiting at the alter?”

“No! No, of course I don’t,” Hunter said, his fear of letting her down more powerful than his anxiety.

“Then you need to pull yourself together!” Luz exclaimed, shaking him as hard as she could without causing brain damage. “You care about Willow don’t you?”

“More than anything.”

“Then just chill.”

“Chill? How am I supposed to chill when it’s so hot in here?” Hunter whined, resisting the urge to undo his tie but knew he wouldn’t be able to get it looking perfect twince. “This is the most important day of my life; everything has to be perfect! This is-.”

“Hunter!” Luz yelled, taking him by the shoulders “It’s literally no big deal. You’re just acting. You and Willow are pretending to get married in a flashback while the narrator sets up the scene. This is the only scene you guys are in, you’re essentially props.”

“I know but... have you seen Willow in the wedding dress?” Hunter gulped. “She just looks so... so...”

“Man, it’s a good thing you don’t have any lines because I don’t think you’ve completed one sentence so far.” She heard voices in her header and stopped to listen. “All right, got it. They’re ready for you now Hunter, time to get in place.”

Hunter turned to walk onstage but at the same time so did Willow from the other side. Once she walked into the hot stage lights, the literal spotlight made him seem like an Angel and took all the air out of Hunter’s lungs. Luz groaned (though a part of her was touched and she knew she would tease him about this later) and had to literally push him to his mark because his legs stopped working.

Were the lights always this hot? Hunter was sweating so much he felt like he was going to faint. Luckily, Willow just chalked it up to stage fright.

“You look handsome,” said Willow quietly, placing her hand on his arm to steady him as they got into place, the curtains about to rise.

“Really? Thanks.” Hunter asked, glancing around as the main actors took their spots. Just stand here, he thought, all you have to do is stand here. But they were standing center stage and soon all eyes would be on them. The lights above them dimmed as the scene began and the spotlight shone on the narrator in the very front. “A-are we allowed to talk?”

“Well technically no, but we don’t have mics so they can’t hear us,” whispered Willow.

“Oh, well you look radiant,” breathed Hunter almost too quiet for her to hear and she blushed at his bold word choice, hoping the darkness made it less obvious. He had seen the dress before when the costume department had first finished it but then he could only imagine how beautiful it would look on her. Then she had worn it at the run through but this was the first time he had seen her in it with it all put together, her hair and makeup done and the final touches finalized. This school really went all out for the arts and Hunter was grateful.

“Thanks.”

“And I like the flowers you chose.” He knew she had picked the flowers because they were far too extravagant and full to have been thrown together by anyone else.

“Thank you!” She beamed. “I know it’s kinda silly since no one can really see them back here, but I made sure the flowers represented their relationship. Tulips for true love, carnations for good fortune and snapdragons to represent their courtship since that was full of ups and downs. I also put in proteas for change since after the wedding they had to leave their kingdom.”

“They smell amazing too,” smiled Hunter, always happy to hear her talk about her passions.

“I also brought you a sedum flower to put in your pocket because it represents a broken heart healing, since he thought she was dead and then proposed when he found her hiding in the mountains,” explained Willow, leaning closer to carefully place the flower in his jacket pocket. “Just don’t tell the props master, I didn’t clear any of this with them.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” he smiled, impressed. “Wow, it’s like you summarized the entire play with plants.”

“Oh, yeah I should be careful with the spoilers in case there’s a botanist in the audience,” considered Willow. “Do you think it’s too much?”

“No, I think it’s perfect,” said Hunter. “Just like youuuuu always managed to make the bouquets look, huh. Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“Yeah, that’s what you meant,” smiled Willow, turning her attention to the scene in front of them. The spotlight reached the other scene around them, depicting the different stages of the characters’ relationship before the okay went more in depth. It was almost their turn.

“Thanks for doing this by the way,” Willow went on, adjusting her grip on her heavy bouquet. “I know it’s silly, being such a small role but this play is based on one of my favorite stories-.

“The Florist and the Prince,” finished Hunter.

“Yeah!” said WIllow, almost too loudly and she quickly adjusted her volume. “And I wanted to be a part of it anyway I could and you look so much like the prince so I-.”

“No problem, Captain,” said Hunter, standing up straighter at the idea of her comparing him to a prince. It was different from when Darius would do it, which is probably why he had agreed so easily as asked zero follow up questions.

“I think it’s almost time for us to kiss.”

