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fandomsandflyingstingrays · 7 months

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Stepping Stones: Chapter 14

And at last we reach the final chapter! I've had so much fun with this series, and I hope everyone who's read it has too. Every single comment I've gotten on it has, without exaggeration, made my day, so thank you thank you to everyone who left one-- and, of course, anyone who read any of the chapters at all. I hope you enjoy the last one!

“All right, kids,” Eda says, looking at them with a glimmer of malicious glee in her eyes. “Who’s going first?”

“Luz is,” Hunter says immediately.

Luz shoots him a look.

“This was your idea,” he points out.

And, okay, he’s not wrong. While Hunter was carving his new palisman, Luz had the idea to draw his old one, sketching out a stylized version of Flapjack next to the tattoo she wants to get for her dad. As she looked at it, she had the thought that maybe it could do for Hunter what she hopes the flowers will do for her, allow him to feel like he’s carrying part of Flapjack with him even as he grows. Hunter agreed as soon as she showed him— and then Willow offered to get one too, and the whole thing spiraled, and now everyone is standing in front of Eda ready for her to draw on their skin with magic. Well, everyone except Vee, who’s just here for moral support, since she can just shift the tattoo onto her skin.

Luz takes a deep, preparatory breath, and thinks of Flapjack. He helped Hunter most of all— but none of them would be where they are without him. Luz might not have entered the emperor’s mind, might not have found out about the draining spell until it was too late. Hunter wouldn’t have caught Willow’s attention with his flying skills, wouldn’t have been there to help Gus fight off the illusionist Coven Head at Hexside. They might have lost the war against Belos— and Gus and Amity wouldn’t have their friend, Willow wouldn’t have her boyfriend, and Vee and Luz wouldn’t have their brother. Flapjack brought them all together; it’s only fair that they honor him together.

So Luz steps forward and nods at Eda. “Okay.”

“I keep telling you, it won’t hurt,” she says, grabbing what looks like a training wand from a shelf beside the couch.

“In my experience, we have slightly different definitions of what hurts,” Luz notes.

Eda snorts. “Fair enough. But seriously, this won’t feel like anything.”

“Do you want me to hold your hand?” Amity asks, seeing that Luz’s expression hasn’t changed.

“Yes please.”

Amity slips her hand into hers and squeezes.

Hunter hands Eda the tattoo design, and she waves the wand over it, then turns to Luz. “Where do you want it?”

Luz points out a spot on the side of her left arm, just above her elbow. Eda waves the wand over it, and she tenses, squeezing Amity’s hand, and feels— nothing. She glances over, expecting the wand not to have worked, but no: an image of a red bird stares back at her.

“You were right!” she exclaims, looking up at Eda. “I didn’t feel anything!”

Eda ruffles her hair. “Were you doubting your wise and infinitely talented mentor?”

“Who always taught me to question authority? Yes.”

“That’s my girl.”

“I can go next,” Amity offers, and Luz gets up, the two of them switching places on the couch.

The door opens as Luz sits back down, letting Raine and Darius into the room.

“We heard you were back,” Raine says, “and— are you getting tattoos?”

Luz proudly shows them her arm. “They’re for Flapjack,” she says, and Raine gives her and Hunter a sad smile

Darius reaches out to ruffle Hunter’s hair, only to jerk back as a little blue bird leaps from his shoulder and onto Darius’s arm. He flinches, then stiffens, visibly using all his strength not to pull away as the bird hops along his arm and comes to perch on his head. Raine’s grin widens.

“That’s your palisman, aren’t they?”

Hunter nods, a smile of his own tugging at his lips. “Her name is Waffles,” he says, and Raine actually hops up and down on the spot in delight.

Fiddlesticks comes out of staff form and Waffles flies down to greet them, the two of them circling each other and chittering happily. It’s so cute that Luz does a hop of her own, clasping her hands together to keep herself from gathering them into her arms and cooing over them at a pitch that would break every window in the house. When she manages to tear her eyes from them, her gaze falls on Hunter, who watches the two palismen with tears in his eyes. Luz reaches out to wrap an arm around him, and Amity does the same on his other side, a red bird now visible on her forearm.

It doesn’t take Eda long to do the others, each of whom come to join the little group hug when they’re finished, until finally it’s Hunter's turn. Gus rests his hands on his shoulders when he sits down, and Willow perches on the couch beside him.

“Where would you like it?” Eda asks him, an extra-gentle note in her voice.

“Could you… is there any way of putting it over my sigil?”

Eda claps once, her expression gleeful. “Now there’s good thinking. We might not know how to remove those blasted things yet, but there’s no reason why we can’t cover them up.”

Hunter lets out a breath and nods. He closes his eyes as Eda waves the wand over his sigil, and when he opens them, the emperor’s symbol is replaced by Flapjack.

Hunter exhales again, only this time, it’s a long, deep sound that seems to echo in the room. When he breathes in again, he straightens, and Luz can see in the set of his shoulders that a weight has been lifted. Willow kisses his cheek, and Hunter smiles, wiping at his eyes.

“Thanks, Eda,” he says, and she ruffles his hair.

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

The door bursts open again, and Hooty comes rocketing through it, sending Luz, Amity, and Vee stumbling backwards to join Willow, Hunter, and Eda on the couch, clinging to each other and making various noises of alarm.

“Hello, Hooty,” Eda says. “Do I want to know where Lily and your backpack are?”

“On the other side of town!” Hooty replies gleefully, and Eda shudders.

“And to what do the people of Bonesborough owe the trauma you’re currently putting them through with your length?”

“The carnival is open for business! And it looks great! Plus I checked on our floats this morning, and they are undisturbed! I even polished mine.”

“Do we really have to have him on our float?” Amity whispers to Luz through gritted teeth.

“Well, he is a savior of the Isles. In his own way.”

It was Raine’s idea to take the idea of the Coven Day Parade and turn it into a way of celebrating the island’s liberation. All of the new institutions put into place over the last year will have floats, including the Council and Eda’s university. And, Raine insisted, they would need to celebrate the people who were responsible for the island’s liberation in the first place, so Luz, her friends, King, Lilith, and Hooty are getting a float of their own.

Hooty will be driving.

Luz has had more than one nightmare about it.

“Let’s just enjoy the carnival while we can,” Willow says with a pained smile. “Camila’s meeting us there, right?”

Vee nods. “She said she’d be by the dunk tank with the Emperor Belos impersonator at noon.”

“It’s quarter to,” Raine says. “We’d better get moving.”

“If you all hop on my back, I could let you ride through the town on me while I retract into the backpack—“ Hooty starts, but the simultaneous refusals that follow are emphatic enough that they don’t allow him another word.

…

By the time the sun dips below the horizon, Luz’s throat is raw from screaming and laughing and her stomach is bursting with what’s probably half her body weight in fried food. She didn’t think anything could top the carnival that comes to the island every so often, but this knocked it out of the park. King got the Collector to weigh in on the planning, and the result was a mix of every kind of game Luz could imagine with a few death-defying rides thrown in. Nothing like celebrating the time she actually died with a roller coaster wild enogh to make her stomach feel like it was about to repeat the experience.

And she knows the others enjoyed it as much as she did. King walks with a bounce in his step— he never talks about it, but she knows he misses the Collector, and thinks that playing some of their games has been good for him. Camila looks around with bright eyes, the festival so far beyond the realm of anything she's used to. Gus and Vee happily compare the photos they took at various booths, while Willow helps Hunter carry some of the small army of stuffed animals she won him. Eda, at some point, turned into harpy form, and flies above them with Raine in her arms despite their laughing protests.

Lilith and Hooty are waiting by the floats, having had what appears to be a picnic at the base of them. Luz takes them in for the first time in all their finished glory, grinning. The Council’s float is shaped like the Titan, of course, with one councilor on each of the limbs and Darius, who will be giving the speech, in the middle. Behind it is the float for the University of Wild Magic, bearing the logo on a proud banner, with a place for each of the faculty to stand. And then there’s the float for the rest of the saviors of the Isles, which is modeled after Hooty’s face, despite the fact that he was a puppet the entire time. If he was going to build the float, he argued, he was going to make sure it “reflected his true glory”.

“Do you think it has the teeth?” King whispers to Luz.

“Shhhhhh.”

Raine gives Eda a kiss, and she sets them down. “I’ll see you after this mortifying ordeal,” they mutter.

“You’ll be fine, Rainestorm. You haven’t tripped in front of a crowd since you were elected.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“You’ll be great, Raine,” Luz says, pulling them into a hug.

“You’re the parent of a Titan!” King adds, climbing up to their shoulder. “Glory runs in your veins!”

“That’s not how it works—" Lilith starts, but Eda elbows her into silence.

She boards the University float as Raine joins Darius and the other councilors. Lilith walks over to Luz’s group.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ride with us?” she asks Vee. “From what I’ve been told, the others might not have been able to go after Belos without your help. Just because you weren’t part of the final battle, it doesn’t mean you weren’t important.”

Vee shakes her head. “No, thank you. I still don’t really like being stared at. Besides, I’ll enjoy sitting with Masha. You know how fascinated they are by magic; they’ll love this.”

“Well, if you’re sure.”

“I am. But I should probably get a move on if I want to meet up with them before the parade starts.”

She hugs Camila and waves goodbye to the others before setting off into the streets.

Luz, Camila, Lilith, Hooty, Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus climb onto their float and Lilith directs them to their positions. About five minutes into her lecture on how to wave and smile properly— leftover posturing from her Coven Head days— the Council’s float mercifully begins to move.

Luz has been in and out of Bonesborough for almost a year and a half, and she’s never seen it as crowded as it is today. Every inch of the street is packed with witches and demons shoulder-to-shoulder against the barricades, and plenty have stolen Eda’s idea of perching on the roofs as well. They pass Perry, Harvey, and Gilbert on a balcony, all blowing kisses, and Dell and Gwen below, beaming with pride. Steve, who neglected to join the others on the float in order to keep an eye on Matt, jumps up and down and waves as they pass, while Matt stands with his arms crossed and tries to hide his smile.

And— there’s Vee on the next rooftop over, perched with her siblings and Masha, the latter of who is leaning forward so far Luz is legitimately worried they might fall. Luz lifts a hand to wave— only to find herself flailing it wildly for balance as the float swerves sharply.

“What—“ she gasps, whirling around and finding herself face-to-face with Terra Snapdragon.

“Sorry, sapling,” she hisses, and flicks Luz over the edge of the float with a vine.

Luz fumbles for a levitation glyph in her pocket before she remembers, a scream ripping from her throat even as she curses her own stupidity, and crashes face first into… a puddle of goo?

The abomination lifts Luz back up, setting her into Amity’s arms. “Thanks,” she pants, grabbing her staff and whirling around to assess the situation.

The parade has turned into an out-and-out battle with what looks like fifty coven scouts. “Where did they all come from?!” Luz shouts.

A scout swings their fist at her, and she ducks— only for them to disappear before her eyes. She glances around to find Gus swirling his fingers, his face intense with concentration. Another scout disappears, then another, and then one reappears. Luz scans the crowd and her gaze lands on Adrian Graye, ducked behind a float, concentrating just as hard as Gus is.

“The scouts aren’t real!” she yells. “They’re illusions!”

“Hunter, did you hear that?” Willow asks, and Luz looks over to find her crouched beside Hunter, who had his hands over his ears. He just shakes his head.

“They’re coming to take me away, Belos wants me back…”

“No, they’re not, you’re not part of his coven anymore!” Willow takes his arm in her hands, gently pressing his tattoo. Hunter takes a gasping breath, his expression clearing, and then his eyes fix onto something over Willow’s shoulder and he lets out a warning cry.

Before Willow can turn around, Luz is there, stopping the Construction Coven Head’s hammer with her staff. He lifts it, preparing to strike again, and she stabs at his eye with the back end of her staff, making him reel backwards. Luz draws a spell circle in the air, preparing to blast him with a jet of fire, only to feel something cold wrap around her stomach, squeezing the breath from her lungs as it yanks her backwards.

“No,” she wheezes, “let go—“

The pressure around her middle is relieved so quickly she wonders if the Coven Head actually listened. But no— she looks up to see Eda grabbing the Oracle Coven Head from above and unceremoniously dropping him off the float.

“Stay away from my kid!” she yells.

Another harpy joins her in the sky: Lilith, with Hooty still attached to her and biting as many Coven Heads as he can reach. They give Luz enough breathing room to scan the area again. The Coven Heads shouldn’t be winning, and yet Willow and Hunter are nearly doubled over from the exertion of fighting off the Construction Head, and Gus and Amity lie in a heap at the base of the float, and Raine is firing note after note at Adrian without any of it seeming to touch him, and Camila is punching vine after vine with Terra just creating more and more to take their place.

Why isn’t this working? Luz thinks, and then, why isn’t anyone doing anything? Where is the crowd that was packed so tightly? Why aren’t they helping? Have they run?

Some of them have, she sees. But enough of them remain, only— they’re frozen. And that, she realizes, is where the Coven Heads’ power is coming from. It’s not that they are powerful; the terror of what they represent is.

Luz fears it too. And without her glyphs, she can’t bring herself to believe she’s strong enough to defeat it.

At least: not alone.

She raises her staff and fires a jet of light up into the sky, so brilliant and piercing that for a single second the fighting stops.

“This isn’t their world anymore!” she yells. “This whole night, this whole celebration, the whole reason we’re here is to acknowledge that we are more powerful than them! I know you’re afraid, I know your minds want you to believe this attack means we’re going back to the old way of doing things, but we’re not! This isn’t the start of a war, this is their last stand!”

The Oracle Coven grabs Luz again, but this time, she doesn’t fight it. She’s said her piece. She’s done what she can. She closes her eyes, praying that someone heard-- no, listened.