“What?” Hunter stuttered, his eyes wide and his face as red as the tulips in Willow’s bouquet. “I don’t remember that in the script! I mean, we never rehearsed that! I don’t- should we-? I mean, is that what my character would do? The director seemed really against improvising, but-.”

“Hunter, I’m kidding!” Willow said, this time she became flustered. She had expected him to joke back but when he started considering it, she started focusing on the image of them in the moment and how it would technically make sense for the scene, but-

“Oh, yeah I’m kissing too, I mean kissing, kidding! I’m kidding!” Hunter laughed, nervously. “Because we’re getting married, in the play. That’s why you said that. That makes sense, but we’re just kidding.”

“Now, remember all we have to do is look at each other and pretend to be in love,” said Willow, repeating the director’s words.

“Yeah,” said Hunter taking a deep breath, “We’re just acting.”

As she spoke, the lights came on them as the narrator spoke about the scene they represented “... and in the end, they come back to each other. After lifetimes, lies, loss they find each other again. They start their new life together, find their happy ending. But it’s not the end for them, just another beginning. When love is as true as this, nothing can stop...”

Hunter and Willow stared at each other just as the stage directions said to. But Hunter felt woozy, still not sure if the hot lights he stood under wehe entirely to blame. He tried to distract himself, he wondered if this was before or after the vows. What would their vows sound like? The characters, that is. Willow would probably know, she knew every version of this story. She loved these characters. He bet in her real life vows she would quote them. What would he say? No, he was supposed to be distracting himself not thinking about their wedding. Not that thinking about Willow's wedding meant he was thinking about his wedding. Because that would mean-

“Hunter, you’re out of focus,” whispered Willow. “Step back into the spotlight.”

“Huh?”

“Here,” she said, reaching out to grab his hands and bring her closer so they were beneath the spotlight together once more. The light hit Willow’s glasses and made her eyes look like lily pads and they pulled him even closer without force. He had been stressing over this moment for days but now that he was here he could float here forever. Willow gave him a small smile, seeing his discomfort leaving and felt herself becoming caught in the moment as well.

“Shoot,” she said under her breath. “My glasses are slipping and it’s making me dizzy. My hands are full, do you think you could-.”

“I do,” said Hunter, swiftly pushing the frames back in their proper place. “Do you feel better?”

“I do,” she breathed. She was going to ask him to hold the flowers but she wasn’t about to complain.

They were closer now than they were before and Willow held onto his hand tighter even though she didn’t have to anymore. She looked up at him with shining eyes as the narrator spoke about true love conquering all and stood closer to him and admired how his hair looked even more gold right now. She didn’t realize she was such a good actress as she truly felt herself sink into the role, it was like no one else existed except for her and Hunter.

“Get off the stage!” Luz stage whispered, the frustration in her indicating this was not the first time she had tried to get their attention. “Your scene is over! Move, move, move!”

“Let’s go!” Willow said with wide eyes as she turned to run off stage and pulled Hunter behind her who was happy to follow her.

“You did great,” laughed Willow as they made it off the stage right before the next scene needed to start, just in time. They attempted to keep their voices hushed as it was becoming noticeable and distracting.

“Thanks, you too.”

“Shh!!”

“Quiet!”

“No talking backstage!”

The hushes from the stagehands only made them laugh more. Willow, still holding Hunter’s wrist, pulled him towards the door as they were rushed out the door by the stage crew who were tired of their chattering and needed to get them out of the way.

The props master, who did notice and care very much about Willow going rogue with the bouquet, threw pieces of confetti reserved for the next scene at them to further prove the point that they needed to leave.

“This was fun,” said Willow, grabbing the ends of her long dress so she could walk easier. “We should do this again in a couple years.”

“You wanna do another play?” Hunter asked holding the door open for her.

“No,” said Willow with a smile, gently tossing him her bouquet before walking outside.

[starsfic]

Amity stared at what appeared to be herself with a different necklace and shorter, abomination-purple hair in utter confusion and asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m the you that you could be.”

"What?"

"Sorry, that's just what I always imagined if some weird time-travel stuff came up." Other Her laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. She was dressed weird, in a outfit that reminded Amity of Hecate's outfit.

Amity knew that. It was something that she daydreamed about.

"So, uh, what time is it?" Other Her continued, looking around. "Is Luz here?"

"Who's Luz?" Amity couldn't help but ask. The name felt...nice to say and, for a moment, she thought she could imagine warm eyes. Other Her smiled, features turning pink, for a brief moment. "She sounds important."

"She is." Other Her carefully held out a hand. Amity, not sure why, took it. "But, so are you." Something pressed into her palm. "I think I'm about to leave. Be kind to yourself, okay?"

"Wait-"

In a blink, Other Her vanished, leaving Amity staring at nothing. She glanced down at her fist and uncurled it, revealing a square piece of paper.

There was some kind of drawing on it.

Unsure why, Amity prodded the center of it. The paper curled up in front of her eyes into a small glowing ball of light. Before she could think of how to respond to the weird way of doing a light spell, the ball floated up.

And soon, was out of sight.

[flower-boi16]

Lily Orchard’s Takes on Hunter are garbage and here’s why [The Owl House]

I decided to remake this post because there were some things I wanted to add in or change about the original post (and because no one saw the original post lol). So...let’s just get this over with. 

I'm just gonna cut to the chase; The Owl House is a fantastic show and I think LO's takes on one of the characters in the series are poorly thought out or just not true and here's why. For those who (somehow) don't know; Lily Orchard is a youtuber who makes video essays on cartoons, she's also probably the most controversial youtube critic I've seen. I'm not gonna cover much of the drama that Lily's been involved in, but I felt like that was worth mentioning. The Owl House is a show that Lily covers quite a bit on her channel, but she has a very certain dislike of one particular character in it; Hunter. I decided to make this post for two reasons; 1) I don't see many people debunking Lily's arguments about Hunter outside of some asks on LO gossip blogs on Tumblr and 2) I really like Hunter. He's probably my second favorite of the main characters right below Luz for me, and I wanted to make this post after finishing the show because...

Lily's arguments about Hunter aren't very good. They are filled with Lily constantly making poorly thought out and false arguments about Hunter that could be easily disproven if you actually watch the show. So I'm gonna cover some of Lily's points about Hunter and why they are false. This post is going to cover some of Lily's major arguments criticizing Hunter and why I disagree with them. Let's begin.

"Hunter Is a Passive Character"

I'll just take this piece of text from a really good article I've found about passive characters right here:

"These characters have goals — from as small as a glass of water to as big as saving the world — and their determination to achieve those goals creates the stakes of the story.  Passive characters are, naturally, the opposite. They wait for things to happen instead of making them happen. They’re reactive, not proactive.  Whereas active characters impact the story, passive characters sit back and experience the story." -WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID WRITING PASSIVE CHARACTERS (& HOW TO MAKE THEM ACTIVE)

As the text says, a passive character is a character that doesn't contribute to the story in any meaningful way and simply sits back, and watches the story as it goes, often waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen. It's important to define what a passive character is to illustrate my point; that being, Hunter is not a passive character, which is what Lily accuses him of being. To take some quotes from Lily's video on Hunter:

"Hunter's character has been passive from his first appearance, even when he had the trash boy Vanitas vibe going for him. He shows up, does nothing, refuses to elaborate and leaves."

"Typically passive characters aren't a good thing to give this kind of screen time to because the majority of that time will be spent watching them hem and haw and drag their feet. This was the problem with Hollow Mind. It doesn't go through much information that's new to the viewer, and indeed that new information is kept to the background paintings. And that's because 90% of the episode is spent watching Hunter cope and seeth which grinds the story to a halt"

"Most of the time when he's actually in an episode, the story grinds to a halt while Hunter sits there and does fucking nothing and you may as well skip to act 3 because its going to go the same way the last few of them went" -Glass of Water Character Potential Doesn't Excuse Lazy Writing

Lily says that in most of the episodes centering around Hunter, he just sits there and does nothing until the episode's third act. However, this simply isn't true. Let's look at four out of the five episodes focusing on Hunter and why the things he does in those episodes don't make him passive.

S2 EP 6: Hunting Palisman: I don't have much to say about Hunter in this one. This episode basically introduces us to Hunter proper where we get to see him grow a slight friendship with Luz and him deciding to let her take the palisman instead of betraying her. Don't have much to say here.

S2 EP9: Eclipse Lake - This is an example of Hunter pushing the plot forward and him not being a passive character. Here, he disguises himself as a coven scout to go to the expedition led by Kikimora searching for Titan blood in eclipse lake so he could prove himself to be useful to Belos after he says that Hunter is "replaceable".  Later in the episode, he gets the Titan blood key and gives it to Belos. This is an example of Hunter being an active character; he pushes the plot forward and contributes to it, which is important because passive characters don't do that; rather, they wait for the plot to happen and react to it rather than actually making the plot happen.