And oh, thank you, thank you, the hand around her stomach releases. Luz looks up to find a blue mist trailing over her head, and she follows it from the Coven Head to Vee, who’s draining his magic with a defiant light dancing in her eyes.

A strangled gasp draws Luz’s attention to the Construction Coven Head, who’s frozen above Willow, his magic trailing away from him in a steady stream towards Wynne. Terra falls to Gemini next, then Adrian to Rhee, and then the Potions Coven Head to Ivy.

Eda lets out a piercing cheer. “Those are my students!” she yells.

And this— this first act of true defiance by the beings Belos used and discarded, the ones the covens mistreated and hid from the world— is enough to empower the people that Luz’s words couldn’t. With a rallying cry, the crowd storms the floats, and in no time at all, the Coven Heads are in chains and being escorted by Eda and Lilith into a cart that will take them to the Conformatorium to await trial.

Darius folds his arms, shaking his head. “Fools,” he says. “We couldn’t prosecute them without evidence, and now they’ve staged an attack with the whole island as witness.”

“Except for Hettie,” Raine points out. “She was smart enough to stay out of it, and you know she’ll do everything in her power to talk them out of trouble.”

Eda snorts. “She’ll have a pretty tough time of that.”

Darius heaves a long-suffering sigh. “Either way, I should probably get up there and thank the crowd.” He takes a step towards the Council’s newly-righted float, only to stop as Raine puts a hand on his arm.

“I’ll do it.”

And they start up the stairs without a backward glance, summoning a microphone as they go.

“People of the Isles,” they call. “Could, uh, could I please have your attention?”

Their voice is soft, but it carries power, and a wave of silence falls over the crowd. Raine takes a breath, and Luz can hear how it trembles. They glance back at her, and she beams, giving them two thumbs up. Eda blows them a kiss, and Darius gives them an encouraging nod. Raine turns back to face the crowd with a small smile on their lips.

“Thank you for your help in averting this threat,” they say, their voice still shaking but their words clear. “I know the shadow of the covens still looms over our island. We are still afraid of exploring magic beyond the boxes we were taught to keep it in. We are still weak and drained from the strain of fighting to break free of the confines of what we were taught. But Luz Noceda is right. We planned today’s celebration to acknowledge a year in which we re-shaped our government, our system of learning, our way of being into one that is tolerant, curious, and safe. With every day that passes, we face our fears of the old regime, and we take a step beyond them. Seeing what all of you just did tells me that those steps have taken us very far indeed. This new world would not be possible without the bravery of each and every one of you. I want to thank you for that. I want to thank the last basilisks on the Isles, who showed that bravery to a degree I can't imagine, and to the witches and demons who fought for their— and all of our— freedom in the first place. And—" Raine turns to Luz again and smiles at them, the love in their eyes eroding any leftover fear— “I want to thank the very special human who has, at one point or another, inspired all of us to be more than we thought we could. I— and the Council, and the Isles— thank you, and celebrate you.”

And then, as though it was planned, the fireworks that were meant to be launched after Darius’s speech at the end of the parade burst into the sky, and the crowd erupts into cheers so loud they drown out the crackling.

Luz feels someone’s hand in hers and turns to see Amity stepping up next to her. She squeezes her hands and looks back at the fireworks, and as she does, a memory comes to her: sitting with Amity on a rooftop during the Coven Day Parade, both of their hands ice cold, trying not to shiver as they watched the crowd cheer for Belos and the sick game he had in motion. It’s hard to believe that was just over a year ago. It feels impossible to be in such a similar position, but with the context so completely different. Not so long ago, it would have been impossible to imagine that change took place because of her.

But it did. She set the draining spell into motion, yes— but she set all of this into motion, too. Eda and Lilith standing with their wings spread, Eda’s hand in Raine’s. Vee with her siblings and her mom and her partner, all of them leaning over each other to point out their favorite fireworks. Hunter with his arms around Willow and Gus, Darius and Eber beaming at him from behind. Amity, her smile unrestrained, her hand in Luz’s. All possible because she loves these people and they love her, and they take what they’ve given each other and paid it forwards, taking steps and pulling each other along. And if this is what they’ve accomplished in a year, who can say what they will in two, three, five?

Luz presses a kiss against Amity’s cheek and leans her head against hers, turning her gaze up to the fireworks and letting the bursts of light make imprints on her vision, and she feels herself glow just as brightly with the possibilities.

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drbtinglecannon · 1 year

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NEW OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR "FOR THE FUTURE"

(I haven't watched the leaked episode, if you did, please do not post any spoilers. You will be blocked if you do.)

King!!! King is back!!! Unfortunately it comes at the cost of him obviously being the Collector's servant basically. At least he still has François.

King also reads a book about the Collector, similar to how the end of S1 he read a book about Belos. It's an easy way to add lore to the show, and it calls back to another time he did so

Not only do we get curly redhead Lilith, but she has a pixie cut now too!!! Her glasses are gone tho :(

All of the Coven Heads (but Terra?) got turned to puppets ;___; as have most other citizens including Hooty, Principal Bump & the other Hexside teachers, and some of the other student body like the grudgby players

Also Eda does not seem to have a prosthetic like most people predicted, which makes me wonder what happened to Alador

ALSO ALSO SHORT HAIR EDA 💖

Mattholomule grew the worst facial hair lol (I am certain the 😑 expressions everyone made in that last promo image was at Mattholomule). Skara is there too!!!! And Barkus (maybe we'll get a gustholomule moment)

Eda can still lose control of the Owl Beast in Harpy mode -- and I can't blame her considering the circumstances. Her eyes turn fully black in that inky drop motion like back in s1

I wonder if her short hair affects the look

Huntlow moment 💚💛

Dana was right, sparkly is a good word to describe this episode.

I'm not sure how I feel by the idea that almost all adults got captured, it does feel specifically like The Collector (a child like God) did it on purpose, but it still is kinda :/ to know most of my fav supporting cast are puppets now to conveniently write them all out of the episode so as to keep the cast from bloating. Like I get why it was done but I'm still salty about it

The Coven Heads (again except maybe Terra?? Idk why she wasn't there? Did she pledge loyalty well enough to not need to be puppetfied? Did she escape? Die? Lol could you imagine) all have slight whimsical features added to their designs, as with everyone who got puppetfied, but for once they're all moving & working in tandem haha. Raine's close up not only killed me, but gave a good callback to when they got captured by Kikimora then "brainwashed" for weeks afterwards. The parallels of Raine pretending to be an enemy vs now they are but completely against their will. Bah. I'm dying, I'm afraid to see Eda's face in that scene. ;__; I'm really unhappy to have any Raeda fluff or bonding during this special (or suggested to have happened in between KT & FTF) robbed from us, but angst is classic Raeda vibes so I'm not surprised

I did also notice we didn't see any hints of Amity, Gus, or Willow's families at all. All we know is Eda & Lilith seem to have escaped puppetfication. I have a feeling Hooty took the puppetfication blast for Lilith in that moment

I'm stoked about Lilith having red hair again, and I was not expecting her & Eda to both cut their hair short! Everyone's getting hair style changes!

This will definitely be a Collector lore heavy episode, if only for the fact King was reading that book about them. I wonder if there used to be more children of the stars, and where the others went/are if there were

And lastly I'm at the photo cap but Belos is there too. He is using glyphs to burrow into some area, and he's killing the wildlife as he goes. Y'know, classic Belos behavior. I wonder if he's trying to get to where Caleb's mangled remains are, and if so what the plan is from there. I doubt Belos will play a large part in this episode as it seems very heavily focused on The Collector instead, which I'm fine with as I figured the final confrontation with Belos was gonna be the last special, what with him being the main villain of the show.

Despite any hangups I have I'm very excited to see the special! I know Dana & the crew worked hard on it

#toh #the owl house for the future #raeda #huntlow #toh theory #i am so curious. & legit concerned to post this that I'll get trolls posting spoilers but im excited after the trailer #im really upset about darius being a puppet bc that means if we even get a reunion it might be sad. again. :c #tc posts #tagging huntlow for that 1 pic but also im assuming they will have a handful of moments. sorry folks who dislike it but im certain itll be #canon in some capacity by the series end. just like im certain we're getting a Raeda wedding i will be forever disappointed if we dont #long post #eda clawthorne #toh the collector #king clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #toh spoilers

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sepublic · 2 years

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Clouds on the Horizon!

…I know we called Alador a rat man, but THIS is ridiculous! Seriously, how’d he even do that, I’m confused?

LUMITY KISS LUMITY KISS THE WAY THE ANIMATION UPGRADED!!! The animation was so SMOOTH the animators knew it had to count. The way Luz’s vines were so FLOWER filled like from Reaching Out, responding to what Luz wanted as she mentioned at that episode when showing how to grow flowers… The Lumity and Raeda parallels! The twins! EMIRA AND EDRIC NNNOOOO!!!!! I can’t believe they got put away for the final battle this literally hurts so much, and what about Bump and the other students? Not my Blight twins…

ODALIA THAT BITCH! Doesn’t Odalia realize SHE’s gonna die too… Or does she really think Belos will exempt her and Alador’s sigils?! I was half-expecting a twist where it’s revealed that Odalia didn’t have a sigil this entire time, making her all the more deplorable, especially in light of her husband having one… Glad we got to see a look at Oracle magic, or rather some confirmation in its ability to summon ghosts to fight with!

The way Odalia left… It kinda feels like it’s alluding to her finding a new partner, but I’m not sure if we’ll even get to see her again? IS IT GONNA BE TIBBLES?!?! That’d be an embarrassing for her as an ending revisit to all of the cast members… Also, apparently someone’s keeping an eye on the rebels?! Is there a turncloak, is it Eberwolf?! Or Darius… No… NO! Maybe it’s just the Oracle Head using some sophisticated magic… Maybe teaming up with the Potion head to make a scrying potion? Oh fuck…

LILITH! I love seeing Lilith voluntarily step up to take the fall for her sister this time, what a WONDERFUL culmination to her arc! And King, wanting to help but he’s still the youngest of all and if he bleeds, that could be a revealing liability… This episode seems to confirm the implication that Belos is manipulating even the Collector as well, so will the Collector preemptively betray him in retaliation? He doesn’t seem to realize King can hear him but maybe he does… Either way, that connection is def coming into play! And the Collector pointing out to Belos how much HE’S changed, and he’s still having freakouts… How the human world has likely changed!

Okay! So they’re not ignoring Hunter’s identity crisis as a grimwalker, or Luz’s guilt for helping Philip! Glad to see that confirmation and I loved seeing them team up together… Also I TOTALLY saw that switcheroo as soon as ‘Luz’ did the golden warp TO PROTECT WILLOW!!! Speaking of which, Willow new design! And Gus, too, flaunting that trophy he took from Adrian! My boi I love him… And just his and Hunter’s teamup, him using that same darkness spell from Bria against Kikimora! I saw it coming, Luz was bamboozling Kikimora as a means to get to the castle! Poor Kiki, she got DEMOTED instead of promoted… YIKES. Imagine if after all this, as a cruel joke, Belos DOES keep his promise and let Kikimora live out of a sick and twisted sense of humor.

Odalia that BITCH. I’m glad to see Amity get PISSED at her mom so openly, and I’m glad to see Alador go against her! With him destroying the factory, that’s him destroying any more Abomatons in the future… Hopefully we can see him override the Abomatons against Belos this finale, that will DEFINITELY help because Belos has made the mistake of positioning them in fairly critical places, like his own throne room during a private conversation with Hunter!

I hope this finale we get to see the remaining Coven Heads, at least voices, names, and a brief show of powers. A part of me is hoping we’ll see the remaining four side with Belos in Season 3 so we can learn about them, but I’m not holding my breath… Dammit Disney. And RAINE! Raine wanting to protect Eda, that last banter… Luz asking them to look after her, Raine never needing to be told that but. I REALLY don’t like where this is going. I’m getting kinda scared and concerned for another cliffhanger where Eda is sacrificed… But hey, at least we got Katya hanging out with Luz and King for once, and a look at her beetle palisman! Yes! I’m imagining the off-screen interaction as they flew to Blight Manor.

Oh god I’m so scared. Things are closing up… I love Luz promising a slice-of-life date and mentioning the trope. And the palisman egg! That’s SO kind of Luz to let her palisman choose that for itself… But will we not see until after the final battle? Will the egg hatch until the final crucial moment? Ngl at first I thought it was a reference to Azura’s blue staff which it could ALSO be that… Just god, I feel like there’s so much we’ve had to drop; This subplot of Odalia’s new partner, the remaining Coven Heads, the beach episode, confirmation that Steve and Mattholomule being half-brothers would be explored. The concealment stone was a nice touch…

BUT WHO’S KEEPING EYES IS IT EBERWOLF AAKDHFKDAHDKFKGKSK or maybe. Maybe! Maybe the Oracle Head is just POSSESSING someone and there isn’t an actual traitor per se! I wish I hope… THIS CAN’T BE IT! I NEED MORE DANA!!!

#the owl house #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #alador blight #odalia blight #the owl house kikimora #the owl house hunter #raine whispers #eda clawthorne #edalyn clawthorne #king clawthorne #the owl house collector #theory #speculation #analysis

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sstvar · 1 year

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𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑹𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔

It’s reworked, redesigned and officially back now! The ask box is open and I am more than happy to take questions about this AU pspspspspspsppsspsps-

The character designs are ready (finally) and I’m excited to be able to share this world in full with you guys now :)

Character Intros

Part 1

𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑷𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔

The phrase “make a deal with the devil” takes on a whole new and more absolute meaning here. Many humans and members of other species make contracts and pacts with members of the demon species. It is possible to form these agreements with angels as well, they’re just much more picky in regards to stipulations; contracts with demons are more popular for this reason. Demons still make rules surrounding their contracts, they just tend to be a little more lenient. Many still fear for their souls, so the majority of these deals are more calm/domestic in nature. However, it would be a lie to say that nobody has used or would use one of these deals for malicious purposes. Most of these deals, malevolent or not, are made in what’s called “The Underworld of New York” (commonly just called the Underworld by citizens and is an area of Queens) in a place known as the Bottle Eater. Just pray that your name doesn’t come up there outside of your awareness.

An organization that was donned with the name “The Dire Coven” by the citizens of the Underworld serves as an underground highway of supernatural goods beyond even the most creative child’s imagination. Any cryptic device or deadly poison you can come up with, they most likely have. For the right price, that is. They call it the “dire” coven for a reason; the people there forge hope from hopelessness. Different branches of the organization exist, but this AU focuses on the one situated in the Underworld: Styx. The main body of the organization is comprised of four groups:

Brokers: sell and collect goods

Artificers/Brewers: Create most of what can be found on the market outside of extremely rare items

Entrepreneurs: Often members of higher class society; meant to root the organization higher up but mostly act as eyes and ears

The Collecter (also called “Founder”): A figure shrouded in mystery whom runs the entire organization; no one has ever seen them face to face, not even Entrepreneurs

The organization has ties to many contract making beings; they provide the goods said beings need to fulfill contracts and the beings make mutually beneficial contracts with them. It’s a win-win.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔

Now there is one demon that is especially popular when it comes to contract-making, the one they call “The Boogeyman.” Really, it’s the Ink Demon, who goes by Bendy in business affairs. He basically runs the Bottle Eater and resides in the hotel it’s attached to along with many of his other companions. As for the reason why he’s so popular, well, when you hear “ink demon,” you’re not expecting something too scary, right? Most people enter a deal with him because of this; they think he’s less intimidating. Well they sure are wrong.

Alice resides in the Underworld as well with her two sisters, Nyx and Calliope. All were the result of an angel father and demon mother. These siblings are some of the Underworld’s most prominent entertainment figures, holding back to back shows at the Trinity Colosseum. They make for a killer trio, quite literally sometimes-

Joey Drew is the head of the Styx branch and manages nearly all of its internal affairs. Henry Stein, the co-owner, mainly handles the finances and stock. The branch itself is one of the biggest among the many that the Dire Coven has, so it was seen as fitting for it to have two managers. Now, for some of their star employees:

Delilah O’Neal: The leading Entrepreneur of the Styx branch. She’s known for her scary efficiency in regards to intel collection and is unmatched in terms of persuasion.

Anya Morozov: A broker with the most successfully collected goods on record; you could say she’s got a bad case of sticky fingers, but hey, they’re put to good use. Often uses the alias Cheri out on ‘business’; in her words, secrecy is the best policy (can you see the trust issues)

Thomas “Tom” Connor: An artificer who is responsible for some of the most intricate device designs on the market. He was pursuing a career in engineering prior to joining the Dire Coven, and combined with supernatural energy, his machines hold much more potential.

Allison Pendle: Earned herself the title of ‘Head Brewmaster’ due to her creation of 606, a one of a kind potion known for it’s regenerative properties. She works as a medium outside of the Dire Coven, giving her a strong connection to and understanding of the supernatural world and how it functions.

𝑺𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈

So first off, this AU takes place in Queens, New York in 1920 on what I can only describe as a whole other planet earth, not really multiverse style, but I’ll explain. This earth is basically the result of several different dimensions merging into one. As a result, many mythical beings live among humanity (ex; angels, ghouls, demons, sirens, werewolves, fauns). The area this AU takes place in is populated mostly by demons, humans, angels and ghouls. The event that caused this is widely regarded as “The Collision.” The main focus isn’t this event itself, but it’s why this world is what it is. These beings have come into contact with humanity on several occasions throughout history through little blips in the lines between dimensions, this just gave them more permanence on earth. Throughout the world, different landscapes/environments from these overlapping dimensions can be found. The Collision also left three moons in its wake.

note: this is prone to got through some editing overtime so nothing here is set in stone :) it’s really just setting the story and main characters up. there are a few side characters which i’ll introduce along the way as well, but you’ll have to wait a little for them ;)

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sound-under-the-sea · 2 years

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I like having a chill/shenanigans au because it’s where the fun vibes go.

There are chatrooms for the various Covens and Coven Heads while those in the same age group/year have their own chatroom.

Then you have instances where Steve once started a snowball fight on the Knee to boast morale.

The Coven Heads talk about random bs and get nothing done while the sane ones just rolls their eyes in “why are we here?” kind of way.

Two people closest with Lilith tried to get her palisman to swear, but the jokes on them they can already swear because Lilith keeps swearing in her head. Unknowingly saying “fuck” every time.

Steve writes his reports in a glitter pen because he wants to have fun. Much to Lilith’s annoyance. He dots his eyes with hearts and leaves emoticons at the end. :)

Darius comes in complaining about what either Snapdragon did or what stupid design Alador made. Other times it the latest news/gossip.

Lilith’s office door has seen better days. It’s either Darius and Eber strutting in to talk; Steve casual walking in to show a meme that she doesn’t get; or it’s Kikimora to bother her. Lilith just wants to work in peace.

The Elder Coven Heads have conversations on what to get on the pizza and Osran wants anchovies like the boss he is. Everyone else calls him a monster for such a suggestion.

Osran writes in cryptic text that no one asides from Terra, Hettie, Vitimir and a few of his older students.

Hooty attempts to write to Lilith every week because he wants to make sure she’s ok.

Steve accidentally meeting Lilith’s Palisman as they fly through the air. He thought they were the most adorable thing.

Then offset it with angst/realistic au.

Like Lilith being hesitant to consider Steve or Darius a friend after she ruined the last close bond in her life.

Steve having moments of guilt where he thinks he failed his fellow Coven Scouts and wonders if he’s on the wrong team.

Darius thinking he’s fine and happy as he finally prove the bitch Odalia wrong, but he doesn’t. Like his mother always said, “Do it for yourself, not for others. If you do it for others, then you will always feel empty.”

Just thinking about how all the adults try to feel the need to prove themselves or justify themselves because that’s what society’s taught them ever since Belos came to power.

The sad thought of in between the Previous Golden Guard and Hunter, Belos would have moment where he’d take his anger out on Lilith because he equally enrages him.

The small worry of the Clawthorne Palismans during Agony of a Witch as Lilith’s Palisman wonder if they’re going to far.

Just the way my brain seesaws.

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littlelesbinonny · 10 months

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The Devil’s Den

Chapter 3: In Which Revelations Are Made

You can read this also on Ao3 at:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46831621/chapters/117962293

A paling crest of the sunrise was beginning to appear on the horizon. Alcina would normally be anxious about this but the slate hue of her eyes only admired the brief color before slipping through the side door of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral. She ascended quickly to the crypts and down the tunnels, passed the large crucifix and into complete darkness.

Several doors and corridors later she stepped foot into the underground city. Hundreds of vampires lived down here; for centuries before she arrived the vampires of New York had moved underground, or to the country - purchasing lavish mansions they converted into strongholds where they could reside without interference from humans, Lycans, of other rogue vampire clans that were hell-bent on warfare.

But the underground cities were truly works of grandeur, art, and impressive workmanship. Had the darkness and ceilings of cavernous earth and stone not been apparent, one would think they were in Olde England, France, Italy, or Spain.

Everything looked as a regular city would. The streets were cobblestone, the dwellings akin to lavish Gothic and Victorian home facades, lamp posts that lined the streets once fueled by fire now replaced with modern electricity. The city went on for miles around, more passageways hidden and leading to neighboring cities all throughout the underground of New York.

Alcina made her way along the cobblestone, ignoring all other vampires and their envious stares. Her manor, which was resided in only by the coven leader, was built into the side of the largest towering vast earthy walls. Ornate and imposing, with a large gated entrance leading to a cobblestone courtyard. The manor itself was made of dark stone, with tall pointed arches that connected to the rock ceiling, intricate carvings decorated the windows and large doorway, and a singular turret on the left side. The courtyard was lined with intricate designs carved into the rock floor. A grand entrance for a grand leader.

Entering the gates with a key they clanged shut and she slipped inside her abode quietly, swiftly, and huffed out a deep breath.

She never asked to be head of this coven, never wished to be a leader, a figurehead, finding ruling and seeing over her own kind to be dull and tiresome. But, if Mother Miranda saw something fit, by the gods and all undead, it was done.

Another clipped huff and Alcina began to remove her long black leather gloves, tucking them into the alcove just inside the foyer next to the coat hooks. As she was unbuckling the thick belt of her jacket about her cinched waist she felt her daughter drift into the room before she cleared her throat.

"Mother, unde ai fost?"

(Mother, where have you been?)

Alcina didn't look up. Continuing to unbutton the form fitting article, hanging it, and fiddling with the soft fabric of her black turtleneck she walked passed her nonchalantly, "Am fost afară, Cassandra," (I was out, Cassandra) she replied straightening her back and smoothing the front of her blouse.

Cassandra was right on her heels, pulling her ash grey robe around her body, "Mother... where is the human?"

As if the question hadn't been spoken Alcina rounded the corner down the dark hallway into the kitchen. It was large and open, decorated with mahogany wood, black furnishings, and gold accents everywhere. Opening one of the dark cabinets she reached for a wine glass, crossed the floor to a large wine cabinet and plucked a bottle. Popped the cork. Poured the glass, and sipped quietly.

"Mother." Cassandra repeated coming into her personal space, eager eyes dripping with concern and anger up at the taller woman.

"It is none of your concern," she finally stated latching her gaze, "she is gone. It is taken care of."

With a short shake of her head Cassandra's emotions settled more on the side of worry, "It's daybreak. You never stay out this long. Where were you?"

Alcina's eyes narrowed exceptionally thin, her lips pursuing the same thinness. Swallowing the wine she sucked in a breath through her nose and straightened her back even stiffer.

"Mother you could have been caught in the sun, you could have been killed!"

"I am home," she nearly spat, "the sun hadn't even begun to spread its rays, will you please refrain dramatics."

With a much louder clank than intended Alcina set her glass on the dark marble countertop and headed towards her bedchamber.

Cassandra was hot on her trail.

"I haven't seen you take these kinds of risks for years - this isn't like you - what did you do with the girl?!"

With sharp swift movements that would have given a human whiplash, she turned on her heels and came face to face with her daughter, eyes simmering with that golden glow, hands beside her fighting the urge to ball into a fist. Another puff of a breath exited her nose like a taunted bull. But, Alcina didn't lose her temper, she took a steadying breath shortly after and replied calmly, "I'm home. I'm safe. Leave it alone, dragă," as her eyes dwindled back to normalcy a steady hand reached to Cassandra's long brown hair and tucked it behind her ear, placed a delicate kiss to her forehead, and reached for the handle of her bedroom door.

With a blink she was gone behind it, pressing her back against the wood.

What was she going to do? Admit to her daughter she had taken the human home after asking her in a near comatose state to stay? That she was possibly headed down a familiar path that nearly killed her once before? Tempting fate in a masochistic way just to feel something again?

She damn near sneered at herself, perturbed by her own reawakened weakness.

Finally hearing Cassandra walk away from the door Alcina retreated further into her bedchamber.

Unlike the rest of the house her room was decorated with white, gold, red, and minimal black. Ornate and baroque in style, but not over the top. Brighter and more comfortable. Why vampires obsessed with all things dark and drab was beyond her, but she refused to blend in. Ever. Her 6'9" height always helped contribute to that, aside from her breathtaking features and high society personality.

Heading towards her vanity she began removing her pearl earrings, dropping them into a marble box along with a few other loose pieces. Removing her black turtleneck she kicked off her heeled knee high leather boots, unbuttoned her snug black pants, tossing them onto the large four poster bed. Once inside her bathroom she discarded her bra and panties in a hamper not too far from the large white marble bathtub.

As she ran the water she dropped in some oils: Cedar, Sandalwood, and Vanilla. Slipping in with a muted hum of relief she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Flashes of memories dashed through her mind and her brows furrowed.

She could still hear the screams echoing in her mind. The silent rage of Mother Miranda. The tightness in her heart. The hollow pain within her core. All over a human.

‘You're a vampire! What do you need love for?! Find one of our own to love - you weak, petulant fool!’

Alcina could still feel the sting in her cheek from Mother Miranda's hand colliding with her flesh.

‘You disgrace me! How pathetic can you be? Perhaps turning you was a mistake. I saw greatness in you - I saved you! You would be dead without me, dead, in the ground. You have power, so much power, WHY are you wasting it on something so frivolous?! You WILL right this. YOU will be the one to end it. You... will end her.’

Her eyes opened harshly. Slowly breathing composure back into herself she swallowed hard.

Her heart ached so strongly.

Pain.

Pain was something she had always known so well. And it only seemed to escalate when she became a vampire. Everything escalated. Every. Little. Thing. Heightened senses. Unmatched speed and agility. Not to mention overwhelming strength. And insatiable hunger for blood, lust, and over-indulgent rage.

It was her rage that kept so many in their place. Alcina was easily renowned at the most brutal, lethal, and beautifully terrifying vampire of the last several decades. That was why Mother Miranda appointed her to this role. As the many heads of other covens, only those who could withstand her without breaking would be fit to help her rule.

She had proven herself. Many times over.

At great costs.

Eventually slipping beneath the black satin of her sheets, Alcina lay on her back, eyes peering to the tapestry hanging above her. Even in pitch black she could see quite clearly. Sometimes she wished it wasn't so. Sometimes she wished her life was once what it was; quaint, uncomplicated, full of freedom, and short.

Closing her eyes once more a newly familiar face haunted her.

Oh, the fragile beauty of you, sweet pet.

Your face, your scent, the taste of your blood, all a ghost of a lingering torment.