S2 EP 13: Any Sport in a Storm - Now this is where Lily's points about Hunter being "passive" really begin to show their cracks. In this episode, Hunter goes to find recruits for the emperor's coven after being "ordered" by Darius to do, so he could, like in the last episode, prove his worth to the emperor's coven. Here, he joins Willow's flyer derby team and after playing a game he basically kidnaps them and makes them join the emperor's coven against their will. After realizing what he did was fucked he goes to protect them by saying their too weak for the emperor's coven, giving them a chance to escape. Hunter, like in the last episode, is not only an active character by pushing the plot forward, but he also goes through development here as he learns to make connections with people outside of the emperor's coven and is even willing to take a lethal blow from Darius to and sacrifice his status to protect his friends. Hunter, like in his last episode, is not a passive character.

S2 EP16 Hollow Mind - Hey, did you know that Lily thinks Hollow Mind is the worst episode of the show and thinks it's a 1/10? I could cover how bad Lily's takes on this episode are but someone already did make a video on that so I won't touch on her other takes about the episode here, but it's clear from the last quote that Lily misses the point of the episode. In this episode, Hunter gets trapped with Luz inside of Belos's mind and they end up seeing Belos's memories, which challenge Hunter's entire worldview. The episode shows how much Hunter was manipulated by Belos, as he believes that Belos has done nothing wrong and that he is making Hunter do the right thing. As the episode goes on however, and he and Luz begin seeing Belos's memories, Hunter ends up being in denial that Belos is actually evil, making excuses for what he did in those memories, with this line after Hunter and Luz see what the sigils actually do standing out to me;

Luz: You can't deny it now. Belos is trying to hurt people!

Hunter: He was just... perfecting sigil magic! Besides, maybe, he's remembering things wrong. Who knows how mindscapes work?

Luz: I thought you did!

Hunter: Well, maybe I'm an idiot!

Hunter was raised to think that emperor Belos was doing a good thing, and that he loves him. All of that comes crashing down when It's revealed that Belos has killed previous Golden Guards, and the episode ends with breaking from Belos's control and realizing that he was being used and manipulated all along with his whole world turning upside down. This episode has Hunter learn the truth about Belos and shows how much Belos warped his worldview into believing he was doing the right thing. That's the point of Hollow Mind; It's about Hunter realizing that Belos has lied to him this whole time and breaking free from his abusive "uncle". The fact that Lily just labels this episode as another one where he "waffles around about whether to do the right thing again" is just missing the point. Again, he's been lied to his whole life, it's gonna take a lot for him to see the truth.

S2 EP18 Labyrinth Runners - I don't have much to say about this one, but Hunter does still grow as a character here. In the episode, Adrian (The head of the illusionist coven) tries to get the students of Hexside to get sigils for the day of unity, and Gus ends up creating a giant illusion that covers the entire school making many students (and teachers) get lost in the illusion. Before that, It's revealed that after the events of Hollow Mind, Hunter has gone under hiding from Belos and went to Hexside to crash in. Like the previous episodes, this episode has Hunter grow as a character, with him overcoming his trust issues with Gus, but he also saves Gus from Adrian. This is another episode where Hunter grows as a character and actively pushes the plot forward.

So, as we've seen through all of these episodes, Hunter is not a passive character, unlike what Ms Orchard over here would like to tell you. He doesn't spend most of his episodes focusing on him sitting around doing nothing; In all of the episodes he's in he is either actively pushing the plot forward or growing and developing as a character. Lemme take another piece of text from that article I previously mentioned;

These characters have goals — from as small as a glass of water to as big as saving the world — and their determination to achieve those goals creates the stakes of the story. - WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID WRITING PASSIVE CHARACTERS (& HOW TO MAKE THEM ACTIVE)

Hunter starts out as a character that has a goal; that being proving himself worthy to the emperor's coven, and we see him try to work for that goal in S2 EP9 and S2 EP13. So, Hunter is not a passive character, he's a character who either pushes the story forward or is actively growing and developing, unlike what Lily would like to tell you.