So many beautiful humans had passed through that club. So many beautiful souls sucked dry and tossed out like trash. But you... why you. What was it about you that stabbed through her so viscerally and softly?

One of her many powers, one she wished she didn't have, was to feel something about another, human or not, and know things. Unspoken things. Uncommunicable things. It was why she now had her three daughters. She never was able to express verbally why she saved them and nurtured them as if they were her own. A chance at family she was never able to have. It was just something she knew. Mother Miranda was going to kill them anyway. All her trials and tests after she'd turned them proved not to her liking, so like the wasteful tyrant she was, she was just going to discard them like used parts and start a new. Alcina had begged to keep them. Mother Miranda finally gave in, perplexed at her nonsense.

And now she knew you.

A dangerous connection.

She left you in your bed, wiping your memories of any trace of this night. You would awake none the wiser. It was easiest that way, for the both of you. Well, at least for you.

Was she a fool to wander back to you?

Yes.

But she did it anyway. And now a warm smirk graced her lips. A knowing smirk.

A smile of reassurance.

There you were climbing into bed; you seemed calm, tired, as you should have been after what you'd been through the night before.

Alcina gracefully and silently leapt off the banister and crouched down a bit more on your balcony until you finally settled. Rising to her full height when you snuggled into your pillow she leaned against the railing and folded her arms over her chest sinking into the shadow, tonguing her teeth at the hint of happiness she felt looking at you.

She had felt your presence the moment she approached your apartment that evening. You were a bit of a night owl, it amused her. As she scaled the building and perched on the balcony 2 stories above you, she watched you curiously as you lingered, staring, studying your surroundings as she was you.

Another sigh. She would admire you like art in a museum, from far away, never crossing the ropes.

If only she could have left the memories.

If only she could risk another meeting.

If only.

#alcina dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu/reader #alcina dimitrescu/female reader #alcina dimitrescu/original female character #cassandra dimitrescu #lesbian #wlw #fanfic #fic #f/f #slow burn #angst #pining

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stusdollface93 · 1 year

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Another random idea. Scream Owl house au. I'll also be including my Scream oc for fun. I also have a new coven idea to take the role of Edas bad girl coven role

Sidney Prescott- Healing coven. From the very beginning of the series, this girl is trying to not only heal herself but also her father and boyfriend from what happened the year prior. Yes, she becomes the bad ass final girl, but her main thing is helping others heal from their trauma.

Randy Meeks - I can see him being the first to mix covens in the group, mixing his very in tune horror skills into the Oracle, and for his love of the cinema, he gets the illusions track. Due to this, he will live through events in Scream 2 in this universe but keeps himself hidden until Scream 3 to make sure he's safe from the copycats.

Tatum Riley - Originally was a bard student, but after seeing how popular the track was in the friend group, she switched to healing to be closer to her best friend Sidney Prescott. Sadly, her death had made Deweys choice to be in the Emperors coven to try and stop more of his family from dying.

Dewy Riley - This man is the retired Emperor coven head who gets seriously tired of all the Ghost coven attacks. Though his aim is never on sight, he's very protective over Sidney, Gale, and Randy. He was the coven scout that helped Randy hide away from Miss Loomis. He deeply regrets not being able to save his sister from one of the Ghost covens agents that night.

Gale Weathers - This woman. You'd think she'd be a mix of bard and illusions, but no. Due to her need to get just a good story, she's the current and ongoing illusion coven head. She misses her ex-husband deeply and understands that he has more important things in his life, but she's just drawn to finding out the truth.

Stu Macher - Ahhh, this adorable goofball killer. He is the second known Ghost coven member, but before then, he was in the Bard, Abomination, and Illusions covens. Bard and illusions because even though he wasn't the brains of the operation, he is/was able to pool the wool over the eyes of his friends. Abomination is because he is the more messy between him and Billy. Due to Randy not really informing Sid to headshot both Stu and Billy, Stu is the secret head witch of the ghost coven with another person from their class that slipped under the radar.

Billy Loomis - And here we have the former ghost coven head witch. His cover covens were Bard, Illusions, and potions. Just like with Stu, he only joined bard and illusions to be able to trick everyone that he was innocent. The potions coven is because he is less messy and plans ahead better than Stu. He just couldn't really plan that his girlfriend was going to end him.

Okay, now here's the oc part.

Lu Bradford - As mentioned above, Lu was secretly a member of the Ghost coven without Billy realizing it until the night of the original massacre. Her original covens were Bard, beast, Oracle, and healing. She really didn't want to resort to joining Stu and Billy in their killings, but once her visions had shown that Stu was going to be in worse danger than Billy. She snuck Stu out of the house while Gale, Sidney, and Randy were busy taking care of Billy. To the minds Woods Isles Billy Loomis and Stu Macher died that night with no evidence of outside help.

Ghost coven - The Ghost coven is the not so secret twisted version of the coven scouts that go around and end the lives of those that wronged them or just want the infamy that the coven gives. There's no requirement to "join" other than having at least the bard or illusion covens as a track idea. They use stolen or retired coven scout uniforms to hide themselves from their victims. The sigil is a grey ghostface mask almost mimicking the abomination track but looking more threatening due to it being designed by Stu himself.

I will make more posts on the Scream House, but the palisman of this group will most likely be next, but I loved coming up with this idea of what the scream folks would be in owl house.

More Scream house content:

Lu carving her Palisman

Stu and Billy get their Palisman.

Palisman explanations.

A hypothetical divorce

Best friends can get married

#scream 1996 #Scream House #Owl house #Randy Meeks #sidney prescott #Stu Macher #Billy Loomis

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violetjedisylveon · 2 years

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King's Tide Spoilers below⬇

The Collector is now my favorite, he finally did what I've been asking for since Hollow Mind, he made Belos feel a lot of pain.

Belos went splat!

I've watched Belos go splat so many times, it feels so good!

On the topic of Belos, he 1000000% said Caleb and you will not convince me otherwise.

I love the Collector's design, they are cute and terrifying so you know, every child ever. I love his little hat and want one. Kid just looks comfy.

The Palisman noticing everyone is hangry was so cute and the Palisman cuddle was adorable!

Kikimora redemption happened I think.

Fuck Belos and his goopy remains!

Holy fuck that's a lot more Golden Guards than I thought there'd be, Belos killed his brother so many times! I'm glad Hunter didn't see it, the boy's dealing with enough.

The Collector was so happy to see King, it was really kinda cute. I love how everyone is scared of the Collector, especially after what he did to Belos.

Hunter's little squeak was really funny and also sad cause he has more problems to deal with now.

Gus got the Luz and Hunter treatment, I guarantee he saw all that shit and is now fucked up.

The episode gave more Hunter Gus brother content! That's good.

Seeing Hunter so worried for Darius hurt.

I wish we got to know more about Darius and Eberwolf's relationship, cause if Eberwolf died there wouldn't have been enough time to get their replacement but Darius really cares about his gremlin friend.

I hope that Eberwolf, Raine and Darius are okay, the rest of the coven heads can die, I'd be fine with that.

I wonder what game King will come up with to keep the Collector entertained.

King's sacrifice for Luz and him calling her hos big sister broke me, and Luz opening the door trying to get back was so sad.

All those kids are seperated from their families and they have no idea what has happened to them. Amity and Hunter probably think their dads are dead.

I saw that little Anne cameo, it was funny.

The Belos goop closing the door scared the shit out of me. So I guess he isn't fully deas.

Bad because Belos kinda lives, good cause I get to see him die again! Yay!

I hope all the Palisman are with the kids, they all need their emotional support pets.

I'm excited for season 3 to come out in... a year at most maybe?

I'm still gonna do owl house stuff and also get back to more Star Wars stuff cause that new show has a baby Ahsoka and nothing will stop me from drawing a bunch of baby Sokas! I'll probably be finishing up some of my wips for my Kaesoka child AU, and other Star Wars wips and some stuff for June!

Alright have a nice day everyone!

VJS out!

#The Owl House #Toh #The Collector #King Clawthorne #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Willow Park #Gus Porter #Hunter toh #Flapjack Toh #Belos #Is dead!#The wicked witch is dead!#Probably not really gone for good but splattered #King's Tide #Spoilers #toh spoliers #VJS

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ariespellz · 2 years

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ask: hi! could i get a romantic matchup? my pronouns are she/her, i identify as a girl and im straight, and im 23. i like drawing, ice skating and dressing up! i have anger and trust issues, i am quite forgetful, im confident but shy, im an entp if that helps, and i am VERY stubborn. and also im an aries! i'd like it to be a canon universe, and i think i would have a pyro vision. my giving AND recieving love language is physical touch! my favorite trope is probably work friends, if that counts? and if it doesnt its enemies to lovers. ₍ᐢ‥ᐢ₎ ♡ i'd like a romantic matchup, and only 1 person if its fine. my favorite color is red! my music taste is indie-jazz rock, and alternative rock! my favorite series are american horror story, espicially 3rd season(coven)! thats it i think!! thank you in advance!!!

hello, hello!! thank you for your request.

after careful consideration, you've been paired up with...

... THOMA !!

he's kind, calm and patient.

a match made in heaven, really.

he has a great memory and will remind you things if you forget about them.

he knows exactly how to calm you down if you have an outburst, and knows when to give you space.

he never pushes your boundaries and is a great listener. you can open up to him whenever you feel like it. but if you don't want to, it's okay, too.

he would never judge you and he's loyal to a fault.

also!! he balances the five love languages pretty well, but his preferred ones are probably physical touch and quality time (giving) and words of affirmation and, again, physical touch (receiving).

overall, he loves you and respects you no matter what <3.

FIRST STEPS: meeting.

ogura mio had hired you as a designer in her shop. your love for fashion and desire for success in the field had been the ambition that granted you your pyro vision.

so you were elated when your designs gained popularity throughout inazuma.

your boss was the one doing most of the sewing and standing behind the counter, while you sketched in the back room.

you two had a very good relationship, as she gave you a lot of freedom and a great salary, and was also great company.

"(y/n)?" she called one morning. you lifted your gaze from the sketchbook. "there's someone looking for you."

"oh? i'll be right there."

ogura nodded and left, leaving the door to the shop open.

and there he stood. soft expression and kind eyes gleamed in recognition upon seeing you.

"here she is!" the pink haired girl smiled. "(y/n), this is thoma. i'm sure you've already seen him around the city."

he smiles sweetly, waving his hand as a greeting.

"it's nice to finally meet you, (y/n). i've heard a lot of things about you."

turns out, none other than kamisato ayaka wanted to hire you as her personal stylist.

thoma said you had around a week to consider accepting the offer, and mentioned that there was no pressure.

after a lot of encouraging from your friend (and stylist) you decided to accept

this could be the best business opportunity you'd ever have!

so, exactly three days later, you were standing in the entrance of the kamisato state

miss kamisato turned out to be really nice and sweet, and asked you to design a kimono for an upcoming event

under her request, thoma arrived soon after to show you the place

"we're happy to have you here" he said with a cheery smile. "if you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask me."

FRIENDSHIP: getting to know each other.

the duties as a worker for the tri-commission were demanding.

even more when your boss is the sister of the head of the clan, who is provably just as powerful.

the stress was catching up to you, and it was making you sick. on top of it all, you were currently on an artist's block

no matter what you did, you found no inspiration. no more original ideas.

and that was a big problem.

as nice as she was, ayaka was constantly attending to events. which meant you had to create a new pattern per week.

(you couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her, with a forever flooded agenda and barely any time for herself.)

you had been working constantly with no rest. as much as you presented yourself in a formal and composed way, full of confidence and passion, you didn't dare to ask for some free days.

what if she said no? would you lose your job? would your beloved career be over?

with a sigh, you looked at your lunch. suddenly, you weren't hungry anymore.

with a huff, you pulled out your sketchbook and fumbled through the pages.

looking for something. anything. with a groan, you threw the object somewhere in the floor when, once again, you couldn't squeeze a single drop of creativity out of your sleep-deprived brain.

you had an hour left of lunchtime before a reunion with the tailors, and your hands were empty.

you were fucked. for real this time.

you honestly felt like crying, but settled for a sigh instead. you couldn't give up now.

suddenly, you heard a knock on the door. no one really came to this room, so you used to eat lunch peacefully and sometimes draw a bit.

"...come in" you called after a beat of silence.

there stood thoma, smiling at you in a somehow shy way.

"hello! sorry to bother you" he greeted a bit nervously. "my lady said you seemed a bit... out of it today. is something the matter?"

you hesitated.

he couldn't know about the issue. if he were to know that you couldn't finish the job, you would get fired for sure.

"ah, thoma, it's nothing." you smile at him. he was a nice guy. although you didn't talk to him much, you enjoyed his presence. "just a bit tired, nothing to worry about."

his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he scanned the room briefly. and then, his eyes locked with the sketchbook, which was laying not too far from him.

you made up some excuse about how it must have slipped from your pocket. he seemed to believe it and sat across from you

"is it okay if we have lunch together?" he asked "we haven't gotten the chance to chat. these past few weeks have been busy."

turns out, he was great company.

he didn't mind your quietness and made sure to fill the silences when they were starting to get awkward.

but soon enough, there were around ten minutes left of lunch break. he got up and excused himself briefly. the smile he sent you was almost sly.

preparing for the worst, you had some minutes to calm yourself down. while heading towards the assigned room, you thought about a hundred different apologies.

however, when you arrived, they were leaving.