And here’s another thing; notice how Lily never sites any examples to her point where she says this:

"Most of the time when he's actually in an episode, the story grinds to a halt while Hunter sits there and does fucking nothing and you may as well skip to act 3 because its going to go the same way the last few of them went" -Glass of Water Character Potential Doesn't Excuse Lazy Writing

“The same as the last few of them went”, Lily, please explain how each of Hunter’s episodes go if you’re going to make this claim. Hunter’s episodes don’t have the same structure copied and pasted throughout, if you actually watch them you would know this. I know Lily watched these episodes, so where is she getting this from?

"Hunter is Stapled onto Other Characters"

This is another common complaint Lily has with Hunter, that being he is "stapled" onto other characters in his episodes and that he often overshadows them. I'm just gonna cut to the chase; wtf does this even mean? Lily doesn't specify what she means by Hunter being "stapled" onto other characters nor why it's a bad thing, if anything all she is describing here is Hunter interacting with other characters in his episodes. However, there is another side to this argument that Lily has, that being that she thinks that Hunter overshadows other characters, mainly Willow and Gus, and that they get pushed to the side for the sake of his arc, and that Hunter takes up too much screen time.

The issue with this point is that Hunter really doesn't overshadow other characters as much as Lily says he does. For Gus in particular in Labyrinth Runners he isn’t pushed to the side in favor of Hunter like how Lily says he is; the episode shows both of them working through their trust issues. Hunter isn’t being “stapled” onto Gus here just so he could overshadow him, both characters support each other’s arcs and help them grow. It really feels like Lily hates Hunter for just...being in an episode, regardless of the reason. As for Willow, I don’t think Hunter overshadowed her much either. That being said, I always found Willow to be an underdeveloped character to begin with so maybe that’s why, but like Gus she also does support Hunter’s arc and helps him grow. 

She even sometimes says that Hunter is just shoved into an episode for no reason other than Dana apparently liking him a lot which...also no, Hunter is not shoved into an episode for no reason, in his episodes he is interacting with other characters and growing because of them.

So yes, Hunter is stapled onto other characters....why is that a bad thing tho? He’s just interacting with other characters in the show, what’s wrong with that? Why is a character interacting with other characters bad? Like, in her TOH season 2 round up video, one of the cons for the episode Hollow Mind is “Golden Guard is stapled onto Luz to inflate his importance”...so she’ll just list Hunter being there or interacting with the characters as something wrong with an episode...ya. If that’s not another really bad point I don’t know what is.

"Hunter is a superfluous character"

This section is going to be shorter than the other two mainly because this was partially responded to in the first section, but it was a big enough criticism for Hunter that Lily has so it's worth giving its own section to. So anyways, Lily often says that Hunter is an unnecessary character and that you could remove him from the story and nothing would change. This, like Lily's other points about Hunter, isn't true. Aside from how, like I mentioned earlier, Hunter has a connection to Belos, the main antagonist of the series, he makes major contributions to the plot outside of that. He's the one to give the titan blood key to Belos, he saves Gus from the illusionist, he discusses what is going to happen on the day of unity with the other students at Hexside, and he's the one to get possessed by Belos. So no, Hunter is not an unnecessary character, he's a character that makes contributions to the plot , and major ones at that.

Conclusion

So, that was my mini-essay on why I disagree with Lily's points on Hunter. I had never made a post as big as this one before, but hey, at least I get satisfaction out of defending one of my favorite characters in a show that I like from someone who clearly misunderstands it. So ya...bye

[lampmanliveblogs]

Episode fifteen! I took a sneak peek at the title and, uh… I think this might be an important one. My sister did specifically ask me if I had gotten to an episode called what this episode is called. And I guess I have now. I’ve also been informed that the last episode was the last happy episode of season two, so I have that prospect to look forward to too.

So we begin with Luz waking up in a strange place with ominous music playing in the background. Always a good sign of what’s to come. Luz is wearing Eda’s old grudgby jacket again and the hallway she finds herself in is lined with artwork depicting Emperor Belos.

It’s kinda hard to make out details on some of the paintings, but if we look on the left we can see that the closest one seems to show Belos leading a group of people away from a burning building or town. And maybe it’s just the perspective that’s kinda wonky, but his mask looks like it’s askew, like he didn’t put it on properly.

The second painting seems to show him standing among a group of people. Preaching the Titan’s will, if I had to guess. Something that may also be of note is that in the two paintings on the left that I can clearly make out, his hair is out. He usually hides his hair in the present and if we look at the pantings on the right side, his hair is hidden in those. His clothes also look a lot different between pictures, so I’m going to say that the paintings on the left depict his early days while the ones on the right are more modern depictions.