"the meeting has been postponed around two days." one of them sighs when you question it. "lady kamisato's orders."

after that, you somehow got some maids as subordinates. they helped a lot with work and were in charge of your schedule (something you were grateful for, because there was no way you wanted to accidentally miss a meeting again.)

something that also changed?

thoma's behaviour around you.

he now ate lunch with you everyday.

he accompanied you to the city in search for textiles you liked and helped you carry the boxes back.

he always compliments your drawings and clothes.

he knows your agenda better than you, and more often than not he'll go out of his way to help you out.

and little by little, he started to get close to you.

but your growing confusion cleared up one afternoon at the market.

you were buying groceries with him (something that had become the usual between you two) when you noticed a small group of people staring at you.

you paid them no mind, more focused on which lavender melons were better-looking.

but then you heard them.

"how can she work for the kamisatos? she has no class!" "oh, and poor thoma, i bet she's all over him. didn't you see him the other day? he had his hands full of her stuff!" "right! doesn't she have maids or something?"

'don't listen to them' you repeated yourself. thoma was in another stall and he'd be here soon.

they're just jealous.

...

well shit, they're still going.

once you paid for the fruit, you briefly thanked the vendor and grabbed the bag.

your blood was starting to boil, and holding back your tongue was even harder.

"he really must pity her if he still hasn't ran away" and they laughed. hard. in a mean, mocking way.

"hey, you! how about you go fuck yourself?" she turns to you, clearly nervous. she really didn't think she'd get caught.

"i- uhm..." she stammers, avoiding your gaze.

"oh, so you're acting shy now?" you scoffed. "keep your mouth shut next time, then."

a hand gripped your shoulder firmly. not exactly tight, but still supporting.

thoma was emitting some sort of dark aura that even guuji yae would be impressed of. his words were curt and his tone was cold in a way.

"i will not be tolerating any disrespectful comments towards (y/n). she is a very competent woman and she no doubt deserves her position in the kamisato state." he looks more serious than you'd ever seen him, emerald eyes clouded with anger. "also, none of you are to speculate about how or why we spend time together. it is none of your business. that being said, we'll be leaving now. have a nice day."

they didn't have time to react. thoma was dragging you away.

he sighed when you two gout out of the market.

"are you okay?" he asks, concerned. "i'm really sorry that you had to hear that. just so you know, i do enjoy helping you out. my lady has nothing to do with it."

"no, i'm sorry." you were calmer now. you had yelled at them in a pretty aggressive tone, not caring about who was around. the last thing you wanted was to damage the clan's reputation. "i kind of blew up back there. i should've just ignored them, but..."

"are you kidding me? you have nothing to blame yourself for!" he stated, brows furrowed. "you put them in their place. that's not something to be embarrassed about."

oh.

ADVANCES: feelings and confession.

thoma was a bit worried, to be honest.

had he overstepped his boundaries? made you uncomfortable? is that the reason why you were avoiding him? were you really avoiding him in the first place?

maybe he went overboard with the flirting! (oh god no you're gonna think he's a creep now)

truth is, you were way to shy to face him.

because now, every time you see him, the thought of his hand on your shoulder has your head spinning with fleeting thoughts and fake scenarios.

he was always so precious. so pretty. and so, so kind to everyone.

when the winter arrived, it was a tradition to open an ice rink to ice skate in

and thoma saw his chance there.

you had mentioned your love for the sport once in casual conversation, and he remembered.

(of course he remembers. he likes you.)

so the next time he saw you, he asked you directly so you wouldn't run away with some half-baked excuse.

if you rejected him, he'd just deal with it.

but at least he wouldn't have any doubts about your feelings about him. just co-workers who sometimes help each other. and that was it.

while you stammered to find an answer, he was buzzing with nervousness.

he was closing and opening his hands, which were sweating, and he was grinning at you like 😁

the maids who saw you found it funny, to be honest.

i would've laughed ngl

let's be real here

who would ever say no to thoma?? like- (/j)

"so..." you clear your throat "is it a date or...?"

"oh! ah... it could be one" he averts his gaze, smile straining. "if you wanted to, of course! no pressure or anything! haha..."

"i'd love to, actually."

R.I.P.

you killed him

he was as red as a tomato the entire day, and even redder when he picked you up

(the ice melted behind you because of your visions so you had to leave them with your shoes LMAOO)

you had a great time!! giggling the entire evening, holding him so he wouldn't fall (he caught the gist of it fairly quickly, actually), and having a small dinner afterwards (just some miso soup. none of you were very hungry).

"so, uh..." he started while accompanying you back home. "i like you. a lot. and i had a lot of fun with you today." he stops in his tracks, moonlight caressing his features in all the right ways as he looks at you, with an obvious blush in his face. "and i was wondering if you'd like to do it again? like, date?"

ah, he's so sweet<3

you found out his hugs were as warm as his words that day.

DATING LIFE: a relationship with him.

dating thoma is heavenly

he's pure husband material

you like PDA?? you better, because he WILL show you off

and the way he talks about you; with starry eyes and sugar-coated words

kazuha says it sounds like a beautiful poem. ayato says it's cheesy.

two sides of the same coin. pick your side.

he kisses you everywhere. in your forehead, in your temple, in your hands, in your nose,

and in his favourite: your lips<3

he prepares the BEST dates for you two.

itto insisted on 'helping a bro out' once.

NEVER AGAIN.

(it was kinda funny to see the gang trying to perform 'careless whisper' tho)

shinobu was so embarrassed to pick them up from the restaurant, and even tried to pay you two some mora in compensation.

oh and lady ayaka's eyes look full of amusement every time you speak to her

so do ayato's whenever you see him. which luckily isn't often.

realistically speaking, he's probably one of the best partners to have in genshin.

he's sweet, he knows you, he's patient, he'll make you his priority, etc

he's always very busy, though, so if you help him out every once in a while he'll be super grateful

overall, he loves you. give the guy a chance <3

#🐢.cupid #genshin matchups

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fluorescentpipedream · 2 years

Text

Some things about Aurelio before I forget:

Born 756AD as Aurelio Mateo Chavez on a tiny island off the coast of what would become Florida in the future but was then owned by the Spanish Empire. He died at the age of 45, which was miraculous enough given the time period, and was reborn as a vampire in 801AD. Possibly due to the vampire that made him or the regional effect of being so close to the equator, Aurelio was considered the caminante diario, or daywalker. He still had a thirst for blood but found over the course of a few thousand years he could appear to be human to the point of eating and drinking, if he so chose to do so.

Around 875 Aurelio happened upon a strange situation involving Jacque, Yorgi, Rhaegar and a demonic Vance. He found the injured Yorgi and Jacque by a fire outside of a massive system of caves and was told their story by the two wounded and heartbroken men, both of which made Aurelio mildly uncomfortable - a sort of defense mechanism of immortals towards vampires, the thought of feeding from them turns the stomach. When Yorgi was well enough he set off back home to his daughter while Jacque expressed desire to find the creature that did this to him and stole Sara from them and to end him once and for all. In his travels over the years, Aurelio had come onto possession of a book (one that is not supposed to be, from an island that doesn’t exist*) which had a design for a spell box which could trap a demonically possessed soul for eternity. It would take another 230 years to find everything necessary and build the box (the two didn’t spend this time together, or at least not all of it and they also managed to find blades capable of securing the demon in the box, ultimately holding it within the bounds of the body it was inhabiting and sealing it so it could no longer be a danger).

In this time, Aurelio was fashioning himself as a hit of a magician, and also fell in as part of a coven of vampiric witches (yikes), using them as connections to the greater world. These vampires would later boil down to a very small coven headed by Alec Burges in the modern world. Back in the 12th century, however, he used this network to track Vance, finally discovering he was in London, in Nottingham to be exact. What exactly he was doing there remains to be seen but Aurelio got in touch with Jacque (now Jack) and the two were setting out in a lavish looking carriage for Nottingham with the demon trap in a massive iron box with runes on it. They were going as a magician troupe, as it was the best thing to mask what they were really doing there. Jack had no way of knowing he would find Sara here and get to introduce her to his new friend. Jack was also in the company of Rhaegar, still a mute. Those two had found one another by accident as well, but took to traveling together as they both had unfinished business with Vance.**

~500yrs down the road these same players are pirates in Nassau, with Aurelio being somewhat similar to what we know of Blackbeard and quite possibly the inspiration for the character. Jack has become Jack Rackham, or Calico Jack, and sadly Vance has escaped from his runic box, though without the demon and is Charles Vane.

By modern years, 2022, Aurelio is approaching 1300 and has a pretty large following on Tiktok where he reads or sings, depending on the live and the request. He is aware that Charles Vance is still kicking somewhere in California. He was living in Nassau for a while, working at Jack’s pirate themed bar but moved to New Orleans sometime in the early 2000s. He lives in what was Trent Reznor’s old mortuary house. He also very much likes and respects Danielle, and works occasionally at her shop alongside Konstantinos

@musesnotebook @fat-and-nerdygirl

#character #new #aurelio voltaire

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allegra-writes · 3 years

Text

"Upside Down Soy Iced Caramel Macchiato"

Aleksander Morozova x Reader

Coffee shop AU

Warnings: none, this is pure fluff.

I usually steer clear from physical descriptions, but this is a special little something for the Decaf Coven, @amayatheowl @cocoamoonmalfoy @seolaseoul and @chaoticpete @bleh-bleh-blehs just this once, this is a brown eyed, brunette!Reader. If you prefer, you can read the Darklina version on AO3

MY MASTERLIST | BUY ME A COFFEE

"Here, Ivan? Really??" Aleks raised an eyebrow, judgement clear in his voice as he glanced at the sign above their heads announcing the "Brewed Awakening" cafe, a new age, yoga friendly, law of attraction or some other hippie bullshit better suited for sunny, spiritual, hip Shu Han than for gloomy, cold, cynical, spartan Os Alta. And definitely not suited for the coldest and most cynical of Os Alta Business men, Aleksander Morozova.

Ivan shrugged, his stoic face carefully blank, as always.

"Fedya likes it. And they make a mean cold americano"

Aleksander let out an sceptical scoff, but followed his friend inside, there was no time for arguing and no time to look for another coffee shop, their next deposition beginning in less than twenty minutes, so he would have to, as Fedyor would say, suck it up. He was under no delusions about the quality of the coffee offered at this place, in his experience, these kind of venues were far more concerned with decorations and ambience than with the grounds they used.

Sure enough, the interior of the cafe looked like something out of a magazine, mismatched wooden chairs and tables artfully combined, royal blue couches on top of white plush rugs creating little cozy conversation spaces, empty cages hanging from the ceiling, candles in every available surface…

There was a small queue in front of the mahogany counter.

"Maybe we should leave, we'll be late"

"Non sense" Ivan replied, "if we have to sip our coffee on the way back, it will still be worth it, trust me"

Aleksander was about to protest, but the words died in his throat when a costumer stepped aside, and he saw her: Dark hair piled on a messy bun atop her head, warm coffee eyes and a smile that seemed lit up the entire shop, if not the entire city.

His mother had told him legends when he was a little kid, fairy tales about the Grisha, seductive creatures of supernatural beauty that could control the elements at will, often leading men to their downfall with their bewitching wiles. As he watched her, shinning brighter than the golden Firebirds painted on the wall behind her, there was no doubt in Aleksander's mind that this girl was one of them, a sun witch, like Sankta Alina, who had bravely walked into the shadow fold and faced the Black Heretic, breaking the spell and turning him back into a man with a true love's kiss.

The girl turned away from them to start making the drink for the guy in front of them.

"Sorry!" She called back, "The other barista bailed on us, so it's just me today. If you can give me five minutes, I'll be right with you"

Ivan made a face, opening his mouth to politely decline, but Aleksander beated him to it.

"No problem, take your time. We're not in a hurry"

Ivan frowned, but Aleksander was technically his superior, so he didn't say anything.

"Really? Thank you-" The girls eyes' met Aleksander's over the pastry display case, and froze, doe eyes making her look pretty much like a deer in the headlights. Aleks' heart skipped a beat.

The girl shook herself,

"Right. What- um… what would you like to order?"

"Just an espresso for me, and an iced americano for my friend" Aleksander announced.

"Zoya wants a soy latte" Ivan reminded him.

"And a soy latte" Aleks repeated, obediently.

"Perfect. I mean, sure, right away. Just let me finish this Macchiato here and I'll… make them. For you."

Aleksander felt bad for the obviously overwhelmed girl, but he would be lying if he said her flushed cheeks and nervous fumbling wasn't the cutest thing he had ever seen.

The time seemed to fly as he watched her, dainty little hands dexterously turning nobs and levers and pressing buttons, until she finally stepped forward, presenting them with two drinks on the counter, but Aleksander only had eyes for her, and the way a single, rebel curl escaped her bun right under his attentive watch. His hand twitched with the urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear. And maybe, just maybe, cup her face on the way back, stroke those adorable pink cheeks, bring her closer to him, lean in and-

"What is this?" Ivan's stern voice tore him out of his daydream.

"Um, an americano and an upside down iced soy caramel macchiato…" The girl replied, "That- that was your order, right?"

Aleksander's heart twisted inside his chest at the uncertainty in her voice.

"Yes, that's exactly what we ordered" He reassured her quickly, closing his mouth around the straw of his designated cup for good measure. The girl gasped, eyes zeroing on his lips, making the butterflies inside his stomach take flight.

"Delicious" he declared, blindly handing her a bill that the girl distractedly took and stuffed into the register, eyes never leaving his.

Ivan wondered if either of them had realized his boss had just handed her a fifty. Gruffly, he grabbed his drink,

"Well, we should get going now. There's an important meeting and we're already late"

Taking his boss' elbow, he practically dragged him away as the barista girl waved them goodbye.

"See you soon" It sounded like a question. Aleksander threw her a smile over his shoulder,

"Very" he promised. Ivan was starting to think he had made a terrible mistake showing him this place…

…

There was a tall, handsome dark skinned boy next to his barista when he walked into the cafe the next day, poking her in the ribs and telling her something apparently very witty if the way she threw her head back laughing was anything to go by. Aleksander felt the strange impulse to bite his hand off.

However, his unexpected desire for violence left as suddenly as it had arrived, when the sunshine girl spotted him, her face breaking into an impossibly bigger and brighter smile.

"Upside down iced soy caramel macchiato guy!"

Aleksander beamed: she remembered him.

Well, kind of. She still had his order wrong, but to be honest, Aleksander was too happy to care.

"That's me" He laughed, "or, you know, Aleksander, for short"

"Aleksander" She repeated, and he could have died right there and then. His name was probably the most common name in the entire Ravka, but it sounded different from her lips. It sounded special. "I'm Y/N" she offered him her hand to shake. He took it, and swore he could feel sunlight fill his veins where his skin met hers.

"Y/N" he tried it, loving the sweet taste it left in his mouth. Sweeter than yesterday's macchiato. A throat cleared somewhere beside them.

"Right" She seemed to wake from the spell first, "Same as yesterday?"

Aleksander nodded,

"Of course! That was the best iced macchiato I've ever had"

Y/N smiled again, positively glowing as she made her way to the espresso machine.

Yeah, Aleksander could drink overly sweet coffee drinks until he got diabetes, as long as he could see that smile every day for the rest of his life…

#aleksander morovoza #aleksander kirigan #aleksander morozova x reader #the darkling #the darkling x reader #fluff #coffee shop au

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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 years

Note

For Vampire Chris! What if he and Jake went to a museum and came across some of Tooley's paintings? And Chris has a panic attack! We would finally get some Jake comfort. And maybe Chris would reveal more horrible things that Tooley had done to him.

CW: Discussion of death, blood, vampire whumpee, caretaker and whumpee

The sun sets early in the winter, and it's the only reason they can make this work.

Chris is barely awake even so, sipping from a coffee cup Jake filled with the contents of one of his blood packs, hoping he doesn't trip and spill and lead to Jake having some very awkward, panicked explanations to make to anyone nearby.

He'd slept in the truck Jake borrowed from Nat most of the way over here, curled in the passenger seat. He looks for all the world like any high schooler who stayed up too late the night before, dragged out by his family, forced to go learn when all he wants is rest.

Chris is draped in a hooded sweatshirt pulled on over his head, hair mussed from sleeping in the closet in the little nest-bed he made for himself in there. It sticks out like stray from beneath the hood he's pulled up, coppery strands occasionally covering his eyes and making him shove them out of the way with a snort that has no right to be as adorable as it is, considering the monster who makes the sound.

Not a monster, no. Not really.

Or his monster, anyway, the same way his mother is his mother. Jake is starting to understand the little vampire - more than three times his own age - has chosen him for family now.

The sweater he wears is kind of a joke, actually. Jake bought it weeks ago from a website that puts the covers of books on clothes, and it's an old cover image from Dracula.

Jake thought it was funny, anyway. Nat was less amused. Chris only smiled and said something about being happy the hairy palms thing isn't true.

The air is chilly, and Jake shivers a little as they head in from the parking lot across a small sidewalk next to a park and toward the museum itself, but of course Chris doesn't even notice. He seems to be enjoying it, the way it blows around his hair as they make their way slowly up the steps and past the row of Grecian-style columns that mark the entrance.

Jake has to visit for one of his classes, an extra-credit something-or-other, and Chris had asked to go along with him.

Jake had been hesitant, but seeing the way the vampire's green eyes sparkle as he moves around in public like any other person, well... he feels like he made the right choice to bring him along now.

"Finish up your drink, you can't take anything in once we pay and get past the lobby," Jake says, and Chris nods, gulping the last of the blood as fast as he can as they push through wide double-doors. Jake tries not to imagine how it must feel, swallowing thick congealing cooled blood. Someone's life, someone's heartbeat, down your throat...

Really, is he that much different? Jake has eaten a dozen cows' worth of beef in his life.

Does Chris see them all as just livestock? He doesn't act like it, but then, there are people who treat pigs or cows like pets and not like food...

His stomach flips a little and he forces himself to look around, up at the chandelier at the high ceiling, the heavy wooden desk they have to walk to off to the side to get their tickets. To stop trying to understand if Chris is a sort of stray they've adopted, or if he's a higher-level predator living with prey.

Once Chris drops the cup into a trash can, Jake throwing a couple wadded-up tissues on top so no one can accidentally see the smear of red around the edge of the lid, they buy their tickets, and wind their way through and past the little velvet ropes that mark off the entrance.

The museum opens before them into a grand hall, with paintings the size of two-story buildings on either side, permanent installations in the museum. Commissioned for its opening, sometime back in the 70's.

Jake picks up a brochure so they know which way to go - LGBTQ+ Art in Pre-War America is the temporary exhibit he's here to see, traveling work that is usually housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

"Oh, nice, it's on the first floor. Looks like you go through a couple of 'specialty' rooms, just showing off stuff from the in-house collection. Sounds cool, right?"

Chris, looking from side to side at the gigantic paintings that hang on the walls in the opening hall, hums softly, a tuneless constant sound. He doesn't answer Jake's question. He hums often, and Jake barely notices any longer, but there's something edged to it, now. As if just being around the paintings is making him nervous.

"Okay, little man, let's go over here." He touches Chris's arm, lightly, through the thick fabric of his sweater. The vampire looks over at him, smiling with his lips pressed together to hide his teeth from any potential prying eyes.

He follows easily, but he sticks closer to Jake than he normally does, and his eyes are constantly roving. They move through an exhibit of Pre-Colombian pottery first, on their way to the room in the back where the temporary showcase is.

Jake watches Chris's fingers twitch with the urge to touch, to learn by feeling the bumps and ridges in the ancient clay, and how he holds back as best he can. His urge to lift the clear protective plastic boxes right off the pottery so he can get at it is nearly physically painful.

Jake pretends not to see it when Chris's fingers trail along a column, settling for the white-painted rectangle the pottery is balanced on, taking in the rough texture smoothed by the matte paint.

"Did you ever meet anyone like you that was old enough to have made stuff like this?" Jake asks, stopping in front of a water jug in the shape of a man playing a flute with a dog at his feet. The dog wears a carved smile marked with disturbingly human-looking teeth. The paint it must have been covered in is worn by time, leaving the reddish-brown of the clay behind, with the faintest streaks of white still in the crevices.

"No," Chris replies, tilting his head, making direct eye contact with the statue in a way he never quite can do with any real person. Not comfortably, anyway. Jake has seen him force it and shudder afterwards, overwhelmed. When he'd asked about it, Chris had said he never liked looking at anyone's eyes, even before, when he was alive. It's too much, was all he would say. It's always too much. "None, um, none of us live that long."

"Why not?" They're alone in the room. It's the only reason Jake feels safe asking.

Chris's tongue runs over the sharpening bumps of his growing-in fangs, pressing against them, easing the itch and the ache of their return. After a second, he pulls a plastic bat on a cord from inside his sweater and puts the bat into his mouth, chewing on it idly, jaw working. "I, I, I don't know. That's just what what what my, my, my pack told me."

"I thought vampires lived in covens."

"No." Chris doesn't elaborate on this one. He can be weirdly secretive about how he lived before he came to Nat's, before he was pulled out of a basement, a living drug for a wealthy asshole.

Secretive, or just forgetting whatever wasn't essential.

He moves away to another pedestal, a shard broken off of a larger vessel, marked with a deep white and intense black angular design. He hums again, and Jake takes the hint and leaves him alone.

They spend several more minutes looking over the pottery before they head through a second room full of what must just be the favorite pieces of museum employees, as there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason, and each little card with the name of the piece and its maker has a paper next to it with a note on why each employee loves this piece in particular. Chris lingers around older things, a woven tapestry from medieval England, landscapes from the 19th century. He stares for a while at a painting called The Country Path by Joseph Poole Addy, a pale watercolor of winter trees with bare branches breaking the line of sky and a woman bundled in a coat carrying a basket down an equally colorless road.

Chris's humming getting louder, and he rocks a little, forward and back, his eyes moving again and again through the lines of the painting.

Jake wonders what it is about this one specifically that catches Chris like that, and when the vampire finally moves on he checks the employee's statement. Joseph Poole Addy, Irish painter in the 19th and 20th centuries, blah blah, something something countryside... Jake frowns, and glances over at Chris, who isn't looking back. He's moved on to something else.

Jake decides to ask him later.

They make it to the exhibit they're here to see, and Jake whistles under his breath as he enters. There are vibrant, saturated paintings lining the walls, a couple of large sculptures on the floor that still are taller than he is, a few smaller ones on pedestals. The work is mostly figurative, although there's some early abstraction there, a hint of the contemporary push to take even figurative work out of simply being an echo of a real life thing.

Chris looks at a sculpture, his head cocked so far to the side it looks almost birdlike, not quite human. Jake thinks his own neck would ache for days if he tried to do that. "Must've been, um, later," He mumbles to himself.

Jake files that away in his mental list of things to talk to Chris about later.

He walks slowly along the line of paintings. The whole point of being here is that he's supposed to pick a specific piece and write a short essay about it and the artist who made it, prove he saw it in person.

The class itself is about how to encourage better outcomes for healthcare in marginalized populations - but if she's giving out extra-credit for looking at queer art, well, Jake is happy to spend an hour in a museum.

After his dismal performance on the last test, he could use whatever credit he can get. Besides, the exhibit is actually kind of cool with that in mind. Every one of these artists was in some way outside of the sort of het ideal, and Jake smiles a little as he catches the heaviness of a look between two men seated across a table from one another, looks over the clasped hands of women, sitting with everything from shoulder to hip touching, who are listed as 'friends visiting the riverbank'.

Art that celebrates, hidden in plain sight. Art that rebels by sliding details in under the surface where only those looking for them will find them.

Each piece has another little paper, although this just has details about the artist and their work, what they were known for. He can use it as a jumping-off point for his paper, anyway.

"You, you, you finished her," Chris whispers, standing in front of a sculpture of a woman with her head thrown back as if in uproarious laughter, a woman with curls expertly carved so that her hair seems to have been there before the stone it's made of somehow. "I wonder if she, um, if if if she saw it."

"What'd you say, Chris?" Jake blinks, pulled out of his own internal reverie.

"Nothing," Chris responds, and walks slowly around the statue. The woman's smile is a shining light in the room. No one could carve like that without being at least a little in love with the subject.

Jake wanders away and then comes to an abrupt stop before a large painting, probably taller than Chris is. The background is near-total darkness with only a suggestion of stone, a single beam of light shining down to illuminate the central figure.

A naked boy clothed only in scraps of torn cloth that only emphasize his nakedness everywhere else is crouched in terror. His knees are bent and his feet are on the floor, one hand holding his weight with fingers slightly curled, his spine bent and arched as if he is caught in the midst of turning to look up to find the direction of the light. His other hand is thrown out, as if trying to ward off an attack.

He bleeds from a dozen or more places, the blood curving perfectly around his form, giving it extra weight and heft that makes it seem like he'll step out of the canvas, grab Jake, and shake him.

Jake's heart starts to race as he stares.

There are bones littering the ground around the thin, wasted boy, not bleached but sort of yellowed, marked with little notches as if cut with a knife. There might still be bits of skin attached to some of them, a hint of muscle. The detail makes Jake sick, but his panic, that comes from something else entirely. Just behind the panicked boy there is a body, as if just fallen, the eyes still open in the final terrified throes of death. The body's fingers are still dug into the dirt floor as if the dead man had been trying to pull himself somewhere, to escape.

A skull watches with eerie cheer from one corner of the painting, a few teeth missing and knocked out from its garish grin.

Barely visible, a thin wash of grayish-white, there is a pale, gnarled hand near the bottom reaching out from the background as if to grab the boy's ankle and drag him into the darkness.

Count Ugolino's Last Son, oils, 1932, reads the little plaque beside the painting. Its faint brassy shine glints in the carefully calibrated light. Edward Tooley, 1907 - 1936.

Jake swallows, but the lump in his throat doesn't budge, and he swallows again. And again. He can't take his eyes off the boy's painted hair, a dirtied copper, strawberry-blond badly in need of a wash. The wide green eyes with their terror writ large and clear, painted with lovingly perfect detail.

The boy in the painting is the perfect identical twin of the vampire who is still staring at the sculpture on the other side of the room. The fear in his face is so expertly done as to seem more photographic than painted in oil. The blood that drips to the ground follows his anatomy with absolute perfection. The bones are not bleached by they so often are in paintings, no, these...

These...

Jake holds his phone up and takes a photo, and then another of the little plaque.

"Chris." His voice cracks and Jake clears his throat. His heart is still pounding. "Chris, come look at this."

"Yes, Jake," Chris answers, sounding a little faint, and then he seems to simply appear at Jake's elbow, the teenage boy who has seen two world wars and a half-dozen smaller, stupider ones.

He goes still at Jake's side when he looks up. Jake looks over, just slightly, glancing sidelong to see a look of something like... wistfulness on the vampire boy's face.

"Tooley," He breathes. His hand goes up, and out, and he would have touched the canvas if Jake hadn't reached out and grabbed on to stop him. Chris jumps a little and turns to meet Jake's gaze. His eyes are pink-tinged in the whites, as if he's holding back tears. "Is, is, is he famous?"

"I guess. He's... he's here, isn't he?"

"He always wanted to, um, to to to to be famous." Chris's eyes move over the details, but it's not with surprise, it's with easy familiarity. He's seen this painting before.

He's been this painting before.

"That's you, isn't it?" Jake asks in a hushed voice. "Like, that was really you."

Chris looks away again, a faint flush in his cheeks. He's full enough of blood for it to happen, and you'd never know he isn't alive if you didn't already. "Yes," He whispers, and wipes at the corner of his eye with one hand. "That, that, that's me."