Speaking of those, let’s talk about them. I’m actually going to go in reverse order, starting with the ones furthest away from Luz. It’s hard to make out, but it kinda looks like Belos standing with his back towards the viewer, like he’s overlooking something. The background looks red and orange, maybe fire? Like something is burning?

The one in the middle I again have a little trouble telling exactly what the background is supposed to be, but it depicts Belos standing at the center with light coming from behind him. Looking very heroic or divine.

Finally, the painting that’s closest to Luz on the right which is the most interesting one. It shows Belos standing brave and steadfast, towering over the Owlbeast, with Lilith, Luz & King covering next to the witch turned monster. There is fire in the foreground, threatening to consume out heroes.

The common theme throughout these is showing Belos as a hero, a man of the Titan chosen to usher in a new era.

And wow. I did not mean to spend this long talking about artwork. I also probably didn’t need to squint at my computer screen, trying discern small details in the background when the show is probably going to show me them up close in a few seconds once I hit play again. Then again, a certain technicolor celestial told me to keep an eye on the background in this episode.

You and me both Luz, how did you even?

No, wait, this has precedent, this is basically just the plot of Understanding Willow, but with a bad guy instead. Call this episode Understanding Philip.

The point is, we’ve seen this before. We’ve seen this kind of magic before performed by Eda and we’ve seen a similar space with paintings depicting important moments in a person’s life inside Willow’s mind. The real question is how in the world Luz managed to get not just herself but Hunter trapped in the Emperor’s mind. Even she doesn’t seem to know, thought that could just be a side effect of the magic messing with her memory for a few seconds.

Unlike Willow’s mind which manifested itself as a forest clearing with lots of nice trees  (even if some of them were on fire), Belos’ mind is manifested as a shadowy corridor that looks like it’s probably cold. It also looks like it goes on for a long bit, which makes sense for someone that old.

Oh, and we also saw the name plaque for the painting depicting Belos towering over Eda as the Owlbeast, Lilith, Luz & King. It’s called the Triumph Over Wild Magic and it shows Belos defeating our heroes and with them, wild magic. Now this obviously hasn’t happened… yet… I hope. So maybe this is like… a dream or a wish he has. A future plan or scenario he has played out in his head.

Unless the painting is actually supposed to depict the events of Young Blood, Old Souls. Which it could be, Lilith is wearing the same dress she wore while she served the Emperor… although Belos might not know what she looks like currently. King’s horn also looks like it might’ve been repaired. I say might’ve, because it does look like one horn is longer than the other.

Oh, and we also got a slightly better look a the second painting on the left. It is indeed Belos standing in a crowd, showing off some magic sparks he made and the people just love it.

Hollow Mind. I was wondering about what the title could mean. And with the reveal of this being all within Belos’ mind, the meaning becomes quite apparent. Because it is within his Mind and it’s Hollow. This is the writers very subtly telling us Belos is an idiot.

All my joking aside, this is really exciting! Tremendously exciting! We’re going to learn more about Belos and Luz and Hunter are going to learn more about Belos! There are any number of interesting and also awful things they and we could find out! Like, for example… Luz is almost certainly going to find out about Belos origins as Philip Wittebane. Hunter might find out about his father, Philip’s as-of-yet-unnamed brother… or he might find out if that one theory I have is true.

So Hunter (somehow) heard about plot to invade the Emperor’s mind and tracked the rebels down. Said rebels, being Raine, Darius and Eberwolf (who turns out to be a traitor after all) dressed in disguises only barely better than the ones the B.A.t.T:s were wearing in Eda’s Requiem. They decided that the best place to perform this ritual would be in the middle of the town. 

I watched a few seconds further, and Darius adds some purple liquid to a clear liquid, which results in a bright golden yellow liquid that looks kinda similar to Eda’s elixirs. He places the vial on the ground and prepares to smash it.

The large spell circle on the ground kinda reminds me of a glyph circle, only missing the glyphs.

We’ve seen this kind of mind invasion magic before, performed by Eda, but it looks a lot different. Which is probably because these three can only perform their respective magics thanks to the coven brands, so they have to use this more complicated set-up rather than just wave their hands around like Eda did.

Ah, I see Luz has finally awakened her ability to break the fourth wall. Now she will be truly unstoppable.