"Were you his model?" Jake blinks, looking back over the painted twin of the vampire beside him. The fear in the boy's face, woven in with a kind of awful resignation. It's all so perfectly rendered.

"Yes. Sort, um. Sort of. He, he, he kept me in a room." Chris exhales, slowly, and his eyes shift over to the paper with the little bit of biographical information on it. Edward Tooley's early works focused on landscapes or retreads of common historical subjects, only to find greater excellence and focus when he began to paint, again and again, the same figure - a representation of the darkness of the human soul - he stated appeared to him and demanded to be portrayed... art historians believe Tooley was driven by the demons of the Great War that had taken his family from him one by one to seek out uncomfortable subjects that force viewers to see the damage humans do to one another...

Chris's nose wrinkles as he reads, his lips moving slightly with the words as he takes them in. "I never did that. Never, um, wanted to be painted. Also, um this, um. He was... wasn't... he wasn't... wasn't like the paper says."

Jake looks over, reads it himself. Gregarious, sociable, popular with the libertine art crowd... he frowns. "What part is wrong?"

"This." Chris points, this at least he can safely make contact with, and presses the pad of his finger under a sentence that reads took inspiration from the ugly side of the city hidden under its shining lights. "He, he, he he didn't care about anyone in the city. He thought everyone who, who who who who-who wasn't him was, um, was stupid."

"What did he care about?" Jake imagines telling his professor that instead of an essay, he's going to bring in a vampire who literally knew one of the artists in person. How she might react.

Probably call the cops and report an unsecured vampire loose on the streets. But maybe she'd listen to what Chris had to say first.

"Blood," Chris says, softly. His voice is getting lower and lower, until it's barely more than a whisper. "Pain. Fear. Being... being the the the the last person who, who saw someone. He, he, he, he liked to lay them out and paint them, liked me to, to, to... arrange them for him."

Jake's eyes go unwillingly back to the dead body behind the scared boy in the painting. The grasping fingers, the open eyes that look sightless, lifeless, at nothing at all. When he looks, he can see - more suggestion than made clear - that the body's throat is torn open, as if by an animal's teeth.

Now, only now that he's looking for it, does he realize there is the slightest hint of red tears on the cheeks of the painted boy, a sheen of pink on his teeth where he begs for mercy from the grasping singular hand coming out of the dark.

His stomach flips again. "Chris, are you saying-"

"His, his, his name was Ben." Chris nods at the dead body in the painting. "I asked. Before..." He gestures, a little vaguely. "That."

Jake feels a sudden, wild urge to look up missing persons cases from New York City in 1932. See if there's anyone named Ben on there. He knows without having to do so that there definitely will be.

"What happened to him... after?"

"I don't know. I, I, I was never let out when Tooley was gone. I... wonder how, how, how many of me there are." Chris looks up at the echo of his own face, his head tilting again. His lips tremble, just a little, and then part to show the hint of white teeth wet with pinkish saliva. "On walls, in houses, in... in places like, um. Like this. How many there are... is, is, is, is that what I still look like?"

Jake clears his throat again, looks down at his feet. This feels, suddenly, like he's walked in on someone looking down at his own dead body in a funeral home. Interrupting a moment so immensely private it shouldn't even exist.

"Yeah," he says, a little gruffly. "Yeah, that's it. More or less. Except I hope I scare you less than that. Also you wear a lot more clothes with us."

Chris laughs - it's a huff of sound, barely-there. Then he turns away from himself. "We, we, we can't see ourselves, in mirrors," He says, and he's got the little plastic bat back in his hand, rubbing his thumb over the carved silicone. "But I have mirrors everywhere. On these walls."

He goes suddenly terribly still. He isn't breathing.

He doesn't have to, but the realization that he isn't even pretending is a jolt of awareness of exactly how dead Chris is. He leaves the exhibit, and Jake is left to scramble after him, struggling to catch up to someone he should be able to easily outrun.

He breaks into a flat run when they get outside the double-doors, jumps the steps three at a time with grace, and runs across the grass and towards the stand of trees halfway across the park. Even Jake, who works out four days a week, is breathing hard and has a hitch in his rib by the time he catches up.

He finds Chris curled up under a tree in the evening dark, the stars starting to twinkle overhead as the sun finally allows them a clear night sky to shine in.

Jake drops to his knees, ignoring the damp that seeps into his jeans from soil that still hasn't dried since yesterday's rains, and he leans over, putting a warm hand to either side of the vampire's face.

Chris looks up, his eyes glinting like a cat's briefly in the dark, and there are trails down his cheeks, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl that is anything but angry.

No, this is grief.

This is loss.

Jake knows the feeling.

"Talk to me," Jake says softly. "Tell me what it was like, what it's been like for you. Tell me about the life you've lived before I knew you."

"It, it, it hurt," Chris whispers, and his own hands cover Jake's. They're the same temperature as the air around them, and Jake shivers a little. It's almost a chill. "Every time. I, I, I try not to kill, Jake, I try so hard, but but but he would keep me so hungry and I couldn't-... stop..."

Jake thinks about the robbers Chris killed - for him, to save him from them - and how he'd locked himself in the closet afterward. Had he cried like this, over taking lives even when in defense?

"The museum thing said this guy Tooley died in 1936. He was only, what, twenty-nine? Did... did you-"

"Yes." Chris's voice is thick but it's not quite with regret. "I was hungry. He, he he he he didn't bring food. I was so hungry... then I was, um, was alone for a while... then, then, then, then then then I was taken for, for, for the, um, the trade, for my v-venom, and..."

"Got it. I got it, Chris. It's okay," Jake says, softly. "It's going to be okay. You're with us, now. And we'll never, ever make you hurt someone that way. We'll never make you go hungry. We'll never hurt you or use you."

Chris ducks his head, rocking forward until it knocks into Jake's shoulder, and Jake slides his arms around the vampire's shoulders, listening to his soft, muffled sobs, wondering how red his shirt will be stained by the time the vampire's tears have been cried out.

The same mouth that tore out the throat of a dead body that lays in a painting on the wall is so close to his neck it would take less than an inch for him to bite down. Even without fangs, he could lock his jaw and break the skin.

The same dangerous monster that has killed likely dozens to stay alive, the same stalking predator that has been the last sight of far too many, cries in his arms. Just a teenage boy who has been lonely, and terrified, and hurt for too long.

A teenager... and a monster that hunts prey after dark. Jake tightens his arms around Chris, holds him tighter.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter how long he's been alive, not really.

He's just Chris.

That matters more.

@mylifeisonthebookshelf @insaneinthepaingame @keeper-of-all-the-random-things @burtlederp @finder-of-rings @newandfiguringitout @astrobly @endless-whump @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @doveotions @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @cubeswhump @whump-tr0pes @downriver914 @whumptywhumpdump @whumpiary @orchidscript @nonsensical-whump @outofangband @what-a-whump

#whump #vampire whump #vampire whumpee #blood tw #recovering whumpee #caretaker and whumpee #nonhuman whumpee #immortal whumpee #vampire #vampirism #vampire fiction #horror fiction #original fiction #whump writing #chris the strawberry blond romantic #vampire chris au #past torture

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plus-size-reader · 3 years

Text

Blood pt.4

Stiles Stilinski x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 2589 words

Warnings: none

Summary: The pack finally gets to meet this mystery girl of Stiles’ but that glaring secret of theirs just keeps causing problems.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

—————————————————————————————————

The table fell silent as you walked up to it, every single one of their attentions poised on you as if you were the most interesting thing they had ever seen in their entire lives.

You hated it.

For obvious reasons, werewolves made you really uncomfortable and as much as you wanted to trust that Stiles knew his friends well enough to know they weren’t going to freak out and rip you apart, you weren’t sure.

You didn’t like them.

Though, as Stiles became more and more aware of the fact that you were dragging your feet, his grasp on your hand tightened to help you remember that you weren’t completely alone.

“I’m going to be here the whole time, just relax” he prompted, hoping that his words were going to be enough to make you feel better about this whole thing while also knowing that wasn’t going to be.

This was something you never wanted to do in your life, but if you wanted to live your life here, you’d have to do it. You had to find out if what he said about them was true, so that you knew that you could stay.

It sucked.

The only thing that made you feel any better about this situation was seeing how well your act had worked on Scott this morning. If you kept it up like that, there was a chance that they would never know what you were at all.

Maybe you could just keep it a secret from them forever.

You had done crazier things.

By the time the two of you made it to the table, the entire group had shared knowing looks, shocked that the tall tale Scott had weaved about what he’d seen this morning wasn’t all one big lie. It just wasn’t something they ever thought would happen.

“Hey, there they are. I was worried you were playing hookie today” Scott grinned, addressing his words to his best friend, who only shrugged at his words.

Not showing up at all today would have been a better idea, all things considered, but you’d have to answer the questions at some point.

It was much better to just get it over with.

“Could you blame me?” Stiles jokes, sitting down beside Scott at the table, taking you with him. You were stiff as you sat down, doing your best to stick in your own little bubble without drawing too much attention to yourself.

Unfortunately, that was basically impossible given the circumstances.

The two of them shared a laugh before Scott addressed a question to you, one that you missed completely because you were still trying to come to terms with the situation you had found yourself in. There was just too much going on at once, and you couldn’t help but be a little overwhelmed.

You weren’t designed for this, after all.

You should have never been afraid of anything, or had to answer to anyone but that had gone out the window when you decided to attach yourself to a teenage boy who was involved with a pack of werewolves.

Just your luck.

“Y/N, honey. You okay?” Stiles hummed, obviously addressing you that way for their benefit. Scott had asked you a point blank question and while he was well aware of what was going on with you, they weren’t.

You had to get a handle on this.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just a lot at once” you shrugged, plastering that bubbly grin on your face that made you feel as though your cheeks could crack in two at any moment. It wasn't natural for you, but as you had previously decided, it was natural for this girl Stiles was dating.

This girl that you were pretending to be.

“It’s okay. We’re all friends. We’re just a little shocked at the news is all” Scott allowed, smiling at you in a way that was surprisingly genuine. It wasn’t like the werewolves you remembered from all those years ago, that were made up mostly of gnashing teeth and threats of violence.

He didn’t look like he could hurt anything, or anyone, even if he wanted to.

“Stiles didn’t tell you, did he? He can be so goofy sometimes” you laughed, bumping the male in question with your shoulder. The action was surprisingly natural for you, and Stiles reacted naturally as well.

Pretending to be a couple was the easiest part of this whole thing, for both of you.

It was real life that you were struggling with.

“I just didn’t know how” Stiles decided, moving your two hands, that were still interlocked, onto the tabletop. It was a blatant display of the relationship the two of you were supposed to share, but you didn’t mind it.

The more they focused on the show you were putting on, the less they could pay attention to you.

“Come on. Tell us more about it, how did you two meet?” another in the group, a redhead, prompted. She had a cheery demeanor, with eyes that held an intellect that you could have seen shining there a mile away.

She wasn’t a wolf, but she stank like one just like Stiles did, that much you could tell. Of course, she wasn’t human either, but based on what you could get from her alone, you had no clue what sort of creature she was.

“We sort of just ran into each other, and went to get a bite” you shrugged, not even bothering to hide the clever little nod to how you really met within your answer.

If nothing else, knowing something they didn’t made this a little more entertaining.

It was hardly the meet-cute that Lydia had been hoping for, but that didn’t mean she didn’t accept the answer you gave her. After all, it was clear that Stiles really had a thing for you and as long as he liked you, she liked you too.

Contrary to what you would have thought, she wasn’t as tough a critic as Scott seemed to be. He just wanted to figure out what was going on right now,

Stiles had never once had a girl over like that, and every time he’d ever gotten close, Scott knew about it. Sometimes, Stiles stopped talking to a girl to call him in the moment and let him know that he had talked to a cute girl.

He just had to make sure you were legit.

That was literally his whole job as his best friend.

“So, you go to school here Y/N? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before” he questioned, offering another comforting smile to you which you couldn't help but be a little tired of. Every time you looked at him, all you saw was your coven, torn apart and left for dead.

It was really putting a damper on this whole conversation.

“I used to live here actually, a while ago, and now I’m moving back. I actually enrolled when I got here, but it's been a little difficult getting used to being back” you shrugged, not totally lying this time.

Being around this many people, any number of whom could have walked in on you that day instead of Stiles, was hard to wrap your head around. You were so used to being alone; travelling alone, living alone.

You were always alone.

...But you had to do something, and if you wanted to stick around here for a little while, you knew that you had to build a life for yourself.

“She’s gonna stay with me for a little bit while her folks get settled” he allowed, hoping that at some point, the intense line of questioning would come to an end. Even if you were just a girl he was seeing like they believed, this was a bit much.

He’d never had this many questions for someone Scott was dating.

Though, Stiles knew that it was just his friend's curiosity that was driving him. There is no malicious intent or suspicion behind it, that you would likely want to read into it later when it was just the two of you alone.

This was just how Scott was sometimes.

“Well, it’s good you two have each other then”

You expected more, more questions or pointed looks in your direction but the group seemed content with the backstory they had been given, at least for now. The more direct questions he had, Scott was just going to ask Stiles when they were alone.

It would be easier that way, so that he didn’t make you super uncomfortable.

There was definitely still something about the relationship you two shared that Scott didn’t fully understand but eventually, he came to the same conclusion that Lydia had. It was clear that the two of you liked each other, and for now, that was good enough for him.

It had to be.

After all, he had no reason to assume there was something wrong with you. You had only just met and deciding things like that took time.

“They hate me” you decided, plopping down on Stiles’ bed as if you owned it. On the outside, your meeting them had gone fine but you just had this bad feeling about it. You hadn’t sold it hard enough, or maybe you had sold it too hard.

In any case, it seemed clear to you that they were never going to like you. Just the way Scott looked at you told you everything you needed to know.

They didn’t trust you, and they never would

You were an idiot to think that you would just be accepted here, like you belonged.

“What are you talking about? They loved you. You were great” he hummed, really not seeing where this was coming from. His friends had no reason not to like you, just like his dad was going to have no reason not to like you.

This was all going to be just fine.

All you had to do was trust him.

“I’m not supposed to have to do any of this. I’ve lived lifetimes, and never had to worry about something so trivial” you grumbled, your voice muffled by the pillows and blankets of his bed, which you were still face down on.

You didn’t want to do this, to pretend to be something you weren’t just so that you could live here but now that you were potentially in danger, you had to.

You had to keep this up until Stiles found a way to tell Scott what you really were and even after he did, there was a chance it wouldn't go well and you'd still have to leave. There was just too much that was up in the air for you to relax.

This wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Still, before Stiles could really get a chance to comfort you over the whole thing, your attention snapped up at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. This time, it wasn’t accompanied by the terrible stench of dog, which meant it wasn’t Scott.

Sheriff Stilinski must have been home.

“Okay, this dinner is going to be a lot easier than at school. You just have to let me handle it” Stiles prompted, sure that you would be able to handle that much. If you could sit at a table full of werewolves, his dad wasn’t going to be a problem.

In fact, he had every confidence that tonight was going to go perfectly because Noah was so easy going.

Stiles was a good kid, he did as he was told and never got into too much trouble, if you didn’t count all the supernatural business. If the most he needed to do was have a girl stay at the house for a while, he doubted his dad would mind.

It wasn’t like he was home too often anyway.

You nodded, not bothering to tell him that you were pretty sure you’d decided to just let him handle everything from now on and stood up, doing your best to keep calm. Though, as it seemed to be doing a lot lately, something went wrong.

You couldn’t have dinner with his dad.

Not only did you not eat, and wouldn’t be eating but as far as food was concerned, you were also starving. You didn’t have to feed super often but with all this stress lately, your system had just blown through the little bit of blood you’d had yesterday.

If you didn’t get something in you soon, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Um, Stiles? Did you say dinner?” you clarified, though your comment served more as another gentle reminder that you weren't’ like he was. The male seemed to keep forgetting that you weren’t human like him, and that you couldn’t do the same things.

You had other things you needed to attend to, like the hunger gnawing at your system as you spoke.

“Oh, yeah-okay, change of plans. I’m going to have dinner with my dad and you’re going to stay here and lay low” he suggested, not really liking the idea of leaving you out. However, that was quickly remedied by the fact that you wouldn't have wanted to partake anyway.

As much as you had enjoyed a nice hot meal when you were human, you weren’t anymore and you preferred to get your meals from a different source.

“That sounds great, but what am I supposed to do about my dinner?” you asked, trying to be subtle about what you were going to have to do. There were some things about harboring a vampire in your home that weren’t pretty, and this was one of them.

...but as much as you wanted to, you couldn’t just starve so that he would be more comfortable.

He had to figure something out, or else you would have a repeat of the event that got you here in the first place, and you were pretty sure he didn’t want to deal with that again. You got blood everywhere when you did that.

Besides, keeping you fed was in his best interest, considering you live in very close quarters with him now.

“I’ll take care of it” he promised, pressing a kiss to your forehead and heading out before he could even think about what it was that he’d done. His glaring feelings for you could wait, because he had something much more important to take care of first.

Thankfully, Stiles did have an idea.

If his best friend didn't ask too many questions, there was a way that he could get some blood for you without having to hurt, or even involve, another person. He just had to hope that Scott was willing to help him.

It was really a long shot, at this point.

“Hey Scott, buddy. When you get this message, I need a favor” he prompted, speaking as plainly as he could into his phone and leaving a voicemail for Scott that he could only hope the other male would get and be able to be cool about.

After all, what he was asking wasn’t exactly a normal thing best friends asked of each other, even when one of them was a werewolf.

It was definitely going to come with a few questions.

Stiles just had to hope that would be lucky enough to be able to lie his way out of those. He had been doing that an awful lot lately, but in his defense, he had a promise to keep.

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sepublic · 3 years

Text

Through the Looking Glass Ruins!!!!!

…

SO! Onto other things first…

WRATH IS BRAXAS’ FATHER!??!!? HOLY SHIT, Wrath is a canonical dad, I’d always expressed my… OH MY GOD WRATH IS DAD! And of BRAXAS, that sweetie… How is Braxas such a sweetie with a father like HIM, also-

Wrath was in casual wear? Either he has a day off, or he got fired by Belos/Kikimora after drawing Luz a map to Eda in Young Blood, Old Souls! Either way this guy has a sudden new level of NUANCE that I am reeling from, and yes I checked, that really is Wrath according to the credits! Dang this puts everything in a WHOLE new light…!

AMITY HAIR OHMIGOD IT LOOKS SO ADORABLE SHE’S SELF-ACTUALIZING I AM FUCKING SCREAMING HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, it’s PINK and not green… They acknowledged it, Emira did! And they CHANGED IT I AM LOSING MY FUCKING MIND OVER THIS-

She looks so BEAUTIFUL and I love the kind of foreshadowing with the bookends of our first shot of Amity having her hair down, and now it’s changed! And she looks adorable and EMIRA AND EDRIC BEING GREAT SIBLINGS I LOVE IT SO MUCH! This… THIS is everything I wanted! I was resigned to not much of them but HELL YEAH they’re being good siblings and we get a look at their rooms, we see them doing MAKEOVERS together this is everything from my favorite fanon content and MORE,

Also Edric has a date?! Emira says ‘their’ mom… Unless the Golden Guard has a mom, DARN! Not gonna lie, I half-expected a big twist at the end that Edric was dating the Golden Guard, who was doing some sort of reconnaissance as his unrecognized normal self and/or screwing around with the Blights even further, but in a GENUINE sense… But then who knows Kikimora could be posing as GG’s ‘mom’, this is a stretch anyhow-

JUST HELL YEAH Blight Twins! Blight Twins being sweet and mischievous and supportive of each other, Blight SIBLINGS being siblings, Emira being an older sister and giving advice! And AMITY, Amity mentioning how much Luz has changed stuff, I love that they acknowledge it openly how her life has completely shifted, and now… NOW…!

No necklace! Red leggings! PINK HAIR?! Is this why Amity in the intro hasn’t been updated yet… She was getting TWO updates, so the animators decided to only animate a change after this final update?!

King and Gus are also friends it seems, and they even recorded some fun together! I’m surprised at how much Bria and the others mock Gus’ illusion skills… Obviously Belos is kinda terrible but like; I don’t think he’d set aside an entire subset of magic into Illusions without reason! Also that nightmare trip… I LOVE IT, I love Gus applying the creativity of illusions in their ability to completely warp and distort someone’s sense of reality! And I called that dragon-thing being an illusion!

A graveyard… I wonder if the Gallderstones (is that how it’s spelled) have any relevance or if they’re just neat? I hope Mattholomule and Gus help hide the Looking Glass Graveyard… Damn, that’s another Death reference with Gus, huh! Is it culminating in his respect for the dead, or will it continue further with Gus being a necromancer, or an Oracle who can commune with the deceased, and he has their respect as someone who treats them properly?!

Also not to get dark but… What if all those Illusionists are dead because of Belos? I’m JUST SAYING…! And not gonna lie, every time someone insulted Illusions, I kept imagining the Illusion Head just suddenly waking up and feeling like there’s a disturbance in the force, as well as a weird compulsion to beat up some Glandus kids. It’d be even funnier if he had beef with the Construction, Plant, and Abomination Heads as well!

Speaking of which, more confirmation on Construction Magic being related to earth! Glad to see Bria give us a look into that, which furthers my idea of Belos using construction magic… Also dang, Bria and the Glandus Kids really are the parallels/foils to the Detention kids! You’ve got the short ‘nice’ girl, the tall lanky kid, the furry… But the Glandus Kids start off looking nice and cool, but turn out to be rather nasty!

Meanwhile the Detention Kids seem like bad news and delinquents, but no! They’re just demonized and actually very kind and chill! The Detention Kids are looked down upon, the Glandus Kids are appraised… The Detention Kids are dual-track, the Glandus Kids are singular; Glandus Kids from, well, GLANDUS, Detention Kids from Hexside… One’s ‘mischief’ is actually very neat and cool, the other’s is literal grave robbing.

I guess that’s how the bleeding statues got past the censors- It’s technically just an illusion! Also more insight into how Glandus works with its Survival of the Fittest mentality, I wonder if we’ll get confirmation on which coven heads came from there, how that might influence them as adults…

What is Glandus like, is it more whole-heartedly accepting of Belos’ rule, hence its harsh ideals? Was it made after Hexside? Does Bump hate it for being so cruel like that, or is it just school bias? And dang poor Mattholomule, I always had a feeling he sort of felt and knew that he wasn’t much, so he accepted and compensated by deliberately doing whatever he can for power…

They confirmed he’s from Glandus, and I appreciate this new look at him! This new leaf turned… Hot take but he’s honestly not as bad as Boscha, his stint with Gus was a one-time thing that Gus was able to live with! And that seems pretty good to set them up as friends! Speaking of Boscha, Willow was injured by pixies? And the last time we heard of pixies, they belonged to Boscha and caused the school to get shut down… Did BOSCHA DO THIS I SWEAR SHE IS DEAD TO ME-

(Also she’s mentioned in the credits for this episode but I don’t remember hearing her? I might’ve gotten distracted with so much other things.)

Gus! I like the insight into his relationship with Illusions, and I appreciate how he’s considering other forms of magic… But this hesitation might just serve to reaffirm his believe in Illusions, which is okay! It’s all about choice… And yeah, it seems Gus also has a case of impostor syndrome like King, no wonder they get along so well! I love the glimpses into Gus’ house and the confirmation that he has a library card, no Perry though alas…!

I appreciate how Gus feels overlooked, like he has no real substance, which is how his Illusions reflect a desire to draw attention, but also the idea that there’s nothing real beneath them… Again, very much like King! And Gus, he’s not a powerhouse like the rest, he’s SKILLED and smart, but strength isn’t his forte, it’s not brute force he operates on, but cleverness! Trickery, I like it…! It’s a nice callback to his last A-plot episode, SVSF, where instead of fighting Mattholomule physically, Gus’ solution is to think outside the box and pull the alarm!

You go kid, not relying on brute strength but showing that some clever tricks and thinking are just as valid! Kinda wonder if this episode is lowkey a discussion on masculinity for young boys, especially with Gus growing older with puberty, though the latter is mostly because his actual VA grew… But maybe the writers rolled with that and incorporated it, or it’s just a very neat coincidence! Also, it is me or did Mattholomule’s voice change? And the gag that Gavin’s dad looks identical to him, even moreso because he’s NOT supposed to have a moustache… That’s great!

Malphas! Love this reference to a classic demon, I wasn’t sure if Malphas was the librarian with glasses whom I’ve always headcanoned as a father figure to Amity… But maybe it’s actually this bird dude! He seems adept in Bard magic, and I love the reveal of his true crow appearance… Guess those theorists were right that the one-eyed figure is from the Forbidden Stacks! Also Malphas NOT COOL with Amity, but I’m glad Luz changed his mind, and I wonder how that adventure looked…

Which- DAMN, the RSD with Luz! She looks so UTTERLY BROKEN when Amity mentions doing stupid things, and she didn’t mean it like that, but Luz just looks so completely shattered and you can tell she wants to cry but instead she bottles it up and tries to take it in stride, and that plays into her trying to overcompensate for her mistakes AGAIN… SOMEONE GET IT TO HER HEAD that she doesn’t need to! I’m scared for Luz, and I was SO scared this episode would end on a bad note…

BUT DOAHLDdFAEONDKFHN LUMITY KISS LUMITY KISS! ONE-SIDED BUT THEY FINALLY FUCKING KNOW AND AMITY IS LIKE WHAAAAT AND I WAS WAITING FOR IT AND I COULD FEEL IT HAPPEN AND GAY KISS! GAY KISS ON-SCREEN!!! And the way Luz just FLOPS to the ground on her knees AAHJJFFKHGGK and no Alador nor Odalia to ruin this, UTTERLY PERFECT and the twins WATCHING OOOHHHHGGGG YYYEEAAAAHHH-

This is EVERYTHING I ever wanted!

What an AMAZING episode with wonderful characer beats and reveals! Again, Amity’s growth as a character, that brief insight into how Luz as a person is very chaotic and sometimes frustrating for Amity and forces her to reevaluate, but ultimately it’s good and Luz DOES try her best, and Amity clearly wanted to make things up for Luz and apologize, they’re BOTH doing things, just the little moments!

Also, Alex Lawther voices Philip Wittebane! He has long hair and a vaguely british accent, he’s… He’s Belos isn’t he? And they got a new VA because having him voiced by Matthew Rhys would be really spoiler-y right? He’s got the long hair and he’s a nerd… And with how he talks of finding a way back home, maybe Belos really DOES just want to return home, after all? He talks of making a way back home…

And we see a glimpse of the Portal, so it might’ve brought him there? Or did Philip succeed in making it, and that was his blueprint designs? Did he arrive by Titan’s Blood? What happened to the portal if it brought him there, or if he made it? Why the scar, why near Eda’s house, partially buried?

Was it lost before he could finish his work, and Philip got side-tracked into something else… Perhaps going on a crusade, on behalf of a curse/demon that possessed him? A demon that killed King’s father…? Was the portal broken and he had to discard it, but then it naturally healed- Or did it just need to recharge, maybe Philip DID make it back home, WHAT IS THE ANSWER?! Is there some sort of doppelganger for Philip, is BELOS his doppelganger?! What is THIS WHAT-

WHAT AN EPISODE!

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